I gave money to support the building of this monument that sits about 40 minutes south of DC in Quantico, VA. You cannot miss this awesome spectacle that shoots a glass sphere straight up in the sky. The museum is directly off Route 95 and was just opened November 2006 so it is fairly new and still outside is being constructed to set up walking trails and even a chapel. It is free of charge and is something for the entire family. The museum is one of the largest I have ever been in and will take you through not only basic training of Marines (I experienced first hand), it will take you through every war and battle, with artifacts, memorabilia and even panoramic displays that are so life like you would think you are there. There are also hands on exhibits as well and an movie theatre. The tavern upstairs and the mess hall serve food and the gift shop has a lot of cool stuff! This is a must visit well you are down in this area and something so new it puts other museums to shame! Make sure you put this on your trip list!

My father was stationed at Quantico in the 60s and he was a tour guide at the old Marine Museum. Needless to say, we were excited when we found out that the new museum had finally opened in Nov 06. We went down the following month!

We had lunch in the Mess Hall on the second deck. The Mess Hall is open 9-5. It was a little pricey. The museum itself is FREE and is also open 9-5.

You can either tour the museum on your own or tour with a group tour guide. We had a tour guide. All of the exhibits were interesting and educational. We could not believe how lifelike the mannequins were in each exhibit. We spent about 3 hours in the museum. Our tour guide told us that the museum was not finished and that there were more exhibits to come!

There is a very nice gift shop on the first deck. Check out my picture of the famous Iwo Jima memorial made out of Legos! Very cool!

I live a few miles away from this place and I've been there several times. I majored in Military History in college and I've been to a lot of military musuems, I can easily say this is one of the best! I won't bother describing all of the displays, but be sure to Google it and go to the musuem's web site. It has all the info you need. This is a great museum devoted to a group of folks who have done and are doing some great things for our country. Carry on you Devil Dogs! SEMPER FI!

My son read about the opening of the Marine Museum in November 2006, and chose this as his #1 activitiy for our trip to DC. What a great choice!! This museum is extremely well done, informative, interesting for all ages, and very moving as well. All this from someone who does not have any Marines in the family. You will not be sorry that you incorporated this fine museum into your trip.