The story below is from our September/October 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Our region’s museums are shedding the image of quiet galleries full of look-but-don’t-touch displays in favor of hands-on learning opportunities and engaging programming rooted in community.
The museum experience used to feel cold and distant. Visitors walked through hushed halls and learned by observing artifacts and antiquities preserved behind glass. Today, those in the Roanoke region are encouraging deeper engagement by rolling out interactive displays, new technologies, innovative, community-driven programming and more. They’re also becoming places where people gather, education is active and stories are shared in ways that feel personal. Let’s take a closer look at five that are leading the charge.
Salem Museum
The Salem Museum might look quaint from Main Street, but inside are five floors of thoughtfully recontextualized exhibits, interactive experiences and a deep dedication to education and local pride.
Courtesy of Salem Museum
Assistant Director Hunter Haskins (left) and Executive Director Garrett Channell (right) take a closer look at some of the artifacts in the Salem Museum’s collection.
Executive Director Garrett Channell recommends starting on the ground floor with “Through Their Eyes: The Moments That Made Salem.” This permanent timeline exhibit highlights 16 major events from 1671 to the 21st century, with each panel containing history-book facts, images and a “Through Their Eyes” section — “kind of like historical fiction,” he explains, based on documents from each time period. The exhibit also features a variety of elements that encourage learning by doing, including flip signs and a telegraph that lights up when the key is tapped.
Tech-savvy touches add another layer of immersion. The virtual reality catalog includes an experience that has participants navigate recreated World War I tunnels as debris falls around them. A touchscreen kiosk in the popular Champions Gallery — an ode to Salem being Virginia’s Championship City — allows locals to reminisce as they peruse photos and read stories about the city’s state champions.
Education is at the heart of the Salem Museum’s mission, and Channell, originally hired as an educator, continues to expand programming and outreach. Thousands across Roanoke County, the cities of Salem and Roanoke and surrounding areas are served through field trips, classroom visits and monthly Homeschool Days, all of which offer opportunities for tactile learning. A favorite activity among students is getting to dig through archaeology kits — sandboxes containing arrowheads, pottery sherds, 3D-printed bird skulls, bullets and more — while learning about Native American and Civil War history.
But the museum’s role in the community extends far beyond exhibits and educational programs. It hosts art shows, book launches, a monthly speaker series and special events like living history days. A research library serves as an important resource for genealogists, writers and other researchers, and temporary exhibits are curated in collaboration with local organizations. Spaces can even be rented out for reunions, showers and meetings. “I want us to be a community center,” says Channell. “That’s where a lot of museums are heading, and we want to be part of it.”
Harrison Museum of African American Culture
On the cusp of completing its move to Melrose Plaza, the Harrison Museum of African American Culture’s Executive Director, E.B. Smith, and the board are reenvisioning what a museum experience can be. The goal? To make learning feel immersive, personal and deeply connected to the lives of those who walk through the door.
Courtesy of Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge
At its new home in Melrose Plaza, the Harrison Museum will introduce thematic exhibits that deepen the connection between its artifacts and the stories — and people — behind them.
A major shift from their former Center in the Square space is how items in the collection will be presented. The new programming model will rotate by theme, cutting down on static displays and allowing for more in-depth contextualization of items and landmarks so visitors can better connect with the people and stories behind them. “For example, when we talk about the railroads, it’s going to be great to have a conversation not just about the fact the railroads were here [and] Black folks worked on them, but [also] where the Pullman porters [came] from and what [they meant] to Black folks across the South,” explains Smith.
This model also paves the way for unique connections to future events like speaker series and workshops. For instance, CPR and Stop the Bleed classes may complement an exhibit on the medical establishment as a way to talk about how treatment has evolved. “Also,” adds Smith, “as folks are coming into the museum from the high school next door or from other schools around town, [we’ll be] giving them a taste of what some of the skills might be if they want to go into the medical field.”
The Harrison Museum’s deep community roots continue to guide its growing network of partnerships and educational initiatives. From exploring shared histories with Christiansburg Institute to developing Virginia SOL-aligned curriculum with Roanoke College, the focus remains on making offerings meaningful and accessible. The move to Melrose Plaza — near a library, market and adult high school — will only strengthen its ties to the people and places that call Roanoke home.
The museum’s coveted oral histories collection exemplifies this dedication to community. It contains stories told by Roanoke-area residents. These voices and those to come, thanks to an on-site whisper room, preserve the past but will also shape upcoming exhibits, grounding them in lived experience and ensuring that local legacies are remembered, celebrated and passed on.
Virginia Museum of Transportation
The Virginia Museum of Transportation has come a long way since its early days as a rail-focused museum. Today, it’s a multi-modal institution that tells a much broader story of how people and goods move across land, air and water. Whether it be standout attractions like the world-famous Norfolk & Western Class J #611 steam locomotive, spotlights on regional innovations like Carilion Clinic’s Life-Guard air ambulance service or something new like the recently unveiled maritime gallery, the VMT is on a mission to tell our nation’s transportation history in engaging and inspiring ways.
Courtesy of Virginia Museum of Transportation
The Virginia Museum of Transportation, originally a rail-only museum, has expanded over the years to include exhibits on multiple modes of transportation.
Executive Director Mendy Flynn says the team is intentional about helping visitors do more than simply observe. “One thing that differentiates our museum is that guests can actually touch the exhibits.” Select rail cars are open for touring, and there’s even a jet folks can step inside and explore. Interpretation methods like video components and the popular oral history kiosks let museumgoers hear stories directly from aviators and those in the automobile industry, offering insights into how transportation has shaped lives and livelihoods.
Earlier this year, the museum wrapped up some renovations designed to enhance the overall visitor experience. Upgrades include a reinterpreted circus exhibit, updated restrooms, a revamped second floor and the addition of a handicap elevator to improve accessibility.
Beyond exhibits, the museum is a space for people of all ages to gather, celebrate and learn together. Its events calendar is jam-packed, with family favorites include Touch-A-Truck, Spooky Sweets & Treats and the Candy Cane Celebration. Others, like the annual Star City Rockabilly Festival, are geared toward adults. “The VMT [also] partners with other organizations in the community whenever possible,” adds Flynn, “such as the Chamber of Commerce, Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge, the Taubman’s Night at the Museum and Arts Pop events.”
Science Museum of Western Virginia
With a new round of strategic planning complete, the oldest science museum in the state is moving full steam ahead with a bold new vision for what STEM education can look like in a tech-saturated world.
Mary Roberts Baako, the Science Museum of Western Virginia’s executive director, says that in an age where nearly everything can be accessed through a screen, she and her team are continuously grappling with how to offer experiences that are much more compelling in the real world. “It’s a fine line but, in general, I believe that creating hands-on, experimental exhibits are really what drives people coming back, challenges them to play [and] sometimes get outside of their comfort zones.”
Courtesy of Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge
The Science Museum of Western Virginia invites visitors of all ages to learn through hands-on activities.
She points to a new exhibit that explores sleep and brain activity: “People will be able to put on the EEG and [be exposed to] different environmental stimuli to see how their brain reacts to different things.” An exhibit focused on drones and agriculture is also in the works and will include many hands-on aspects, including opportunities to program and pilot a drone.
The Eye Planetarium, one of the museum’s most dynamic spaces, has reopened with immersive dome shows developed in collaboration with local artists and organizations. “We look at this as the one place in the museum [where] you can really see the intersection of art and science,” says Baako. Monthly Open Studio Nights, based on community submissions, are free and open to the public.
In the coming months, visitors can expect a fresh, layered experience, especially on the fifth floor, inspired by three themes: creative and guided storytelling, theatrical science and truly immersive experiences. These aspects of the strategic plan are designed not only to spark curiosity, but also help develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills in both children and adults — building blocks Baako sees as essential moving forward. “AI [and technology] can be your tool and partner,” she says, “but it can’t replace that foundational knowledge.”
Taubman Museum of Art
On December 31, the Taubman Museum of Art will ring in 2026 with a black-tie-optional New Year’s Eve party — an elegant kickoff to a year-long celebration honoring 75 years of art, innovation and community.
Since opening its doors in 1951, the Taubman has grown into a boundary-pushing institution where art meets technology, science, education and wellness. “We are a community convener,” says Executive Director Cindy Petersen. “We’re working with other arts and cultural organizations as well as social and human services organizations for outreach and … looking at the needs of the citizens throughout Southwest Virginia and beyond.”
Courtesy of the Taubman Museum of Art
The Taubman brings art to life through next-level immersive experiences.
That mission is clear in the museum’s inclusivity and accessibility efforts. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Taubman offers free daily admission. A new initiative called Happy HeARTs provides sensory-friendly, art-based activities for individuals with special needs. Through partnerships with Feeding Southwest Virginia and the Roanoke Rescue Mission, free art kits are distributed to children and retirement center residents, and over 1,500 community-created Healing Ceiling Tiles have been installed in Carilion Clinic facilities. The museum is also collaborating with the healthcare system on an art therapy-related research study and working to publish curriculum-based lessons that can be shared nationwide. Petersen says the Taubman team is very proud to be “an innovatist space where we are being a role model for our work in the community.”
In-gallery experiences are also brimming with innovation. Across exhibitions and the permanent collection, interpretive tools like audio, video, interactive and sensory components encourage deeper engagement. The Art Venture gallery features 14 hands-on stations exploring everything from painting to 3D printing. The family-focused Mo Willems exhibit, on view through September 14, showcases 20 of the author and illustrator’s paintings and eight accompanying interactive activity stations. The museum is also embracing immersive multimedia installations that surround visitors with sights, sounds and historical context in cutting-edge ways. For “Eternally New: The Art Nouveau World of Alphonse Mucha,” guests encountered a holographic image of the artist. “It was really inspiring,” says Petersen, “but also [a glimpse of] the next generation of a hybrid exhibition with an immersive.”
With each new interactive exhibit and community-driven program, these five museums are raising the bar on what it means to teach, engage and inspire — and they’re just getting started.
The story above is from our September/October 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!