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

RV/MH Hall of Fame & Museum – Elkhart, 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

The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History – Albuquerque, NM

**All well behaved pets on leashes are allowed in the museum.**

 

New York

Art Omi – Ghent, NY

Finger Lakes Boating Museum – Hammondsport, NY

Saunders Finger Lakes Museum – Branchport, NY

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)

Old Bedford Village – Bedford, PA
(Open Thurs – Sunday, Memorial Day – Oct. 31)

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

Shafer Historical Museum – Winthrop, 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

The National Mall

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!