This hidden museum is packed with dinosaur bones, ancient artifacts, and giant minerals. It features free admission and is handicap accessible. Spend 2 hours here and your family won’t regret it. This would also be great wintertime day trip destination!
During a road trip, we stopped at this unassuming museum in New Haven, Connecticut. Drawn in by the promise of dinosaur bones, our kids were very happy for the pit stop. (The 5 year old aspiring paleontologist in me was pretty excited as well).
The Peabody Museum is situated on the edge of Yale University, located near the junction of I-95 and I-91. It also features free parking behind the museum, which takes a lot of stress out of this city adventure.
From the parking lot, walk to the easy to follow sidewalk marked with embedded dino tracks (little kids love this).
You will know you are at the museum entrance when you are greeted by a large sculpture of Torosaurus. It stands in front of a commanding building that looks like a church.
Once inside grab a map and choose your route. We had limited time and immediately headed to the first floor dinosaur and fossil wing.
The museum is larger than it looks. The ice age giant mastodon and saber tooth skeletons are extraordinary. We were impressed by the HUGE 10 foot wide antlers of an extinct giant Elk.
I really appreciated the unique 13 foot moa bird skeleton which I had never seen to scale before. The native New Zealand moa is now extinct, but looked like a giant ostrich. It truly demonstrates the link between dinosaurs and birds!
Next we headed to the masterpiece, a full scale brontosaurus skeleton (my favorite)!! It is the only long neck (sauropod) dinosaur skeleton I have seen in the northeast outside of the NYC Museum of Natural History. And this museum is so much easier to get to!
I spent a good 10-15 minutes studying the anatomy. There were interesting displays discussing new research in paleontology. They showed the more anatomically correct pose of the body and tail (no more saggy draggy tail)! Simply fascinating.
Not 10 steps away is a full scale stegosaurus. The easily identified back plates were an instant hit with the whole family. I was surprised by it’s small skull compared to the rest of the body.
I was delighted by the side by side skulls of torosaurus and triceratops. Even in the air above you will find skeletons (including pterodactyls). The whole floor is packed with specimens and we could have spent more hours there had time allowed.
But we were pressed for time and moved to the second floor.
I was shocked when I was greeted by original illustrations by Ramon y Cajal and Camillo Golgi. They shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1906 for their work in neuroscience. They are known for their systematic staining and diagrams of the intricacies of the nervous system. The forgotten neuroscientist within me was enthralled.
For the kids and aspiring archaeologists in all of us, there were impressive displays of ancient artifacts. Mesoamerica, the Middle East, and Egypt were especially highlighted. The Egyptian sarcophagus was probably the biggest draw. But I also appreciated the smaller items such as an ancient cooking recipe carved into stone.
There is also a noteworthy collection of recent human/technology displays. But we were short on time and will have to explore these on a future visit.
We saved the 3rd floor for last. It is filled with giant mineral specimens. Glittering specimens of gold and silver are eclipsed by the myriad of colorful mineral specimens. You’ll discover large hunks of amethyst, beryl, and tourmaline to name a few. A large crystal of tanzanite caught my eye with it’s distinct blue purple hue. Interesting fact, tanzanite is only found near Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and no where else on earth!
The third floor mineral collections were housed in calming, cool, and darkened rooms. A perfect mental break after the previous stimulation of floors 1 and 2. It worked out well for our family.
I enjoyed the Peabody Museum more than expected. It satisfied the aspiring paleontologist-archeologist-geologist-neuroscientist within me. We definitely plan to go back on our next extended road trip.
TIPS:
Yale Peabody Museum – Google Maps
Parking is across the street or behind the museum. See the map of the campus for details. We went late on a Saturday and didn’t even have to have our parking ticket validated.
There are clean bathrooms and lockers available on the first floor.
There are wide elevators which make the museum handicap accessible.
Keep the dinosaur theme going with Dinosaurs Before Dark book and the rest of the Magic Tree House series. These are perfect for boys and girls age 4-9, all my kids loved them. For slightly older kids (6-10) try The Merlin Missions. They are perfect gifts for birthdays as well. Most are also available on audio (perfect to play during the ride to the museum. (#ad)
End your trip with some authentic New Haven Pizza. A 2 min drive away is casual but delicious Modern Apizza, perfect for hungry kids.
Read about another often overlooked New England museum in my blog Discover Worcester: Art, Food, and Winter Fun.
Also within New England, Amherst College in western Massachusetts has a wonderful small natural history museum. It is packed with fossils and minerals. Stay tuned for a future blog on this!
Have you been to the Yale Peabody Museum? What was your favorite dinosaur?? Send me your tips at
Note: All images on this page are my own and cannot be reproduced in any way without permission from myself and the Peabody Museum.
Astray Fish 
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