Plan Your Visit
The Museum is open for the season, Fridays through Mondays, starting May 9, 2025! We look forward to your visit.
Please note our weekend tour times have changed. See below.
CURRENT SOLD OUT TOURS (as of July 20):
- None at this time.
NOTE: The "State Museum Sundays" program has ended as of the 2025 season.
Tour Times
Please be advised the museum is open by timed guided tours ONLY.
Tours are offered the following times, and last one hour:
Fridays & Mondays: 10:00 am, 11:30 am, 1:30 pm & 3:00 pm
Saturdays & Sundays: 11:30 am & 3:00 pm
Thursdays: Reserved for pre-booked private tours 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: Memorial Day 5/26/25, staff development day on 6/2/25, Juneteenth 6/19/25, Independence Day 7/4/25, Labor Day 9/1/25, & Indigenous Peoples' Day 10/13/25.
Weather and Unplanned Closures: If the museum closes for inclement weather or other unplanned closures during the 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.
Staff will be able to respond to general inquiries about tickets, etc. from Thursday through Monday. Due to staff schedules, responses to visitor inquiries on Tuesday or Wednesday may be delayed.
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
Adult (65 & older) $8
Youth (6-17) $5
Child (5 & under) Free
Group Tour Students 8th grade-college $7
Private Tour $13
A private tour is defined as a tour during non-open or off-tour hours
for attendance of 10 to 15 people with a one-person contact/organizer.
Special Admissions
Student (18 & up with ID) $5
CT School Staff (with employee ID) $5
Active Military & up to 5 family members
The Prudence Crandall Museum is proud to be a Blue Star Museum and a Museums for All.
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 6/14 & Canterbury Old Home Day 9/27]
- 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.
- NEW starting the 2025 season: 15 exhibit banners have audio access in English and Spanish.
Organization Private Tours
Private tours are scheduled on Thursdays (May through October) and include an added cost ($13 per adult). The organizer makes one payment for the group. The museum accepts card, cash, and check (organization or personal). For questions or more information contact crandall.museum@ct.gov or call 860-546-7800.
NOTE: If Thursdays are not the best option for your group, you are welcome to purchase as many tickets as necessary (up to 15 total) for a regularly-scheduled tour at the standard prices through our Eventbrite platform. If all 15 tickets are not purchased, members of the general public will still have the option to join the tour. Please visit the museum website for a direct link to the museum's Eventbrite page.
Please be advised that the museum is closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays from May--October.
To schedule a private tour, please fill out this form.
Learn more about the museum and the surrounding area at CTvisit.com