Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara (must see)

The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is the oldest museum in Santa Barbara, founded in 1916.

Set in a traditional southern California environment, the museum campus occupies 12 acres (4.9 ha) of oak woodland along Mission Creek. It is housed in a mission-style, Spanish Mediterranean complex of buildings. More than 150,000 people visit the Museum each year.

The early roots of the Museum date back to the 1890s, when a group of professional and amateur scientists started the Santa Barbara Natural History Society and an accompanying museum at 1226 State Street.

The museum is renowned for fine dioramas of birds, mammals, and southern California habitats. It has collections of over 3 million specimens and an active research program with a focus on marine biology, terrestrial vertebrates, insects, anthropology, geological mapping, and natural history art.