Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center

Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center Review

A large complex a mile from the Foxwoods Resort Casino, this museum brings the history and culture of Northeastern Woodland tribes in general and the Pequots in particular to life in exquisite detail. Some highlights include recreations of an 18,000-year-old glacial crevasse that you can travel into, a caribou hunt from 11,000 years ago, and a 17th-century fort. Perhaps most remarkable is a sprawling "immersion environment"—a 16th-century village with more than 50 life-size figures and real smells and sounds. Audio devices provide detailed information about the sights. The research center, open to scholars and schoolchildren free, holds some 150,000 volumes. Also on-site is a full-service restaurant that serves both Native and traditional American cuisine.