On View at the Museum of York County

Changing Exhibits:

Nature Nook Gallery featuring Endless Trail

This exhibit features the natural settings of the Carolina Piedmont and beyond, through Mike Hammer’s photography, capturing the uniquely beautiful moments of each season.

Vernon Grant Gallery featuring By the Light of the Moon

Vernon Grant (1902-1990) was a prolific commercial illustrator who spent the latter half of his life in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  In his characteristically imaginative or dream-like scenes, Grant often set the mood and enhanced his designs by featuring the moon or stars in the background.  Always an exaggerated and abstracted full moon at the height of its influence, this symbol of mystery and the subconscious plays a powerful supporting role in these original gauche paintings and prints.

Permanent Exhibits:

Naturalist Center

The only Smithsonian-styled education center in South Carolina, with more than 2,400 specimens at your fingertips, will guide your learning adventures from the Piedmont and across the globe. 

Before the Ice Ages: Miocene and Pliocene Beasts of the Southeast (Opening June 14, 2025)

Long before the Ice Ages, the Carolinas were a very different place. Over 23 million years ago, a time known as the Miocene Epoch, the climate was cooling and becoming drier, and new types of habitat, the grasslands, were starting to expand. With them came a change in the animals. This was a time when rhinos roamed the Southeast and strange elephant-like “shovel tuskers” called the Carolinas home. Saber-toothed cats and bone-crushing dogs prowled the region in search of prey, but even these predators were wary of the fearsome “hell pig.” The Pliocene Epoch (5 million years ago) saw an influx of new species. A land bridge formed between North and South America, bringing ground sloths, giant armadillos, and huge terror birds. The limits of even these great creatures would be tested as the climate began a series of erratic shifts that led to the Pleistocene Ice Ages.

Ice Age Carolinas: Exploring Our Pleistocene Past

Experience a journey back in time to encounter the strange, gigantic, fierce, and fantastic beasts that once roamed the Carolinas! Featuring life-sized models, taxidermy mounts, diorama and habitat settings, fossils, interactives, and interpretive displays, Ice Age Carolinas portrays the Carolinas’ prehistoric landscapes and wildlife during the Pleistocene Epoch from 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. See, touch, and learn about fossils and the fossil sites in South Carolina that helped paleontologists piece together this fascinating story.

Carolina Piedmont Halls Landscapes and Lifeways: The Carolina Piedmont 600 Years Ago and Today

Spy on the creatures that only come out at night.  Compare the present landscape with the Piedmont of the 1400s, before European exploration and settlement – when bison roamed around the river’s edge and humans fashioned tools of wood and stone.

Tot Town

Based on the imaginative artwork of nationally-known illustrator and long-time Rock Hill resident Vernon Grant, a playful learning space awaits our youngest visitors in Tot Town!