Everhart Museum - Scranton, Pennsylvania - natural history, science, and art museum

The Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania is located within Nay Aug Park, one of the largest public parks in this city. This non-profit museum focuses on the natural history of the areas, as well as art and science. The exhibits at this museum change over time to provide guests with a myriad of things to see when visiting.

Scranton physician and businessman Dr. Isaiah Fawkes Everhart founded the Everhart Museum in 1908. He wanted a place to celebrate birds and other animals found in northeastern Pennsylvania, and he began with a collection of his own taxidermy work, which grew to be one of the largest taxidermist collections in the country. Dr. Everhart died in 1911, but the Everhart Museum continues to showcase his work and other items for visitors interested in natural history and art.

The Everhart Museum has nine exhibits that are permanently on display. One of the largest exhibits is the Bird Gallery, which was the original inspiration for the museum. Dr. Everhart collected over 2300 taxidermy pieces that include mostly birds from North America, such a eagles, woodpeckers, pigeons, cranes, hawks, ducks, loons, pheasants, partridges, and geese. They also have some exotic birds, such as parrots and peacocks, in the collection. Guests can then most to the Life Through Time exhibit, which has fossils from throughout the world and displays a full Stegosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus Rex head.

Dr. Everhart was also interested in art from the northeast Pennsylvania area. In the American Folk Art exhibit, guest can see weathervanes, portraits, crafts, and more from across the country and from local areas. There's also a Fine Art exhibit with American art from as long ago as the early 1800s and a Decorative Arts exhibit, which has glass decorative and functional pieces from around the world.

The museum also has a Rocks and Minerals Gallery, which was created in the 1950s to accommodate the facility's growing collection of rocks, including a fluorescent mineral collection with "glow-in-the-dark'' stones. Although the museum focuses on American and local exhibits, they also have two exhibits that focus on other parts of the world. Africa in a New Light is an exhibit with pieces representing 18 of the continent's culture groups. Guests can also visit Everhart Around the World. This collection has pieces from Egypt, Rome, Papua New Guinea, and more. They also have items that represent Native American cultures in this area.

The final permanent exhibit at the Everhart Museum is called the Visible Storage Room. Most museums in the world have just 20 percent of their items on display at any given time. At Everhart, they want to give visitors a glimpse at some of the items that would otherwise not be seem for many years. These pieces are stored by type, but are densely packed into the room without refined organization.

The Everhart Museum is open from February to December annually. Their hours are noon to 4:00 PM on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, with slightly longer hours on weekends. They're closed for maintenance during January and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Admission costs just $5 for adults and $2 to $3 for children and senior citizens. Call 570-346-7186 for more information.