Frazier History Museum

The new Frazier is a great destination for out of town visitors or locals. The internal renovation is more open and airy than the past museum. They've redone the museum to focus on local Louisville and Kentuckiana history, and it's really a gem for adults and kids alike. From an overview of bourbon to biographies of local legends, there's a little bit of history for everyone, kids and adults alike. It's much more accessible and interesting than the prior arms focus. We will be back for sure.

Visit as often as possible to catch the latest displays with the most recent being the 120 COOL KENTUCKY COUNTIES. Whether you are a local or a visitor, this venue has so much to explore and you are guaranteed to learn something new and fascinating.
Even better -- obtain an annual membership and support the mission and bring everyone you know.

One of my favorite activities from our weekend in Louisville. We arrived at the museum shortly after they opened on a Saturday morning and spent several hours exploring the exhibits before heading back home. We worked our way from the top floor down as suggested. For the $14 admission, there is A LOT to take in and a fair amount of variety as it relates to local history. I was pleased to see it covered both past and contemporary history and it was nice to find something to do that wasn't entirely centered around bourbon. (Though they do have a big exhibit and a tasting club, if you're looking to round out your Whiskey Row experience.) I don't know how much new exhibits rotate through, but if there was significant change I'd go back to check them out.

The Frazier museum is a great museum along Main Street in Louisville, right on the corner. It's a relatively new museum, as it's fewer than 20 years old, but it's an affiliate of the Smithsonian so you know that it's worthy of a visit. Once focused on armor and firearms, they've expanded their focus to history more generally.

Amongst their permanent exhibits is a collection of miniatures, which is something I'm not sure I expected to see. Of course as part of the bourbon trail they have an exhibit on the liquor for which Kentucky is most well known. Their rotating exhibits are perhaps even better than the permanent collection, so make sure to make time for them when you visit.

It's not an overwhelmingly large museum, and it's also accessible with elevators that lead to each floor. They also have wheelchairs available for patrons to borrow. I think you could get away with two hours here, give or take some time depending upon how detailed you want your visit to be. If you've visited the Louisville Slugger Museum and left with your favorite new bat, be prepared to either put it in your car or check it when you arrive at this museum.

This was a great Kentucky three-level history museum in downtown Louisville, just across the street from the Louisville Slugger museum. We only had about 1.5 hours to spend in the museum, but could have easily spent more time exploring the exhibits! I especially enjoyed Lewis & Clark Experience exhibit--very well done!

As a VIP perk, we got to go inside the museum during the Summer Beerfest at Frazier. We weren't allowed to have our drinks in there but that's ok. My friend and I long awaited that event however I'm basing this review off us being able to go inside the actual museum.

We explored the gift shop which is everything Kentucky based. We browsed but didn't buy anything. We explored the downstairs but not upstairs. Everything we saw was Kentucky history based. We did get to see old guns in a display case. I'd say our favorite part was the UofL sports history display beings we are both UofL fans.

This is definitely a museum worth visiting. Will have to plan a visit there someday and see it in its entirety.

I wasn't quite sure about what this museum covered, but it turns out to be 100% Kentucky, three floors of a classic old brick buildings, the walls of which reverberate the sounds of the children's groups that will likely be there, and the interior of which hits all the Kentuckiana you could ask for. A half-hour film in an open theater runs through the history and geography of the region with a heavy home-court slant. Exhibits cover things like the Lewis and Clark expedition, Civil War history, and of course horses and bourbon.

The amenities include AC that was pleasantly strong on a day that approached 100 degrees, and water that they advertise as being of the highest quality (the water gets used for making bourbon too, after all). It is a nice welcome to Kentucky museum, and I think it compares favorably to the most obvious similar museum which is the Teennesee State Museum in Nashville about three hours south of here. That museum, however, is free with free parking, and this one costs a fair amount of money to basically pitch you on Kentucky tourism. If that's what you're up for, you'll have a good time.

My husband and I stopped here, while we were waiting for our room at our hotel to be ready for us to check in to the hotel. I had seen this museum on KET, when they had originally opened with the armor exhibit from England years ago. I had hoped to still get to thee that armor when I came to the museum this past Tuesday, but alas, it was not to be -- the armor exhibit left the museum years ago. I actually saw a worker while at the museum and I asked him about the whole armor exhibit, which is when I found out that it had left years ago.

Not getting to see the armor exhibit was a minor disappointment, because the museum ended up being a lot better than I expected with what it did have inside of it. I really liked getting to see the Lewis and Clark expedition exhibit; the 1920s exhibit with flappers and Al Capone and all of that Bourbon related stuff, including the thing on "Pappy" Walker's stuff. I also liked getting to see Heather Renee French's crown and dress, seeing that she is from Augusta, Kentucky -- about 45 minutes south of where I live in Cold Spring, Kentucky.

If I am ever in Louisville, Kentucky again and I want to spend 3 to 4 hours killing time in an interesting museum, I'm fairly certain that I'm going to be hitting this museum up again with my husband. We enjoyed looking at all of the displays in this museum.

We had some time to kill before our next scheduled distillery tour so we decided to check out the Frazier Museum. For a quick overview of Kentucky history, economics, business, agriculture, sports and notable Kentuckians, it does a pretty good job of covering everything. But that is also it's weakness. The transitions from sports to bourbon to miniature soldiers to the history of Lewis & Clark to Kentuckians of note, etc. did not seem flow in a logical and coherent progression -- each seems stuck in it's own corner of the museum and when you finish one area it's on to the next -- what ever it may be. That said, the section dealing with bourbon and the agriculture that supports it was quite good and complements what you will learn about the industry on any of the distillery tours on Whiskey Row. And, if you are a fan of Kentucky sports, all the teams and athletes of note are well represented in in the sports department

I Will start off by saying that this review is based off of my time in the Frazier Museum for a wedding, so I did not have a typical, going to a museum experience. That being said, the entire place is lovely. There is a beautiful roof top terrace where the actual ceremony was held. It has stunning views of the river and made for a perfect setting. My only complaint is that the elevator was SO SLOW and it was the only method we could use as we had a stroller and the stairs were also hidden.

The pictures were held in the garden which was also very stunning with lots of plants, seating and options for the different views. During this time, I also snuck away to look at the gift shop which was packed with bourbon and bourbon related items. It was fun to look through.

Cocktail hour was in a lounge that had great finger foods, cocktails and the setting was nice.

The reception was held in a large ballroom and everything was set up well with ample space to move around, dance, socialize, etc. The drinks were great and the food was good. Overall, it was a great place for a wedding venue!