A Celebration of Curiosity at Montshire Museum of Science | Local Treasure

Toward the center of the main floor sits a concave table roiling with fog. I can’t resist the urge to try, for the third time this morning, to scoop some into my hand. As the cloud passes through my fingers, I’m startled by the shriek of a young boy somewhere behind me. “I’m doing science!” he proclaims—to a distracted parent, perhaps? I turn, but I can’t pick the boy out. He might be among the group oohing and ahhing over the bubbles exhibit. Maybe he’s one of the newly minted inventors in the tinkerers’ lab. Regardless of exactly who he was, his sentiment summed up the day perfectly: Not only were we all “doing science,” but if smiles and laughter were any indication, we seemed to be enjoying it.

The Montshire is celebrating its 40th year as one of New England’s unsung treasures and has been receiving well-earned attention, including novel tributes from partners such as the Norwich Inn, which has brewed a special Montshire Discovery Ale, and Morano Gelato, which has concocted a new flavor for the occasion. (In case you’re wondering what science tastes like, it’s mint with optional Pop Rocks.)

In the mid-1970s, Dartmouth College shuttered its natural-history museum, sparking a process that would culminate in the creation of the Montshire, so named to reflect the Vermont/New Hampshire state line, where it lives. The new museum opened in Hanover, New Hampshire, on January 10, 1976, in a building that had previously housed a bowling alley. After about 10 years in Hanover, the museum moved to its current location, just across the Connecticut River in Norwich, Vermont.

Exhibits from the Dartmouth museum formed the early core of the Montshire, and some of those treasures remain on regular display. The museum’s trustees and directors, with a team of some 30 regular employees and 100 dedicated volunteers, have worked diligently to establish the Montshire as one of the country’s best independent science centers. Above all else, the museum celebrates inquisitiveness. Whether you’re aware of it or not, you like science. No matter what you love, there’s a fascinating science behind it. And the Montshire Museum will prove it to you.

A quick stroll through the museum’s interactive exhibits highlights the omnipresence of science in our lives: from light and prisms and how we see to the how and why of soap bubbles. There’s an aquarium, as well as x-ray exhibits and displays that’ll take you inside beehives and anthills. You’ll learn about fog and moose and reptiles and more. Even the elevator and the on-site exhibit workshop are open-concept, so that you can see how the machinery works and how a display comes together. The museum store is loaded with smart toys and fun experiments to take home.

And for those days when it’s just too nice to stay inside, the Montshire, which also serves as the visitor center for the Silvio O. Conte National Fish & Wildlife Refuge, is located on 100 waterfront acres featuring multiple trails, a woodland garden, a nature park, and even a musical fence that’s played by the wind. As the anniversary celebration continues, a dinosaur maze and an exploration of the science of music and instruments will be unveiled this fall.

Some 30,000 young people visit each year, but it would be a mistake to write the Montshire off as just a children’s museum. The line between fun and learning is erased here. This is the kind of get-your-hands-dirty science we shouldn’t ever outgrow. 

Montshire Museum of Science. 1 Montshire Road, Norwich, VT. 802-649-2200; montshire.org