amherst college museum of natural history

While visiting our daughter at UMASS we were looking for something to do for a couple of hours. I read a couple of good reviews about the Museum at Amherst College so we stopped by. If you are a fan of natural history, especially fossils and dinosaur related exhibits then this is the place for you. Housed in a nice little building in the middle of campus (ask a student where it is... it's not obvious) you could spend hours in this place. Students greet you at the door and are available to help show you around, or you can strike out on your own. If you're bored by museums, stay away, but if you enjoy learning about the natural world, by all means take some time to stop by. Oh yeah.... it's free!

This modern museum hidden away on the west of the Amherst College campus has something for everyone. It has the world's largest collection of dinosaur tracks, dinosaur skeletons, shells full of fossils that the kids can open and peer in and interesting exhibits on the history and geology of the Connecticut river valley. Lots of variety and small enough not to be exhausting.

If you want to walk among dinosaur skeletons or peek into drawers of rock specimens, this is the place for you. Light, encourages exploration, for young and old alike.

This is a fun museum especially if you like dinosaurs and rocks. It's free (i.e., the parents of the students have pre-paid) and very well done. Don't miss the college's art museum while there.

Spectacular specimens, aeons ago geologic time, rocks, minerals, dinosaurs, mammoths. Beautifully designed natural history museum for Amherst College students, families and the general public.

Step back eons ago into geological time--footprints, fossils, mammoths, dinosaurs, rocks and minerals. This is a first-rate and beautifully designed natural history museum on the Amherst College campus.

This place has stuff you'd expect to see in a natural history museum in a big city. Not as big but.definitely cool. Great for elementary age kids, even mature pre-schoolers like it.

In the basement, which is less than ideal, but great display of dinosaur fossil prints. Parking at Amherst College is difficult, but it is not a bad walk from town on a good-weather day.

It's FREE!!! Beautiful building, beautiful college campus. Lots of fossils, both assembled, and stored in sealed drawers. Take your time exploring.

Park in town, have lunch, and hit up this FREE museum. Beautiful inside and out. Hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 11 am - 4 pm (additional hours Thursday evenings 6 - 10 pm).

We visited the old museum just before they packed everything away for several years, and built the new museum. We went with a group, and I found it very interesting, my 13 year old liked it but my 9 year old was a little bored. Nonetheless, I think for kids and families who are interested in natural history this is a must-see when in the area.

The Amherst College Museum of Natural History is a new facility with wonderful displays of fossils. Be sure and check out the real woolly mammoth hair and visit the dinosaur footprints gallery. This museum is first rate and a perfect size.

If you want to see dinosaur skeletons and specimens of rocks organized in old-fashioned drawers that you may pull out, this is the place to go. Impressive new architecture creates a wonderful setting for visitors old and young.

The museum has a small footprint on the Amherst campus, but it is packed full of wonderful fossils and other stuff. I must admit, I am pretty much just into the articulated skeletons. I love to go there and draw them. The hours really appeal, especially the Thursday evening 6-10pm which is great for going after work.

This is an excellent collection of fossils and rock and mineral specimens. It is mainly a tribute to the excellent science program at Amherst College. While small, not to be missed. Some of these specimens cannot be seen this close in other venues.