The Edelman Fossil Park & Museum in Mantua Township opens on March 29th, and last week I participated in a preview tour of the amazing world-class museum hosted by museum founder Dr Lacovara himself!
Tickets went on sale a few weeks ago for the one-of-a-kind Fossil and Dinosaur museum, which also features something no other museum in the world offers… an active fossil quarry where you and your family can search and dig for real 66 million year old fossils! I brought one home myself!
The Edelman Fossil Park and Museum is located in Mantua Township right off of Exit 52 of Route 55. A new entrance roadway was created off of the intersection of Woodbury Glassboro Rd and Mantua Blvd (between Lowe’s and Target), which leads visitors directly into the Museum’s main parking area with immediate access to all of the facilities. (see diagram at end of article)
The museum and fossil park features a variety of amazing exhibits and interactive experiences… there absolutely will be more than one thing to grab the interest and excitement of everyone in your family.
The learning and fun experiences are found in 3 large core areas of the property; the centerpiece two-level museum building, the adjacent fossil quarry pit, and an outdoor children’s playground area.
There is also another former quarry area that is now a large lake, which creates a beautiful setting for the museum building’s design.
The lake and quarry form a figure-8 shape, and the museum is positioned directly in the middle of the two circles. An outdoor patio extending from the museum looks down into the quarry fossil dig site.
Edelman Museum
The 44,000 square foot museum building features 2 levels of exhibits with the main dinosaur diorama exhibits on the top level, and additional exhibits including the VR Space and live animal areas in the lower level.
While the main lobby of the museum does feature 2 dinosaur skeletons, an interesting design decision for the museum was to recreate the dinosaurs and other creatures as they would have appeared on earth 66 Million years ago!
Doctor Lacovara said he knew he wanted to recreate the prehistoric environment with beautiful dioramas, and that recreating the dinosaurs seemed more fitting for the space that placing skeletons in the lush exhibits.
The Edelman Museum team hired Gary Staab of Kansas City to create the dinosaurs and sea creatures featured in the museum. It’s all 100% family-friendly but the beautiful depictions also show some of the more dangerous aspects of dinosaur-life… the full “circle of life” which then leads to the fossils we find today.
The museum’s prehistoric depictions feel like a mix of Universal’s Jurassic Park and Disney’s Epcot Center… but all still very real to what roamed the earth and seas of Eastern North America tens of millions of years ago!
In my mind recreating the dinosaurs was a genius design decision because… well, why do you need to show numerous skeletons when you can actually search for your own fossils right on site! Not to mention it’s amazing to realize the creatures you are looking at up close in the museum, actually lived in our New Jersey/Pennsylvania region!
The museum’s Cretaceous era displays are in two different galleries; Dinosaur Coast and Monstrous Seas.
The “earth walking” dinosaur exhibits of Dinosaur Coast feature a variety of life-sized dinosaurs including the Hadrosaurus which was the first nearly complete dinosaur skeleton found in the world back in 1858… in Haddonfield New Jersey!
Interactive exhibits are placed throughout the museum space including a fun little tunnel that allows kids to pop up in front of a dinosaur, and a computerized dig site that shows how finding one fossil can lead to then finding others.
Digital fossil boxes are placed randomly throughout the museum and when guests find a “fossil” they use their Explorer Key to register the find, and their score is tracked on the museum leaderboard!
Stepping into monster seas section takes you under the ocean to see a variety of water based creatures that actually swam in the space above our heads today… considering that the ocean was 70 feet high over top of Gloucester County!
At the museum transition point from land-to-sea a crocodile-like Thoracosaurus is recreated… truly earning it’s place in the museum as a large jaw of a Thoracosaurus was found 100 yards away in the Edelman Fossil Quarry!
The upper-level exhibits continue on to the “Hall of Extinction and Hope” which carries on the story beyond the great extinction.
The upper level also features the Darwin & Co Gift Shop and The Quarry Grounds Café, as well as the large outdoor patio with it’s amazing view into the quarry below!
The lower level of the museum continues the learning and fun with additional areas to explore including Critter Cove where you can interact with live animals, and the Discovery Forest educational hangout.
I haven’t mentioned this but I had to cut my visit just a little bit short because I had airline flight to visit our Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater… which means I didn’t get a chance to try Expedition Voyager which is the free-roaming virtual reality space.
Being a nerd not only do I know VR, I own VR Goggles… But I never heard of “free roaming” At Edelman they offer a large indoor open space, where you put on VR goggles but apparently can still see enough around the room that you can walk around and experience what it’s like to actually be living in the Cretaceous world, walking amongst the dinosaurs!
But that’s OK as I already bought my tickets for opening weekend so that I can casually experience the entire facility as a guest.
Edelman Fossil Quarry
One of the most unique aspects offered in any museum complex the Fossil Quarry Dig which extends 40 feet below the surface! A short walk of just a few minutes takes guests back 66,000,000 years in time!
To be clear this is a real authentic dig site…you will be walking down into earth that is millions of years old… shoes can get dirty, hands will get messy. You’re literally doing exactly what paleontologists do when they are looking for fossils!
And this is still a live scientific fossil site so they bottom level is separated into two areas; paleontology research and guest area.
You can find fossils? Really? Well there was not a drop of uncertainty from Dr Lacovara regarding the ability of everyone to find a fossil and would you believe as I walked the guest fossil area I saw an odd looking stone… a fossil!
Dr Lacovara explained to me that I had found a brachiopod, which is a shell-based creature and my fossil was actually the inside of the shell space where the exterior creature shell had been long gone.
Access to the quarry dig was very easy as it has a slowly declining paved walkway circling around the perimeter to the bottom. Along that path on the far side is an outdoor pavilion where Edelman’s staff can conduct orientations and information sessions before guests enter the fossil space.
Pterosaur Pterrace Playground
As you approach the museum’s front entrance you’ll likely notice to the left an interesting playground. Call the Pterosaur Pterrace, it features a recreation of the large flying reptile with large outstretched wings diving into the ocean to catch a fish.
It’s a fun area for young kids to play climb and learn.
The playground features its own surprises including a play sand area that underneath has its own hidden fossils… that are covered each night for the next day’s young explorers!
Links and Location
Edelman Fossil Park & Museum Opens March 29th!
Tickets are available online... choose a date and time for your group. Adult (13+) tickets are $29 and Juniors (3-12) are $24. The Quarry dig and VR experience are an additional fee, but the Quarry does not open until May 1st. Check the website for all of the details!
Edelman Fossil Park & Museum
66 Million Mosasaur Way
Mantua, NJ 08080
Other 42Freeway Coverage
- Feb 20, 2025: Edelman Fossil Park & Museum Mantua Sets Opening Day. Tickets On Sale!
- Nov 13, 2024: Edelman Fossil Park and Museum in Mantua Announces March 2025 Opening
- Aug 31, 2024: Edelman Fossil Park and Mantua Boulevard Extension Update
- Feb 27, 2023: Mantua Blvd Extension For Edelman Fossil Park is Underway
- July 14, 2022: Edelman Fossil Park & Museum Rises In Mantua. One-Of-A-Kind World Class Facility Opens Spring 2024
