This is another one of those places I've passed by probably a thousand times and never gave a…read moresecond thought to. But, on this nice holiday I finally stopped by. Tours end in October, which was nice as had the place to myself and could freely roam about. It's a nice place. Couple walking trails, nice waterfront view, and obviously the historical grounds. Would probably be nicer to visit in the summer, but then you have to deal with the crowds. Well worth a trip if for nothing else than the walking trails and the historical aspects.

Always learning something new at the MPMRC! Came in for "The Art of Storytelling" which was a great…read moreexperience with one of the amazing educators as she told two stories at the gathering place. Once finished had plenty of time to view the exhibits, watch the educational movies and explore the museum in its entirety. If you are ever in the area, ensure to stop in for a visit!

The Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center is a Native American culture museum that opened in…read moreMashantucket, Connecticut in August 1998. It was founded by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. Federally recognized since 1983, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation consists of descendents of the Pequot Native Americans who have historical roots in the state of Connecticut. They historically spoke Pequot, a dialect of the Mohegan-Pequot language, which became extinct by the early 20th century. The tribal nation currently consists of more than 1,100 members, with about 200 of them residing on their reservation in Ledyard. The museum focuses on the history of the Pequots and other Native American peoples of eastern North America. The Mashantucket Pequot tribal nation also owns and operates the nearby Foxwoods Resort Casino: one of the largest casinos in the world. The 308,000-square-foot museum facility was built at a cost of $193.4 million, largely funded by casino revenues. My family and I recently visited the Pequot Museum during the long Thanksgiving weekend. I've visited the museum a number of times since it first opened, but this was the first visit for my two young sons. Since Thanksgiving occurred a couple of days before, my wife and I felt it was important to show our sons an accurate portrayal of Indigenous Americans (and their treatment) as opposed to the ones in the "fairy tale" narratives of the First Thanksgiving or Columbus' arrival in the Americas. The museum features some excellent interactive exhibits and life-size three-dimensional dioramas which showcase the culture of the Pequots and other Algonquian peoples from the Pre-Columbian era right up to the present day. Highlights for us included the "Pequot Village", "Life in a Cold Climate", and a 185-ft observation tower where visitors can get an excellent view of the entire Mashantucket Pequot reservation (including the casino). My family and I feel that the history and culture of our local indigenous peoples should be preserved and embraced, and this museum truly does a great job at doing that. We all highly recommend a visit to this museum!

A great spot. $2 for general admission, $5 if you want to see the planetarium show too. Even with…read moreits small size you can't go wrong with those prices. As I said it is on the small side, in a hurry you could do the musuem in 15 minutes, and even taking your time it could be done in half an hour. There are plenty of displays, but not much in terms of factual information compared to other musuems. Check this place out, even if its not your thing for the price you can't go wrong.

Only 2 handicap parking spots and the entrance had steps where the door opens towards you are you…read moreare trying to come in. $2 admission is not bad and staff are friendly. So if you need an ADA parking spot, show up early and there's one in each of the parking lots adjacent to the building.

An interesting spot to cool your heels, browse a few exhibits about sharks and shark biology, and…read moreadmire the extensive collection of Jaws memorabilia. Sadly, there are no living sharks in the Living Shark Museum, but you'll see plenty of shark models, shark teeth and (yes) jaws, shark egg cases, South Sea weapons made with shark teeth, and lots of Jaws movie stuff. It's a small place, only 3 exhibit rooms on the second floor off of High St and won't take long to peruse (but long enough to cool off in the summer or warm up in the winter). Plus, it's absolutely free of charge!

So cute! The man working was super kind. Three rooms and definitely museum... but nothing living!…read more One room is all Jaws stuff, one is history of shark stuff like shark in food and tools, and other room my favorite - was all the skeletons and jaws! Sooo neat to see all the rows of teeth! A touch screen monitor to see where the tagged sharks are. Little specimens in jars! Definitely an adult trip - but it's free and if you are in the area stop in!

well priced, several floors of artifacts, amazing shipwreck items and settler items from people…read morethat lived here centuries ago, staff is nice, and great campus

Super cool and interesting museum. Admission is expensive but worth the price. They are doing a…read morecool exhibit on jaws right now. The other floors about the history of the island are really education and interesting. Would highly recommend this activity on the island.

Came here tonight (8:30) because we had a visitor from Hawaii staying with us for a couple of…read moreweeks. Thought this would make an interesting outing. I have been here a few times before but never on a night that had an event planned. I was expecting to see some of the Perseid meteor showers but instead we were informed by the volunteer in front that there was a special event in the observatory's theater. A spokesperson from NASA was here with a presentation about the James Webb Space Telescope. The asking donation price was $5. I'm happy to give that! It was standing room only by the time my group got in. The presentation was so informative. I learned a lot of things. Like how they were able to origami fold the tennis court sized telescope into a space shuttle only to unfold in space while still traveling tens of thousands of miles per hour. All of the mirrors can move and auto correct themselves to adjust to what they're focusing on. Also what was amazing was that they used really thin layers of Mylar like material and the air passing through each of these layers was able to change the temperature from about 240°c to -130°c We were each able to try out an infrared gun on our hands (covered by a tarp) to see that the infrared gun could see through and our hands would be visible. After the presentation we were able to grab some NASA swag and I was totally geeking out. My son only took 1 small sticker. It was dark in there and I just grabbed a handful. Don't worry! He said that he had more for everyone if the table ran out so I didn't leave any one empty handed. After the presentation we headed back to the observatory. The telescope was pointed at a binary star system. I don't remember the name. We were lucky to see anything because the sky had a thin veil of clouds. While still in the park- driving home- the full moon was so glorious. With thin ribbons of clouds swirling around it- it looked like a sunrise. But more mysterious. Almost monochrome. I would have definitely snapped a pic if I weren't driving. I plan on coming here a lot more. This is such a gem! I recommend coming to Ninigret during the day so you can learn to navigate to the observatory easier. It is pitch black. They also ask that once you make it into the park that you turn off your head lights and only drive with your running lights. There is a parking lot to the right of the observatory. Other Astronomy enthusiasts are usually on the lawn in front of the observatory so please do not have your headlights on. The observatory is kind of a tight space. And it's dark. It's a circle but enter on the right. Halfway around inside there will be a sign in book. The book generally sits on top of a donation box. The telescope will be pointed at something and usually it will stay in that position. On slow nights they can point it somewhere else as long as everyone has had a chance to see and most of them show an interest in seeing something else.

An awesome little spot within a park in south county. It's a little observatory for us nerds that…read morelove space things. Saturn was clear that night so there was a long line of people waiting to see it. I was surprised at how many people were out there lined up to get a glimpse of the planet. It was complete darkness out there so you could see millions of stars and the Milky Way with your own eyes. I saw 3 satellites and a couple of shooting stars! We waited in line for about 30 minutes before we got inside the observatory. It's a small dome with a large telescope inside. There were two men working in there and we were able to look through the telescope for a few minutes. You could see the the blue planet with rings around it; it was so clear! It's a brilliant and fascinating experience. And the coolest part, it was free! If you have a chance, go check it it!

I had never heard of this museum, but I got a tour as part of training for the visitor center…read more I am so glad I went. The house is an immaculate Victorian piece with over 25 rooms and about 3 stories. Wayne, our tour guide was very knowledgeable and he said that many times, people with specific interests come to the museum to learn more about certain pieces (people come to learn about clocks, rugs, paintings, wood furniture, Asian pieces, bathrooms, etc). The museum has been used in several TV shows like The Gilded Age and Treasures Inside The Museum. General entrance is $12 per adult and the best thing is to call them to schedule a tour. Well worth it.

Stunning architecture, furniture, and history behind this high design Victorian house. Our tour…read moreguide was a family member and so wonderfully passionate and fun! Enjoyed the tour and recommend anyone to visit!!

The RISD Museum is worth a visit. I'm sharing photos of the pieces that stood out to me most. I…read morestarted in the RISD student galleries, which were full of impressive work. my favorite was a floor installation that looks like a woven rug but is actually made entirely of salt. So many pieces made you stop and think, "How did they do that?!" I visited the whole museum, but my favorites were the Costume & Textile galleries, the exhibit on kingfishers in art and poetry, the European Grand Gallery with its oil paintings and the 18th/19th‑century American rooms in Pendleton House. I also loved how the museum's architecture fits together like a puzzle across several older buildings and street entrances. That was a surprising add-on to the visit. Extra tip: street parking is nearly impossible. Check their website for the free weekend parking lots (within walking distance) they make the visit much easier.

I get to visit the RISD Museum for free as a Brown University student!…read more Had fun spending a morning walking through the exhibits on all the floors. There was a room dedicated to costumes and textiles from different cultures around the world! As a sewist and costumer, this was very fun for me to have the room to myself and go through the drawers (everything was behind glass). I want to say I was here for roughly 2 hours and saw everything and took lots of photos.

Our visit here started out horribly because the parking lot for the museum is across the street, so…read moreafter we parked and walked up to the corner, we pressed the crosswalk button to cross the street. Having just come in from that same direction, I was well aware that the stoplight that we initiated by pressing the crosswalk button is right around a blind curve. I made sure that the first car actually stopped before I started through the crosswalk, but just as we were almost to the other side, I heard a huge crash that shook me to my core. We turned around, still partially in the street to see that a vehicle that had come around the corner was unable to stop in time and smashed into the car that was stopped at the crosswalk. Luckily no one was injured, but the sound and the proximity and the fact that there was some sort of lingering feeling that our crossing the street caused this accident put me in a really bad headspace. We stayed out in front of the museum for a while to make sure everyone was okay and the cars were moved out of the street but there was debris everywhere and I did have to sit down at a picnic table for about 5 minutes to calm down. All that being said, we actually enjoyed this Museum quite a bit once we got past what had happened. We have visited multiple Maritime museums in the last month and I can honestly say this was probably the best one. If you're at all interested in Maritime history, or just history even, sailing or boat craftsmanship, anything like that really, you will enjoy your visit here. This is not really a museum in the traditional sense. It's kind of like walking through a village in time. You can wander through historic buildings and watch live demonstrations of traditional skills like blacksmithing or rope making or sail stitching. Don't be afraid to go inside the buildings and interact with the employees. The immersive parts of this Museum are the best because they help you to feel like you're really experiencing what it was like instead of just reading about it. I think my favorite part was getting too board and tour a historical boat that was moored in the river. I don't recall what it is named, but you can board and walk around and even go down below deck. You can really get a feel for what life was like on one of these boats. I'm 5'7 and I had to duck the entire time. The beds were so tiny it was as if they were for children. It's crazy to think of grown men being packed down there like sardines. We also enjoyed checking out the lighthouse. They show a little movie inside but you can't actually go up. That was a quick stop and a little photo op but fun nevertheless. We ended up spending a lot longer here than we had anticipated because we really enjoyed the demonstrations and the historical feel of it all. It was dog friendly which is important to us but we also found a little reading room and a nice playground area so I know it would be great for children as well. Even after such a rocky start, I was really glad that we visited here and I highly recommend a stop if you can. Plan to spend at least a couple of hours here and wear comfortable shoes because the ground is gravelly and you will cover more of it than you think.

Mystic Seaport continues to be one of the most thoughtfully run and genuinely enjoyable attractions…read morein New England. Every visit feels like stepping into a living, breathing piece of history, and the amount of effort that goes into maintaining that experience is impossible to miss. The staffing is exceptional. Everyone--from the interpreters in period dress to the shipyard craftsmen to the folks running the exhibits--brings an energy that makes the place feel alive. They're knowledgeable without being overwhelming, friendly without being scripted, and clearly passionate about what they do. It's rare to find a team that consistently elevates an entire visit, but Mystic Seaport pulls it off. The shops are charming and well-curated, offering everything from nautical gifts to handcrafted items to books you won't find anywhere else. They strike a great balance between being tourist-friendly and genuinely interesting, and it's easy to lose track of time browsing. As for the overall experience, it's simply entertaining from start to finish. Whether you're wandering through the recreated 19th‑century village, stepping aboard historic vessels, watching demonstrations, or exploring the rotating exhibits, there's always something engaging to see or do. It's the kind of place where you can spend hours without realizing it, and every corner feels like it has a story waiting to be discovered. Mystic Seaport remains a standout destination--beautifully maintained, thoughtfully staffed, and endlessly enjoyable. A true 5‑star experience. Enjoy