12 Great Museums Just 20 Miles or Less Outside of New York State!

when it comes to great museums, New York State has an embarrassment of riches.

From world-renown ones like the Corning Museum of Glass and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, to mid-sized specialty museums such as the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, or the Trolley Museum in Kingston, and to downright strange ones, such as the Museum of Oddities in Cazenovia or the Drain Tile Museum in Geneva, yes, there is something for everyone. In fact, I even wrote a book about the unknown museums of Upstate New York. Whatever the topic, they are all fun and interesting.

So, this gallery is a little different.

Here, we take a look at a dozen great museums which are just over the New York State border, just minutes from us. These museums can be found all along the borders of New York to Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. And each is worth the few minutes to cross over and check them to (none of them stray to far off the beaten path, and in fact all are just 20 miles or less to get to, some excluding a ferry ride over from NYS, of course!).

Within far less than a half-hour drive you can visit a museum that looks at the life and times of the Gilded Age in America, you can visit the sculpting studio of an artist who gave us one of the most famous statues in the world, you can visit the home of Zippo lighters, the home of the first author to make a million dollars from his books, and (drum roll please, you can even visit a museum dedicated to the sounds of the accordion!

All are on this list!

And, if you know of a museum just minutes outside the friendly confines of the Empire State, please give it a shoutout over on our Facebook page!

(Note: we know that there are many museums "just out of reach" in Canada too, but that is for another gallery!)