Bakersfield Museums and Art Galleries

(Bakersfield, California - CA, USA)

Within the Californian city of Bakersfield are four main museums for visitors to investigate, covering a variety of interesting and appealing subject matters.

Amongst the most historic and sizeable is the ever-popular Kern County Museum, which sits on Chester Avenue and just across from the Sam Lynn Ball Park, on the northern side of downtown Bakersfield, where it is home to more than one million artifacts.

Visitors to this cultural attraction will be able to learn all about the extraction of oil (black gold) and the days of the pioneers, with this 6.5-hectare / 16-acre site being called home by over 50 old buildings, relocated to this spot from all over the county of Kern and carefully restored. These include an early 19th-century log cabin, prison buildings, an old schoolroom and Victorian residences.

Also to be found at the Kern County Museum is the Lori Brock Children's Discovery Center, which is very much geared towards families and younger visitors, with themed areas including Discovery World, Kid City and Safari Art. Families in Bakersfield may enjoy spending an hour or two at the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History, checking out its anthropological and geological exhibits, as well as its interesting paleontology collection.

For art lovers looking to indulge their interest, the Bakersfield Museum of Art at Mill Creek functions as the crowning glory in the city's cultural scene. Founded way back in the mid-1950s, the venue comprises no less than four separate galleries displaying an extensive permanent collection of paintings, created mainly by regional Californian artists. Several landscaped garden areas surround the gallery and serve as an open-air exhibition space for modern sculptures.

Bakersfield Museum of Art (BMOA)

Address: 1930 R Street, Bakersfield, California (CA), 93301, USA
Tel: +1 661 323 7219

Buena Vista Museum of Natural History

Address: 2018 Chester Avenue, Bakersfield, California (CA), 93301, USA
Tel: +1 661 324 6350

Kern County Museum

Address: 3801 Chester Avenue, Bakersfield, California (CA), 93301, USA
Tel: +1 661 437 3300

Lori Brock Children's Discovery Center