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Don’t let the word “museum” fool you: The Virginia Living Museum is anything but a building filled with old artifacts! This incredible attraction in Newport News, Virginia, is an epic conglomerate of an aquarium, wildlife preserve, science center, aviary, and botanical garden! There’s even a dinosaur discovery center!
Whether you’re a Virginia resident or a visitor, the Virginia Living Museum is a fun and unique way to get to know all aspects of the wildlife and scenery in this beautiful state. And thanks to the amazing variety of creatures and activities, it’s a great educational adventure for adults or kids.
So what are we waiting for? Let’s make like otters and dive right in!
Tour the Virginia Living Museum with us on YouTube!
What To Do Inside the Virginia Living Museum
The main building of the Virginia Living Museum has two levels divided into multiple aspects of Virginia’s wildlife. Both ends are framed by two-story indoor habitats, complete with trees, waterfalls, and enough sunlight to make you feel like you’re outside! And if you’re looking for things to do on a rainy day in Hampton Roads, this should definitely be high on your list.
Piedmont & Mountains Gallery
This first gallery takes you on a tour of the fish and creepy crawlies that inhabit the James River and mountainous areas of Virginia. The entire area is designed to fit into the theme with a beautiful backdrop depicting the scenery around the James River.
I loved how the aquatic exhibits were low enough that you could see the fish swimming from above and the side. Plus, the color and variety of creatures were so amazing. You’ll see Eastern Tiger Salamanders, bass, perch, Timber Rattlesnakes, wood turtles, and more!
Appalachian Mountain Cove
Walking into the Appalachian Mountain Cove for the first time brought an instant smile to my face. Immediately, guests are greeted with the roar of a 2-story waterfall crashing down into the aquarium below. Floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights shower you with sunlight and make it hard to believe you’re indoors!
From the balcony, you can look down and see mountain fish darting around in the water. This exhibit has many colorful mountain species, including several species of vibrant darters and trouts. On the ground floor, you can get right up next to them instead, along with turtles, birds, and even a giant Eastern Hellbender salamander!
The side walls across from each habitat also house several interesting creatures from the reptile kingdom like snakes and lizards.
Coastal Plain Gallery
The Coastal Plain Gallery is a gorgeous exhibit filled with tropical fish and incredible sea creatures. But the best part is, they’re all found right here in Virginia! The largest exhibit focuses on the diverse Chesapeake Bay, while others highlight creatures from the marshlands and coastline.
The most stunning exhibit by far is the Chesapeake Bay Aquarium, filled with large spadefish, gag groupers, grey and red drums, sandbar sharks, and more!
Other notable exhibits include sea horses, flounders, lion fish, and large crabs.
Cypress Swamp
The second two-story habitat is the Cypress Swamp, complete with realistic cypress trees digging their roots into the water! If you’ve ever been to First Landing State Park, you’ll recognize the aesthetic. Like the Mountain Cove, the space is brightly lit with walls of windows that make the whole area feel surreal.
The tanks in these aquariums are brimming with fascinating creatures, from an American alligator to dozens of gar, albino catfish and yellow perch! You’ll also see plenty of colorful turtles sunning themselves on the array of logs and rocks.
Virginia Underground
The Virginia Underground gallery takes you deep beneath the surface of the state to see what kind of creatures roam under our feet! The area gets quite dark, so be sure to watch your step!
The first exhibit shows the colorful array of fish and coral that used to thrive in a shallow sea over Virginia’s current land. You may recognize many of these vibrant creatures such as surgeonfish, clown tang, and flame angels.
Further in, the scenery shifts to an underground cave, complete with stalagmite and stalactite formations. Little alcoves reveal tiny underground creatures like salamanders, pack rats, blind fish, and more! There’s also a sample of the Virginia land layers filled with fossils and samples of the gems and minerals you can find underground.
VA World of Darkness
This fascinating gallery explores the diverse creatures who explore the pitch-black sectors of the state. Once again, this area is very dark, so move carefully!
You’ll see a wide range of mammals and sea creatures here, which makes it even more exciting. Bats, frogs, screech owls, and spiders roam above ground, while sharks, moray eels, giant isopods and shrimp swim below!
Discovery Centers
The Virginia Living Museum has several discovery centers throughout the main building. These are all currently “closed” for the pandemic, so there are no workers giving talks and demonstrations, but you can still look around. One center features taxidermy creatures with guidance on how to identify tracks. Another has a touch pool filled with sea creatures like horseshoe crabs. And a third shows how the museum vets rescued and healed a young bobcat who now calls the museum home!
Changing Exhibit
At the front of the museum lobby, the changing exhibit offers a new experience throughout the year. The current display is all about fascinating creatures from the ice age! Many incredible fossils are displayed here, including bones from giant ground sloths, mastodons, short-faced bears, and saber-tooth cats!
What To Do Outside the Virginia Living Museum
The Boardwalk Trail
Outside the main building, the Virginia Living Museum switches gears from mostly aquarium to wildlife center! All around the Boardwalk Trail, you can see the wild creatures that roam in the woods and waters of Virginia.
This currently includes furry friends like foxes, a coyote, a red wolf, bald eagles, otters, beavers, a bobcat, and more! Not all of the critters will be out and about, but you should still be able to see plenty of them scurrying around their habitats.
Some of these creatures were rescued locally and could not be released back into the wild. For example, the Wild & Well discovery station tells how the resident bobcat had to have one leg amputated and wouldn’t have been able to survive on its own. Additionally, the red wolf is one of ~300 left in existence. The Virginia Living Museum is part of the vital captive breeding program that helps introduce pups back into the wild and rebuild the population!
Dinosaur Discover Trail
If you have any dino fanatics in your group, the Dinosaur Discovery Trail will be a big hit. This fascinating loop has a conglomerate of dinosaur statue replicas and genuine fossils on display! There’s also an “archeological dig” where kids can dust for fossils replicas in the sand and a play area.
The dinosaurs around the trail range from 1/3-scale to full size, and there is a large variety from a T-rex to a Brachiosaurus. Each statue has a sign next to it with the dinosaur’s size and feeding information and fun facts.
In the huts around the loop, you can get up close to real and replica fossils from all sorts of creatures, including a T-rex skull and a giant whale bone! Some of these are even available to touch, which we thought was so fun!
Gardens
The final piece of the Virginia Living Museum is the gardens! You can explore several different gardens here, including a children’s garden, butterfly garden, Virginia garden, a teaching garden, and more. Each garden has a theme with interesting facts about the plants. There are also several green living exhibits and a planetarium here, but they are currently closed for social distancing. (Planetarium opens for large groups only by reservation.)
My personal favorite was the Virginia Garden, which highlighted the plants used by the first colonists in Jamestown, Virginia! Many of these flowers and trees were blooming vibrantly, which made it even more enjoyable.
Closing Thoughts on the Virginia Living Museum
Whether you’re looking for a fun day trip with your kids or just a leisurely date activity, I highly recommend the Virginia Living Museum! It’s definitely one of the top things to do in Hampton Roads, whether you’re a resident or just here for the beach.
The museum took us about 2.5 hours to explore from start to finish, and we enjoyed ourselves the whole time! The immense variety of creatures kept our attention from start to finish and made each section feel like a new adventure. Plus, as a Virginia resident, it was fascinating to see what kinds of animals and fish live all around me!
You will have to do quite a bit of walking, so be sure to wear comfy shoes (I learned the hard way) and dress appropriately for the outside portion of the museum.
Also, keep in mind that the museum currently requires timed tickets due to the pandemic, which you can purchase online. It’s $19-$22 for adults (depending on the day) and $15 for kids 12 and under.
If you want more footage of the museum and animals, be sure to check out my YouTube video above. (Spoiler: the swimming otters are pretty cute!)
I’m so glad you joined me today to learn about the Virginia Living Museum! If you enjoyed this post, I hope you’ll take a moment to sign up for my email list so you can join me on every adventure!
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If you have questions or comments, please feel free to drop them below. I’d love to hear from you!
And if you are looking for more things to do in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, be sure to check out my Ultimate Guide to Touring Hampton Roads. It’s a must-read for future visitors and anyone who lives here!
See you next time!
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