POOL NATURE CENTER

In 2022 the Pool Learning Center and Wilmington, VT Masonic Lodge donated 7.5 acres of land and a 1600 square foot building to the Vermont Museum of Natural History. This generous gift has become our home for the Museum's next exciting incarnation! Visit the Public Events page for public hours, talks and walks.

The Pool Nature Center Building was designed to provide one-on-one assistance to students with dyslexia. We will continue that tradition of educational use with a newly opened classroom-sized presentation space, trails, gardens and an outdoor pavillion. The Center also serves as the base of operations for our traveling programs and home to our education animals.

The outdoor pavilion was built to expand our presentation space thanks to a generous gift from the Canaday Family Foundation. This 30 x 40 pavilion is an excellent addition for folks walking the trails, field trips, programs and our summer camp!

Improved parking and accessibility!

Thanks to a Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC) Community Grant, we were able to expand parking capacity and improve the existing driveway. Our accessible trail was also supported by this grant!

Thanks to generous community support, we have built new enclosures for our non-releasable mammals and birds of prey. These enclosures were intended to be homes for the animals and not displays, but they come out regularly to meet visitors on-site and at traveling programs. Our reptiles, invertebrates and amphibians are also housed on site.

As we work to develop the grounds for people, we are also conscious of recognizing the needs of our local wildlife. We have kicked it off with a pollinator garden and are working to rescue the Pool Farm apple orchard.

Interested in gardening for wildlife? Give us a call!