The World's First Dr. Seuss Museum

The world’s first Dr. Seuss museum will make all your childhood dreams come true

http://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/first-dr-seuss-museum-springfield 

By Talia Avakian May 31, 201

The museum opens this June.

A whimsical world is coming to Springfield, Massachusetts, when the world’s first permanent Dr. Seuss museum opens on June 3.

As part of Springfield Museums, the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss will be dedicated to the life and work of beloved children’s author and Springfield native, Theodore Geisel.

Visitors can learn about Geisel's life from exhibits like a replica of his former home and the playful designs he used to draw on his walls.

“Geisel was all about the fact that reading should be fun, and although everything here is underlain with the idea of learning, it’s really about being able to learn and have fun at the same time,” Karen Fisk, Springfield Museums’ director of public relations and marketing, told Travel + Leisure.

There's also a replica of the Springfield Zoo where Geisel’s father used to work and a Seuss bakery where kids can bake their own pies based off the bakery Geisel's grandparents used to own.

On the other side of the first floor, you'll find Readingville, a section dedicated to Geisel’s most famous books. There's an ABC Wall, with sounds and art from the book, and Green Eggs and Ham WordPlay, with rhyming games set in the railroad cave.

There's also Horton’s Whoville Band, Truffula Trees from “The Lorax,” and the Wump a Gump creature that's covered in “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” quotes.

Springfield Museums was inspired to create the space after its Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, which includes sculptures of the book's characters and of Seuss, became such a success.

“People from all over the world would come to see the sculptures and always asked about the museum and for years we always said there isn’t one, but it remained the number one requested attraction at the museum, so we decided to create it,” Fisk said.

On the second floor, visitors will find never-before-displayed drawings and sculptures, and personal items like Geisel's Emmys, his original oil paintings, and even his toy, Theophrastus, which he got as a boy and kept on his desk throughout his life. There's also his original drawing table, humorous personal notes he used to write to his stepdaughters, and his original colored pencils.

“It feels like you're walking straight into a Dr. Suess book,” Fisk told T+L.

The museum opens its doors on June 3 with a parade at 9 a.m. Tickets offer timed access to all of the Springfield Museums, and are $25 for adults and $11.50 for kids.