Plan Your Visit
The Museum is open for two tours on Sundays December 29, 2024 through April 27, 2025! We look forward to your visit.
Staff will be able to respond to general inquiries about tickets, etc. from Sunday through Thursday. Due to staff schedules, responses to visitor inquiries on Friday or Saturday may be delayed. If there are tour-related questions on a Friday or Saturday, please leave a message or text (860) 538-3773 during normal business hours.
Note: As the museum is not a traditional historic house museum, there are no winter holiday displays in November or December.
*Please be advised the museum is open by timed guided tours ONLY.
Hours
Sun Tours at 11:30 am & 1:30 pm
Fri / Sat CLOSED
Mon-Thurs Reserved for pre-booked groups of 10 to 15 people. See below for more information.
Tours are limited to 15 people. Tickets can be purchased on-site, by phone with payment, on in advance through Eventbrite. Purchasing tickets in advance is strongly encouraged.
The museum is closed the following days: Sunday 12/15/24, Sunday 12/22/24, & Easter Sunday 4/20/25.
Weather and Unplanned Closures: If the museum closes for inclement weather or other unplanned closures during the winter season, the museum’s Facebook page will have the most up-to-date information. Advance-notice emails and refunds will be sent to reserved-ticket holders with an option to reschedule.
State Museum Sundays: Each third Sunday of the month the museum is open with FREE admission for Connecticut residents (with proof of residence) on the third Sunday of each month, November through March. Non-CT residents are welcome to attend a tour, but general admission rates will apply. No reservations will be made or accepted for the two tours offered on State Museum Sundays. Tour spaces are available by walk-in only, first come, first served.
Staff will be able to respond to general inquiries about tickets, etc. from Sunday through Thursday. Due to staff schedules, responses to visitor inquiries on Friday or Saturday may be delayed. If there are tour-related questions on a Friday or Saturday, please leave a message or text (860) 538-3773 during normal business hours.
About the Tour
The tour is of the exhibit Canterbury Female Boarding School: Courage, Conscience, & Continuance, and encompasses five rooms of the first floor. The second floor is not open to the public at this time. After the tour, which lasts approximately an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, visitors are welcome to return to the exhibit for further exploration.
The museum is not decorated as a traditional historic house museum. Teachers, students, and supporters left few primary sources on how rooms were used during the time the Canterbury Female Boarding School was in operation, and few artifacts connected to the school have survived.
The exhibit Canterbury Female Boarding School: Courage, Conscience, & Continuance shares the stories of the school's teachers and students and demonstrates expressions of support and opposition at the town, state, national, and global levels during the tumultuous seventeen months the school remained open.
Tours are conversational. Dialogue between guides and visitors show how the legal expansion of education opportunities connects the Canterbury Female Boarding School to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka U.S. Supreme Court case. We hope visitors leave inspired to continue the mission of Sarah Harris and Prudence Crandall by addressing current barriers to education.
Admission
Adult (18-64) $10
Senior (65 & older) $8
Youth (6-17) $5
Child (5 & under) Free
Group Tour Students 8th grade-college $7
Group Tour Adult/Senior $10
Special Admissions
Student (18 & up with ID) $5
CT School Staff (with employee ID) $5
Active Military & up to 5 family members Free
As part of the Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor, the Prudence Crandall Museum offers an official National Park Service Passport stamp.
Address
Location for GPS: 1 S. Canterbury Road, Canterbury, CT 06331
Free Parking; overflow parking across rte. 169 behind church
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 58 Canterbury, CT 06331
Before You Visit
- The Peace Garden includes benches and picnic tables (we do not regularly clean these benches or tables). Please use the trash bin. The Peace Garden is open for public use at all times with no fee.
- The museum has one restroom, and it is accessible.
- Please arrive as close to your tour time as possible as there are no indoor waiting areas. The Peace Garden is a welcome space in nice weather.
- Late arrivals will not be admitted 10 minutes past the start of the tour time. Refunds will not be given to late arrivals.
- Admissions can be purchased on-site at the front desk, by phone with payment or on-line through Eventbrite.
- The museum is not a self-guided experience. [Exceptions: Open House Day 6/8 & Canterbury Old Home Day 9/28]
- Tours are limited to 15 people.
- The museum is not decorated as a traditional house museum.
- Masks are welcome and optional.
Accessibility
- There is an accessible parking lot for a vehicle or van.
- A new ramp leads to the museum's main entrance.
- The second floor is closed to the public; the first floor is accessible.
- The museum has one restroom, and it is accessible.
- In the Peace Garden, the Peace Pole includes ASL and Braille.
Student and Organization Group Visits
Eighth-grade through college classes can sign up for standard group visits.
The Museum has reserved Monday through Thursday for pre-booked groups of 10-15 people. Private group tours scheduled on Monday through Thursday or after hours will incur an increased cost (see admissons above). Groups are welcome to purchase regularly-priced tour tickets for standard tour times at no added cost on Sundays.
Please contact Museum Curator Joan DiMartino to book a field trip / group visit or learn more. Joan.DiMartino@ct.gov | 860-546-7800.
Learn more about the museum and the surrounding area at CTvisit.com