Gaston County Museum, Dallas

About Gaston County Museum

Gaston County Museum of Art & History sits on the Historic Dallas Courthouse Square in Dallas, North Carolina, offering galleries where visitors explore rotating exhibits and artifacts from the county's past. The museum occupies the historic Hoffman Hotel, built in 1852, where guests move through permanent and feature exhibits at their own pace, discovering everything from local artists' work to historical objects spanning the textile industry and African American communities in Gaston County from the 1870s to 1970s. Hands-on galleries include Hoffman's Farm to Friends, where visitors pretend to grow, cook, and serve food as people did in the 1800s. The Daniel J. Stowe Carriage House displays North Carolina's largest collection of horse-drawn vehicles. The Anne Biggers Furr Learning Depot hosts art classes and figure drawing sessions. A satellite location at the Kessell History Center in nearby Gastonia features guided Loray Mill historical walking tours. General admission is free. A typical visit takes one and a half to two hours, though longer stays are common.