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Location
Visitor tip
Request a docent-led tour when you arrive. Reviews consistently praise the knowledgeable docents for walking visitors through highlights and providing context about the community artifacts and ancestral items that make this museum unique.
Visitor tip
This is a community-driven museum where most exhibits come directly from local residents' homes and family histories. Take time to read the personal stories behind artifacts and ask docents about the community connections—this personalized historical context is what makes the experience special.
Visitor tip
Don't skip the Native plant garden beside the Mary Harrell house. Visitors highlight it as a lovely complementary feature that enhances the overall heritage experience on the grounds.
About Mary S. Harrell Black Heritage Museum
Museum of African-American culture. Museum of African-American culture & history & of racial relations in the 20th century.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Black Heritage Museum
- Location
- New Smyrna Beach
- Highlights
- Two buildings with exhibits, shotgun house, Native plant garden
- Notable Feature
- Community-contributed displays from ancestors' homes
What visitors say
What a wonderful museum! So many fascinating exhibits, and items on display. And the docent couldn’t have been nicer, walking us through the highlights of the museum. We learned a lot about New Smyrna Beach and enjoyed ourselves…
everyone there is very friendly and so knowledgeable. There’s so much history packed into the museum and across the street in the shotgun house. There is also a lovely Native plant garden planted beside the Mary Harrell house on the fence.
I absolutely love this visit. Ann the director and sister in law to the founder Mary S Harrell was a delight to meet. This is a community museum entirely, as the community has contributed most of its displays right out of the homes of…
From 46 Google reviews
Did You Know?
- The museum features a historic shotgun house across the street as a separate exhibit space, doubling the physical footprint of the attraction and providing authentic period architecture education
- The museum is community-curated, with most displays contributed directly from the homes of local ancestors, making it a collectively-built repository of New Smyrna Beach African-American history
- The attraction includes a Native plant garden planted beside the Mary Harrell house, integrating horticultural education with cultural heritage exhibits
Other Children's Museums in New Smyrna Beach
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