The University of Wisconsin Geology Museum occupies the ground floor of Weeks Hall at 1215 W Dayton St, on the southwest edge of UW–Madison’s campus. Admission is free, and visitors come for a mastodon skeleton, dinosaur bones, and minerals that glow under ultraviolet light.
The headliner is the Boaz mastodon, a skeleton unearthed by farm boys in southwestern Wisconsin in 1897. It anchors a hall of Ice Age and Paleozoic Wisconsin fossils that trace the state’s ancient seas and glaciers. Nearby, a towering duck-billed Edmontosaurus skeleton draws kids. The museum also displays meteorites and a walk-through limestone cave model. Hundreds of rock and mineral specimens fill the cases, and the black-light mineral room produces the museum’s best reactions when the specimens glow neon green, orange, and violet (source: [UW Geology Museum](https://museum.geoscience.wisc.edu/tours/)).
Visitor Highlights & Practical Info
Walk-in visits are free. Guided tours run about an hour and cost $3 per person, so groups should book ahead (source: [UW Geology Museum](https://museum.geoscience.wisc.edu/tours/)). Weekday mornings during the school year often bring field-trip crowds, so early afternoons tend to be calmer. Hours are limited and shift around university breaks, so check the museum’s site before you go.
Several Madison Metro bus routes run along University Avenue, W Johnson Street, and Park Street, all within walking distance. Bike racks sit outside the building, and parking is in UW visitor lots (source: [UW Geology Museum](https://museum.geoscience.wisc.edu/visit/)). Afterward, you can walk to Camp Randall Stadium or the Lake Mendota shoreline.
