(As a note I know I’m going to catch some heat for this post and I would appreciate if any comments or emails remain civil)
When I opened the museum last July it was with so much excitement at the prospect of bringing the life that extinction has stolen from us. I have met so many wonderful folks who have come into the museum and expressed joy at having a small dinosaur museum in the area. On the other hand on almost a weekly bases we get people who aren’t quite as enthusiastic… Science denial, young earth creationism, and frankly ignorance has sadly been the majority of what we’ve seen.
It sometimes appears as something as small as not knowing dinosaurs are extinct (it’s a bummer but its sadly true and no mosquito in amber can fix that) the young earth crowd has the right to their beliefs but scoffing at scientific fact and writing off everything based on words written in a book by priests in the desert is no way to view the amazing world that our planet is and how much it has changed in the roughly 14 billion years it has existed. The worst cases are those who make a scene leaning in through our door and shouting “dinosaurs aren’t real!” has really been just the biggest of bummers.
I myself am not a Christian, I am not bound by dogmatic beliefs and throughout everything I have strived to maintain the ethics and standards set forward by my professors who painstakingly hammered into us the value of good ethical ground and a gentle hand to all who visit.
As we move into 2025 I sadly do not see a path forward for the museum, while we will remain open throughout the first half of this year and we will continue to add exhibits and expand upon what we have I have decided to exit this profession. For close to 13 years, I’ve worked professionally as a paleontological researcher, many of the fossils in our exhibits I have played a part in their excavation and preparation. There is no doubt in my mind that these animals are fantastic, and their bones and impressions leave a story behind that truly shows the might of evolution and the awesome power extinction holds over all life.
Now if you’ve made it this far let me say that I in no way want the museum to end, I’ve spent close to two years now planning, constructing, fundraising, promoting, and managing the museum mostly on my own (thank you to our fabulous volunteers who were a humongous help in the fall) I have enjoyed meeting each and every person who has come into the museum and it has been fabulous leading tours and telling the story of earth. If the museum does close this website WILL NOT I will continue to update it (on a more frequent basis) and will be digitizing our collection through interactive web pages.
Our motto from day one has been “What only the stars have seen” that’s because earth throughout all its evolutions and developments has been silently observed by the stars an audience all to themselves who though hundreds, if not millions of light years away might get a glimpse of our sparkling sun and the planets that orbit it. We are not the center of the universe, we are one marble in an intergalactic game and while we have walked upon our earth for only a brief time, the giant insects of the carboniferous, the dinosaurs of the Mesozoic, and the ice age giants that welcomed us into this world have all played a part in the tapestry of this shining planet known as earth.
Welcome to 2025 and let’s hope it’s the start of many years to come!
We Look Forward To Showing You What Only The Stars Have Seen
Director of Operations
Samuel A Johnson
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