History, Art and Natural Beauty
Rockford greets visitors with a mix of history, art and natural beauty. Explore a nature museum featuring a T. Rex, stroll through Asian gardens and discover work from Dale Chihuly and Ansel Adams at the Rockford Art Museum.
Rockford is home to some top family museums, like Burpee Museum of Natural History and Discovery Center Museum, where you can lay your eyes on Jane the young T. Rex or Homer the teenage Triceratops.
Anderson Japanese Gardens has been named one of the highest quality Japanese gardens in North America. Inspired by calm and tranquility, this 12 acre award-winning landscape is comprised of koi-filled ponds, winding paths, gentle streams, cascading waterfalls, raked gravel gardens, beautifully trained pines, and more. Visitors can also enjoy breakfast and lunch at Fresco at the Gardens, which features fresh, organic and locally grown food.
Of course, a trip to Rockford wouldn’t be complete if you didn’t check out one of the many places that the hometown band Cheap Trick has made famous locally. Whether it is getting a bite to eat at Stockholm Inn (don’t forget to strum the lucky Rick Nielsen guitar on the wall) or getting your picture taken for a social media post outside of the Rockford Armory, you will have a great time living the Rock & Roll life in Rockford.
