Earth Experience - Middle Tennessee Museum of Natural History

Wonderful place for a Saturday adventure! This natural history museum is a hidden gem in Murfreesboro that I really feel lucky to have heard about. We came in on Saturday and ended up staying for over 2 hours. With a vast collection consisting of bones (including dinosaur!!!), rocks, minerals, fossils, various animal taxidermy and artifacts, there is something here for everyone to enjoy! I highly recommend a visit. There is a paleontology lab! You can get a look at a Triceratop's skull that is in the process of being cleaned and processed. The staff is amazing too. Overall, it's a great place. I will definitely be going back 🫶🏻

I don't know what the two star review-leaving guy is talking about, but this place is really neat and very much worth the cost! We probably needed at least 2 hours to take it all in. I recommend bringing your fossil and mineral-loving enthusiasts to enjoy Earth Experience.

Pretty cool experience you can say it’s earthly! Loved my time there, my wife works at the Gray Fossil Site and was giving me lessons on the trip. Also the history side of radium was really cool to see on display. Best $20 for a side quest we spent!

Unexpected treasure! We were suppose to visit the Parthenon and they were closed the day of our visit. We looked for something unique to do close to Nashville and found a great surprise. We loved it! Took our time and just absorbed so much. The staff was great and willing to talk and share information about everything there. I would recommend this to everybody!

My wife and I took a spontaneous trip here and it was great! It is rather small, but it still took us about 45 minutes to get through. Plenty to read and see. It was fun and they have a nice gift shop.

What an amazing experience. I brought my 2 year old here and he absolutely loved it. Dinosaurs, fossils, rocks and minerals galore. It's a short walk around the building to see everything, but if you stop and read and soak it all in you could be there for a few hours. The gift shop has a lot to offer. One of the better gift shops that I've seen. Overall, I absolutely recommend checking this place out. It's like a mom and pop museum and I mean that in the most amazing and endearing way possible. They are nonprofit and hardly advertise so spread the word about Earth Experience!!

Definitely a must see. The volunteers and staff are kind and the whole place feels cozy and fun. They are bringing in new exhibits and even have a fundraiser DND night every so often which is a total blast.

I took my three small children, ages six and five, to Earth Experience for a day trip of exploring and experiencing history. When we walked in we were greeted kindly by staff. We paid our entrance fees which were very affordable and then a staff member began explaining how the tour would go. She was knowledgeable and friendly. As we began to walk through we were taken by the beautiful collection of historical pieces they have on display. It was awesome. This place is some 'hands-on' so my kiddos enjoyed their experiences even more. There are some amazing pieces from Tennessee. We were greeted by another staff member. He told us about these pieces and had extensive knowledge about every single one. He was outstanding for sure. The coolest part for my children was their T-Rex. It was super cool! It's huge and beautiful. They've got a good souvenir shop as well. My kiddos grabbed something for each hand. If you're looking for something to do and have time for a day trip this place is a must see. It isn't big but their collection is gorgeous. The staff is fantastic. I will definitely return for another tour and would bring my kids again. I would also recommend to family and friends because natural history museums are great.

We were killing time in Mufeesboro as we needed to be out of motel in Nashville and had grand ole opry tickets at 7 pm. Spouse suggests this awful place. It is basically a huge rock collection, minerals, some fossils, taxidermy animals and dinosaur bones. It is in a weird warehouse building. I hate reading stuff in displays and this place was super boring and lame. Cost was $12 admission each.

This was a great museum! I had no idea there was a natural history museum in middle Tennessee and was super excited to come here. They have very little space but they use the heck out of it! The exhibits are fun, and we'll cultivated. The VR app experience can not be missed- we downloaded it at the end of the tour and had to run back through the museum and see everything again. The grand finale is also really cool. The gift shop is also perfectly curated to engage the customer as well. The only drawback was the signage. The walls are filled with every Scholastic school fair science poster you could think of, and it's information overload, and quite messy and unprofessional looking. Also, the actual artifacts are notated with basic paper instead of card stock, and is curling up from wear and tear. I'd imagine they are working on a shoestring budget and priorities are elsewhere, but really that's the only thing that knocks off a star.

Really interesting for only $9. My whole family enjoyed our experience today. I walked away with an whale's inner ear bone fossil and a $5 fossil mystery bag which contained fossilized turtle shell, quartz, and petrified wood. As a biologist, this place was very exciting for me but it's also great for kids and families of all kinds. So happy we went.

My 9 & 11 year old fossil and mineral loving kids had a great time looking around and chatting with the staff of expert fossil diggers. It's also close to Cannonsburgh Village which we visited afterwards and then finished our family day tour of Murfreesboro at the Stones River Battlefield.

This place is so amazing! Such a nice hidden gem! Not over crowded and mainstream! The people there were very knowledgeable with any questions we had concerning dinosaur or fossils!

Visited the Earth Experience - Middle Tennessee Museum of Natural History (yup...right here in Murfreesboro) with my granddaughter. I must say...this place is AWESOME and is a Murfreesboro hidden gem. From fossils, different gemstones and rocks, petrified woods, and DINOSAURS!!! We got to see a cast of a full size T-Rex that was found in Montana...so cool!!! The wealth of information in this place is extensive and the folks running the place were incredible. Everyone took time to explain, teach, and just talk about how the fossils were found. The gentleman who told us all about the T-Rex (sadly I forgot his name) was so entertaining and informative. They also have a Jeweler on site...Mr. Bill Jackson who told such great stories about jewelry...very interesting. Not sure how often the exhibits change but this was well worth the time...educational AND entertaining.

What a treasure we have located right here in Murfreesboro! This museum holds fabulous collections of rocks, gemstone and, most importantly to many, dinosaur fossils. The price of admission is more than fair given the quality of the displays. Staff is pleasant and knowledgeable and the gift selection features many unique items. Located a bit out of the way in a nondescript building - but once you walk through those doors - wow!!!

A true gem! You could spend hours here enjoying the diverse and rich collection of fossils, rocks, history, and dinosaur displays. The staff is super friendly and informative. Their phone app helps dinosaurs come to life through virtual reality. Super kid friendly. Highly recommend it.

If you or your kids love fossils and dinosaurs, you need to stop here for a visit. It is well worth the cost of admission. The outside doesn't look like much but you will find some treasures inside. They have people who are friendly and more than willing to talk to you about the exhibits. It is kid-friendly and there are things here you are allowed to touch. You won't spend hours here but it is still an interesting attraction to visit.

What a fantastic little natural history museum tucked away in an industrial estate on Old Salem Road in Murfreesboro off Old Fort Parkway. A wonderful place for dino/fossil/mineral lovers of all ages. The resin casts of unusual fossil specimens are lovingly and artfully placed and lighted. There is an operating lapidary and multiple mineral specimens, a paleolab, dinosaur replicas, a fab gift area with plushie dinos and safari ltd dino toys and a cozy corner for little ones to snuggle in, play with dinos and watch a movie while parents peruse the collections. This little museum used to be a part of Middle Tennessee State University and moved off campus to operate separately. There is all kinds of busy work being done here and on offer are trips to the West to participate in dino digs. My little family is populated by dino snobs and they all melted. I loved it. They loved it. We are big fans.

We decided to check this place out on our weekend getaway, the price to get in was really affordable and everyone was extremely nice, the exhibits were pretty cool. if you love dinosaurs and geology this is the best place to visit! Me and my husband loved it!

A hidden gem in Murfreesboro!! All manned by a small group of passionate geologists. The staff is very informative and the displays are amazing. They have dinosaur fossil bones, different types of rocks, and some interactive games for the kids.

From the outside you wouldn't think there would be so much to see on the inside but there is. So informative. My son loved the rocks and the T-Rex. It's definitely worth going to and taking the kids to. The staff was very helpful and full of knowledge. Such a treat here in Murfreesboro!!

Earth experience is a very underrated museum the people in there are very knowledgeable and accommodating it was an awesome experience too bad more people don't go there it's a out-of-the-way place that doesn't look like much from the outside but once you get inside it's a great experience. We took a four-year-old in there and he was riveted from the time we got in being able to hold real dinosaur bones and dinosaur poop was fun for him. Very reasonably priced as well.

My wife and I heard about this place and decided to go visit it. What an amazing place. Admission was totally affordable at $7. At first you look at the outside of the building and it doesn't feel like a museum at all because it is in a warehouse district. You go in and are walking through nicely presented fossils and skeletons. There is a geologist that works with rocks and creates beautiful jewelry. The curator goes on excavations in the badlands territory of Glendive, MT. That is definitely Dinosaur central for anyone who is thinking of a degree in Anthropology. This is such a neat jewel in terms of Natural History museums. I definitely recommend it, and you should definitely take your children to this place for quite the learning experience when they reach the age where Dinosaurs are on their mind. The grand finale is the HUGE T-Rex skeleton that is assembled and close up. I say check it out. You won't be disappointed.

We had a day to kill as we took our daughter to Murfreesboro for a friends graduation. We went to this museum as it said it was a 1-2 hour experience and it was only $7 per adult. It was kind of located in an unexpected area that looked less like a museum and more like an industrial complex, however like the old saying "never judge a book by its cover." The ladies up front were wonderful. They gave us the background of the museum and it's owner. Just so happens that I had seen the owner on a tv program before that was science related The museum is full of great pieces, with Frank the T-Rex being the grand finale. It's amazing seeing a full size T-Rex in person and while they are greatly limited by space constraints they did a fabulous job. Volunteers are around to answer any and all questions you might have. The on site jeweler does amazing work. This is a great place to spend a couple hours and not spend a fortune.