Virginia Discovery Museum

Charlottesville's only nonprofit hands-on children's museum since 1981, the Virginia Discovery Museum anchors the east end of the Downtown Mall at 524 East Main Street. The space runs interactive exhibits for kids up to age eight — including a replica 18th-century cabin and a play environment built around local community life — plus a historic kiddie carousel donated by Fred W. Scott Jr. of Bundoran Farm, which an appraiser once called the last known kiddie carousel of its type in the country. Open Monday through Saturday, 9:30 to 5.