Space Farms Zoo & Museum

How Space Farms Zoo & Museum Started

Ralph and Elizabeth Space bought their first quarter-acre here in the Beemerville section of Wantage in 1927. Local farmers kept bringing them orphaned bobcats, foxes, and raccoons, and rather than turn the animals loose or worse, the Spaces built pens behind the garage. That accidental menagerie is now Space Farms Zoo & Museum, roughly 100 acres in the Beemerville section of Wantage that the family still runs into its third and fourth generations. Most of us who grew up around here have been more than once, and we still send every visiting relative up Route 519 to see it. It stays on our short list of Sussex County day trips that genuinely surprise out-of-towners.

Over 500 Animals on the Zoo Side

The zoo holds more than 500 animals across about 100 species: lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, black bears, bison, deer, kangaroos, lemurs, monkeys, and a long line of North American natives that Space Farms keeps in one of the largest private collections in the country. The bear and lion breeding programs are what put the place on the map. Kids can usually feed the deer and goats, and the enclosures sit close enough that you actually see the animals instead of squinting across a moat. Ask about Goliath, a Kodiak bear who stood twelve feet tall and once held a Guinness record; he lived here until 1991 and still anchors the museum as a mounted display.

Eleven Buildings of Old America

Then there is the other half. The museum runs to roughly eleven buildings packed with unrestored antique cars, early motorcycles, horse-drawn sleighs and carriages, farm machinery, antique dolls, Native American artifacts, and one of the larger private firearms collections in the state. Much of it arrived during the Depression, when cash-poor farmers traded family heirlooms for goods at the Space general store. It is a real slice of North Jersey history, and it makes the site a solid rainy-day option for when the animals are lying low.

Planning a Visit

Space Farms is open daily from 10am to 5pm, late March through the first of November, with last entrance at 4pm. Admission for 2026 runs $26 for adults 13 to 64, $25 for seniors 65 and up, and $22 for children 3 to 12, with season passes starting at $52. Rain or shine, no refunds. A large picnic area, a playground and an on-site pizza restaurant mean packing lunch and buying it both work. Budget three or four hours, longer than most family attractions in Sussex County ask of you. High Point State Park sits a short drive north if you want to stretch the day.