Museum Tours 2024 Season May -October

The Prudence Crandall Museum, site of the Canterbury Female Boarding School is open to visitors during the 2024 season through timed guided tours ONLY.

Open days are Fridays through Mondays, May 19 through October 28 (for "State Museum Sundays" tickets or other special event dates, please visit those specific Prudence Crandall Museum Eventbrite pages). Tour size is limited to 15 people per tour. Purchasing tickets in advance is encouraged, as tours may fill up quickly. Please select tickets for all members of your party, even if the ticketholder is free.

The museum is closed the following days: Memorial Day (5/27), staff development (6/3), Labor Day (9/2), and Indigenous Peoples Day (10/14).

Tours are offered at the following times, and last one hour:

10 am [NOTE: No 10 am tours on Sundays]

11:30 am

1:30 pm

3 pm

The first floor of the museum is accessible and contains the exhibit, "Canterbury Female Boarding School: Courage, Conscience, & Continuance." The second floor is closed.

The museum is not decorated as a traditional historic house museum. Teachers, students, and supporters left precious little primary sources on how rooms were used during the time the Canterbury Female Boarding School was in operation, and few artifacts connected to the school have survived. The new exhibit shares the stories of the school's teachers and students and demonstrates expressions of support and opposution at the town, state, national, and global levels during the tumultuous seventeen months the school remained open. Staff are excited to share with visitors this new museum experience!

Masks are welcome and optional. Please plan to arrive close to your tour time, as there are no indoor waiting locations. The Peace Garden and picnic tables are welcoming spaces in nice weather. Late arrivals will not be admitted 10 minutes past the start of the tour time. Refunds will not be given for late arrivals or no-shows.

Adult group tours are scheduled on Thursdays throughout the season and include an added cost ($10 per adult). To schedule a group tour, contact crandall.museum@ct.gov or call 860-546-7800 ext. 101. NOTE: If Thursdays are not the best option for your group, you are welcome to purchase as many tickets as necessary (up to 15 total) for a regularly-scheduled tour at the standard prices.

School tours (8th-grade through college) include an added cost ($7 per student). We will do our best to accommodate your class schedule. Please contact crandall.museum@ct.gov or call 860-546-7800 ext. 101.

For general questions contact email: crandall.museum@ct.gov or phone: 860-546-7800 and leave a message in the general voicemail box. For the most up-to-date information, visit the Prudence Crandall Museum Facebook page.

About the Museum

The Prudence Crandall Museum is a National Historic Landmark and State Archaeological Preserve located in Canterbury, CT.

In 1832, Crandall, the white principal of the Canterbury Female Boarding School, was approached by a young Black woman named Sarah Harris asking to attend the school. Encouraged by conversations with both Harris and Maria Davis, a Black woman who worked for Crandall and shared copies of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, with her, Crandall agreed to admit Harris. When residents protested the school’s integration and parents threatened to withdraw their daughters, Crandall closed her school and reopened in 1833 for Black and Brown students. Students traveled from several states to attend the school. Connecticut responded by passing the “Black Law,” which prevented out-of-state Black and Brown people from attending school in Connecticut towns without local town approval. Crandall was arrested, spent one night in jail, and faced three court trials before the case was dismissed. In September 1834, a nighttime mob attack closed the school. These events made national and international news in the 1830s and galvanized the burgeoning abolitionist movement. Many of the students such as Julia Williams, Mary Miles, and Mary Harris, went on to become educators, reformers, and leaders in their communities. Crandall v. Connecticut impacted two U.S. Supreme Court decisions and laid the framework for the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Prudence Crandall Museum is a member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. Owned by the State of Connecticut, the Museum is operated by the State Historic Preservation Office. As part of The Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor, the Prudence Crandall Museum proudly offers an official National Park Service Passport stamp.