Montshire Museum of Science

The Montshire Museum of Science is a hands-on science museum located in Norwich, Vermont, United States.

Description
The museum, including the building and nature trails, is located on over 100 acre of land. It has over 150 exhibits relating to the natural and physical sciences, ecology, and technology. Its live animal exhibits include a hive of honeybees that is connected to the outdoors, a colony of leafcutter ants, and aquariums that feature life in local waters.

Outside the museum building, there is a 3 acre Science Park including a scale model of the Solar System (Pluto is located 2 mi away), and interactive exhibits on water, light, sound, and motion. Among the sound exhibits there are "whisper dishes" (parabolic dishes 40 ft apart) and a musical fence built by Paul Matisse, grandson of painter Henri Matisse. Each year, the museum holds an annual igloo build.

History
The name "Montshire" is a portmanteau of "Vermont" and "New Hampshire". It was founded in 1974 by Robert Chaffee, former Museum Director of the Dartmouth College Museum, after the natural history museum there was closed, and received title to much of the former museum's collections in 1976. The Montshire Museum was first located in a former bowling alley building in 1976 in Hanover, New Hampshire, and was later moved across the Connecticut River to Norwich in 1989.