Earn Your Badges: Scout Tour

The conservatory and botanical gardens were created from the visions of extraordinary people. David F. Day, Frederick Law Olmsted, John F. Cowell, Frederick A. Lord and William A. Burnham of Lord & Burnham Co.. Each of these talented individuals contributed to the inception, design and success of the South Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. In the 1860s, David F. Day, a Buffalo city attorney and judge, and later Parks Commissioner, was instrumental in including botanical collections in the City of Buffalo and continued to support a south park conservatory project with great enthusiasm. Distinguished for his creativity in designing New York City’s Central Park and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Frederick Law Olmsted was called upon by the Buffalo Parks Commission in 1868 to design parks for Buffalo. His unique design included not one but three parks, The Park (Delaware Park), The Parade (Martin Luther King Jr. Park), The Front Park, connecting parkways and circles. As Buffalo expanded, Olmsted was called upon to enlarge the park system by adding additional parks including Cazenovia Park and South Park. South Park was constructed between the years of 1894-1900 from 156 acres of farmland. Olmsted’s final design of South Park included a conservatory and surrounding formal gardens. In 1894, Professor John F. Cowell was appointed as the first Director of the conservatory and to oversee plantings in South Park. He was considered a genius in botany and horticulture and his passion was deep rooted in his mission to expand and diversify the soon to be park and conservatory’s collections. He gathered plants, trees and flowers from every corner of the world and his expertise and guidance allowed for many successful years for the conservatory. While South Park was being constructed, Lord & Burnham Co. was busy designing the South Park Conservatory. The design was modeled after the beautiful Crystal Palace in England and was built by a Buffalo construction company, George P. Wurtz & Son for a total cost of $130,000. Upon opening in 1900, the conservatory was the third largest public greenhouse in the United States and was ranked as the ninth largest in the world. The 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo helped to spur the success of the South Park Conservatory by providing trolley rides from downtown Buffalo to the conservatory. Tens of thousands of people visited the breathtaking conservatory and delighted in the exotic collection of plants and flowers. Find out more at buffalogardens.com!

What can a museum be? It can be a place where learning feels like playing—where “do not touch” becomes “try it out” —and where there’s always a reason to come back for more! Explore & More has built an environment for creative play and learning that’s as one-of-a-kind as every child who walks through the doors. They do everything in their playful power to give children a chance to dream, imagine, invent and do, in childhood and far beyond. Learning often starts at home and school. It thrives here at Explore & More—a “third place” in the world for children and families to play and learn together.

Just a five-minute drive from downtown Buffalo and situated on the Outer Harbor, Tifft Nature Preserve offers 264 acres of restored habitat with five miles of trails and boardwalks. Additional amenities include a Visitor's Center with hands-on exhibits, 75-acre cattail marsh, man-made lakes and interesting industrial heritage. #NatureNextDoor

Theodore Roosevelt began his presidential journey here. All new state-of-the-art exhibits and a dramatic guided tour offer a museum experience unlike any other. Immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and emotions surrounding this pivotal moment in our nation's history and learn how the enduring legacy of one of America's greatest presidents affects our lives today. Built in 1837, the former Wilcox mansion stands today as a vital part of Buffalo's historical heritage. The site features restored Victorian rooms and period gardens. The site accommodates 100 for banquets and 150 for cocktails.

Three-hundred years of history, just minutes from the Falls. The site of historic battles and sieges, trading and conquest, Old Fort Niagara is an exciting place where the past comes to life. Preserved as it stood in the 1700's, when France and Britain controlled Niagara, the Fort's structures include the oldest building on the Great Lakes. Hours: January-June: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. July-August: 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. September-December: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Penn Dixie -- a global geological treasure -- is the #1 fossil park in the U.S. Science fans of all types are drawn to our 54-acre site in Hamburg, New York for unique learning opportunities in geology, astronomy, ecology, and ornithology. We offer day science programs, summer day camps, group tours, and special events through most of the year. Penn Dixie is TripAdvisor’s #1 thing to do in Blasdell, New York, too. Visitors to Penn Dixie are encouraged to collect — and keep — fossils from a shallow ocean environment that existed 380 million years ago.

The Buffalo Museum of Science offers educational and exciting experiences the whole family can enjoy. From special traveling exhibits to a National Geographic 3D Cinema, collections of over 700,000 artifacts and specimens and its interactive science studios, BMS is always "inspiring curiosity through exploration". Record your own weather forecast or step into a wind chamber in Our Marvelous Earth, explore health and the human body in Explore YOU, build your own gravity wall in the In Motion studio, explore over 1,500 insect specimens in Bug Works, or discover science with your toddler and young scientists in the Explorations early childhood gallery. Special workshops and classes are also available every month; preregistration is required and available online. The Buffalo Museum of Science and Tifft Nature Preserve offer distinctive spaces for your next event too. From dancing in our grand Hamlin Hall to stargazing from the Museum's rooftop, BMS offers a unique location your guests are sure to remember. You may even rent out the entire museum if you wish. Enhance your event with special science programming and/or admission to special traveling exhibits, when available. Tifft Nature Preserve, the museum's urban nature sanctuary in South Buffalo, offers 264 acres of natural beauty just minutes from downtown Buffalo.