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List of museums in Connecticut facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

This list of museums in Connecticut contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Non-profit and university art galleries are also included. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (i.e., virtual museums) are not included.

Inclusion in this list is generally for institutions with the name "museum" in the title. Some other institutions not included here are very like museums, and some "museums" here don't fit the typical definition of a place that shows exhibits. The Lockwood–Mathews Mansion Museum, for instance, is a historic mansion in which the "exhibit" is essentially the building itself. For Wikipedia links to institutions similar to museums in Connecticut, consult the "See also" section.

Museums

To use the sortable table, click on the icons at the top of each column to sort that column in alphabetical order; click again for reverse alphabetical order.

Name Town/city County Type Summary
Academy Hall Museum Rocky Hill Hartford Local Operated by the Rocky Hill Historical Society; local history, culture, maritime heritage, agriculture
Academy Museum Orange New Haven Local history website, operated by the Orange Historical Society
Adam Stanton House Clinton Middlesex Historic house website, 1791 house and store with 19th-century clothing, furnishings, documents, and store inventory all belonging to the original Stanton family
Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum Ridgefield Fairfield Art Contemporary art
Allis-Bushnell House Madison New Haven Historic house Operated by the Madison Historical Society, 17th-century house with period furniture, textiles, toys, costumes, and medical, nautical, and agricultural implements
Amasa Day House Museum Moodus Middlesex Historic house Owned by Connecticut Landmarks; open by appointment; 19th-century house
American Clock & Watch Museum Bristol Hartford Horology Focus is American-made clocks and watches
American Museum of Tort Law Winsted Litchfield Law A museum developed by Ralph Nader, focusing on topics of civil justice and aspects of the legal system that handle wrongful actions that result in injury. Facilities include a theater and exhibitions on famous precedent-setting legal cases
Andrews Homestead Meriden New Haven Historic house website, operated by the Meriden Historical Society, 18th-century house
Artspace New Haven New Haven Art Contemporary art gallery
Ashbel Woodward Museum Franklin New London Local Local history exhibits and an art gallery
Avery-Copp House Groton New London Historic house website, 19th-century house with Victorian period rooms, local history exhibits
Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Storrs Tolland Puppetry Part of University of Connecticut, includes hand puppets, marionettes, shadow puppets, memorabilia
Barker Character, Comic and Cartoon Museum Cheshire New Haven Media website, character toys & artifacts, comic strip, cartoon, western, T.V. and advertising memorabilia, celebrity rubber ducks
Barnes Museum Southington Hartford Historic house website, 19th-century house with furnishings reflecting three generations of ownership
Barnum Museum Bridgeport Fairfield Biographical A collection related to P. T. Barnum, his circus and the history of Bridgeport, Connecticut housed in a historic building on the National Register of Historic Places
Bates-Scofield Homestead Darien Fairfield Historic house website, operated by the Darien Historical Society, 18th-century period house
Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden Bethlehem Litchfield Historic house 18th-century house, owned by Connecticut Landmarks
Bellarmine Museum of Art Fairfield Fairfield Art Part of Fairfield University, collections include Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Celtic and Asian art and artifacts
Blue Slope Country Museum Franklin New London Farming website, working dairy farm, museum with historic farm tools, equipment and rural life artifacts
Boothe Memorial Park and Museum Stratford Fairfield Open-air The museum's collection of buildings includes a carriage house, Americana Museum, miniature lighthouse and windmill, a clocktower museum, trolley station, chapel, and blacksmith shop. The park also has the last remaining highway toll booth in Connecticut from the Merritt Parkway.
Brayton Grist Mill Pomfret Windham Mill Late 19th-century mill and blacksmithing tools and equipment, located by Mashamoquet Brook State Park, open by appointment with the Pomfret Historical Society
Brick School House Coventry Tolland Local Local history museum run by the Coventry Historical Society; a small brick building that functioned as a one-room school from 1825 to 1953. The only one-room schoolhouse open to the public in Connecticut.
Bristol Historical Society Museum Bristol Hartford Local Local history, industry and locally-made products, military collection of the Bristol Military Memorial Museum including uniforms, decorations, weapons, photographs and memorabilia
Brookfield Craft Center Brookfield Fairfield Craft School teaching skills of fine craftsmanship, associated exhibition gallery of crafts
Brookfield Museum Brookfield Fairfield Local website, local history, culture, operated by the Brookfield Historical Society
Brooklyn Historical Society Museum Brooklyn Windham Local website, local history, local American Revolutionary War hero General Israel Putnam, includes Daniel Putnam Tyler Law Office
Bruce Museum of Arts and Science Greenwich Fairfield Multiple Fine art, natural history, geology; town-run museum has art exhibits regularly reviewed in The New York Times, a section for children and a section set aside for natural history
Bryan-Andrew House Orange New Haven Historic house 18th-century house, operated by the Orange Historical Society
Buell Tool Museum Clinton Middlesex Technology website, early tools and machines, open by appointment with the Clinton Historical Society
Bush–Holley House Greenwich Fairfield Historic house This former boarding house, now run by the Greenwich Historical Society, was once used by artists in the Cos Cob Art Colony, holds examples of their work and regularly offers exhibits on art and local history
Burnham–Hibbard House Hampton Windham Historic house website, 19th-century house with historic furnishings and artifacts, operated by the Hampton Antiquarian and Historical Society, open twice a year
Butler-McCook House & Garden Hartford Hartford Historic house Owned by Connecticut Landmarks, late 18th-century house with furnishings and artifacts reflecting four generations of ownership
Buttolph–Williams House Wethersfield Hartford Historic house Owned by Connecticut Landmarks, operated by the Webb-Dean-Stevens Museum, late 17th-century period house
Canton Historical Museum Canton Hartford History website, 19th-century clothing, furniture, household items, kitchen and decorative items, a Victorian parlor, toys, tools, reconstructed 19th-century general store, post office, barber shop, and blacksmith shop
Captain David Judson House Stratford Fairfield Historic house Operated by the Stratford Historical Society, 18th-century period house
Captain Palmer House Stonington New London Historic house Mid-19th-century period Victorian mansion, operated by the Stonington Historical Society
Captain's Cove Seaport Bridgeport Fairfield Maritime website, Dundon House features exhibits on local maritime history and artifacts, oyster industry, open by appointment
Center for Contemporary Printmaking Norwalk Fairfield Art Changing exhibits of prints
Chaplin Museum Chaplin Windham Local 18th- and 19th-century family life
Chatham Historical Society Museum East Hampton Middlesex Local Local history, culture, one-room schoolhouse
Cheney Homestead and Keeney Schoolhouse Manchester Hartford Historic house website, operated by the Manchester Historical Society, late 18th-century house and replica one-room schoolhouse
Chester Museum at the Mill Chester Middlesex Local website, operated by the Chester Historical Society, local history, culture
Children's Museum West Hartford Hartford Children's Formerly known as The Science Center of Connecticut, children's exhibits with a science and nature focus
Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut Niantic New London Children's
Clinton Historical Society Museum Clinton Middlesex Local website, located in Andrews Memorial Town Hall, local history, culture, Native American origins, English colonization, transportation, business, and education
Colchester Historical Society Museum Colchester New London Local website, local history
Connecticut Air and Space Center Stratford Fairfield Aerospace Includes aircraft and helicopters
Connecticut Antique Machinery Association Museum Kent Litchfield Technology website, antique steam and diesel engines, farm equipment, tractors, locomotives, road construction and earth moving equipment, historic schoolhouse with natural history displays, blacksmith shop; also houses the Connecticut Museum of Mining and Mineral Science
Connecticut Audubon Society Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary Fairfield Fairfield Natural history The oldest private songbird sanctuary in the United States. The 6-acre (24,000 m2) site contains a natural history museum with mounted preserved animals displayed in dioramas and a collection of mounted African animals.
Connecticut Children's Museum New Haven New Haven Children's
Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum Willimantic Windham Railroad website, locomotives, rolling stock, vintage railroad buildings and a six-stall roundhouse
Connecticut Fire Museum East Windsor Hartford Firefighting Part of the Connecticut Trolley Museum, firefighting vehicles and apparatus
Connecticut Museum of Culture and History Hartford Hartford History Exhibits on Connecticut history and culture
Connecticut Museum of Mining and Mineral Science Kent Litchfield Industry website, part of Connecticut Antique Machinery Association Museum, state's mining industry, geology, mining equipment
Connecticut River Museum Essex Middlesex Maritime Maritime heritage of the Connecticut River Valley, shipbuilding
Connecticut Science Center Hartford Hartford Science
Connecticut State Museum of Natural History Storrs Tolland Natural Natural history and cultural history of Connecticut, part of the University of Connecticut
Connecticut Trolley Museum East Windsor Hartford Railroad Electric trolley cars, includes the Connecticut Fire Museum
CRRA Trash Museum Hartford Hartford Science Recycling and the environment
Contemporary Art Galleries at UConn Storrs Tolland Art Contemporary trends and issues in visual arts
Cornwall Historical Society Cornwall Litchfield History website, summer exhibits of local history
Cummings Art Galleries New London New London Art Part of the Cummings Art Center at Connecticut College
Cushing Center New Haven New Haven Library Formally the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, displays from its collections of rare books, medical history documents and artifacts
Custom House Maritime Museum New London New London Maritime Local maritime history, ship models, the ship La Amistad, customs, regional lighthouses, operated by the New London Maritime Society
Danbury Museum and Historical Society Danbury Fairfield Multiple Focusing on Danbury-area history, the museum has five buildings including the John Rider House, the Marian Anderson Studio and the Charles Ives birthplace.
Danbury Railway Museum Danbury Fairfield Railroad The museum has a railroad yard full of restored and unrestored railroad equipment, and the restored 1903 station house containing exhibits of photographs and railroad paraphernalia, model train layouts, an extensive reference library, and a gift shop. Visitors can take a 25-minute ride the "Rail Yard Local" on weekends in season.
Daniel Benton Homestead Tolland Tolland Historic house website, operated by the Tolland Historical Society, early 18th-century period house
Daniel Putnam Tyler Law Office Brooklyn Windham Historic house website, located at Brooklyn Historical Society Museum
Darling House Museum Woodbridge New Haven Historic house Run by the Amity and Woodbridge Historical Society, open by appointment and for special events, late 18th-century farmhouse and outbuildings
Davison Art Center Middletown Middlesex Art Part of Wesleyan University
D'Elia Antique Tool Museum Scotland Windham Technology website, located in the Scotland Public Library, collection of antique woodworking planes and tools
Deacon John Graves House Madison New Haven Historic house 1685 house used by seven generations of one family
Denison Homestead Mystic New London Historic house Early 18th-century house with rooms furnished to reflect different eras
Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center Mystic New London Natural history website, dioramas of different habitats, live animals
Derrin House Avon Hartford Historic house website, one of three properties owned by the Avon Historical Society, 18th-century farmhouse
Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum Rocky Hill Hartford Natural history Dinosaur tracks, models, dioramas, arboretum
Discovery Museum and Planetarium Bridgeport Fairfield Science Interactive science exhibits, high-definition movies and daily planetarium shows, Challenger Learning Center
Dudley Farm Guilford New Haven Farm website, late 19th-century restored farmhouse, barns, and grounds, tools and farm equipment
Earthplace Westport Fairfield Natural history Wildlife dioramas of seasons and ecosystems in Connecticut, interactive exhibits, live animals, wildlife sanctuary with trails
East Haddam Historical Society Museum East Haddam Middlesex Local website, local history, industry, costumes
Ebenezer Avery House Groton New London Historic house Located in Fort Griswold State Park, 18th-century period house
Edward Waldo House Scotland Windham Historic house Operated by the Scotland Historical Society, 18th-century period house, open by appointment and for special events
Elisha White House Clinton Middlesex Historic house website, mid-18th-century house known as "Old Brick", open by appointment with the Clinton Historical Society
Eli Whitney Museum Hamden New Haven Science Inventions and inventor Eli Whitney, toy maker A.C. Gilbert
Enoch Kelsey House Newington Hartford Historic house Operated by the Newington Historical Society, late 18th-century house
Fairfield Museum and History Center Fairfield Fairfield Local Local history, changing exhibits, a library and reading room, a family education center, and an 80-seat theater, founded by the Fairfield Historical Society
Falls Village-Canaan Historical Society Museum Falls Village Litchfield Local website, local history, industry
Fire Museum Manchester Hartford Firefighting website, horse-drawn and motorized firefighting vehicles and apparatus, equipment, memorabilia
Florence Griswold Museum Old Lyme New London Art Noted for its collection of American Impressionist paintings, collections include fine art, sculpture, works on paper, artist's studio material, toys and dolls, ceramics, furniture, textiles, decorative arts and historic artifacts
Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park Groton New London Military Restored 18th-century earthwork battery, cannons, shot furnace and powder magazine, includes the Monument House Museum with exhibits about the American Revolutionary War, and the 18th-century Ebenezer Avery House
Fort Trumbull State Park New London New London History Visitor center depicts over 225 years of military history and technological advances from the Revolutionary War to the Cold War
Gallery of Art at Sacred Heart University Fairfield Fairfield Art website
Gasoline Alley Automotive Museum Stafford Springs Tolland Automotive Collection of Ford memorabilia, open by appointment only
Gateway Museum at Nature's Art Village Montville New London History website, focuses on the past 200 years of America's progression in technology and tools, features period business and shop displays, agriculture equipment, steam engines, fire fighting equipment, print shop
Gay-Hoyt House Sharon Litchfield Local website, operated by the Sharon Historical Society, local history, American furniture and decorative arts, iron and iron-industry related artifacts
General David Humphreys House Ansonia New Haven Historic house Headquarters of the Derby Historical Society, home to America's first ambassador under George Washington, restored to mid-18th-century appearance
Gertrude Warner Boxcar Museum Putnam Windham Biographical website, artifacts and memorabilia of Gertrude Chandler Warner, author of The Boxcar Children series
Gillette Castle State Park East Haddam Middlesex Historic house Unusual early 20th-century "castle" home built by actor William Gillette, famous for his portrayals of Sherlock Holmes
Glass House New Canaan Fairfield Historic house Modern house designed and owned by architect Philip Johnson
Glebe House Woodbury Litchfield Historic house Mid-18th-century period farmhouse, and 20th-century English garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll
Governor Jonathan Trumbull House Lebanon New London Historic house Late 18th-century period house operated by the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution
Greater Middletown Military Museum Middletown Middlesex Military website, small display
Gridley-Parsons-Staples Homestead Farmington Hartford Local Operated by the Farmington Historical Society
Griswold Historical Society Museum Jewett City New London History Local history, located in the Slater Library, life in New England during the 18th and 19th centuries
Gunn Memorual Library and Museum Washington Litchfield Local website, local history
Gurleyville Grist Mill Mansfield Tolland Mill website, 19th-century grist mill, operated by Joshua's Trust, adjacent miller's house was the birthplace of Governor Wilbur L. Cross
Haddam Shad Museum Higganum Middlesex Industry website, museum about the heritage of shad fishing on the Connecticut River, CT State Kids review
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Hartford Hartford Historic house Victorian home of author Harriet Beecher Stowe
Haul of Fame Trucking Museum Canterbury Windham History information, historic truck collection
Hempsted Houses New London New London Historic house Owned by Connecticut Landmarks, includes the 1678 Joshua Hempsted House and the 1759 Nathaniel Hempsted House
Henry Whitfield State Museum Guilford New Haven Historic house Originally a fortress for the community, this oldest house in Connecticut and oldest stone house in New England has three floors filled with 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century furnishings, along with an introductory exhibit on the house's history; there are changing exhibits in two galleries.
Hezekiah Chaffee House Windsor Hartford Historic house Mid-18th-century Georgian colonial house and doctor's office
Hicks-Stearns Family Museum Tolland Tolland Historic house website, 19th-century house reflecting three generations of owners up to the Victorian era
Hill-Stead Museum Farmington Hartford Art Known for its French Impressionist masterpieces, architecture, and stately grounds
Hill's Academy Essex Middlesex Local history Operated by the Essex Historical Society
Historical Houses at Martin Park East Hartford Hartford Historic house Run by East Hartford Historical Society, includes the late 18th-century Makens Bemont House, mid-19th-century Goodwin Schoolhouse, and late 19th-century Burnham Blacksmith Shop
Hitchcock-Phillips House Cheshire New Haven Historic house website, run by Cheshire Historical Society
Hotchkiss-Fyler House Museum Torrington Litchfield Historic house Operated by the Torrington Historical Society, collections include glass, porcelain, early American paintings
Hotchkiss House Museum Prospect New Haven Local history website, operated by the Prospect Historical Society
Housatonic Museum of Art Bridgeport Fairfield Art Part of Housatonic Community College, includes works by Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, Miró and Chagall. Much of the collection is displayed throughout the college.
Hoyt-Barnum House Stamford Fairfield Historic house Open by appointment with the Stamford Historical Society, 1699 house with 17th- and 18th-century furnishings
Huntington Homestead Scotland Windham Historic house 18th-century boyhood home of Governor Samuel Huntington
Husky Heritage Sports Museum Storrs Tolland Sports History and memorabilia of UConn Husky athletics
Hyland House Guilford New Haven History Living museum of colonial life and architecture
Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum Hamden New Haven Art Art related to the Irish Great Hunger of 1845–1852
Imagine Nation Museum Bristol Hartford Children's website, hands-on, interactive children's museum for ages 2 to 10
Institute For American Indian Studies Washington Litchfield Native American History and culture of Connecticut's Native American peoples
Isham-Terry House Hartford Hartford Historic house Owned by Connecticut Landmarks, late 19th-century house and doctor's office
Jabez Smith House Groton New London Historic house 18th-century house with 18th- and 19th-century antiques
James Morris Museum Morris Litchfield History Located in Morris Town Hall, also Aline Brothier Morris Reading Room, contains James Morris III family archives and heirlooms, local history displays, reference library
Jillson House Museum Windham Windham Historic house Operated by the Windham Historical Society, 18th-century house with collections of household items, quilts, toys, dolls,
John Bishop House & Museum Lisbon New London Historic house Early 19th-century house, operated by the Lisbon Historical Society
Joseloff Gallery West Hartford Hartford Art website, contemporary art gallery of the Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford, located in the Harry Jack Gray Center
Joseph N. Goff House Museum and Cultural Center East Hampton Middlesex Local website, local history, houses artifacts and memorabilia of Connecticut's 84th Governor, William O'Neill
Keeler Tavern Museum Ridgefield Fairfield History 18th-century tavern with furnishings, artifacts and costumed guides
Kellogg-Eddy House Newington Hartford Historic house Run by Newington Historical Society, early 19th-century Georgian-style house
Kidcity Children's Museum Middletown Middlesex Children's website, interactive exhibits for ages one to eight
King House Museum Suffield Hartford Historic house website, run by Suffield Historical Society, mid-18th-century house with collection of early Connecticut Valley furniture, local history artifacts
Killingly Historical Center Danielson Windham Local website, local history
Knights of Columbus Museum New Haven New Haven Religious website, art and historic artifacts about the heritage of Catholicism and the Knights of Columbus
Lebanon Historical Society Museum Lebanon New London Local website, local history, also operates Dr. William Beaumont House
Lee's Academy Madison New Haven Education website, operated by the Madison Historical Society, early 19th-century schoolhouse used for lectures and special exhibits
Leffingwell House Museum Norwich New London Historic house website, early 18th-century period home of Revolutionary patriot, merchant, and industrialist Christopher Leffingwell
Lewis Walpole Library Farmington Hartford Art Department of the Yale University Library, changing exhibits of art from its collections, also life of author Horace Walpole
Litchfield History Museum Litchfield Litchfield Local website, operated by the Litchfield Historical Society, local history, collections of furniture, paintings, textiles, toys, ceramics, trade signs, and other fine and decorative arts
Lock Museum of America Terryville Litchfield History Its eight display rooms hold the largest collection of colonial and antique locks in the United States, including rooms devoted to bank locks and Yale locks. See also Timex Museum in Waterbury
Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Norwalk Fairfield Historic house A 62-room Second Empire-style mansion on both the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmark lists
Luddy/Taylor Connecticut Valley Tobacco Museum Windsor Hartford Agriculture Tobacco curing barn with exhibits of early and modern equipment used to grow the crop, and a year-round facility with exhibits of photographs, writings, and other documents
Lutz Children's Museum Manchester Hartford Children's
Lyman Allyn Art Museum New London New London Art Permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, furniture and decorative arts; emphasis is on American art from the 18th to 20th centuries
Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts Old Lyme New London Art Features exhibitions of professional, alumni and student art
MacDonough Gallery of Albertus Magnus College New Haven New Haven Art
Manchester History Center Manchester Hartford Local website, local history, silk and textile industry, operated by the Manchester Historical Society
Mansfield Historical Society Museum Mansfield Tolland Local website, local history, culture
Mark Twain House and Museum Hartford Hartford Historic house Gilded Age home of author Mark Twain
Martha A. Parsons House Museum Enfield Hartford Historic house website, operated by the Enfield Historical Society, late 18th-century house with furnishings from over 180 years of ownership
Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center Mashantucket New London Native American History and culture of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and the Pequot, area natural history
Matthew Curtiss House Newtown Fairfield Historic house website, operated by the Newtown Historical Society, 18th-century Colonial saltbox house
Mattatuck Museum Waterbury New Haven Multiple Regional history and Connecticut art. Artists in the collection include John Trumbull, Erastus Salisbury Field, Frederic Church, John Frederick Kensett, Arshile Gorky, Kay Sage, Yves Tanguy, Peter Poskas, Abe Ajay and Alexander Calder. Waterbury Button Museum is a collection of about 10,000 buttons from all over the world, including some from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Merritt Parkway Museum Stratford Fairfield Transportation website, history of the design and construction of the Merritt Parkway
Middlebury Historical Society Museum Middlebury New Haven Local website, local history
Middlesex County Historical Society Museum Middletown Middlesex Local website, located in General Mansfield House, local history and culture
Middletown Sports Hall of Fame and Museum Middletown Middlesex Hall of fame - sports website, town's sports figures
Milford Historical Museum Milford New Haven Historic homes website, operated by the Milford Historical Society, Colonial homes open for tour that date to 18th century. The Eells-Stow House is one of the oldest homes in Connecticut.
Mill Hill Historic Park Norwalk Fairfield Open-air Three buildings: 1835 Norwalk Town House, circa 1740 Governor Fitch law office and the Downtown District Schoolhouse, circa 1826, operated by the Norwalk Historical Society
Millstone Energy Education Center Waterford New London Science Located at the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant, exhibits about nuclear energy and Long Island Sound, now only scheduled tours by school groups, Millstone's Energy Education Programs
Monte Cristo Cottage New London New London Historic house Summer home of American playwright Eugene O'Neill
Museum of Andover History Andover Tolland Local website, local history, historic household items, located in the Old Town Hall
Museum of Connecticut Glass Coventry Tolland Industry - glass website, historical glass made in the numerous glassworks of Connecticut, open by request and for special events
Museum of Connecticut History Hartford Hartford History Located at Connecticut State Library, Connecticut's government, industrial and military history
Museum of Fife & Drum Ivoryton Middlesex Music website, operated by the Company of Fifers & Drummers, includes drums, fifes, military swords, music, uniforms, medals
Museum of Jewish Civilization West Hartford Hartford Ethnic - Jewish website, located inside the Mortensen Library in the Harry Jack Gray Center at the University of Hartford, exhibits of Jewish art, history and culture
Museum on the Green Glastonbury Hartford Local website, local history, operated by the Historical Society of Glastonbury
Mystic Museum of Art Mystic New London Local website, art museum, non-profit operated by Mystic Art Association. Galleries, exhibitions, studio courses, education outreach, wedding events
Mystic Seaport Mystic New London Maritime Living history museum focusing on 19th-century maritime industries, including whaling; with period ships and buildings
Nathan Hale Homestead Coventry Tolland Historic house Operated by Connecticut Landmarks, 18th home of the family of American Revolutionary War spy Nathan Hale
Nathan Lester House Ledyard New London Historic house 18th-century farmhouse and outbuildings
Nathaniel Backus House Norwich New London Historic house Operated by the Faith Trumbull Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, open for events along with adjacent Perkins-Rockwell House
National Helicopter Museum Stratford Fairfield Aviation Housed in the eastbound building of the Stratford railroad station, the museum exhibits images and objects related to the history of the aviation and helicopter industry in Stratford, the home of Sikorsky Aircraft.
Naugatuck Historical Society Museum Naugatuck New Haven Local website, local history, located in a former train station
Nellie E. McKnight Museum Ellington Tolland Historic house Built in 1812 in the Federalist style; home of the Ellington Historical Society
New Britain Industrial Museum New Britain Hartford Industry website, locally-made tools and hardware from Stanley Works, Fafnir bearings, Landers, Frary & Clark, American Hardware Corporation, Acme Monaco Corporation and North & Judd
New Britain Museum of American Art New Britain Hartford Art American art
New Britain Youth Museums New Britain Hartford Children's website, two facilities in New Britain: 30 High Street and Hungerford Park.
New Canaan Historical Society Museums New Canaan Fairfield Open-air website, includes Town House, John Rogers Studio, Rock School, Tool Museum and Hanford-Silliman House
New England Air Museum Windsor Locks Hartford Aviation Exhibits on the history of Sikorsky Aircraft, early French aviation, including the Lafayette Escadrille, a history of air mail, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Flying Mollisons and the 58th Bomb Wing Memorial
New England Carousel Museum Bristol Hartford Art website, antique carousel animals
New England Civil War Museum Rockville Tolland Military Large collection of Civil War items; archives relating to the Grand Army of the Republic.
New Haven Museum and Historical Society New Haven New Haven Local Local history and culture, fine and decorative arts
New Milford Historical Society and Museum New Milford Litchfield Local website, local history, 18th-century cooking hearth, antique toys,
Noah Webster House West Hartford Hartford Historic house Operated by the West Hartford Historical Society, 18th-century home of American lexicographer Noah Webster
Noden-Reed Park Museum Windsor Locks Hartford Local info, operated by the Windsor Locks Historical Society, Victorian farmhouse with local history displays
Northeast States Civilian Conservation Corps Museum Stafford Springs Tolland History History and memorabilia of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Northeast, located in Shenipsit State Forest
Northrop House Museum Sherman Fairfield Historic house website, early 19th-century house and barn, operated by the Sherman Historical Society, open by appointment
Northwest Park Nature Center Windsor Hartford Natural history Live animals, natural history displays, nature education programs
Norwalk Historical Society Museum Norwalk Fairfield Local history website
Ogden House and Gardens Fairfield Fairfield Historic house Owned by Fairfield Museum and History Center, 18th-century period farmhouse
Old Bethlehem Historical Society Museum Bethlehem Litchfield History website, local history, open by appointment
Old Lighthouse Museum Stonington New London Local Local history and maritime displays in a historic lighthouse, operated by the Stonington Historical Society
Old Manchester Museum Manchester Hartford Local website, operated by the Manchester Historical Society, local history, culture, industry, mid-1800s dresses and furniture, school display, pharmacy and medicine exhibit, Manchester Sports Hall of Fame, Spencer and Springfield Rifle exhibits, household items
Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine East Granby Hartford Prison 18th-century prison
Old State House, Joseph Steward Museum of Oddities and Curiosities Hartford Hartford Multiple Original state capitol, exhibits of Connecticut and Hartford history, also houses a recreation of a museum of unusual natural history specimens
Old Stone Schoolhouse Farmington Hartford Education website, one-room schoolhouse, operated by the Farmington Historical Society
Old Store Museum Sherman Fairfield Local website, 19th-century period store display, exhibits of local history and art, operated by the Sherman Historical Society
Old Tolland County Courthouse Tolland Tolland Jail museum 19th-century county courthouse, operated by the Tolland Historical Society
Old Tolland County Jail and Museum Tolland Tolland Jail museum 19th-century county jail and jailer's house with local history displays, operated by the Tolland Historical Society
Old Town Hall Museum Enfield Hartford Local website, operated by the Enfield Historical Society, late 18th-century town hall with exhibits of local history
Oliver Ellsworth Homestead Windsor Hartford Historic house Operated by the CT DAR, 18th-century period house of Oliver Ellsworth
Osborne Homestead Museum Derby New Haven Historic house Estate house with collection of antiques and fine art
Paier College of Art Hamden New Haven Art Student art exhibits
Pardee Morris House New Haven New Haven Historic house 18th-century period house, operated by the New Haven Museum and Historical Society
Peabody Museum of Natural History New Haven New Haven Natural history Part of Yale University, exhibits include dinosaurs, human and mammal evolution, wildlife dioramas, Egyptian artifacts, and the birds, minerals and Native Americans of Connecticut
Peoples State Forest Nature Museum Barkhamsted Litchfield Natural history Located in Peoples State Forest, area plants, animals, pioneers, Native American, forestry, quarrying
Phelps-Hatheway House Suffield Hartford Historic house website, owned by Connecticut Landmarks, 18th-century house with period Connecticut furniture, formal garden
Phelps Tavern Museum Simsbury Hartford Historic tavern Late 18th- to early 19th-century tavern, operated by the Simsbury Historical Society
Pine Grove Schoolhouse Avon Hartford Education website, one of three properties owned by the Avon Historical Society, early 20th-century period schoolhouse
Plainville Historic Center Plainville Hartford History website, operated by the Plainville Historical Society, local history, agriculture, Farmington Canal, toys, turn-of-the-century kitchen, Victorian parlor, tools, Native American artifacts, minerals
Pleasant Valley Schoolhouse Museum South Windsor Hartford Education Operated by South Windsor Historical Society, one-room schoolhouse
Portersville Academy Mystic New London Education website, owned by Mystic River Historical Society, 1840s period schoolroom
Pratt House Essex Middlesex Historic house Operated by the Essex Historical Society, 18th-century house
Prudence Crandall Museum Canterbury Windham History Exhibits on Prudence Crandall, women's history and local history; located in Crandall's home on the Canterbury Green
Putnam Cottage Greenwich Fairfield Historic house Revolutionary War period tavern
Putnam Elms Brooklyn Windham Historic house website, 18th-century home
Putnam Memorial State Park Museum Redding Fairfield History Exhibits depict Colonial life, artifacts from the camp site and reconstructed buildings
Railroad Museum of New England Thomaston Litchfield Railroad Heritage railroad and museum
Real Art Ways Hartford Hartford Art Non-profit contemporary arts organization, several art galleries, programs in visual arts, live arts, film and video
Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts Fairfield Fairfield Art Part of Fairfield University, includes the Thomas J. Walsh, Jr. Art Gallery
Rogers Studio and Museum New Canaan Fairfield Historic artist's studio Built in 1878 by John Rogers, called "the people's sculptor" in the latter 19th century, the studio houses a collection of Rogers' groups of plaster statuary; the display area has been reconfigured to reflect the feeling of the artist's studio; operated by the New Canaan Historical Society.
Roseland Cottage Woodstock Windham Historic house Operated by Historic New England, mid-19th-century Gothic Revival cottage visited by three U.S. presidents
Ruth Callander House Museum of Portland History Portland Middlesex History website, operated by the Portland Historical Society
Salem Historical Society and Museum Salem New London History information, local history, open seasonally
Savin Rock Museum West Haven New Haven History website, local history
Sawmill Park Mill Museum Ledyard New London Historic site Reconstructed 19th-century water-powered up and down sawmill, owned by the town and administered by the Ledyard Historic District Commission
Scantic Academy Museum East Windsor Hartford Education Historic schoolhouse
Schelfhaudt Gallery at the University of Bridgeport Bridgeport Fairfield Art Part of the Arnold Bernhard Center
Schoolhouse #3 Avon Hartford Local website, one of three properties owned by the Avon Historical Society, former schoolhouse with local history displays, open by appointment
Seth-Thomas Bradstreet House Thomaston Litchfield Historic house information, owned by Seth Thomas (clockmaker)
Seton Gallery of the University of New Haven New Haven New Haven Art
Seven Hearths Kent Litchfield History website, operated by the Kent Historical Society
Shaw Mansion Museum New London New London Historic house Operated by the New London Historical Society
Sheffield Island Lighthouse Norwalk Fairfield Lighthouse Operated by the Norwalk Seaport Association, accessible by boat
Shelton History Center Shelton Fairfield History website, operated by the Shelton Historical Society
Shore Line Trolley Museum East Haven New Haven Railroad
Silpe Gallery West Hartford Hartford Art website, showcase for student work of the Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford
Solomon Goffe House Meridenb New Haven Historic house 18th-century period house
Stony Creek Museum Branford New Haven History website, history, culture and community of Stony Creek, the Stony Creek Quarry and the Thimble Islands
Slater Memorial Museum and Converse Art Gallery at Norwich Free Academy Norwich New London Art The museum's collection includes "contemporary Connecticut crafts, 17th- to 19th-century European paintings and decorative arts, African and Oceanic sculpture, Native American objects, and a plaster cast collection of Egyptian, Archaic, Greek, Roman and Renaissance sculpture, and the adjacent Converse Art Gallery.
Sloane-Stanley Museum Kent Litchfield History Studio and antique collections of Eric Sloane
Smith–Harris House East Lyme New London Historic house 19th-century period house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Thomas Avery House, c. 1845
Solomon Rockwell House Winchester Litchfield Multiple Home to the Winchester Historical Society
Somers Historical Society Museum Somers Tolland History website
Sono Switchtower Museum Norwalk Fairfield Railroad The tiny museum exhibits the railroad switch tower in South Norwalk, where tracks were physically switched at the intersection of the Danbury Branch and the New Haven Line. Original equipment is supplemented by some photographs and demonstrations by docents website
Southington Historical Society Southington Hartford Local history Includes photos, area sports and school mementos, industry and business items, military artifacts
Stafford Historical Society Museum Stafford Springs Tolland History website
Stamford Museum and Nature Center Stamford Fairfield Multiple Includes farm with animals, nature center, museum with natural history, art and Native American displays, an observatory and planetarium
Stanley-Whitman House Farmington Hartford Historic house 17th-century house with furnishings and artifacts from the 17th to 19th century
Stanton-Davis Homestead Museum Pawcatuck New London Historic house Planned museum of a restored 17th-century homestead
Stepping Stones Museum for Children Norwalk Fairfield Children's
Stevens-Frisbie House Cromwell Middlesex Local history website, home to Cromwell Historical Society
Stone House Deep River Middlesex Historic house website, operated by the Deep River Historical Society
Swain-Harrison House Branford New Haven Historic house Operated by the Branford Historical Society, 18th-century period house
Stone-Otis House Orange New Haven Historic house website, operated by the Orange Historical Society, mid 19th-century house
Strong-Porter Museum Coventry Tolland Local history Operated by the Coventry Historical Society
Strong-Howard House Windsor Hartford Historic house website, known for many years as the Lt. Walter Fyler House, operated by the Windsor Historical Society
Tapping Reeve House and Law School Litchfield Litchfield Education Also known as Litchfield Law School, 19th-century school
Thankful Arnold House Museum Haddam Middlesex Historic house website, owned by Haddam Historical Society
The Dinosaur Place at Nature's Art Village Montville New London Natural History 60 acre outdoor Dinosaur park with over 40 life-sized dinosaurs.
Thomas Griswold House Museum Guilford New Haven Historic house Operated by the Guilford Keeping Society, includes the late 18th-century period New England saltbox house, a blacksmith shop, barn with farm tools and implements, two corn cribs and a Victorian era three seat outhouse
Thomas Lee House and Museum East Lyme New London Historic house 17th-century period house, operated by the East Lyme Historical Society
Thomaston Historical Society Museum Thomaston Litchfield History information, open by appointment only
Thompson Historical Society Museum Thompson Windham History website, also known as the Ellen Larned Memorial Building and Museum
Tool Museum New Canaan Fairfield History / Commodity - tools Tiny museum displays tools use by cabinetmakers, wheelwrights, tanners, shoemakers, coopers, builders and others. A separate room re-creates a 19th-century printing office. website
Torrington History Museum Torrington Litchfield Local website, operated by the Torrington Historical Society
Tourtelotte Memorial Room Thompson Windham History info, located in Tourtelotte Memorial High School
Trumbull Historical Society Museum Trumbull Fairfield Historic house website, 19th-century historical building with displays and programs dedicated to Trumbull history
Trumbull War Office Lebanon New London Historic house Owned by the Sons of the American Revolution, 18th-century building used by Jonathan Trumbull for convening the Council of Safety during the American Revolution
Unionville Museum Unionville Hartford Local website, local history
University of Saint Joseph Art Gallery West Hartford Hartford Art Features a collection of over 2000 pieces including 20th-century American paintings, and European and American prints from the 15th century to the present
U.S. Coast Guard Museum New London New London Maritime History of the U.S. Coast Guard
U.S Military Museum Danbury Fairfield Military website, houses over 10,000 artifacts covering all of the armed services of the United States. Outdoor exhibits include tanks, cars, trucks and guns. Formerly the Military Museum of Southern New England.
U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum and Library Groton New London Maritime Includes the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) submarine, a museum ship
Vernon Historical Society Museum Vernon Tolland History website, located in the former Vernon Grange building
Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut Windsor Hartford Technology Collection of technology related to vintage communications: radio, television, tubes, video, telephones; website
Wadsworth Atheneum Hartford Hartford Art
Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill Middletown Middlesex Historic house Early 20th-century mansion and estate
Wallop School Museum Enfield Hartford Education website, operated by Enfield Historical Society, late 18th-century one-room schoolhouse restored to appear as for it last use in 1947
Ward-Heitman House West Haven New Haven Historic house website, period rooms show the lives of the families at various times in the history of the house, from colonial through post-Civil War
Warren's Occult Museum Monroe Fairfield History website, open for tours and special events; features historic, obscure and "haunted" objects related to the occult
Waterford Historical Society Museums Waterford New London Open-air Historic buildings on the green including 1740 Jordan Schoolhouse, Margaret W. Stacey Memorial Barn/Museum, 1838 Beebe-Phillips House, Jordan Park House, corn crib, blacksmith shop, operated by the Waterford Historical Society
Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum Wethersfield Hartford Historic house Operated by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, sites include the Joseph Webb House, Silas Deane House, Isaac Stevens House and the Buttolph-Williams House
Weir Farm National Historic Site Wilton Fairfield Art Historic house and studio of artist J. Alden Weir, also changing art and history exhibits
Welles-Shipman-Ward House Glastonbury Hartford Historic house Operated by the Historical Society of Glastonbury, 18th-century mansion house
Wethersfield Museum Wethersfield Hartford History website, operated by the Wethersfield Historical Society at the Keeney Memorial Cultural Center, also weekend tours of the Hurlbut-Dunham House and Cove Warehouse, a maritime museum on Wethersfield Cove, and Captain James Francis House, open by appointment
Wheeler House Westport Fairfield Local history Operated by the Westport Historical Society, Victorian period house with changing exhibits of local history and art, also Museum of Westport History
White Memorial Conservation Center Litchfield Litchfield Natural history Natural history museum, trails
Widener Gallery at the Austin Arts Center Hartford Hartford Art Part of Trinity College
William Benton Museum of Art Storrs Tolland Art Part of the University of Connecticut
Wilton Heritage Museum Wilton Fairfield History website, operated by the Wilton Historical Society, includes the 18th-century Sloan-Raymond-Fitch House and Betts-Sturges-Blackmar House with period rooms that reflect home life, the economy, furniture and decorations from 1740 to 1910
Windham Textile and History Museum Willimantic Windham History Its main focus is the American Thread Company's now-closed Willimantic mill
Windsor Historical Society Museum Windsor Hartford History website
Witch's Dungeon Classic Movie Museum Bristol Hartford History
Wolcott Historical Society Museum Wolcott New Haven History website
Wood Memorial Library South Windsor Hartford Multiple website, collections of Native American artifacts, mounted birds, 18th-century furniture, paintings, quilts
Woodstock Historical Society Museum Woodstock Windham History website
Yale Center for British Art New Haven New Haven Art
Yale University Art Gallery New Haven New Haven Art
Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments New Haven New Haven Music Musical instruments
Pequot Library Southport Fairfield Special Collections

Defunct museums

  • Bristol Military Memorial Museum, Bristol - collections now at the Bristol Historical Society
  • Burndy Library - formerly in Norwalk, collection is now in The Huntington Library in San Marino, California and in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
  • Children's Garbage Museum, Stratford - closed in 2011
  • Connecticut Cellar Savers Fire Museum, Portland
  • Connecticut Sports Museum & Hall of Fame - formerly located in the Hartford Civic Center, 2nd floor
  • Day-Lewis Museum of Indian Artifacts, Farmington - owned by Yale University, formerly operated by the Farmington Historical Society, collection of Tunxis artifacts found on the grounds of the Lewis Walpole Library, closed in 2005
  • Dequaine Museums, Meriden - included National Shaving & Barbershop Museum, Frank Chiarenza Museum of Glass, Rosa Ponselle Museum,
  • Edward E. King Museum, East Hartford, information, collection of aviation and tobacco memorabilia, now spread throughout the East Hartford Public Library but not as a separate museum
  • Farm Implement Museum, Bloomfield - was dedicated to the history of farming in New England and displayed farm tools dating from the 1790s
  • Golden Age of Trucking Museum, Middlebury- antique trucks, carriages and collectibles, closed July, 2010; website
  • Hartford Police Museum, Hartford - formerly located at 101 Pearl Street, confirmed closed by phone 2/12/08
  • Hitchcock Museum, Riverton - collection of furnishings from the Hitchcock Chair Company, closed in 2003
  • Holley-Williams House Museum, Lakeville - previously operated by the Salisbury Association, sold to private owner
  • Horse Guard Cavalry Museum, Avon - museum is now just a case with uniforms
  • Huntington House Museum, Windsor, closed in 2005, now private
  • Kerosene Lamp Museum, Winchester
  • Menczer Museum of Medicine and Dentistry, Hartford - operated by the Hartford Medical Society, closed in 2008, collections now at area hospitals and Tunxis Community College
  • Museum of American Political Life, West Hartford - collection of political campaign memorabilia, formerly in the Harry Jack Gray Center at University of Hartford, closed in 2003
  • National Purple Heart Museum, Enfield - proposed museum, never completed
  • Nehemiah Royce House, Wallingford - now private
  • Neil's American Dream Museum, West Hartford New York Times, "WEST HARTFORD JOURNAL; A Museum Enshrines a Simpler Era's Dreams", January 21, 1993
  • New England Center for the Contemporary Arts, Brooklyn
  • New England Muscle Bicycle Museum, Bloomfield
  • Norwalk Museum, Norwalk - closed in 2012
  • Nut Museum, Old Lyme
  • Photomobile Model Museum, Woodstock - solar electric small-scale car, boat, plane, train and maglev vehicles
  • Salisbury Cannon Museum, Lakeville - currently closed; Salisbury Cannon Museum website
  • Skitch Henderson Museum, New Milford, formerly part of Hunt Hill Farm
  • Somers Mountain Museum, Somers - collection of Native American and early settler tools
  • Submarine Library and Museum, Middletown - closed in 2003, collection now in St. Marys Submarine Museum, St. Marys, Georgia
  • Timexpo Museum, Waterbury, closed in 2015

See also

  • Aquaria: Category:Aquaria in Connecticut
  • Botanical gardens: Category:Botanical gardens in Connecticut
  • Historical societies: List of historical societies#Connecticut
  • Libraries: Category:Libraries in Connecticut
  • Nature centers: List of nature centers in Connecticut
  • Observatories: Category:Astronomical observatories in Connecticut
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