Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point

Thanksgiving Point Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit farm, garden, and museum complex that draws upon the natural world to cultivate transformative family learning. Using the natural world as a springboard for exploration, Thanksgiving Point combines place and process to shape today’s problem solvers into tomorrow’s makers and innovators. Thanksgiving Point is located at the center of Utah’s population growth equidistant between Provo and Salt Lake City metro areas.

Alan Ashton purchased the land for Thanksgiving Point on Valentine’s Day in 1995 as a gift. The creator of the groundbreaking software WordPerfect, Alan wanted to realize his beloved wife Karen’s dream of building a community gathering place.

At the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point, roam among the dinosaurs, explore a Carboniferous Forest, and dive deep into a Cretaceous Ocean at the Museum of Ancient Life. Come visit one of the world’s largest displays of mounted dinosaurs with 60 complete dinosaur skeletons in our galleries, along with more than 50 hands-on exhibits. This is the destination to enjoy learning about our pre-historic animals, playing with toy dinosaurs in the Erosion Table, and digging for fossils in the quarry dig.