Photo Submitted by Devon Watson
If you’ve never been to the Tallahassee Museum, you should consider a visit. It is located near the airport on Museum Drive.
The museum was designed to be an informational institute focused on nature and historical habitats. College students are allowed to tour the museum, which is open daily, for $11.50 per person.
Sitting on 52 acres of land, the majority of the museum is outside, so if you plan on attending it would be best to wear comfortable walking shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty. To make the experience reminiscent of “old Florida,” none of the historical buildings have air conditioning.
The museum is split into four sections: nature trail, Big Bend farm, old Florida and wildlife Florida trail.
The Big Bend farm Is only active Saturdays and Sundays. This past Saturday the farmhouse host demonstrated how women in the early 19th century would wash clothes for the household using their hands. At the end of the demonstration she gave out fresh, hand-made butter put on crackers.
There are multiple activities to learn from, including blacksmithing. Surrounding the farm are common domesticated animals that families used to raise to survive from day to day. Sheep for the wool, cows for the dairy and pigs for the pork. You will also have the chance to enter the garden where cotton, sweet potatoes, rice and other vegetables are being grown.
While transitioning through the museum there will be dinosaurs of all colors made out of old car parts. The Trail Break Café is the only dining hall at the museum.
It was quite shocking to see white squirrels for the first time, running around the live oak trees.
The butterfly garden serves as protection for butterflies with food and water as they develop through “complete metamorphosis.”
The aggressive wildlife animals are kept isolated in their natural-like habitat. The museum has the rare Florida panther, black bears, wolves and other southern breeds.
In the old Florida section, there are historical buildings that were used by the community. You can walk through the Baptist church, school and plantation houses. It even shows how people were transported place to place before there were cars with the Seaboard Airline Caboose train.
Additionally, the museum offers tree to tree adventures obstacle courses. The courses allow you to zip line through the museum up to heights of 62-feet in the air.