There is a museum of natural history in Sarnia that will blow your mind. The Stones ‘N Bones museum isn’t your typical small-town museum displaying local relics like your great grandmother’s washboard.
No.
It curates and displayed amazing and unique collections from around the world. These collections are held in a bursting-at-seams 10,000 square feet facility in downtown Sarnia. Despite the evident lack of space, the collections are curated and displayed in a thoughtful and very professional manner.
Below are some highlights from the galleries. You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
From the sea:
Seahorses are so cute, aren’t they?
And look at the colour of these shells!
Starfish.
urchins,
and more urchins.
Strange fish,
stranger fish,
and slightly bigger fish
and their teeth.
An impressive collection of butterflies, moths, and insects:
The walls are covered with frames of mounted butterflies and moths. We felt as if we walked into a 19th century collector’s secret display.
I didn’t take any photos of the many butterflies and insects, only of this interesting display case. The top right insect is a bed bug.
Fossils:
The fossil collection was impressive and diverse.
with cabinet after cabinet
of interesting specimen.
Dinosaurs.
Fossilized amber with insects trapped inside.
Petrified wood.
One of my favourite displays was the corpolites. If you didn’t know, it means fossilized poop.
Archaeology:
The display includes many artifact from Southwestern Ontario.
A profile of an archaeological feature containing artifacts.
Skeletal remains of exotic animals:
The tuatara,
and an anteater among many others.
Flora:
Have you seen a collection of pine cones in a museum before? Fascinating!
Gems and minerals:
The gem and mineral collection covers several wall and is held in many cabinets, but for some reason I didn’t take many photos. The topaz in the picture below is much bigger than it appears in the photo!
At the back of the second floor there is a small theatre where you can watch fluorescent Minerals (and a skull) displayed in a light show.
Mounted wildlife:
The next display was a bit overwhelming. Seeing all of these animals positioned in a seemingly natural way,
The sheer number of the animals was overwhelming within itself.
However, it was interesting to see these owl side by side for comparison.
The next display made it clear why this is needed. The passenger pigeon is now extinct,
and this mounted passenger pigeon is as close as we will ever get to seeing one.
Perhaps one of the most interactive features of this museum is the owner and co-founder of the museum. Four couples started this museum in the 90s, but today, only Jim and Allison are left to run the museum. Jim takes pride and pleasure in interacting with visitors to the museum, especially kids. We spent more than an hour chatting with him.
On our way out we stopped at the gift store and bought a membership. We’ll be back.
That’s a very cool museum. I’ll have to remember this next time I visit Sudbury! That bigger fish is quite something! And very cool to see the insect petrified in amber. Reminds me of Jurassic Park. This must’ve been extra cool for you given your archeology background!
It was really cool. 😊 SARNIA 😊 has a few well kept secrets and is worth a visit!
Wow! I’m always amazed when random small town museums have so many incredible artifacts. Also… the giant fish with a million teeth is super creepy!
It was pretty amazing!
Wow! 10,000 square feet? And it’s clearly jam-packed with many displays. I imagine it would be super interesting to talk to a guy like Jim who must have a lot of himself invested in the place.
It was super interesting to walk around the museum and talk to Jim! I am always amazed by people who have a wide-range of interests, but unlike me, are able to retain the information 😊
That used to be. Now I spend half of the day asking, “Have I already told you this?”🤣
😂
What amazing museum. Thanks for taking us there. Allan
Thanks for coming along and have a great day!
I have never seen a collection of pine cones like that – very interesting. Always enjoy seeing some of those glow-in-the-dark minerals. For a small-town museum, there’s a lot to see and enjoy. Enjoyed the tour!
Glad you enjoyed it, we did too!
How unique! I love that our world is filled with cool things like this! People should stop fighting and just explore!
Exactly!!!
Very cool. So much more interesting than great grandma’s old washboard. And it comes with a resident storyteller.
I have to admit that the first time I saw an old-fashioned washboard I thought it was pretty cool 🤔
My dad used to like to play the washboard. Or at least pretend to play the washboard at parties. . There were one or two laying around our basement when I was a kid.
That’s even cooler!
What an interesting place! It is a collection of collections! You could spend a very long time taking it all in. Amazing!
You said it perfectly: a collection of collections!
Now that is what I call an interesting museum. The seahorses are very cute. I can see it must take quite some time to view everything.
Yes, that’s why we got the membership. It’s five minutes from us and a good outing for a rainy day!
Sounds like a very fun museum! Thank you for sharing.
It is! Thanks for coming along!
At my age, I’m practically a museum piece myself, so I can really relate to this post. 😀
Haha, I hear you!
what a wonderful museum; thanks for sharing so many photos of it. I think the best part was tat it was started by four couples, and you were able to chat with one of them for an hour!
You are rit wags very special. It turned out that I knew one of the other co-founder who was an archaeologist.
I guess it really is a small world!
Absolutely magnificent. When I was much younger the Melbourne Museum had a huge collection on display but not so much now. Now most of what is there is hidden behind doors for the benefit of PhD students. (Maybe I’m being a bit harsh but I do wish I could go back and look at I did then.)
Many museums moved away from displaying quantities of artifacts. They are choosing the interactive, hands-on displays, or the ones that tell a story. I think that there is room for both!
What a wonderful museum dedicated to fauna and flora, along with geology…definitely an extensive collection of just about any animal or stone to see!
It really is! We’ll go back to look at smaller sections more in depth. first time was a bit overwhelming.
Even the name, Stones ‘N Bones, sounds intriguing. I love all the different displays and how it covers everything from the land to the sea. Jim sounds like an interesting character. How fun that you got to chat with him for over an hour.
The name is very fitting to this style of museum. It really does cover every aspect of our natural world. Jim chats pretty much with every person that walks into the museum. I don’t know how he does this!
Oh wow, what a unique museum!
Fascinating. Thank you for sharing. It was sad to read that passenger pigeons are extinct.
Yes, unfortunately we weren’t kind to some species. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Loved this museum. I so enjoy museums like this. They are often such a wonderful surprise. Thank you for taking me there. All the best, Muriel
Thanks for coming along!
Interesting! I do like comparing the different owls – and their sizes.
So much stuff!
This reminds me of a museum we just visited in Valdez, Alaska. It was a museum of the collection of a woman who used to run a gift shop in Alaska. There were lots of Native American stuff but also fossils, rocks, and stuffed wildlife. It was fascinating.
These museums are like a snapshot of nature!