Springfield, Vermont: Underground Telescope Museum
An eight-room underground complex, built by an amateur astronomer so that he could be warm while he looked through his telescope, which poked up above ground.
Hartness House Inn
- Address:
- 30 Orchard St., Springfield, VT
- Directions:
- Hartness Telescope Museum and Observatory, Hartness House Inn.
- Hours:
- By appt.: Webmaster@Stellafane.org (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
- Phone:
- 802-885-2115
- Admission:
- Free, Donations accepted
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Underground Telescope Museum
Hartness Telescope Museum and Observatory is a unique underground museum on the Hartness House Inn estate grounds. The museum is reached by going into the Inn's 250 foot underground tunnel leading to the eight room underground complex and museum.
The museum features over 300 exhibits chronicling the beginning of amateur telescope-making from 1910 right up to present. The Stellafane Astronomy Club displays many antique telescopes at the museum. The museum also features the artwork of Russell Porter, the founder of the Stellafane Club in 1921, and groundbreaking work to make the Hale Observatory at Mount Palomar a success. Visitors are given a tour of the 1910 Hartness Equatorial Tracking telescope and observatory.
[Al Leone, 09/11/2007]Nearby Offbeat Places
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