Alabama Museum of Natural History

The Alabama Museum of Natural History on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa is the state's oldest natural history museum, founded in 1831 and housed since 1909 in Smith Hall — a Beaux-Arts building with vaulted ceilings, marble floors, and a central rotunda that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in its own right. The museum's permanent collections span Alabama's natural and geological history from the Cretaceous period to the present, with particular strength in paleontology, mineralogy, and regional ecology. The centerpiece of the paleontology galleries is a nearly complete mosasaur fossil found in Alabama — a predatory marine reptile from the Late Cretaceous period when a shallow inland sea covered much of what is now the Deep South. Alongside the mosasaur, visitors encounter dinosaur bone fragments, fossilized marine invertebrates, shark teeth from Alabama marl deposits, and a collection of meteorites recovered from the state and surrounding region. The geology galleries display gem-quality minerals from around the world alongside a detailed examination of Alabama's distinctive rock formations, including samples of chert, limestone, shale, and the iron ore deposits that drove the state's industrial history. Natural history dioramas on the upper level depict Alabama's major ecosystems — longleaf pine savanna, Gulf Coast wetlands, and Appalachian mixed forest — with taxidermied specimens in period settings. The museum shares Smith Hall with the main university geology department, giving the building an active academic atmosphere distinct from standalone museums. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children, making it one of the best-value educational attractions in Alabama.