USA Today crowns two NJ museums among America’s best

🖼 USA Today readers ranked two NJ museums among the best new museums in America for 2026.

⚾ Both have earned national praise.

🏛 The list also spotlights standout museums devoted to barbecue, heroism and history.

New Jersey is home to over 200 museums. Two of them made USA Today’s 10Best New Museum List for 2026, according to its Readers’ Choice Awards.

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“These 10 museums have been nominated by an expert panel and voted by readers as the best new or newly transformed venues on the scene. Ranging from avant-garde art spaces to impactful history museums, they represent the top openings of the past two years,” USA Today wrote.

USA Today names best new museums of 2026

In 10th place is the Museum dedicated to barbecued foods.

No. 10: Museum of BBQ (Kansas City, Missouri)

“Finally, barbecue gets the scholarly treatment it deserves at the Museum of BBQ. Learn about regional barbecue styles (the Carolinas, Memphis, Texas, and Kansas City), get a whiff of various barbecue spices, and follow the history of smoking techniques. Expect a serious exploration of how slow-cooked meat shaped American culture,” the publication wrote.

Kansas City is a city known for its barbecue culture, and a place where lots of different influences come together to create unforgettable barbecue plates, the website boasts.

Two New Jersey museums earn spots on national top 10 list

In the nooks and crannies of the top 10 list lie two New Jersey museums.

No. 7: The Charles J. Muth Museum of Hinchliffe Stadium (Paterson)

“Tucked inside one of America’s last surviving Negro League ballparks, The Charles J. Muth Museum of Hinchliffe Stadium stands as an educational and cultural hub honoring the athletes who broke barriers when Major League Baseball shut them out,” USA Today wrote.

Beyond the expected jerseys and scorecards, interactive displays and multimedia presentations make history come alive in a stadium where legends like Larry Doby and Josh Gibson once played, the publication added.

“Through dynamic public programs, educational initiatives, and community engagement, the museum promotes a deeper understanding of Hinchliffe’s vital role in American social history and its enduring power to unite the diverse communities of Paterson,” according to the museum’s website.

Fossil-hunting museum in South Jersey ranks No. 2 nationwide

Another New Jersey museum was lucky enough to make the top 10 list of the best museums in the U.S., according to USA Today.

This one made it almost to the tippy top of the list, and it would probably make Ross Geller from the TV show “Friends” giddy since it appeals to his paleontology background.

No. 2: Edelman Fossil Park and Museum of Rowan University (Mantua)

The second-best museum in the nation lies in the heart of Gloucester County.

“At this former Inversand Company marl pit, which has yielded over 100,000 fossils from more than 100 extinct species, visitors can dig for actual 66-million-year-old specimens alongside an expert team who help identify discoveries,” USA Today wrote.

From fossilized bones to shark teeth and marine crocodile remains, guests can unearth the same sea creatures that swam here when New Jersey was ocean floor.

Once you have your finds, the museum’s explorer guides will help in cleaning and identifying those finds at the Fossil Field Station.

“Using the past, we put the present into perspective and give all people tools to create future actions for good. Whether it’s the pure joy of digging and exploring for exciting possibilities or an awakening of a growing realization about our place in time and how great the gift of life is, we aim to be a remembered, loved, and inspirational agent for good,” the museum wrote on its website.

Best museum in America crowned by USA Today

So, now, I’ll bet you’re wondering what museum USA Today crowned as the best in the nation to visit in 2026, right?

Coming in as the best….

No. 1: National Medal of Honor Museum (Arlington, Texas)

“Through personal artifacts and heart-stopping simulations, this shrine to valor drops you into the split-second decisions that defined extraordinary courage. Rather than glorifying war, the National Medal of Honor Museum focuses on the human capacity for sacrifice, with quiet spaces for reflection between galleries that chronicle acts of heroism from the Battle of New Market Heights (1864) to the Medal of Honor Ceremony that symbolically marked the defeat of Nazi Germany,” USA Today wrote.

Here is the full list of USA Today’s 10BEST New Museums.

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