Virginia Museum of Natural History: More Than Dinosaurs

Question: The Age of Dinosaurs has gone extinct—for the second time. Is the Virginia Museum of Natural History still worth the drive?

Answer: Yes.

Yes, it is.

The dinosaurs were the hook, but they were never the whole story.

A note about our visit: Our adventure included The Age of Dinosaurs, a temporary exhibit that closed following Dino Festival on July 25, 2026. The dinosaur egg, dig pit, and animatronics described in The Road So Far are no longer part of the current museum experience.

Admission

$12 for adults ages 18–59; $6 for children ages 3–17, seniors 60 and older, and college students (as of July 2026)

Hours

Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; seasonal Sunday hours; closed Mondays

The Virginia Museum of Natural History focuses much of its attention on Virginia and the surrounding region, but the exhibits stretch across millions of years and far beyond the Commonwealth.

The permanent Hall of Ancient Life still provides some prehistoric drama. An Allosaurus cast greets visitors while a Pteranodon with a 20-foot wingspan hangs overhead. The hall also contains an ancient whale, an enormous Virginia stromatolite, and windows where visitors may be able to watch museum scientists at work.

Elsewhere, the museum explores Ice Age animals, fossils, minerals, rock formations, Virginia’s changing landscape, and wildlife from around the world.

Our Littlest Wayfinder cannot exactly read all the exhibit signs just yet, but he can certainly get excited about seeing lions and tigers and bears.

(Oh my.)

You can review the museum’s current exhibit lineup before your visit.

During our visit, the museum was also home to the temporary Age of Dinosaurs exhibit.

Our Littlest Wayfinder could not pass up the fossil dig pit, complete with brushes and buried discoveries. The animatronic dinosaurs were another big hit—provided they were turned on.

When active, they were just a little scary.

We rated them approximately one pumpkin out of five pumpkins, where five pumpkins is IT and one pumpkin is only slightly scarier than a Charlie Brown special. The roaring and sudden head movements could surprise younger visitors, but they never crossed into truly frightening territory.

The biggest hit was the gigantic dinosaur egg photo prop.

Lengthy explanations about Stegosaurus skeletons or Triceratops fossils could not always compete with a toddler’s attention span. The idea that he could hatch from a dinosaur egg and become a real dinosaur, however, was an absolute showstopper.

The exhibit closed permanently following the museum’s final Dino Festival on July 24–25, 2026, but it remains part of our Wayward adventure—and proof that temporary exhibits are sometimes worth planning a trip around.

We have not yet seen what will eventually occupy the former special-exhibit space.

When we return, we will update this review with the museum’s next chapter. Until then, this recommendation rests on the permanent galleries we explored as well as the dinosaur-enhanced visit reflected in our rating.

Because it is indoors, the Virginia Museum of Natural History is an excellent option for rainy days and those summer afternoons when Virginia feels approximately three inches from the sun.

The museum is self-guided, so your family can move as quickly—or as slowly—as your smallest explorer permits.

You can pause to read every display, follow a child who has suddenly decided he is Bolt, or spend an unreasonable amount of time pretending to hatch from a dinosaur egg.

All are valid museum strategies.

The museum also contains an interesting piece of historical trivia.

Thomas Jefferson was reluctant to accept the emerging idea that species could become extinct. Animals known from fossils might, he believed, still survive somewhere in the largely unexplored West.

The instructions for the Lewis and Clark Expedition therefore included watching for animals resembling those represented by fossils recovered from places such as Big Bone Lick.

They did not find any living mammoths or giant sloths.

They did not find Sasquatch either.

But alas, the world is vast.

The National Park Service’s history of Big Bone Lick explains more about Jefferson’s fascination with these fossils.

The Virginia Museum of Natural History participates in the ASTC Passport Program. Eligible members of participating science centers and museums may receive free general admission, although geographic and other restrictions can apply.

Bring your membership card and confirm eligibility before visiting.

Festival admission may follow different pricing rules.

Check the hours.

Then check them again.

There is nothing quite like promising dinosaurs to a Littlest Wayfinder, completing the drive, and discovering that the museum doors are locked.

Trying to explain that sometimes buildings are closed made for a very long day.

The kind of soul-shattering disappointment that followed is a lesson only one of us needs to learn.

I took one for the team.

Yes—even after the temporary exhibit’s departure.

The permanent museum still offers prehistoric creatures, Virginia fossils and geology, Ice Age animals, wildlife galleries, scientific work, and a dedicated play area for younger children.

The museum is manageable enough for little legs without feeling empty, educational without requiring a child to stand still for a lecture, and indoors when the weather refuses to cooperate.

This score belongs to the visit described here, which included The Age of Dinosaurs. We will update the page after experiencing the museum’s post-dinosaur lineup, but the permanent museum remains a Wayward Wayfinders recommendation.

Dinosaurs investigated.

Gift shop negotiations were trifficult.

Wayward Wayfinders Adventure: Approved.