St. Charles, Missouri
Admission to museum is $5.00. Parking is free and plentiful.
http://www.lewisandclarkcenter.org/
The Lewis & Clark Museum is on the second floor of the Lewis & Clark Boat House and Nature Center. The building is located near the 1804 campsite of Lewis & Clark's Corps of Discovery. The building was built in 2003. The museum had been in existence in a small building on Main Street since 1985; it was moved here and enlarged in 2003.
The Boat House is the permanent home of the Discovery Expedition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting education and the study of American history and heritage. When not on the river, the Discovery Expedition's hand-crafted replica boats are on display on the first floor of the building. This keelboat is 55 feet long and weighs 7 tons.
Needless to say this is a certified site on the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail.
Upon entering the museum this map shows the trail Lewis and Clark took as they explored the west.
The museum includes dioramas of the trip, examples of architecture in early St. Charles, and displays depicting elements of the Missouri River ecosystem in that time period.
The dioramas complete with journal quotes and explanations begin the story from when they set up camp in Illinois to prepare for the trip.
The explanations, painted on the glass, are concise, dated and include maps.
The dioramas realistically depict the highlights of the trip west.
The sample campsite contains examples of the supplies, equipment, and clothing used by the men. While traveling by river, they would set up camp each night on a river bank or on an island.
The campsite is surrounded with about 12 podiums each bearing signs with interesting information about the trip such as the two signs below.
This keelboat is a scale-model of the boat they took up the Missouri River as far as North Dakota.
Lewis and Clark's men learned how to construct bullboats from the Mandans Native Americans. The boats were of a size such that the hide of one buffalo bull would cover up the frame which was usually made of willow. During the return trip, four of Lewis and Clark's men built two bullboats to travel down the Yellowstone River.
The journals of Lewis and Clark have been invaluable in gaining knowledge of the trip.
The Native Americans were important to the success of the expedition, often providing information, food, and supplies. The museum displays a number of Native American artifacts such as these two musical instruments. .
There is a large medical exhibit containing examples of medicines and tools of both the Native Americans and the expedition.
The members of the expedition noted how much the features of the Missouri River changed from when they went west to when they returned east. A large table holds a model stream demonstrating how features change.
The museum includes three half-scale buildings illustrating the changing architectural styles in St. Charles. This plank building was one of the later forms.
The other two styles are stone as seen below and brick.
The expedition sent 68 geological samples back east when they returned thus it is not surprising that there is a geology exhibit.
This is one of several displays depicting elements of the Missouri River ecosystem.
The museum has a large number of mounted animals.
These wonderful puppets depicting members of the expedition were used in programs during the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial and now are on display.
The classroom is a separate room and its walls contain memorabilia collected during the 2003-2006 Bicentennial. A group from St. Charles retraced the entire journey.
In the classroom there is a large screen which plays the National Geographic video Lewis & Clark, Great Journey West. The 45-minute excellent video is on sale at the museum shop.
On display in the classroom one can see samples of the clothing worn by those on the expedition.
Then, if one is a child, they can try on samples of these clothing items.
York, the only slave in the expedition, is remembered with this bust. When a vote was taken in the course of the trip, York became the first slave to cast a vote in the United States.
The museum shop, The Trading Post, has a wide selection of books as well as many other items. This picture shows only half of the shop.
Outside the boathouse is the Nature Center which sits on the Missouri River.
The trails include explanatory signs.
This display on the importance of Portage des Sioux overlooks the Missouri River.
Native American symbols tell the story of the expedition.
In the proper time of the year, guests to the Nature Center see several kinds of vegetables eaten during the expedition being grown overlooking the river.
Comments: This is a well-done museum. We were told that it was designed by a group of teachers. Whoever designed it did an excellent job. There are no interactive activities but the displays are interesting enough that they keep your attention. There are many artifacts and many items that all ages would enjoy seeing.
The dioramas are particularly well done, informative, and fun to study.
As we were there in early March the nature area was not growing. I would like to return when it is "in season."
There were just a few other people in the museum. They do get a lot of school field trips there so a call ahead might be worth checking to see if the museum will be hosting a school group.
The building is in the middle of a large public parking lot.
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