About this Event
From November through April, the museum is open for two tours on Sundays: the morning tour at 11:30 am and the afternoon tour at 3:00 pm. Only guided tour experiences are available.
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. On-line ticket sales end a half-hour before tour starts.
Tours are offered at the following times, and last one hour: 11:30 am & 3:00 pm
CURRENT SOLD OUT TOURS (as of November 16, 2025):
- None at this time
Late arrivals will not be admitted 10 minutes past the start of the tour time. Refunds will not be given to late arrivals or no-shows. 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. Doors open 10 minutes before each tour. Masks are welcome and optional.
Closings: The museum is closed the following days: December 21 (12/21/25), December 28 (12/28/25), Easter Sunday (4/20/26).
Weather and Unplanned Closures: If the museum closes for inclement weather or other unplanned closures during the winter season, the museum’s website and Facebook page will have the most up-to-date information. Advance-notice emails and refunds will be sent to reserved-ticket holders with an option to reschedule.
Staff will be able to respond to general inquiries about tickets, etc. from Sunday through Thursday. Due to staff schedules, responses to visitor inquiries on Friday or Saturday may be delayed. If there are tour-related questions on Friday or Saturday, please leave a message or text (860) 538-3773 during normal business hours.
Standard Refund Policy: Refunds up to 7 days before event. Eventbrite fees are NOT refundable. Switching previously-purchased tickets for a different tour date/time is based on space availability and is at the discretion of the museum. Please email [email protected] before purchasing additional tickets (we may have space available) or for more information.
We are proud to be a year-round Blue Star Museum:
Active Military & up to 5 family members with military ID are free
We participate in Museums for All: Individual & up to 5 family members presenting a SNAP EBT card and a valid form of photo ID are free
NOTE: The "State Museum Sundays" program has ended as of May 2025.
The museum recommends visitors patronize local food establishments either well before their tour or afterwards, as food and drink are not allowed in the museum.
Not on our mailing list? You can sign up here.
About the Tour
Note: As the museum is not a traditional historic house museum, there are no winter holiday decorations or displays in November or December.
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 few 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 exhibit shares the stories of the school's teachers and students and demonstrates expressions of support and opposition at the town, state, national, and global levels during the tumultuous seventeen months the school remained open.
Tours are conversational. Dialogue between guides and visitors show how the legal expansion of education opportunities connects the Canterbury Female Boarding School to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka U.S. Supreme Court case. We hope visitors leave inspired to continue the mission of Sarah Harris and Prudence Crandall by addressing current barriers to education.
About the Museum
The Prudence Crandall Museum is an International Site of Conscience, a National Historic Landmark, and a State Archaeological Preserve located in Canterbury, CT.
Prudence Crandall is the Official State Heroine of Connecticut.
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 J*il, 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.
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.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
1 S Canterbury Rd, 1 South Canterbury Road, Canterbury, United States
USD 0.00 to USD 10.00
