Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium
A Victorian cabinet of natural history now shares space with climate science and astronomy
Artwork inspired by Thomas Waterman Wood
A Victorian cabinet of natural history now shares space with climate science and astronomy Taxidermy, ethnographic collections, Vermont weather forecasting, seasonal butterflies, and an intimate planetarium fill Franklin Fairbanks’s exuberant 1891 building. The historic cases are museum history as well as biological record; modern interpretation helps visitors read both the specimens and the assumptions behind their display.
Move slowly through the main hall, compare old cases with the Eye on the Sky work, and reserve a planetarium show separately. The museum closes for a short January maintenance period and planetarium seating is limited; shows cost extra.
- Opened
- 1891
- Hours
- Daily 10–5
- Planetarium
- Lyman Spitzer Jr.
Quick guide
- Read the room
- Treat the historic cases as evidence of their era.
- Watch Vermont weather
- Connect forecasting tools to conditions outside.
Know before you go
- Read the room
- Treat the historic cases as evidence of their era.
- Watch Vermont weather
- Connect forecasting tools to conditions outside.
- Look upward
- Architecture and specimens share the vertical hall.
- Book the sky
- Planetarium programs have separate capacity and admission.
Good to know
The museum closes for a short January maintenance period and planetarium seating is limited; shows cost extra.
Notice these
- Great Hall
- Eye on the Sky
- Planetarium