Museums

See the Art, theatre, and Music pages for links to gallery and performance events.

• Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration over six thousand species with 49 living exhibits and a Marine Theater.

• Mystic Seaport Explore authentic 19th Century ships, Maritime village and historic homes

• Essex Steam Train and Riverboat Ride: Round trip scenic rides by rail and water through the Connecticut River Valley. Open May to October. Limited winter schedule.

• Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center"a combination wildlife sanctuary, visitor attraction and educational facility. The Center features all-new exhibits highlighting the habitats and wildlife of southeastern Connecticut, as well as eight miles of trails that wind through a beautiful 300-acre wooded preserve. Through natural history exhibits, educational classes and outreach programs, we seek to educate visitors of all ages."

• Connecticut River Foundation Museum: Set right on the Connecticut River in Essex, home of the first submarine ever built (and actually used in the revolutionary war!).

• Mashantucket Pequot Museum 1-800-411-9671

• Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center

• Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut - Niantic - an interactive, hands-on, educational museum.

• Lyman Allyn Art Museum

• Connecticut College Arboretum Sunday afternoon from May through October 29th at 2:00 oclock. Free and Public.

• Ledge Lighthouse

• Slater Memorial Museum. Art of five continents including full sized plaster replicas of Greek and Roman statues. Native American artifacts, historical paintings, and decorative arts of Norwich.

• Peabody Museum features dinosaur bones, Indians of Connecticut, minerals, Connecticut birds. Located New Haven.

• USS Nautilus Memorial in Groton. Tour the world's first nuclear powered submarine and the Submarine museum. Open all year.

• Guilford Handcrafts Center: Fine arts and handcrafts on display and for sale.

• Gillette Castle State Park: Hilltop fieldstone mansion overlooking the Connecticut River. Built by William Gillette in 1919, it is fascinating to young and old. Gillette portrayed Sherlock Holmes on stage in New York for many years. Picnic area nearby. Located in Hadlyme.

• Sundial Herb Garden: Features a 17th Century knot garden, an 18th Century-style garden, and a topiary garden with fountain. Located in Higganum.

• Florence Griswold Museum, Home of American Impressionism.

• Association of American Museums: www.aam-us.org
  Connecticut Impressionist Art Trail: www.arttrail.org
  Connecticut Women’s Heritage Trail: www.cwhf.org
  Connecticut’s Historic Gardens: www.flogris.org

  List of Accredited Museums in Connecticut (AAM)

  Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, Greenwich
  Connecticut River Museum, Essex
  Discovery Museum, Bridgeport
  Earthplace: The Nature Discovery Center, Westport
  Florence Griswold Museum, Lyme Historical Society, Old Lyme
  Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Stowe-Day Foundation, Hartford
  Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington
  Historic New England, Bowen House, Woodstock
  Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, Cos Cob
  Litchfield Historical Society Museum, Litchfield
  Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London
  Mark Twain House, Hartford
  Mattatuck Museum, Mattatuck Historical Society, Waterbury
  Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic
  New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain
  Noah Webster House: Museum of West Hartford History, Noah Webster Foundation, West Hartford
  Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven
  Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford
  Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America, Wethersfield
  Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation

Wineries

Best Art Schools and Colleges