As you explore the buildings that make up the museum, you’ll feel as if you have stepped into an actual New England village. The museum’s buildings have been arranged to welcome visitors and tell stories in an informal way. Buildings on the grounds include houses, a one-room schoolhouse, a jail, a lighthouse, a meeting house, a railroad station, a weaving shop, a general store, covered bridge, barns, and a 220-foot steamboat called the Ticonderoga, which is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
During your visit, you’ll have the opportunity to see American folk art, hand-sewn quilts, and paintings by iconic American artists like Andrew Wyeth. The vastness of the collections is impressive: there are over 3,200 American prints, drawings, paintings, graphics as well as 225 horse-drawn vehicles on the grounds. The museum is the only place in Vermont where you can see Impressionist works from the likes of Monet, Manet, and Degas, and the rich diversity of the exhibits makes visiting a unique experience that is hard to replicate.
Make sure to also check out the elegantly manicured formal gardens, perennial gardens, and herbal and vegetable gardens. Few other places allow visitors to dive into four centuries of American history, art, and design like here.
The Shelburne Museum store has unique gifts and souvenirs for all ages, and an additional artisans shop carries handcrafted pottery, woodwork, jewelry, textiles, and home décor items.