Open Thursday-Tuesday
Admission Free
Address 202 Calhoun Street
Phone 843-953-3967
This small but well laid out museum of paleontology, located on the campus of the College of Charleston, offers a fascinating and off-the-beaten-track insight into the prehistoric creatures that roamed the land and sea thousands or millions of years ago, including many fossil specimens of animals formerly native to South Carolina.
The museum is suitable for children and adults alike, and should take less than an hour to visit.
See also:
– More Charleston museums
– Festivals in Charleston
– Farmers markets in the Charleston area
– Other things to do in Charleston
The Mace Brown Museum Of Natural History is operated by the College of Charleston’s Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences. It displays around 1000 fossils, ranging from ancient dinosaur bones and flying reptiles to North American megafauna and other extinct mammals, mosasaurs, shark teeth, and an enormous jaw bone from the extinct shark Megalodon.
Many of the fossils are real specimens, rather than replicas, and the collection is considered excellent, one of the best college museums in the country. The bulk of the fossils are of North American land and sea animals, with the majority of them having inhabited present-day South Carolina.
Most of the fossils on display were collected by Mace Brown, a local businessman and fossil collector who began collecting in his early teens. Over the years, he expanded his collection, which eventually comprised more than 1500 local fossil specimens, including teeth from dozens of species of shark.
Brown donated his collection (which has been valued at over $1.6 million) to the museum in the early 2010s. Students at the university prepare many of the specimens, and the number of items available for display is constantly growing.
The collection is especially strong in prehistoric mammals. Exhibits include a giant armadillo-like animal, a giant sloth, giant beaver, cave bear, saber-toothed cat, and other specimens.
A whale exhibit, which includes some of the best-preserved specimens of extinct whales and porpoises in the world, explores the evolution of whales through displays of animals that lived tens of millions of years ago.
A Tyrannosaurus skeleton, known as Bucky, is on display in the library building across the street from the museum.
The museum is staffed by student docents from the geology program, who can answer any questions you may have about the exhibits and the specimens on display.
For additional information, call 843-953-3967 or visit the official website.
Address 202 Calhoun Street, on the second floor of the School of Sciences and Mathematics Building
Hours Thursday-Tuesday, 11am-4pm
Admission Free, but donations accepted