Mississippi Museum of Natural Science
Overview
The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science is located in Jackson and is the largest museum in the state of MississippiContact Information
2148 Riverside DriveAbbeville, Mississippi 39202
United States
Description
The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science is located in Jackson, Mississippi, tucked within historic LeFleur's Bluff State Park (see directions) -an ideal location for a museum whose mission is focused on the promotion and protection of Mississippi's natural landscape and its inhabitants. Inside the park, the Museum's buildings and grounds feature a 73,000-square foot complex overlooking a 300-acre natural landscape, 2.5 miles of nature trails, and an open-air amphitheater. Located inside the Museum are a variety of exciting exhibits, including: a series of life-size displays of the state's diverse habitats, a 100,000-gallon aquarium network housing over 200 living species, and a 1,700-square foot greenhouse called "The Swamp." Our committed staff maintains over 30,000 square feet of permanent exhibits, along with a gift shop, library, and 200-seat . Established in 1932, the Museum was essentially born out of its founder Fannye Cook's passion for collecting and studying Mississippi's natural world and has continued to grow under the direction of strong leadership through the years. The Museum's history has always been inextricably linked to a devotion to studying and preserving the state's natural resources. The efforts of over 70 years of study are assembled in the Museum's vast scientific collections, housed in a safe-storage environment in order to better preserve the specimens. Our collections currently consist of more than 870,000 specimens, representing the largest single reference for Mississippi vertebrate animals and freshwater mussels in existence.