South Fork Natural History Museum is housed on two levels at the edge of a property that abuts the 900-acre Long Pond Greenbelt. The top floor offers hands-on exploration of all the different habitats in the area and their fauna and flora. Huge murals of each habitat cover the walls transforming them into a forest, a sea of sandy dunes, or a sandy bluff near Montauk.

The museum is staffed by cheerful, well informed naturalists and educators who go out of their way to make you feel welcome. Visitors first receive a museum field guide and a quick introduction to the naturalist’s tools of the trade. Then guide in hand you set off to find each habitat by matching the symbols in the field guide with the big decals on the floor by each exhibit. As you travel from habitat to habitat the guide explains each one, making sure you don't miss any hidden surprises, and asking challenging questions. It's a bit of a treasure hunt. My not-entirely nature-loving eight-year-old had a blast.

Each habitat exhibit has magnifying peephole windows you can peer through to see who lives in the area and what grows there.  Each section is also filled with secret doors and drawers to be examined. A section on the dunes, for example, contains a pullout cabinet full of skulls of all the creatures that live there or, in the case of a bear skull, that used to live there. A nearby drawer invites kids to decide which footprints, and which droppings, belong to which creature. The habitats also have appropriate audio recordings and in the dunes exhibit there is even a window through which you can smell the pungent and unlovely scent of a fox.

The exhibits on this floor also include fascinating columnar terrarium/aquariums filled with living plants, reptiles, amphibians, and fish and also taxidermied examples of larger mammals and birds specific to each zone. There are a number of different live frogs and turtles to be seen here.

After exploring all the windows, drawers, and hidden panels on the first floor it's time to head downstairs past a huge shark’s head with a monarch butterfly perched on his nose. Why? There is a rather sweet explanation, which you may ask for when you visit!

Downstairs the walls are lined with aquariums and terrariums filled with local fish, reptiles and amphibians. This is a place you might be lucky enough to see the endangered indigenous tiger salamander. The salamander likes to burrow underground during the day, but sometimes it is brought out for visitors.

There is also a large semicircular touch tank downstairs filled with local marine creatures. Although I am familiar with most of the creatures that can be found at the beach, some of the creatures, such as the local sea urchins and the large flat clawed hermit crabs, live in slightly deeper water and were not as familiar. Near the touch tank was a tank of local seahorses. They were very good at hiding and it was fun to try and spot them all.

This museum is not a place for active play. However energetic children and their parents can enjoy a short nature trail that winds around the fields behind the museum and joins the nine-mile trail system of the Long Pond Greenbelt. The Long Pond trail runs from Sag Harbor to the ocean through fields and woods and past wetlands and ponds.

The South Fork Natural History Museum is great for all ages, although it probably is the most fun for school-age children and adults.  But even smaller children will enjoy the hidden panels and peek-a-boo windows, not to mention all the living creatures. The museum provides step stools so that smaller children can reach every window. The Children's Museum of the East End just across the road is best for younger children and so a combination visit would be a perfect day out for a family with a wide range of ages.

The museum does not offer any kind of refreshments or picnicking area. They do, however, have an excellent gift shop. But be warned, the shop has some pretty nifty toys, and is right where you pay for admission and pick up your Field Guides.  

Programs and Workshops
The museum offers a full program of nature hikes, classes, lectures, and workshops for both children and adults throughout the year. Programs are free for members and the charge for non-members is the same as normal admission fees. Admission to weekend programs includes admission to the museum for the day. A full program listing can be found in their website here. Reservations are required.The museum is small and very hands-on. In the summer, and especially on rainy summer weekends, it gets absolutely packed. 

The South Fork Natural History Museum
and Nature Center
377 County Rd 79
Bridgehampton, NY 11932
631-537-9735

Hours and Admission
The museum is open every day from 10am to 4pm year round except for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. 

Admission for members is free.
Nonmember fees are:
Adults $7, children 3 – 12 years $5, children 2 years and under are free.

Directions
The museum is located on the Sag Harbor/Bridgehampton Turnpike, also known as County Road 79, on the right hand side if you are coming from Bridgehampton. Directly across the road is the Children's Museum of Long Island. It is easy to whiz past these two museums as they are located in the middle of the turnpike, not especially close to the centers of either Sag Harbor or Bridgehampton. The nearest crossroads are Narrow Lane and Scuttle Hole Road. The parking lot is ample but can fill up on rainy days.