View red wolves, bald eagles and a loggerhead sea turtle up close. See fish with no eyes and frogs that change colors. Touch live horseshoe crabs and fossilized dinosaur tracks. The Virginia Living Museum introduces visitors to more than 250 animal species native to Virginia through discovery centers, interactive hands-on exhibits and living habitats.
- Learn how to build, live and garden green in the unique Living Green House and Conservation Garden.
- Transport yourself to the steamy world of a cypress swamp, complete with alligators and snapping turtle.
- Find songbirds nestled in the trees around a cascading mountain waterfall and view trout and paddlefish in a cool mountain stream.
- Explore the underwater world of the Chesapeake Bay and the underground realm of a limestone cave.
- See flying squirrels, stingrays and other creatures of the night.
- Each exhibit tells a story. There's the beautiful, but venomous lionfish, the predator-prey relationship of the cornsnake and the chipmunk, the camouflage abilities of the flounder.
- Touch some famous Bay creatures, plus enjoy hands-on activities.
- See spectacular views of the sun from the observatory and travel the universe in the planetarium theater.
- Outdoors, stroll the 3/4-mile elevated boardwalk to view coastal birds, bald eagles, beavers, bobcats, river otters, endangered red wolves and other animals in naturalized habitats.
- Butterfly garden, Virginia Garden and landscape plantings display an extensive array of native plants.
- Enjoy a full-dome, multi-media theater experience in the planetarium.
The Virginia Living Museum is the mid-Atlantic region's premier science education facility. The museum's exhibits correlate with and reinforce Virginia's Standards of Learning for Science. While taking a tour of the geographic regions of Virginia, students can observe:
- Live animals and plants in their natural habitats
- Plant and animal life cycles, food chains and food webs
- Animal survival adaptations for finding food and shelter, rearing young, avoiding predators, defense
- Animal migration, camouflage and hibernation
- Endangered and threatened species
- Vertebrates and invertebrates
- The importance of conserving Virginia's animal, plant and mineral resources
- Habitats of pond, forest, stream, Chesapeake Bay, cypress swamp, mountain cove, cave and more
- Virginia's prehistoric past: rocks, minerals, fossils
- Phases of the moon, reasons for the seasons, earth's revolution and rotation, planets in our solar system.
Explore nature and space science in classroom and assembly programs and labs at the Virginia Living Museum. All programs are grade-level-targeted, correlated to Virginia and national science standards and taught by professional science educators. The museum's education programs are endorsed by the Virginia Dept. of Education, the U.S. Dept. of Education and the National Science Foundation.
Middle school groups can learn about the daily challenges animals face to survive, tackle real-world environmental issues in a lab or tour the universe with the newest digital technology in the upgraded planetarium theater. Students can discover the amazing diversity of life in the Chesapeake Bay or study first-hand the ecology of a pond in labs that qualify as "Meaningful Watershed Experience" programs. In the recently-renovated Abbitt Planetarium Theater, students experience the wonders of space as if they were actually there. Using state-of-the-art digital projection technology, students are immersed in the environments of the planets, travel to distant galaxies, fly past the wonders of our universe, and marvel at the beauty of a clear, dark night sky - all from the comfort of an armchair.
The museum also offers 20-minute small group and assembly-style programs that can be added to a self-guided visit. These fast-paced programs about the Chesapeake Bay, birds, reptiles and amphibians, and animal survival techniques enable students to get up close and personal with wild animals and touch real museum specimens.
Behind the Scenes Tour
Discover the "heart" of the Virginia Living Museum. Have you ever been to a zoo or an aquarium and wondered who looks after these animals? How they are fed, cleaned and kept in an environment as close to nature as possible? Well, now you can discover the secrets with a behind the scenes look at the Virginia Living Museum.
The Museum is the perfect place for your performing group!
The Museum's new 100-seat outdoor amphitheater and its entrance courtyard are the perfect places for your group to perform. There is plenty of room, the acoustics are great (the animals won't be disturbed!) and there are places for your audience to sit and enjoy the show. At the conclusion of the performance, your group can spend a few hours relaxing and learning about the wildlife of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay.
Let your group have the VLM all to themselves
The Virginia Living Museum's indoor exhibits and Abbitt Observatory can be open exclusively for your group for two hours between 6pm and 10pm any day of the week. It is an ideal night out for student or scout groups, family reunions or conferences looking for something new in the evening hours.
You've read all those articles about living "green"- maintaining your home in a manner that uses less energy, produces less waste, and is kinder to Mother Earth. Now don't you wish you could go somewhere that actually shows you, up close and hands-on, how it can be done?
You can.
In June 2009, the Virginia Living Museum opened the Goodson House, a "Living Green House" environmental education center. In its exhibit house and yard, homeowners, architects and contractors can see all the latest techniques and products they can use to build and maintain an earth-friendly home, presented in a way that makes them visible and understandable to the general public.
The museum's Green House is the first of its kind in Virginia and one of the first anywhere in the United States.
The Virginia Living Museum is a certified Virginia Green attraction committed to minimizing its environmental impacts by preventing pollution wherever feasible in its operations. The Museum obtained its designation in June 2008 as part of the Commonwealth's campaign to promote environmentally friendly practices in all aspects of Virginia's tourism industry.
The Virginia Living Museum participates in the federal program to reintroduce red wolves into the wild. The museum is the closest facility to Alligator River, the only place in the country where red wolves currently live in the wild.
When you visit the museum from mid September to early October, stop by the monarch butterfly rearing chamber to see the caterpillars, chrysalides and adults on display. In the late afternoons you might be able to participate in our release of tagged monarchs for their migration to wintering grounds in Mexico.
The average length of a self-guided Museum tour is 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Please allow an extra 45 minutes if your group is booked for a Planetarium Show.
On-site food service is available at the Wild Side Café. Group menus are available for lunch and a social hour/snack time.
Group Leaders, Travel Agents, Tour Operators and Receptive Operators are most welcome to visit the museum anytime for a familiarization tour to get an "up-close and personal" view of our facilities and wildlife.
If you require further information about group tours, please contact the Group Tour Manager at 757-534-7406, fax 757-599-4897 or by email (grouptour@thevlm.org). You may also complete one of our on-line reservation forms.
School groups should contact the Reservations Coordinator at 757-595-9135, fax 757-599-4897 or complete our on-line reservation form.
We look forward to welcoming your group upon their arrival here at the Virginia Living Museum for their totally Wild Time!
Top 10 reasons to choose the Virginia Living Museum
for your next Group event:
- The Virginia Living Museum offers a fantastic 2-3 hour tour option to suit groups of all ages and up to 400 visitors at a time.
- Your group will encounter more habitats, wildlife and plant species than would be encountered in a lifetime of outdoor adventures in Virginia. No other museum in Virginia showcases all of the state's regions from the upland coves of the Appalachian Mountains to the salty offshore waters of the Atlantic Ocean and features more than 250 different animal species from the state.
- The exhibits in the Virginia Living Museum were designed to correlate with and reinforce Virginia's Standards of Learning for Science and are applicable to science studies throughout the United States.
- The museum offers science programs that are SOL-correlated and grade-level targeted. All programs are taught by our professional educators who present programs in a way that makes science become real and memorable.
- Give your group a lesson on "going green" in our "Living Green House" environmental education center. Your group can learn all the latest techniques and products they can use to build and maintain an earth-friendly home, presented in a way that makes them visible and understandable to the general public.
- Have you ever wondered who looks after our animals? In our Behind-the-Scenes tours, learn how the animals are fed, cleaned and kept in an environment as close to nature as possible.
- Tour the otter building, get up close to the red wolf enclosure and get the inside scoop about the wolves, otters and other animals along the Outdoor Trail when you take an Animal Confidential tour with Curatorial Director George Mathews, Jr.
- Our 100-seat outdoor amphitheater and its entrance courtyard are the perfect places for your group to perform. The main gallery building, the observatory and the planetarium theater can be open exclusively for your group for two hours between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. any day of the week.
- Our on-site Wild Side Café offers hot and cold breakfast, lunch and snack items with both indoor and outdoor seating. The Café can provide box lunches and catered meals for your group, as well. The Museum also has vending machines, an outdoor terrace vending area and seated picnic areas to enjoy your own picnic.
- The Virginia Living Museum is conveniently located between the Historical Triangle of Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown and Virginia Beach.