Connecticut’s Peabody Museum to Offer Free Admission Once it Reopens

My favorite field trip when I went to Tinker Elementary School in Waterbury was to Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven. The Peabody is one of our nation's oldest and largest Natural History Museums. It was founded in 1866 by George Peabody, and his nephew, Paleontologist Othniel Charles March.

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If you've never stepped foot into The Peabody, unfortunately, you won't be able to until 2024. The Yale Peabody Museum, located at 170 Whitney Ave in New Haven, is temporarily closed as it's in the midst of its first major renovation in nearly a century.

But good news was just announced yesterday on peabody.yale.edu, when the renovation is complete, and the doors reopen, you won't have to pay for admission. The Yale Peabody Museum has announced that they will offer free admission, in perpetuity, once it reopens in 2024.

I can't wait to see how they'll reimagine the Great Hall of Dinosaurs, the Birds of Connecticut exhibit, or their incredible collection of minerals. The Peabody is home to an incredible 14 million artifacts and specimens, preserving over 4 billion years of earth and human history. The current major renovation was made possible by years of donations, including a $160 Million dollar gift from Edward P. Bass in 2018.

The renovated museum, when it reopens in 2024, will feature a new K-12 Education Center with dedicated classrooms to educate and fascinate future generations, just like it did for me. And don't worry, the incredible 110-foot "The age of Reptiles" mural, the first Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops fossils ever discovered, and many new fossils will be displayed in the redesigned Great Hall of Dinosaurs.

Yale's Peabody Museum will join the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Yale Center for British Arts as free public admission museums when it reopens.