I came of age the year the film Jurassic Park was released. It instantly became my favorite movie of all time, and I saw it again and again as many times as I could. When it came out on video, I owned it and practically ran the tape bare. So, like most kids of a similar age, I went through a dinosaur phase. Honestly, I never really grew out of it. I’m still into dinosaurs. Not in an obsessive way, mind you, but in a ‘there on opening day whenever a new Jurassic Park movie opens’ way.
So, I was delighted to hear that Indiana would get its very own dinosaur museum. If you want to see Dinosaurs in Indiana, then you have to venture into Chicago to the Field Museum (which has the impressive Sue T. rex). This one would be just outside of South Bend, on the tourist trail, conveniently on the path to Notre Dame (the only real reason most people visit South Bend, Indiana).
Founded by Mark Tarner, who made a lot of money by founding the South Bend Chocolate Company, and his wife. Mark happens to also be really into dinosaurs (in that obsessive kind of way). So much he has spent a considerable amount of his own money on dinosaur digs and research because what else would a dinosaur-loving guy do if he got rich (no comment from me there…).
So, what’s a rich guy with a dinosaur collection to do with it? Open a museum! The Indiana Dinosaur Museum was many years in the making, but it finally opened last year. According to the sales pitch on the website, you can experience 1.9 billion years of history at one of America’s largest dinosaur collections, featuring 43 lifelike dinosaur sculptures and 30 impressive skeletons. Visitors can explore a research library and working laboratory, see real dinosaur skin with the recently unveiled Juliet exhibit, and shop for unique finds at the T. rex Gift Shop. The Avian Dinosaur Nursery offers a fascinating look at the connection between dinosaurs and modern birds.
I am, unfortunately, rather alone in my family of four with two teenagers in my interest in dinosaurs. But this past summer, I finally convinced my teenage daughter to come to the museum with me. We were going to have a great daddy-daughter day out!
When we arrived, I was instantly impressed by the replica vehicles from Jurassic Park. We entered the main atrium with the Jurassic Park music playing over the speakers, which connects the museum with the South Bend Candy Company factory tour (a clever way to combine both attractions). We paid our admission, which was almost $50 for the two of us. That struck me as a lot.
We entered a small cinema where they played an introductory video that was either narrated by David Attenborough or someone with a very similar voice. And then we were let loose in the museum. We had a chance to go on a guided tour with a guide, or we could explore on our own. We opted to just explore on our own (which, in retrospect, I kind of wish we’d done the guide).
So, we walked around. The museum guides you through Earth’s evolutionary history, explaining important scientific concepts like evolution and the development of species. I was quite surprised to find all of this in the middle of red-conservative Indiana. Very pleased, actually. Here was a place where science was being treated as it should be: fact-based on theory, hypothesis, and experimentation.
The museum, despite appearances on the outside, isn’t actually that big. It’s really one big open room. There are dinosaur fossils and fake fossils (aka replicas). There’s a chance for kids to dig up dinosaur bones. There’s a lab behind class where you can watch scientists work with real bones. My favorite part, though, was the small exhibition of real memorabilia from the Jurassic Park films. Oh, and the life-size T. rex skeleton (which was not real).
Before I knew it, we were exiting through the gift shop. The grounds of the museum are quite large, and there was a walk outside, so we decided to go for a walk. That was nice, though it was a bit hot that day. There’s a display on the actual continental divide, the spot being the highest point around. That was neat.
When we finished walking around, we finished in the onsite pub and had a nice little lunch.
Overall, we enjoyed our visit to the museum. I do think, perhaps, the admission charge is quite high for what is on offer inside. But I’m happy to pay the money for it, as it supports the mission of science in Indiana, a place that generally does not appreciate it. The place could have easily been a biblically themed type display with humans living alongside dinosaurs in absurd scenarios. Thankfully, this was not that. It’s a beacon of science and history in anti-science Indiana, so the museum will have my full throated support for as long as it exists.
I expect most of the visitors to the museum will be kids coming on field trips, and tourists passing through looking for a clean bathroom. I hope both constituents learn something interesting about the fascinating history of our planet. And enjoy the dinosaurs, because dinosaurs are cool.
