Welcome to Tanglewood
Our trails are open to the public from dawn to dusk, for free, 365 days a year.
The Nature Center & Museum is open from 9:00am to 4:00pm Tuesday-Friday, and 10:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday.
Gleason Meadow & Personius Trail System
Gleason Meadows/Frenchman’s Bluff is the trail system that we are best known for – these are the trails that depart from the Nature Center and are the “main” Tanglewood trails. If you wish to hike with your dog (and we hope that you will!) please drive just two minutes down the road to our dog-friendly trail system, Personius Woods.
Nature Center & Museum
Tanglewood Nature Center has a diverse range of activities in our main building. Visitors can stroll through the exhibit hall, which includes both a “darkened forest” with taxidermized native animals. The remainder of the exhibit hall houses over 40 species of live animals, ranging from arthropods and amphibians to mammals and reptiles!
COMING SOON!
Tanglewood Treetop Walkway
You’ve seen the woods before. But if you’ve only ever seen it from ground level, you’re missing out on a whole world of beautiful and fascinating sights! Tanglewood Nature Center will give you the opportunity to change that with our upcoming Treetop Walkway.
There is a gravel parking lot, with handicapped parking near the sidewalk that leads to our main entrance. Expect about a 100ft walk from the main parking lot to the front door. There is a secondary lower parking lot that provides easier access to the birds of prey and bird feeders.
Admission to the Nature Center and parking is free.
The Nature Center is self-guided. When you enter through the main door, you can proceed directly into the exhibit hall, to the restrooms, or to the gift shop.
If you would like staff assistance or have a question (about an animal, what trail to hike, or more) please visit our gift shop.
Many visitors choose to head directly to the trails (Trail maps and detailed descriptions here.) The trailhead has a kiosk with a trail map and the list of rules.
We find that visitors generally spend around 20 minutes exploring the exhibit hall. Our rehabilitated birds of prey have outdoor enclosures. Visitors generally spend around 10-15 minutes visiting the birds of prey.
Visitors generally spend between one and three hours on the trails.
The Nature Center main entrance comes at the end of a sidewalk about 100 feet in length. It is fairly level. The Nature Center main hall, exhibit hall, auditorium, gift shop, and restrooms are all on one level and are wheelchair accessible from the main entrance.
The birds of prey outdoors are accessible to visitors who can negotiate a paved sidewalk with slight gradients of rise and fall from aviary to aviary. The sidewalk has four shallow steps made of concrete with a handrail at one end – visitors who are not comfortable with steps can return the way they came to the start. The bird loop is not immediately or easily handicap accessible from within the nature center. Visitors are welcome and encouraged to park in the lower lot for ease of access to the birds of prey and the concrete sidewalk.
There are no wheelchair accessible trails. Trails are often narrow in wooded sections (trail width ranges from 2ft-4ft depending on vegetation growth, time of year, and terrain). The trails have some significant elevation change (especially on the Red Trail) and the footing is uneven. The front lawn by the pond may be more accessible. However, during rainy periods, the ground will become soft and muddy.
Tanglewood Nature Center has a diverse range of activities in our main building. Visitors can stroll through the exhibit hall, which includes both a “darkened forest” with taxidermized native animals and sensory teaching objects. The exhibit hall also houses over 40 species of live animals, ranging from arthropods and amphibians to mammals and reptiles! Walking through the exhibit hall and viewing the animals is a favorite activity for many families.
We also have a library with an observation bee hive and visitors can see the bees crawling through a transparent tube to fly out of the nature center and pollinate outdoors.
There are a variety of drop-in programs throughout the year, for families and for adults, ranging from guided hikes, to owl walks, to raptor programs, to homeschool science programs, to pre-school literacy programs. Please check out our Event page to see what’s coming up for your visit.
We do not offer daily guided tours or animal shows but, you may encounter one of our incredible volunteers or staff feeding the animals. Please feel welcome to ask questions and enjoy the moment! Feeding times vary depending on volunteer and staff schedules.
If you are visiting with a group and would like to schedule a program with one of our education staff, we generally do 90-minute programs for groups — these must be scheduled in advance with our Executive Director.
In winter months, snowshoes for children and adults are available to rent.
The birds of prey (owls, hawks, vultures, falcons) live with us because they are non-releasable due to injury or imprinting on humans. These birds could not survive in the wild, but are able to live happy and enriched lives at Tanglewood.
Most native animals are here because they have become too habituated to humans and would not be able to survive in the wild. We also have many non-native animals, ranging from rainforest creatures to desert species. These animals help us teach about adaptations, biome diversity, and conservation challenges animals face around the globe.
Many of the animals on display are animal ambassadors that can visit your school, scout troop, camp, or community center. Animals, like all living things, change, grow, and pass away. Our animals may also be out on programs, in a different location due to weather, off-exhibit for training or away from the public for quiet rest, so there may be different animals on display.
There is no cafeteria; we do not sell refreshments. There are water bottle refilling stations in the hallway. We have reusable water bottles for purchase.
There is no indoor space for guests to eat. If you wish to have a snack or a lunch on your visit, we have a picnic pavilion by a pond for guests to use. It is first-come first-served, so there may be other visitors at the picnic tables when you arrive. The picnic pavilion is about 150 ft from the trailhead kiosk, on an ungroomed trail and lawn. You are welcome to bring a blanket and have a picnic on our lawns or alongside our trails. There are no trash or recycling bins by the picnic pavilion – picnics are carry-in carry-out.
There are handicap accessible restrooms inside the Nature Center. Access to the restrooms is limited to Nature Center open hours (9am-4pm Tuesday through Friday, 10am-4pm Saturdays). On Sundays, Mondays, and after 4pm, there are no restrooms available for visitors.