South Jersey’s ‘Jurassic Park’-like fossil park delays opening a second time to 2025

Rowan University’s dinosaur and ancient fossil park is rescheduled to open in March 2025.

The Edelman Fossil Park and Museum was originally set to open this summer, but the opening was pushed to this fall in July. Now, with winter just a month away, Rowan University and its stakeholders announced last week that they’re planning for a spring opening.

“The opening of Edelman Fossil Park & Museum marks a momentous occasion for our region and for visitors from around the world. This is not just a museum, it’s a gateway to a breathtaking chapter of Earth’s history,” said Kenneth Lacovara, founding executive director of the park and museum. “Here, we open a window onto the profound and pivotal events of the fifth mass extinction, during which the dinosaurs and 75% of species perished, shaping the modern world as we know it.”

In July, the park’s namesake, prominent funder, and Rowan University alum, Ric Edelman told NJ.com that the project is taking longer than anticipated, but that the finished attraction will be well worth the wait. Edelman and his wife, Jean donated more than $25 million of the park’s $73 million budget.

“The facility is going to be world class,” Edelman told NJ.com at the time. “The construction quality is outstanding. The exhibits are astonishing and everyone’s going to love it.”

The 44,000-square-foot park and museum boasts full-scale recreations of 66 million-year-old creatures, live animal exhibits, and a quarry where 100,000 fossils have already been found and where guests can dig for fossils themselves. Not to mention, its free-roaming virtual reality experience will take guests back to the Cretaceous period to walk among the dinosaurs in wild and dangerous adventures.

“The fossils unearthed here tell the epic story of life’s fragility and resilience, weaving a cautionary tale that frames our present challenges and provides a road map towards a more sustainable tomorrow,” Lacovara said.

The park is located in a globally important region in the history of paleontology that’s teeming with ancient artifacts, according to the museum. Nearly a mile from the park is where the first-ever Tyrannosaur skeleton, the Dryptosaurus, was discovered, which will be recreated as a life-size replica at the park.

Right across the Ben Franklin Bridge in Haddonfield, the first nearly complete dinosaur skeleton, the Hadrosaurus foulkii, was found by Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia paleontologist William Parker Foulke in 1858.

It doesn’t stop there. The aquatic reptile Halisauraus, the first of its kind to be discovered, was found an hour from the park in Hornerstown, N.J., and less than an hour outside of Philadelphia, the “Mannington Mastodon” skeleton was unearthed in 1869.

In the meantime, dino-lovers can bask in the wonder of the Academy of Natural Sciences “Dinos after Dark” pop-up beer garden and exhibits on Nov. 22 or the traveling dinosaur road show “Jurassic Quest” in Oaks, Pa. in January.