Touring the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY

My husband's parents wanted to take the grandkids to Kentucky to see the Creation Museum and experience the Ark Encounter. We couldn't let them have all the fun without us, so we made it a road trip and went along with them!

The Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY is presented by Answers in Genesis as an evangelistic outreach experience. I have appreciated the materials and resources presented by Answers in Genesis, so I was excited to see how they would walk us through the Creation account.

Starting with Defining Terms

I've realized lately that the current culture struggles with communication because our culture does not operate with a basic set of common definitions of terms. In order to present even the basics of what the Bible says about Creation, one must go back a little further and define terms.

I really appreciated the walk through worldviews at the beginning of the exhibit. What happens when you approach a topic from a different starting point is that you come to different conclusions.

Since evolution is proclaimed as truth in mainstream culture, it is definitely worthwhile to make sure that another side of the story is presented. The debate brought up some excellent points of conversation and curiosities for us.

When the Definitions Changed

Up until the 1920s, evolution was not legal to teach in schools. I love that the Creation Museum referenced the Scopes Trial depicted in Inherit the Wind as we've spent time studying this piece of history in the Classical Conversations Challenge B curriculum when we read Defeating Darwinism. In this trial, a school teacher was put on trial for teaching evolution in the classroom.

The tables turned, however when big name lawyers went head-to-head in a media saturated courtroom and the Creationist representative is made to look the fool. When this movie came out, our country was in a time of declaring their independence from God. I think this exhibit is a great opportunity to rejoin the dialogue on Truth in a creative way.

Walking Through Creation

The next section of the museum walks through the 7C's of history: creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, cross, and consummation. This part of the exhibit features 130 static and animatronic figures (humans, animals and dinosaurs). While there is quite a bit of reading required, most of this section also has similar audible info leading viewers through as well.

We really appreciated how the museum connected archaeological data, scientific discoveries, and historical accounts with the Biblical narrative. So often those topics become isolated entities, but here they were unified in a singular story.

While you can't know how all of the stories played out exactly (because the Bible doesn't give us the exact details), it was interesting to see plausible alternatives that sync with the Truth presented in the Bible.

Other Great Attractions at the Creation Museum

The museum is not the only thing to see or do while you're at the Creation Museum. Here are some of the other exciting features:

1. Botanical Garden

We love finding gardens on our road trips, and we loved that the grounds of the Creation Museum are cultivated in such a beautiful way! With bridges and extraordinary waterfalls all around, I could have spent all afternoon in the gardens. 

2. Petting Zoo and Camel Rides

You can also see some fun creatures (like a zorse and a zonkey) in the petting zoo, which my kids always love.

The highlight for our group was the camel rides! I'm not quite sure what the appeal is, but they seemed to love it!

3. Zip Lines and Ropes courses

Although we didn't partake in these exciting adventures, the zip line and ropes courses looked like great fun!

Visit the Creation Museum

We initially drove to Kentucky for the Ark Encounter, so the Creation Museum was an added bonus to our tour. I'm so thankful that we went to this exhibit first because it works chronologically with the Biblical timeline. It was well worth the trip and provided thought provoking content for many conversations!