New York Guide and Deals

Standing at the intersection of contemporary art and design, The Museum of Arts and Design explores the way that artists and designers from around the world translate ideas in masterpieces that range from traditional to bleeding-edge. At its stunning Columbus Circle headquarters, visitors marvel at its glass-and-terracotta exterior before exploring a rotating collection that ranges from jewelry and delicate glass works to ceramics to architectural designs and furniture. This meshing of masterpieces has attracted more than a million visitors to the museum since it opened in 2008. The jewelry collection illustrates the transformation that took place in the world of studio jewelry from post–World War II to today, while woodwork by generations of well-known artists charts the evolution from handcarved pieces to astonishing works of machine-aided art. Other rotating exhibits the museum hosts explore topics such as glassworking, scent, and sculpture.

There are many ways to look at a city. One can get a view of it while walking down its avenues, flying through its airspace, or gazing from afar at its distinctive skyline, an unmistakable fingerprint. The curators of The Skyscraper Museum, however, view New York through its history, exploring the personalities that shaped the skyline along with the stories of the buildings themselves. Their exhibits delve deep into these stories, examining, for instance, the economic circumstances and technological advances which allowed the Woolworth Building—sometimes called the "Cathedral of Commerce"—to sprout from New York's fertile pavement.

Even the very bones of the museum support its subject, with displays set into stacked cases that rise from floor to ceiling. The stainless steel ceiling and floor extend the verticality, making guests feel as if they're striding through the skyline of a city as giants, caught between the perspective of man and skyscraper. The narrow passageways of the museum feature long strips of lighting, the stacked panels along the walls and streaks of light creating the sensation of driving down a bustling boulevard at night.

Since 1861, the Buffalo Society of Natural Science has culled more than 700,000 specimens and artifacts from around the world. These treasures now reside in the Buffalo Museum of Science, allowing visitors to explore anthropology, paleontology, and zoology, with a special emphasis on the Buffalo Niagara region.

Special exhibits encourage guests to learn about the world around them through hands-on education. This fall, The Science of Sports teaches a number of athletic secrets, from throwing the perfect Hail Mary pass to creating hockey ice that fosters the fastest skating. Opened in March 2012, the Explore YOU health science studio allows visitors to learn about their bodies while studying recent medical technologies that help keep the human race healthy. The earth systems studio Our Marvelous Earth opens in October to explore geological phenomena, extreme weather, and alternative forms of energy with its interactive exhibits and displays. Elsewhere, mummies share their stories of living in Khent-min through the collected artifacts and forensic evidence on display in Whem Ankh: The Cycle of Life in Ancient Egypt. During the next four years, the museum will continue to add new exhibits and improve others with new, interactive technologies.

Since opening its star-dappled doors in 1964, the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium has delighted sky-gazing enthusiasts through effulgent re-creations of the night sky and educational journeys through the solar system with its 24-foot-diameter dome, capable of illuminating 4,000 stars. Celestial explorations have included shows such as Uranus and Neptune: Planets of the Telescope Age, which explores the planets and their improbable journey from drifting stardust to two of the solar system's gas giants. Attractions such as Shorter Nights: Passage Into Spring reveal the dazzling sights visible in the local Buffalo sky in the buildup to the equinox, and Pluto and the Other Dwarfs: Smaller Objects of the Solar System guide sojourners on a quest to view the celestial orb as it hides, weeping over its stripped status as a planet, behind Saturn's rings.

Shadows dart across the wall, a strange voice emerges from thin air, and you get the eerie feeling that you’re being followed. This is no ordinary place. The Iron Island Museum's paranormal history has captured the minds of countless visitors and has been featured on TV programs such as Ghost Lab and Ghost Hunters. Originally built as a church in 1883, the house later became a funeral home in the late 1950s, during which time it hosted more than 1,000 wakes. The business eventually shut down, and in 2000, the building was donated to The Iron Island Preservation Society of Lovejoy, which made a startling discovery: 24 canisters of cremated remains had been left behind.

Today, an all-volunteer staff leads tours of the church's vaulted ceilings, stained-glass windows, and themed rooms. The church showcases hundreds of historic relics, including military uniforms, railroad items, and a wooden altar that dates backs to 1896. However, the museum's biggest draws can't be seen, at least not most of the time. Guides and visitors stay alert for signs of paranormal activity and look for chances to communicate with what they consider to be some of the building's resident ghosts. The staff has even taken recordings that play back the voices of unknown figures saying things such as "I'm cold," and "Why don't they make pants for ghosts?"