Fodor's Expert Review Rufus Porter Museum of Art and Ingenuity

Local youth Rufus Porter became a leading folk artist in the early 1800s, painting landscape and harbor murals on the walls of New England homes, like this museum's barn red Cape Cod–style Nathan Church House, which bears unsigned murals by Porter (or one of his apprentices). In 2016, the late-18th-century structure was moved to the museum's downtown setting, where an eye-catching circa-1830s former residence on Main Street has exhibits about Porter, who was also an "ahead of his time" inventor, writer, and founder of Scientific American magazine. Early issues are on display, as are models of some of his inventions and his miniature portraits. A video about this ingenious man is shown. Both buildings have changing exhibits, and the museum's excellent gift shop has books about Porter.