To select a museum, click “Details/Reserve”, then select which Pass to reserve.
Connecticut Historical Society
1 Elizabeth Street, Hartford, CT 06105
860-236-5621 https://www.chs.org/
[Details/Reserve]
The Connecticut Historical Society, established in 1825, is the state's official historical society and one of the oldest in the nation. It houses a museum, library, and the Edgar F. Waterman Research Center, an archive and education center. The museum's collection includes more than 4 million manuscripts, graphics, books, artifacts, and other historical materials, displayed in changing exhibitions organized by theme. (Their website includes some online exhibitions, as well.) A museum shop is on the premises.
Categories: Family, Governance, History
Pass Benefits
Free admission for 2 adults and 4 children.
Connecticut River Museum
67 Main Street, Essex, CT 06426
860-767-8269 https://www.ctrivermuseum.org/
[Details/Reserve]
The Connecticut River Museum, a National Historic Landmark, is focused on the sharing and preservation of local maritime history, collecting and protecting manuscripts, books, art and artifacts of regional significance. Located on Steamboat Dock in Essex, CT, its campus includes the historic Samuel Lay House, an 1878 steamboat warehouse, and a waterfront park. The three-story museum offers both changing and permanent exhibitions, the latter including a replica of the first American submarine, built in 1776 for use against the British. For an additional fee, visitors may take a ride on the “Onrust,” a replica of a 17th Century Dutch boat. A museum shop is on the premises.
Categories: Family, Governance, History, Ocean
Pass Benefits
Reduced admission for 2 adults and 2 children or grandchildren.
Connecticut State Parks and Forests
CT
860-424-3200 https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/State-Parks/Listing-of-State-Parks
[Details/Reserve]
Connecticut's 139 parks and forests offer a range of outdoor options year-round for rigorous outdoor activity, leisurely strolls, and interactions with history. Depending on the location and time of year, one may hike, camp, swim, boat, ski, skate, and bike, among other activities. Information about all locations, including park and forest maps, are available at their website.
Categories: Children, Family, Nature, Sports, Recreation
Pass Benefits
Free entrance and parking for one carload to all state parks and forests. Includes Dinosaur Park, Fort Trumbull and Gillette Castle (Summer only). This is a seasonal pass.
Connecticut’s Old State House
800 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103
860-522-6766 https://www.cga.ct.gov/osh/
[Details/Reserve]
The Old State House at Hartford, a National Historic Landmark, was designed Charles Bullfinch and completed in 1796. Once the state capitol, then Hartford's city hall, the building now is host to numerous exhibits, programs, and a curiosity museum, providing hands-on activities for children and self-guided tours for visitors focused on democracy, citizenship, and history. Visitors have access to the courtroom where the famous Amistad trial took place, the Senate and House Chambers, and the “Curiosity Room,” which includes a two-headed calf. A museum shop is on the premises.
Categories: Architecture, Family, Governance, History
Pass Benefits
Free admission for up to 4 visitors
Custom House Maritime Museum
150 Bank Street, New London, CT 06320
860-447-2501 https://www.nlmaritimesociety.org/
[Details/Reserve]
Located in the former whaling port of New London, the Custom House Maritime Museum is dedicated to the preserving and sharing of the area's maritime history. The museum, in the nation's oldest continuously operating U.S. Custom House, offers lighthouse tours; boat trips; and exhibitions containing artifacts and paintings related to local lighthouses, US Customs, and the Amistad slave ship. Among others, the institution is the steward of New London Harbor Light—established 257 years ago and still in use, it is the first and the tallest lighthouse built on Long Island Sound. A museum shop is on the premises.
Categories: Family, Governance, History, Ocean
Pass Benefits
Free admission for 2 adults and 2 children.
Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
109 Pequotsepos Road, Mystic, CT 06355
860-536-1216 https://www.dpnc.org/
[Details/Reserve]
Located in Mystic, CT, the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center is a combination wildlife sanctuary, natural history museum, and educational facility focused on the habitats of southeastern Connecticut. The museum includes interactive displays, a Night in the Meadow theater, live reptiles, amphibians, and birds of prey. With two locations connected by a greenway, the outdoor sanctuary encompasses 300 acres and 10 miles of trails. A museum shop is on the premises.
Categories: Children, Family, Nature, Science
Pass Benefits
Free admission for up to 5 people.
Florence Griswold Museum
96 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT 06371
860-434-5542 https://www.florencegriswoldmuseum.org/
[Details/Reserve]
The Florence Griswold Museum is an art museum with a focus on the Old Lyme Art Colony, a center of American Impression which was located on this site. The institution is comprised of the Florence Griswold house, a National Historic Landmark; the Krieble Gallery, a modern addition; and the grounds, which include sweeping views of the Lieutenant River. The first floor of the house has been restored to reflect how it appeared around 1910, including some doors and walls painted by artists boarding there at the time. Over the years, the museum's holdings have expanded to include works by artists who lived and worked in Connecticut from the late Colonial period to the early 20th century, such as paintings by Frederick Church, Thomas Cole, Childe Hassam, and Milton Avery. A museum shop and café are on the premises.
Categories: Art, Family, History
Pass Benefits
Free admission for 2 adults and 2 children.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
625 Williams Street, New London, CT 06320
860-443-2545 https://www.lymanallyn.org/
[Details/Reserve]
The Lyman Allyn Art Museum, located in New London, Connecticut in a Federal style house built in 1829, is comprised of nine galleries, an auditorium, bookstore, research library, art studio, and conservation labs. Permanent exhibitions include “Louis Comfort Tiffany in New London,” “American Perspectives,” and “Playthings of the Past.” Changing exhibitions have focused on work from the permanent collection and by contemporary artists. The collection itself contains over 17,000 objects from ancient times to the present; artworks from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Europe, with particularly strong collections of American paintings, decorative arts, and Victorian toys and doll houses. Outside, a sculpture trail is surrounded by 12 acres of gardens and lawns.
Pass Benefits
Free family admission (2 adults and 2 children).
Children under 12 always free.
Mystic Seaport
75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic, CT 06355
860-572-0711 https://www.mysticseaport.org/
[Details/Reserve]
Founded in 1929, this maritime museum—“The Museum of America and the Sea”—occupies 9 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, CT and includes a recreated New England coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. The Museum is home to more than 500 historic watercraft, including four National Historic Landmark vessels, most notably the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, America's oldest commercial ship still in existence. Occasional demonstrations and performances—including costumed role payers strolling the grounds—bring to life different aspects of maritime life. A gallery and series of shops are on the premises.
Categories: Children, Crafts, Family, History, Ocean
Pass Benefits
Reduced admission for up to 2 adults and 3 of their children or grandchildren under 18.
New Britain Museum of American Art
56 Lexington Street, New Britain, CT 06052
860-229-0257 https://www.nbmaa.org/
[Details/Reserve]
True to its name, the museum is dedicated to American Art, which it delivers through a permanent collection and special exhibitions. Its holdings include works by John Singleton Copley, Thomas Cole, Gilbert Stuart, Frederick Church, Albert Bierstadt, Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, Thomas Eakins, and others. Somewhat more contemporary artists in the collection include N.C. and Andrew Wyeth, Rockwell Kent, Georgia O'Keefe, Sol LeWitt, Thomas Hart Benton, Chuck Closer, Eva Hesse, and Dan Flavin. The Museum is handicapped accessible. There is a gift shop and café (with limited hours) on the premises.
Categories: Art, Family, History
Pass Benefits
Free Admission for four people.
Niantic Children’s Museum
409 Main Street, Niantic, CT 06357
860-691-1111 https://www.nianticchildrensmuseum.org/
[Details/Reserve]
The Niantic Children's Museum is designed to engage children from 9 months to 9 years with hands-on activities that focus on the arts, sciences, and world cultures. The space includes 5,000 square feet all on a single floor and an outdoor play space, nearly all of which is wheelchair accessible. The museum includes the Discovery Room for science-based activities; the Imagination Room with opportunities to pilot a fishing boat, ride in a fire engine, and visit the Global Café & Bazaar, among others; Toddler Land; and an outdoor area with a tree house, whale drum, climbing wall, kid-sized zipline, performing stage, and water play.
Pass Benefits
Reduced admission for 4 people, hours vary seasonally
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
600 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103
860-278-2670 https://www.thewadsworth.org/
[Details/Reserve]
The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, located in Hartford, Connecticut, is the oldest continually operating public art museum in the country. The museum's collections of nearly 50,000 works of art span 5,000 years and feature the Greek and Roman antiquities and European decorative arts; baroque and surrealist paintings; Hudson River School landscapes; European and American Impressionist paintings; modernist masterpieces; the Serge Lifar collection of Ballets Russes drawings and costumes; prints; American colonial furniture and decorative arts; the Samuel Colt firearms collection; costumes and textiles; African American art and artifacts; and contemporary art. A museum shop is on the premises.
Pass Benefits
Free admission for up to 2 adults and 2 children.