This list of museums in Connecticut contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Non-profit and university art galleries are also included. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (i.e., virtual museums) are not included.
Inclusion in this list is generally for institutions with the name "museum" in the title. Some other institutions not included here are very like museums, and some "museums" here don't fit the typical definition of a place that shows exhibits. The Lockwood–Mathews Mansion Museum, for instance, is a historic mansion in which the "exhibit" is essentially the building itself. For Wikipedia links to institutions similar to museums in Connecticut, consult the "See also" section.
| Name | Town/city | County | Type | Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Hall Museum | Local | Operated by the Rocky Hill Historical Society; local history, culture, maritime heritage, agriculture | |||
| Academy Museum | Local history | website, operated by the Orange Historical Society | |||
| Historic house | website, 1791 house and store with 19th-century clothing, furnishings, documents, and store inventory all belonging to the original Stanton family | ||||
| Contemporary art | |||||
| Madison | New Haven | Operated by the Madison Historical Society, 17th-century house with period furniture, textiles, toys, costumes, and medical, nautical, and agricultural implements | |||
| Amasa Day House Museum | Middlesex | Historic house | Owned by Connecticut Landmarks; open by appointment; 19th-century house | ||
| Hartford | Horology | Focus is American-made clocks and watches | |||
| Law | A museum developed by Ralph Nader, focusing on topics of civil justice and aspects of the legal system that handle wrongful actions that result in injury. Facilities include a theater and exhibitions on famous precedent-setting legal cases | ||||
| Meriden | New Haven | Historic house | website, operated by the Meriden Historical Society, 18th-century house | ||
| Artspace | New Haven | Art | Contemporary art gallery | ||
| Ashbel Woodward Museum | Local | Local history exhibits and an art gallery | |||
| Avery-Copp House | New London | Historic house | website, 19th-century house with Victorian period rooms, local history exhibits | ||
| Puppetry | Part of University of Connecticut, includes hand puppets, marionettes, shadow puppets, memorabilia | ||||
| Barker Character, Comic and Cartoon Museum | New Haven | Media | website, character toys & artifacts, comic strip, cartoon, western, T.V. and advertising memorabilia, celebrity rubber ducks | ||
| Barnes Museum | Hartford | Historic house | website, 19th-century house with furnishings reflecting three generations of ownership | ||
| Barnum Museum | Fairfield | Biographical | A collection related to P. T. Barnum, his circus and the history of Bridgeport, Connecticut housed in a historic building on the National Register of Historic Places | ||
| Bates-Scofield Homestead | Fairfield | Historic house | website, operated by the Darien Historical Society, 18th-century period house | ||
| Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden | Historic house | 18th-century house, owned by Connecticut Landmarks | |||
| Bellarmine Museum of Art | Fairfield | Art | Part of Fairfield University, collections include Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Celtic and Asian art and artifacts | ||
| Blue Slope Country Museum | New London | website, working dairy farm, museum with historic farm tools, equipment and rural life artifacts | |||
| Fairfield | The museum's collection of buildings includes a carriage house, Americana Museum, miniature lighthouse and windmill, a clocktower museum, trolley station, chapel, and blacksmith shop. The park also has the last remaining highway toll booth in Connecticut from the Merritt Parkway. | ||||
| Mill | Late 19th-century mill and blacksmithing tools and equipment, located by Mashamoquet Brook State Park, open by appointment with the Pomfret Historical Society | ||||
| Brick School House | Coventry | Tolland | Local | Local history museum run by the Coventry Historical Society; a small brick building that functioned as a one-room school from 1825 to 1953. The only one-room schoolhouse open to the public in Connecticut. | |
| Bristol | Hartford | Local | Local history, industry and locally-made products, military collection of the Bristol Military Memorial Museum including uniforms, decorations, weapons, photographs and memorabilia | ||
| Fairfield | School teaching skills of fine craftsmanship, associated exhibition gallery of crafts | ||||
| Brookfield Museum | Brookfield | Fairfield | Local | website, local history, culture, operated by the Brookfield Historical Society | |
| Brooklyn Historical Society Museum | Windham | Local | |||
| Bruce Museum of Arts and Science | Fairfield | Multiple | Fine art, natural history, geology; town-run museum has art exhibits regularly reviewed in The New York Times, a section for children and a section set aside for natural history | ||
| Bryan-Andrew House | Orange | New Haven | Historic house | 18th-century house, operated by the Orange Historical Society | |
| Buell Tool Museum | Clinton | Middlesex | Technology | website, early tools and machines, open by appointment with the Clinton Historical Society | |
| Greenwich | Fairfield | Historic house | This former boarding house, now run by the Greenwich Historical Society, was once used by artists in the Cos Cob Art Colony, holds examples of their work and regularly offers exhibits on art and local history | ||
| Burnham–Hibbard House | Windham | Historic house | website, 19th-century house with historic furnishings and artifacts, operated by the Hampton Antiquarian and Historical Society, open twice a year | ||
| Butler-McCook House & Garden | Hartford | Historic house | Owned by Connecticut Landmarks, late 18th-century house with furnishings and artifacts reflecting four generations of ownership | ||
| Buttolph–Williams House | Hartford | Historic house | Owned by Connecticut Landmarks, operated by the Webb-Dean-Stevens Museum, late 17th-century period house | ||
| Canton Historical Museum | Hartford | History | website, 19th-century clothing, furniture, household items, kitchen and decorative items, a Victorian parlor, toys, tools, reconstructed 19th-century general store, post office, barber shop, and blacksmith shop | ||
| Stratford | Fairfield | Historic house | Operated by the Stratford Historical Society, 18th-century period house | ||
| New London | Historic house | Mid-19th-century period Victorian mansion, operated by the Stonington Historical Society | |||
| Captain's Cove Seaport | Bridgeport | Fairfield | website, Dundon House features exhibits on local maritime history and artifacts, oyster industry, open by appointment | ||
| Center for Contemporary Printmaking | Fairfield | Art | Changing exhibits of prints | ||
| Chaplin Museum | Windham | Local | 18th- and 19th-century family life[1] | ||
| Chatham Historical Society Museum | Middlesex | Local | Local history, culture, one-room schoolhouse[2] [3] | ||
| Cheney Homestead and Keeney Schoolhouse | Hartford | Historic house | website, operated by the Manchester Historical Society, late 18th-century house and replica one-room schoolhouse | ||
| Chester Museum at the Mill | Middlesex | Local | website, operated by the Chester Historical Society, local history, culture | ||
| Hartford | Formerly known as The Science Center of Connecticut, children's exhibits with a science and nature focus | ||||
| Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut | New London | ||||
| Clinton Historical Society Museum | Middlesex | Local | website, located in Andrews Memorial Town Hall, local history, culture, Native American origins, English colonization, transportation, business, and education | ||
| Colchester Historical Society Museum | New London | Local | website, local history | ||
| Stratford | Fairfield | Aerospace | Includes aircraft and helicopters | ||
| Connecticut Antique Machinery Association Museum | Litchfield | Technology | website, antique steam and diesel engines, farm equipment, tractors, locomotives, road construction and earth moving equipment, historic schoolhouse with natural history displays, blacksmith shop; also houses the Connecticut Museum of Mining and Mineral Science | ||
| Connecticut Audubon Society Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary | Fairfield | Fairfield | The oldest private songbird sanctuary in the United States. The 6acres site contains a natural history museum with mounted preserved animals displayed in dioramas and a collection of mounted African animals. | ||
| New Haven | New Haven | Children's | |||
| Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum | Windham | website, locomotives, rolling stock, vintage railroad buildings and a six-stall roundhouse | |||
| Hartford | Firefighting | Part of the Connecticut Trolley Museum, firefighting vehicles and apparatus | |||
| Connecticut Museum of Culture and History | Hartford | Hartford | History | Exhibits on Connecticut history and culture | |
| Connecticut Museum of Mining and Mineral Science | Kent | Litchfield | Industry | website, part of Connecticut Antique Machinery Association Museum, state's mining industry, geology, mining equipment | |
| Connecticut River Museum | Middlesex | Maritime | Maritime heritage of the Connecticut River Valley, shipbuilding | ||
| Connecticut Science Center | Hartford | Hartford | |||
| Tolland | Natural history and cultural history of Connecticut, part of the University of Connecticut | ||||
| Connecticut Trolley Museum | East Windsor | Hartford | Electric trolley cars, includes the Connecticut Fire Museum | ||
| CRRA Trash Museum | Hartford | Hartford | Science | Recycling and the environment | |
| Storrs | Tolland | Art | Contemporary trends and issues in visual arts[4] | ||
| Cornwall Historical Society | Litchfield | History | website, summer exhibits of local history | ||
| Cummings Art Galleries | New London | New London | Art | Part of the Cummings Art Center at Connecticut College[5] | |
| Cushing Center | New Haven | New Haven | Library | Formally the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, displays from its collections of rare books, medical history documents and artifacts | |
| Custom House Maritime Museum | New London | New London | Local maritime history, ship models, the ship La Amistad, customs, regional lighthouses, operated by the New London Maritime Society | ||
| Danbury Museum and Historical Society | Fairfield | Multiple | Focusing on Danbury-area history, the museum has five buildings including the John Rider House, the Marian Anderson Studio and the Charles Ives birthplace. | ||
| Danbury Railway Museum | Danbury | Fairfield | The museum has a railroad yard full of restored and unrestored railroad equipment, and the restored 1903 station house containing exhibits of photographs and railroad paraphernalia, model train layouts, an extensive reference library, and a gift shop. Visitors can take a 25-minute ride the "Rail Yard Local" on weekends in season. | ||
| Tolland | Tolland | Historic house | website, operated by the Tolland Historical Society, early 18th-century period house | ||
| Brooklyn | Windham | Historic house | website, located at Brooklyn Historical Society Museum | ||
| New Haven | Historic house | Run by the Amity and Woodbridge Historical Society, open by appointment and for special events, late 18th-century farmhouse and outbuildings | |||
| Middlesex | Art | Part of Wesleyan University | |||
| D'Elia Antique Tool Museum | Windham | Technology | website, located in the Scotland Public Library, collection of antique woodworking planes and tools | ||
| Madison | New Haven | Historic house | 1685 house used by seven generations of one family | ||
| Denison Homestead | New London | Historic house | Early 18th-century house with rooms furnished to reflect different eras | ||
| Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center | Mystic | New London | Natural history | website, dioramas of different habitats, live animals | |
| Derrin House | Avon | Hartford | Historic house | website, one of three properties owned by the Avon Historical Society, 18th-century farmhouse | |
| Dinosaur State Park and Arboretum | Hartford | Dinosaur tracks, models, dioramas, arboretum | |||
| Bridgeport | Fairfield | Science | Interactive science exhibits, high-definition movies and daily planetarium shows, Challenger Learning Center | ||
| Dudley Farm | New Haven | website, late 19th-century restored farmhouse, barns, and grounds, tools and farm equipment | |||
| Earthplace | Fairfield | Natural history | Wildlife dioramas of seasons and ecosystems in Connecticut, interactive exhibits, live animals, wildlife sanctuary with trails | ||
| East Haddam Historical Society Museum | Middlesex | Local | website, local history, industry, costumes | ||
| Groton | New London | Historic house | Located in Fort Griswold State Park, 18th-century period house | ||
| Scotland | Windham | Historic house | Operated by the Scotland Historical Society, 18th-century period house, open by appointment and for special events | ||
| Elisha White House | Clinton | Middlesex | Historic house | website, mid-18th-century house known as "Old Brick", open by appointment with the Clinton Historical Society | |
| New Haven | Science | Inventions and inventor Eli Whitney, toy maker A.C. Gilbert | |||
| Hartford | Historic house | Operated by the Newington Historical Society, late 18th-century house | |||
| Fairfield Museum and History Center | Fairfield | Fairfield | Local | Local history, changing exhibits, a library and reading room, a family education center, and an 80-seat theater, founded by the Fairfield Historical Society | |
| Falls Village-Canaan Historical Society Museum | Litchfield | Local | website, local history, industry | ||
| Fire Museum | Hartford | Firefighting | website, horse-drawn and motorized firefighting vehicles and apparatus, equipment, memorabilia | ||
| Florence Griswold Museum | New London | Art | Noted for its collection of American Impressionist paintings, collections include fine art, sculpture, works on paper, artist's studio material, toys and dolls, ceramics, furniture, textiles, decorative arts and historic artifacts | ||
| Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park | Groton | New London | Military | Restored 18th-century earthwork battery, cannons, shot furnace and powder magazine, includes the Monument House Museum with exhibits about the American Revolutionary War, and the 18th-century Ebenezer Avery House | |
| Fort Trumbull State Park | New London | New London | History | Visitor center depicts over 225 years of military history and technological advances from the Revolutionary War to the Cold War | |
| Gallery of Art at Sacred Heart University | Fairfield | Fairfield | Art | website | |
| Gasoline Alley Automotive Museum | Tolland | Automotive | Collection of Ford memorabilia, open by appointment only[6] | ||
| Gateway Museum at Nature's Art Village | New London | History | website, focuses on the past 200 years of America's progression in technology and tools, features period business and shop displays, agriculture equipment, steam engines, fire fighting equipment, print shop | ||
| Gay-Hoyt House | Litchfield | Local | website, operated by the Sharon Historical Society, local history, American furniture and decorative arts, iron and iron-industry related artifacts | ||
| New Haven | Historic house | Headquarters of the Derby Historical Society, home to America's first ambassador under George Washington, restored to mid-18th-century appearance | |||
| Gertrude Warner Boxcar Museum | Windham | Biographical | website, artifacts and memorabilia of Gertrude Chandler Warner, author of The Boxcar Children series | ||
| Middlesex | Historic house | Unusual early 20th-century "castle" home built by actor William Gillette, famous for his portrayals of Sherlock Holmes | |||
| Glass House | Fairfield | Historic house | Modern house designed and owned by architect Philip Johnson | ||
| Woodbury | Litchfield | Historic house | Mid-18th-century period farmhouse, and 20th-century English garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll | ||
| Lebanon | New London | Historic house | Late 18th-century period house operated by the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution | ||
| Greater Middletown Military Museum | Middlesex | Military | website, small display | ||
| Farmington | Hartford | Local | Operated by the Farmington Historical Society | ||
| New London | History | Local history, located in the Slater Library, life in New England during the 18th and 19th centuries | |||
| Litchfield | Local | website, local history | |||
| Gurleyville Grist Mill | Tolland | Mill | website, 19th-century grist mill, operated by Joshua's Trust, adjacent miller's house was the birthplace of Governor Wilbur L. Cross | ||
| Haddam Shad Museum | Middlesex | Industry | website, museum about the heritage of shad fishing on the Connecticut River, CT State Kids review | ||
| Hartford | Hartford | Historic house | Victorian home of author Harriet Beecher Stowe | ||
| Haul of Fame Trucking Museum | Windham | History | information, historic truck collection | ||
| Hempsted Houses | New London | New London | Historic house | Owned by Connecticut Landmarks, includes the 1678 Joshua Hempsted House and the 1759 Nathaniel Hempsted House | |
| New Haven | Historic house | Originally a fortress for the community, this oldest house in Connecticut and oldest stone house in New England has three floors filled with 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century furnishings, along with an introductory exhibit on the house's history; there are changing exhibits in two galleries. | |||
| Hezekiah Chaffee House | Hartford | Historic house | Mid-18th-century Georgian colonial house and doctor's office | ||
| Hicks-Stearns Family Museum | Tolland | Tolland | Historic house | website, 19th-century house reflecting three generations of owners up to the Victorian era | |
| Farmington | Hartford | Art | Known for its French Impressionist masterpieces, architecture, and stately grounds | ||
| Hill's Academy | Middlesex | Local history | Operated by the Essex Historical Society | ||
| Historical Houses at Martin Park | East Hartford | Hartford | Historic house | Run by East Hartford Historical Society, includes the late 18th-century Makens Bemont House, mid-19th-century Goodwin Schoolhouse, and late 19th-century Burnham Blacksmith Shop | |
| New Haven | Historic house | website, run by Cheshire Historical Society | |||
| Litchfield | Historic house | Operated by the Torrington Historical Society, collections include glass, porcelain, early American paintings | |||
| New Haven | Local history | website, operated by the Prospect Historical Society | |||
| Housatonic Museum of Art | Bridgeport | Fairfield | Art | Part of Housatonic Community College, includes works by Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, Miró and Chagall. Much of the collection is displayed throughout the college. | |
| Hoyt-Barnum House | Fairfield | Historic house | Open by appointment with the Stamford Historical Society, 1699 house with 17th- and 18th-century furnishings | ||
| Scotland | Windham | Historic house | 18th-century boyhood home of Governor Samuel Huntington | ||
| Husky Heritage Sports Museum | Storrs | Tolland | Sports | History and memorabilia of UConn Husky athletics | |
| Hyland House | New Haven | History | Living museum of colonial life and architecture | ||
| Hamden | New Haven | Art | Art related to the Irish Great Hunger of 1845–1852 | ||
| Imagine Nation Museum | Bristol | Hartford | Children's | website, hands-on, interactive children's museum for ages 2 to 10 | |
| Washington | Litchfield | Native American | History and culture of Connecticut's Native American peoples | ||
| Isham-Terry House | Hartford | Hartford | Historic house | Owned by Connecticut Landmarks, late 19th-century house and doctor's office | |
| Jabez Smith House | Groton | New London | Historic house | 18th-century house with 18th- and 19th-century antiques | |
| James Morris Museum | Litchfield | History | Located in Morris Town Hall, also Aline Brothier Morris Reading Room, contains James Morris III family archives and heirlooms, local history displays, reference library[7] | ||
| Jillson House Museum | Windham | Historic house | Operated by the Windham Historical Society, 18th-century house with collections of household items, quilts, toys, dolls, | ||
| John Bishop House & Museum | New London | Historic house | Early 19th-century house, operated by the Lisbon Historical Society[8] [9] | ||
| Joseloff Gallery | West Hartford | Hartford | Art | website, contemporary art gallery of the Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford, located in the Harry Jack Gray Center | |
| Joseph N. Goff House Museum and Cultural Center | East Hampton | Middlesex | Local | website, local history, houses artifacts and memorabilia of Connecticut's 84th Governor, William O'Neill | |
| Fairfield | History | 18th-century tavern with furnishings, artifacts and costumed guides | |||
| Newington | Hartford | Historic house | Run by Newington Historical Society, early 19th-century Georgian-style house | ||
| Kidcity Children's Museum | Middletown | Middlesex | Children's | website, interactive exhibits for ages one to eight | |
| Hartford | Historic house | website, run by Suffield Historical Society, mid-18th-century house with collection of early Connecticut Valley furniture, local history artifacts | |||
| Killingly Historical Center | Windham | Local | website, local history | ||
| Knights of Columbus Museum | New Haven | New Haven | Religious | website, art and historic artifacts about the heritage of Catholicism and the Knights of Columbus | |
| Lebanon Historical Society Museum | Lebanon | New London | Local | website, local history, also operates Dr. William Beaumont House | |
| Lee's Academy | Madison | New Haven | Education | website, operated by the Madison Historical Society, early 19th-century schoolhouse used for lectures and special exhibits | |
| Norwich | New London | Historic house | website, early 18th-century period home of Revolutionary patriot, merchant, and industrialist Christopher Leffingwell | ||
| Farmington | Hartford | Art | Department of the Yale University Library, changing exhibits of art from its collections, also life of author Horace Walpole | ||
| Litchfield History Museum | Litchfield | Local | website, operated by the Litchfield Historical Society, local history, collections of furniture, paintings, textiles, toys, ceramics, trade signs, and other fine and decorative arts | ||
| Litchfield | History | Its eight display rooms hold the largest collection of colonial and antique locks in the United States, including rooms devoted to bank locks and Yale locks. See also Timex Museum in Waterbury | |||
| Norwalk | Fairfield | Historic house | A 62-room Second Empire-style mansion on both the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmark lists | ||
| Windsor | Hartford | Agriculture | Tobacco curing barn with exhibits of early and modern equipment used to grow the crop, and a year-round facility with exhibits of photographs, writings, and other documents | ||
| Lutz Children's Museum | Hartford | Children's | |||
| Lyman Allyn Art Museum | New London | New London | Art | Permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, furniture and decorative arts; emphasis is on American art from the 18th to 20th centuries | |
| Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts | Old Lyme | New London | Art | Features exhibitions of professional, alumni and student art[10] | |
| New Haven | New Haven | Art | [11] | ||
| Manchester History Center | Manchester | Hartford | Local | website, local history, silk and textile industry, operated by the Manchester Historical Society | |
| Mansfield Historical Society Museum | Tolland | Local | website, local history, culture | ||
| Hartford | Hartford | Historic house | Gilded Age home of author Mark Twain | ||
| Martha A. Parsons House Museum | Hartford | Historic house | website, operated by the Enfield Historical Society, late 18th-century house with furnishings from over 180 years of ownership | ||
| Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center | New London | Native American | History and culture of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and the Pequot, area natural history | ||
| Matthew Curtiss House | Fairfield | Historic house | website, operated by the Newtown Historical Society, 18th-century Colonial saltbox house | ||
| Mattatuck Museum | New Haven | Multiple | Regional history and Connecticut art. Artists in the collection include John Trumbull, Erastus Salisbury Field, Frederic Church, John Frederick Kensett, Arshile Gorky, Kay Sage, Yves Tanguy, Peter Poskas, Abe Ajay and Alexander Calder. Waterbury Button Museum is a collection of about 10,000 buttons from all over the world, including some from the 18th and 19th centuries. | ||
| Merritt Parkway Museum | Stratford | Fairfield | Transportation | website, history of the design and construction of the Merritt Parkway | |
| Middlebury Historical Society Museum | New Haven | Local | website, local history | ||
| Middlesex County Historical Society Museum | Middletown | Middlesex | Local | website, located in General Mansfield House, local history and culture | |
| Middletown Sports Hall of Fame and Museum | Middletown | Middlesex | Hall of fame - sports | website, town's sports figures | |
| Milford Historical Museum | New Haven | Historic homes | website, operated by the Milford Historical Society, Colonial homes open for tour that date to 18th century. The Eells-Stow House is one of the oldest homes in Connecticut. | ||
| Norwalk | Fairfield | Open-air | Three buildings: 1835 Norwalk Town House, circa 1740 Governor Fitch law office and the Downtown District Schoolhouse, circa 1826, operated by the Norwalk Historical Society | ||
| Millstone Energy Education Center | Waterford | New London | Science | Located at the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant, exhibits about nuclear energy and Long Island Sound, now only scheduled tours by school groups, Millstone's Energy Education Programs | |
| New London | New London | Historic house | Summer home of American playwright Eugene O'Neill | ||
| Museum of Andover History | Tolland | Local | website, local history, historic household items, located in the Old Town Hall | ||
| Museum of Connecticut Glass | Tolland | Industry - glass | website, historical glass made in the numerous glassworks of Connecticut, open by request and for special events | ||
| Hartford | Hartford | History | Located at Connecticut State Library, Connecticut's government, industrial and military history | ||
| Museum of Fife & Drum | Ivoryton | Middlesex | Music | website, operated by the Company of Fifers & Drummers, includes drums, fifes, military swords, music, uniforms, medals | |
| Museum of Jewish Civilization | West Hartford | Hartford | Ethnic - Jewish | website, located inside the Mortensen Library in the Harry Jack Gray Center at the University of Hartford, exhibits of Jewish art, history and culture | |
| Museum on the Green | Glastonbury | Hartford | Local | website, local history, operated by the Historical Society of Glastonbury | |
| Mystic Museum of Art | Mystic | New London | Local | website, art museum, non-profit operated by Mystic Art Association. Galleries, exhibitions, studio courses, education outreach, wedding events | |
| Mystic | New London | Living history museum focusing on 19th-century maritime industries, including whaling; with period ships and buildings | |||
| Nathan Hale Homestead | Coventry | Tolland | Historic house | Operated by Connecticut Landmarks, 18th home of the family of American Revolutionary War spy Nathan Hale | |
| Nathan Lester House | New London | Historic house | 18th-century farmhouse and outbuildings | ||
| Norwich | New London | Historic house | Operated by the Faith Trumbull Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, open for events along with adjacent Perkins-Rockwell House | ||
| Stratford | Fairfield | Housed in the eastbound building of the Stratford railroad station, the museum exhibits images and objects related to the history of the aviation and helicopter industry in Stratford, the home of Sikorsky Aircraft. | |||
| Naugatuck Historical Society Museum | New Haven | Local | website, local history, located in a former train station | ||
| Nellie E. McKnight Museum | Ellington | Tolland | Historic house | Built in 1812 in the Federalist style; home of the Ellington Historical Society[12] | |
| New Britain Industrial Museum | Hartford | Industry | website, locally-made tools and hardware from Stanley Works, Fafnir bearings, Landers, Frary & Clark, American Hardware Corporation, Acme Monaco Corporation and North & Judd | ||
| Hartford | Art | American art | |||
| New Britain Youth Museums | New Britain | Hartford | Children's | website, two facilities in New Britain: 30 High Street and Hungerford Park. | |
| New Canaan Historical Society Museums | Fairfield | Open-air | website, includes Town House, John Rogers Studio, Rock School, Tool Museum and Hanford-Silliman House | ||
| Hartford | Aviation | Exhibits on the history of Sikorsky Aircraft, early French aviation, including the Lafayette Escadrille, a history of air mail, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Flying Mollisons and the 58th Bomb Wing Memorial | |||
| New England Carousel Museum | Bristol | Hartford | Art | website, antique carousel animals | |
| New England Civil War Museum | Tolland | Military | Large collection of Civil War items; archives relating to the Grand Army of the Republic. | ||
| New Haven | New Haven | Local | Local history and culture, fine and decorative arts | ||
| New Milford Historical Society and Museum | Litchfield | Local | website, local history, 18th-century cooking hearth, antique toys, | ||
| West Hartford | Hartford | Historic house | Operated by the West Hartford Historical Society, 18th-century home of American lexicographer Noah Webster | ||
| Noden-Reed Park Museum | Windsor Locks | Hartford | Local | info, operated by the Windsor Locks Historical Society, Victorian farmhouse with local history displays | |
| Stafford Springs | Tolland | History | History and memorabilia of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Northeast, located in Shenipsit State Forest | ||
| Northrop House Museum | Fairfield | Historic house | website, early 19th-century house and barn, operated by the Sherman Historical Society, open by appointment | ||
| Windsor | Hartford | Natural history | Live animals, natural history displays, nature education programs | ||
| Norwalk Historical Society Museum | Norwalk | Fairfield | Local history | website | |
| Fairfield | Fairfield | Historic house | Owned by Fairfield Museum and History Center, 18th-century period farmhouse | ||
| Old Bethlehem Historical Society Museum | Bethlehem | Litchfield | History | website, local history, open by appointment | |
| New London | Local | Local history and maritime displays in a historic lighthouse, operated by the Stonington Historical Society | |||
| Old Manchester Museum | Manchester | Hartford | Local | website, operated by the Manchester Historical Society, local history, culture, industry, mid-1800s dresses and furniture, school display, pharmacy and medicine exhibit, Manchester Sports Hall of Fame, Spencer and Springfield Rifle exhibits, household items | |
| Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine | Hartford | Prison | 18th-century prison | ||
| Old State House, Joseph Steward Museum of Oddities and Curiosities | Hartford | Hartford | Multiple | Original state capitol, exhibits of Connecticut and Hartford history, also houses a recreation of a museum of unusual natural history specimens | |
| Old Stone Schoolhouse | Farmington | Hartford | Education | website, one-room schoolhouse, operated by the Farmington Historical Society | |
| Old Store Museum | Sherman | Fairfield | Local | website, 19th-century period store display, exhibits of local history and art, operated by the Sherman Historical Society | |
| Old Tolland County Courthouse | Tolland | Tolland | 19th-century county courthouse, operated by the Tolland Historical Society | ||
| Old Tolland County Jail and Museum | Tolland | Tolland | Jail museum | 19th-century county jail and jailer's house with local history displays, operated by the Tolland Historical Society | |
| Old Town Hall Museum | Hartford | Local | website, operated by the Enfield Historical Society, late 18th-century town hall with exhibits of local history | ||
| Oliver Ellsworth Homestead | Windsor | Hartford | Historic house | Operated by the CT DAR, 18th-century period house of Oliver Ellsworth | |
| New Haven | Historic house | Estate house with collection of antiques and fine art | |||
| Hamden | New Haven | Art | Student art exhibits[13] | ||
| New Haven | New Haven | Historic house | 18th-century period house, operated by the New Haven Museum and Historical Society | ||
| New Haven | New Haven | Natural history | Part of Yale University, exhibits include dinosaurs, human and mammal evolution, wildlife dioramas, Egyptian artifacts, and the birds, minerals and Native Americans of Connecticut | ||
| Peoples State Forest Nature Museum | Litchfield | Natural history | Located in Peoples State Forest, area plants, animals, pioneers, Native American, forestry, quarrying | ||
| Phelps-Hatheway House | Hartford | Historic house | website, owned by Connecticut Landmarks, 18th-century house with period Connecticut furniture, formal garden | ||
| Phelps Tavern Museum | Hartford | Historic tavern | Late 18th- to early 19th-century tavern, operated by the Simsbury Historical Society | ||
| Pine Grove Schoolhouse | Avon | Hartford | Education | website, one of three properties owned by the Avon Historical Society, early 20th-century period schoolhouse | |
| Plainville Historic Center | Hartford | History | website, operated by the Plainville Historical Society, local history, agriculture, Farmington Canal, toys, turn-of-the-century kitchen, Victorian parlor, tools, Native American artifacts, minerals | ||
| Pleasant Valley Schoolhouse Museum | Hartford | Education | Operated by South Windsor Historical Society, one-room schoolhouse | ||
| Mystic | New London | Education | website, owned by Mystic River Historical Society, 1840s period schoolroom | ||
| Pratt House | Middlesex | Historic house | Operated by the Essex Historical Society, 18th-century house | ||
| Windham | History | Exhibits on Prudence Crandall, women's history and local history; located in Crandall's home on the Canterbury Green | |||
| Greenwich | Fairfield | Historic house | Revolutionary War period tavern | ||
| Brooklyn | Windham | Historic house | website, 18th-century home | ||
| Redding | Fairfield | History | Exhibits depict Colonial life, artifacts from the camp site and reconstructed buildings | ||
| Litchfield | Railroad | Heritage railroad and museum | |||
| Real Art Ways | Hartford | Hartford | Art | Non-profit contemporary arts organization, several art galleries, programs in visual arts, live arts, film and video | |
| Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts | Fairfield | Fairfield | Art | Part of Fairfield University, includes the Thomas J. Walsh, Jr. Art Gallery | |
| Rogers Studio and Museum | New Canaan | Fairfield | Historic artist's studio | Built in 1878 by John Rogers, called "the people's sculptor" in the latter 19th century, the studio houses a collection of Rogers' groups of plaster statuary; the display area has been reconfigured to reflect the feeling of the artist's studio; operated by the New Canaan Historical Society. | |
| Roseland Cottage | Woodstock | Windham | Historic house | Operated by Historic New England, mid-19th-century Gothic Revival cottage visited by three U.S. presidents | |
| Ruth Callander House Museum of Portland History | Middlesex | History | website, operated by the Portland Historical Society | ||
| Salem Historical Society and Museum | New London | History | information, local history, open seasonally | ||
| Savin Rock Museum | New Haven | History | website, local history | ||
| Sawmill Park Mill Museum | Ledyard | New London | Historic site | Reconstructed 19th-century water-powered up and down sawmill, owned by the town and administered by the Ledyard Historic District Commission | |
| Scantic Academy Museum | East Windsor | Hartford | Education | Historic schoolhouse | |
| Bridgeport | Fairfield | Art | Part of the Arnold Bernhard Center[14] | ||
| Schoolhouse #3 | Avon | Hartford | Local | website, one of three properties owned by the Avon Historical Society, former schoolhouse with local history displays, open by appointment | |
| Thomaston | Litchfield | Historic house | information, owned by Seth Thomas (clockmaker) | ||
| New Haven | New Haven | Art | [15] | ||
| Kent | Litchfield | History | website, operated by the Kent Historical Society | ||
| Shaw Mansion Museum | New London | New London | Historic house | Operated by the New London Historical Society | |
| Sheffield Island Lighthouse | Norwalk | Fairfield | Lighthouse | Operated by the Norwalk Seaport Association, accessible by boat | |
| Shelton History Center | Fairfield | History | website, operated by the Shelton Historical Society | ||
| Shore Line Trolley Museum | New Haven | Railroad | |||
| Silpe Gallery | West Hartford | Hartford | Art | ||
| Meridenb | New Haven | Historic house | 18th-century period house | ||
| Stony Creek Museum | New Haven | History | website, history, culture and community of Stony Creek, the Stony Creek Quarry and the Thimble Islands | ||
| Slater Memorial Museum and Converse Art Gallery at Norwich Free Academy | New London | Art | The museum's collection includes "contemporary Connecticut crafts, 17th- to 19th-century European paintings and decorative arts, African and Oceanic sculpture, Native American objects, and a plaster cast collection of Egyptian, Archaic, Greek, Roman and Renaissance sculpture, and the adjacent Converse Art Gallery. | ||
| Kent | Litchfield | History | Studio and antique collections of Eric Sloane | ||
| Smith–Harris House | New London | Historic house | 19th-century period house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Thomas Avery House, c. 1845 | ||
| Litchfield | Multiple | Home to the Winchester Historical Society[16] | |||
| Somers Historical Society Museum | Tolland | History | website | ||
| Sono Switchtower Museum | Norwalk | Fairfield | Railroad | The tiny museum exhibits the railroad switch tower in South Norwalk, where tracks were physically switched at the intersection of the Danbury Branch and the New Haven Line. Original equipment is supplemented by some photographs and demonstrations by docents website | |
| Southington Historical Society | Southington | Hartford | Local history | Includes photos, area sports and school mementos, industry and business items, military artifacts | |
| Stafford Historical Society Museum | Stafford Springs | Tolland | History | website | |
| Stamford Museum and Nature Center | Stamford | Fairfield | Multiple | Includes farm with animals, nature center, museum with natural history, art and Native American displays, an observatory and planetarium | |
| Stanley-Whitman House | Farmington | Hartford | Historic house | 17th-century house with furnishings and artifacts from the 17th to 19th century | |
| Stanton-Davis Homestead Museum | New London | Historic house | Planned museum of a restored 17th-century homestead | ||
| Norwalk | Fairfield | Children's | |||
| Stevens-Frisbie House | Middlesex | Local history | website, home to Cromwell Historical Society | ||
| Stone House | Middlesex | Historic house | website, operated by the Deep River Historical Society | ||
| Branford | New Haven | Historic house | Operated by the Branford Historical Society, 18th-century period house | ||
| Stone-Otis House | Orange | New Haven | Historic house | website, operated by the Orange Historical Society, mid 19th-century house | |
| Coventry | Tolland | Local history | Operated by the Coventry Historical Society | ||
| Strong-Howard House | Windsor | Hartford | Historic house | website, known for many years as the Lt. Walter Fyler House, operated by the Windsor Historical Society | |
| Litchfield | Litchfield | Education | Also known as Litchfield Law School, 19th-century school | ||
| Middlesex | Historic house | website, owned by Haddam Historical Society | |||
| The Dinosaur Place at Nature's Art Village | New London | 60 acre outdoor Dinosaur park with over 40 life-sized dinosaurs. | |||
| New Haven | Historic house | Operated by the Guilford Keeping Society, includes the late 18th-century period New England saltbox house, a blacksmith shop, barn with farm tools and implements, two corn cribs and a Victorian era three seat outhouse | |||
| Thomas Lee House and Museum | New London | Historic house | 17th-century period house, operated by the East Lyme Historical Society | ||
| Thomaston Historical Society Museum | Thomaston | Litchfield | History | information, open by appointment only | |
| Thompson Historical Society Museum | Windham | History | website, also known as the Ellen Larned Memorial Building and Museum | ||
| Tool Museum | New Canaan | Fairfield | History / Commodity - tools | Tiny museum displays tools use by cabinetmakers, wheelwrights, tanners, shoemakers, coopers, builders and others. A separate room re-creates a 19th-century printing office. website | |
| Torrington History Museum | Litchfield | Local | website, operated by the Torrington Historical Society | ||
| Tourtelotte Memorial Room | Thompson | Windham | History | info, located in Tourtelotte Memorial High School | |
| Trumbull Historical Society Museum | Trumbull | Fairfield | Historic house | website, 19th-century historical building with displays and programs dedicated to Trumbull history | |
| Lebanon | New London | Historic house | Owned by the Sons of the American Revolution, 18th-century building used by Jonathan Trumbull for convening the Council of Safety during the American Revolution | ||
| Unionville Museum | Hartford | Local | website, local history | ||
| University of Saint Joseph Art Gallery | West Hartford | Hartford | Art | Features a collection of over 2000 pieces including 20th-century American paintings, and European and American prints from the 15th century to the present[17] | |
| U.S. Coast Guard Museum | New London | New London | Maritime | History of the U.S. Coast Guard | |
| U.S Military Museum | Danbury | Fairfield | Military | website, houses over 10,000 artifacts covering all of the armed services of the United States. Outdoor exhibits include tanks, cars, trucks and guns. Formerly the Military Museum of Southern New England. | |
| U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum and Library | Groton | New London | Maritime | Includes the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) submarine, a museum ship | |
| Vernon Historical Society Museum | Tolland | History | website, located in the former Vernon Grange building | ||
| Windsor | Hartford | Technology | Collection of technology related to vintage communications: radio, television, tubes, video, telephones; website | ||
| Wadsworth Atheneum | Hartford | Hartford | Art | ||
| Middletown | Middlesex | Historic house | Early 20th-century mansion and estate | ||
| Wallop School Museum | Hartford | Education | website, operated by Enfield Historical Society, late 18th-century one-room schoolhouse restored to appear as for it last use in 1947 | ||
| Ward-Heitman House | New Haven | Historic house | website, period rooms show the lives of the families at various times in the history of the house, from colonial through post-Civil War | ||
| Warren's Occult Museum | Fairfield | History | website, open for tours and special events; features historic, obscure and "haunted" objects related to the occult[18] | ||
| Waterford Historical Society Museums | New London | Open-air | Historic buildings on the green including 1740 Jordan Schoolhouse, Margaret W. Stacey Memorial Barn/Museum, 1838 Beebe-Phillips House, Jordan Park House, corn crib, blacksmith shop, operated by the Waterford Historical Society[19] [20] | ||
| Wethersfield | Hartford | Historic house | Operated by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, sites include the Joseph Webb House, Silas Deane House, Isaac Stevens House and the Buttolph-Williams House | ||
| Weir Farm National Historic Site | Fairfield | Art | Historic house and studio of artist J. Alden Weir, also changing art and history exhibits | ||
| Glastonbury | Hartford | Historic house | Operated by the Historical Society of Glastonbury, 18th-century mansion house | ||
| Wethersfield Museum | Wethersfield | Hartford | History | website, operated by the Wethersfield Historical Society at the Keeney Memorial Cultural Center, also weekend tours of the Hurlbut-Dunham House and Cove Warehouse, a maritime museum on Wethersfield Cove, and Captain James Francis House, open by appointment | |
| Westport | Fairfield | Local history | Operated by the Westport Historical Society, Victorian period house with changing exhibits of local history and art, also Museum of Westport History | ||
| Litchfield | Litchfield | Natural history | Natural history museum, trails | ||
| Widener Gallery at the Austin Arts Center | Hartford | Hartford | Art | Part of Trinity College[21] | |
| William Benton Museum of Art | Storrs | Tolland | Art | Part of the University of Connecticut | |
| Wilton Heritage Museum | Wilton | Fairfield | History | website, operated by the Wilton Historical Society, includes the 18th-century Sloan-Raymond-Fitch House and Betts-Sturges-Blackmar House with period rooms that reflect home life, the economy, furniture and decorations from 1740 to 1910 | |
| Windham Textile and History Museum | Windham | History | Its main focus is the American Thread Company's now-closed Willimantic mill | ||
| Windsor Historical Society Museum | Windsor | Hartford | History | website | |
| Witch's Dungeon Classic Movie Museum | Bristol | Hartford | History | ||
| Wolcott Historical Society Museum | New Haven | History | website | ||
| Wood Memorial Library | Hartford | Multiple | website, collections of Native American artifacts, mounted birds, 18th-century furniture, paintings, quilts | ||
| Woodstock Historical Society Museum | Windham | History | website | ||
| Yale Center for British Art | New Haven | New Haven | Art | ||
| Yale University Art Gallery | New Haven | New Haven | Art | ||
| Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments | New Haven | New Haven | Music | Musical instruments | |
| Pequot Library | Southport | Fairfield | Special Collections |