Do you have a sophisticated cat or dog who enjoys visiting pet friendly museums? Bravo! Pet friendly museums can be found all over the country. Read on to find one you can visit with your furry travel buddy on your next vacation!
Why Visit A Museum With Your Pet?
Museums can be fun for you and your pet. While you’re learning from the exhibits and tours, your dog gets a chance to work on her training in a new environment and sniff a new place.
It’s a great way to do more together. So, why wait? Check out a pet friendly museum today!
Which Museums Are Pet Friendly?
Let’s face it, the Museum of Delicate Breakables is not likely to welcome pets. And even if it did, I wouldn’t recommend taking a dog there. Would you?!
But in our travels, we’ve found that most (not all) museums that have outdoor exhibits welcome pets. And these pet friendly museums can be found in a wide variety of settings:
- neighborhood historic districts
- sculpture gardens
- ghost towns / abandoned mining towns
- transportation museums
- historic estates
- living history sites
- state parks with historic sites
- maritime museums
- educational farms, and more
Well-behaved pets and their people will run out of vacation time before they run out of museums to visit!
Rules For Pet Friendly Museums
All museums require you to leash and clean up after your pet. We wouldn’t expect anything less. And generally pets can enjoy the grounds and view the outdoor exhibits. Most museums don’t allow pets inside. They also ask that you don’t leave pets unattended. So plan your trip with a human friend and take turns looking inside buildings and taking care of the pets.
A few museums do allow pets indoors. You’ll find a note beside those museums in the listing below. Of course, service dogs are always allowed to accompany their people in museums.
It’s also important to note that many of the living history and farm museums have animals. A museum with free-range chickens probably isn’t the best place to take a dog with a strong prey-drive—even if the rules allow pets. Remember to be considerate and don’t put your dog in a position that is beyond his or her capabilities.
Below is a list of pet friendly museums you will find on the GoPetFriendly website.
Pet Friendly Museums By State
We’ve organized the list of pet friendly museums by state to make it easy for you to find one near you.
Arizona
Pima Air & Space Museum – Tucson, AZ
Pioneer Living History Museum – Phoenix, AZ
Quartzsite Museum – Quartzsite, AZ
EXPLORE MORE ⇒ Pet Friendly Fun In Tombstone, Arizona
Arkansas
Ozark Folk Center – Mountain View, AR
California
Bodie State Historic Park – Bridgeport, CA (pet policy)
California State Railroad Museum – Sacramento, CA (pet policy)
Calico Ghost Town – Yermo, CA
Columbia State Historic Park – Columbia, CA
El Pueblo de Los Angeles – Los Angeles, CA
Empire Mine State Historic Park – Grass Valley, CA (pet policy)
La Purísima Mission State Historic Park – Lompoc, CA
Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park – Placerville, CA
Old Sacramento State Historic Park – Sacramento, CA
Palm Springs Air Museum – Palm Springs, CA
**Leashed pets are welcome to join their people inside the building.**
Railtown 1897 State Historic Park – Jamestown, CA
San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park – San Francisco, CA (pet policy)
Santa Cruz Surfing Museum – Santa Cruz, CA
Traveltown Museum – Los Angeles, CA
Western Railway Museum – Suisun City, CA
Will Rogers State Historic Park – Pacific Palisades, CA (pet policy)
Colorado
Benson Sculpture Garden – Loveland, CO
Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site – La Junta, CO (pet policy)
Chapungu Sculpture Park – Loveland, CO
Manitou Springs Cliff Dwellings – Manitou Springs, CO
**Leashed pets are welcome to join their people inside the building.**
Miramont Castle – Manitou Springs, CO
Ouray County Ranch History Museum – Ridgway, CO
Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site – Colorado Springs, CO (pet policy)
South Park City – Fairplay, CO
Connecticut
Mystic Seaport – Mystic, CT
READ MORE ⇒ A Dog Friendly Day At Mystic Seaport
Florida
Apalachicola Maritime Museum – Appalachiola, FL
Spanish Military Hospital Museum – St. Augustine, FL
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park – Cross Creek, FL
**Small dogs may be carried in the house museum.**
Illinois
Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park – University Park, IL
Indiana
Mid-America Windmill Museum – Kendallville, IN
Iowa
Living History Farms – Urbandale, IA
Kansas
Brown County Agriculture Museum – Hiawatha, KS
Kentucky
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill – Harrodsburg, KY
Maine
Seashore Trolley Museum – Kennebunkport, ME
Maryland
Annapolis Maritime Museum – Annapolis, MD
AnnMarie Sculpture Garden – Solomons, MD
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum – St. Michael’s, MD
**Pets are allowed inside all buildings that are not carpeted.**
Historic London Town & Garden – Edgewater, MD
Historic St. Mary’s City – St. Mary’s City, MD (pet policy)
Massachusetts
deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum – Lincoln, MA
Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm – Newbury, MA
Waters Farm – Sutton, MA
Michigan
Crossroad’s Village & Huckleberry Railroad – Flint, MI
Minnesota
Historic Forestville – Forestville, MN
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Minneapolis, MN
Missouri
Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park – Kansas City, MO
Laumier Sculpture Park – St. Louis, MO
National WWI Museum And Memorial – Kansas City, MO
Sculpture Park – Nelson-Atkins Museum – Kansas City, MO
Montana
Montana Grizzly Encounter – Bozeman, MT
Nebraska
Scotts Bluff National Monument – Gering, NE (pet policy)
Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer – Grand Island, NE
New Jersey
Historic Cold Spring Village – Cape May, NJ (pet policy)
Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum – Cape May, NJ
**Leashed pets are welcome to join their people inside the hangar.**
New Mexico
International UFO Museum & Research Center – Roswell, NM
**Polite pets are allowed inside the museum and gift shop.**
Kit Carson Home & Museum – Taos, NM
North Carolina
Artivity on the Green – Winston-Salem, NC
Bethabara Historic District – Winston-Salem, NC
Biltmore Estate – Asheville, NC
Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site – Flat Rock, NC (pet policy) Ask how your pet can become a Bark Ranger!
Cradle of Forestry in America – Brevard, NC
Historic Latta Plantation – Huntersville, NC
Holmes Educational State Forest – Hendersonville, NC
Jordan Lake Educational State Forest – Apex, NC
North Carolina Museum of Art – Raleigh, NC
Old Salem Museums & Gardens – Winston-Salem, NC
Rendezvous Mountain Educational State Forest – Purlear, NC
Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest – Elizabethtown, NC
Tuttle Educational State Forest – Lenoir, NC
Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park – Wilson, NC
North Dakota
Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site – Williston, ND (pet policy)
**Pets are allowed in all buildings except for the Bourgeois House Visitor Center.**
Knife River Indian Villages – Stanton, ND
READ MORE ⇒ Exploring Pet Friendly Knife River Indian Villages With Dogs
Ohio
Caesar’s Creek Pioneer Village – Waynesville, OH
Gorman Heritage Farm – Evandale, OH (pet policy)
Historic Roscoe Village – Coshocton, OH
Malabar Farm State Park – Lucas, OH
Oklahoma
Gardens at the Gilcrease Museum – Tulsa, OK
Oregon
Dorris Ranch Living History Farm – Springfield, OR
Pennsylvania
Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation – (Ridley Creek State Park) Newtown Square, PA
Conrad Weiser Homestead – Womelsdorf, PA
Daniel Boone Homestead – Birdsboro, PA
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site – Elverson, PA (pet policy)
Rhode Island
South County Museum – Narragansett, RI
South Carolina
Living History Farm at Kings Mountain State Park – Blacksburg, SC
Tennessee
National Bird Dog Museum – Grand Junction, TN
Homeplace 1850s Working Farm – Dover, TN
Texas
Texas Transportation Museum – San Antonio, TX
Utah
Wheeler Historic Farm – Murray, UT
Virginia
Chippokes Farm and Forestry Museum – Surry, VA
Colonial Williamsburg – Williamsburg, VA
Frontier Culture Museum – Staunton, VA (pet policy)
**Pets are allowed in the courtyard and picnic area but not in exhibit areas. Kennels are available for a small fee.**
Henricus Historical Park – Chester, VA
Historic Jamestowne – Jamestown, VA (pet policy)
McCallum More Museum & Gardens – Chase City, VA
McCormick’s Farm & Workshop – Raphine, VA
Mount Vernon – Mount Vernon, VA (pet policy)
READ MORE ⇒ Visiting Colonial Williamsburg With Pets
Washington
Olympic Sculpture Park – Seattle, WA
San Juan Islands Sculpture Park – San Juan Island, WA
Seattle Center – Seattle, WA
The Center For Wooden Boats – Seattle, WA
Wisconsin
Forts Folle Avoine Historical Park – Danbury, WI (pet policy)
**Pets are not allowed in any of the buildings at the park. Exceptions may be made for small lap dogs that are carried and not disturbing other people on the tour.**
Washington DC
READ MORE ⇒ A Guide To Washington, D.C.’s National Mall With Dogs
Do you know of other pet friendly museums not included in our list? Share them in the comments below and we’ll add them!
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