Space Farms Zoo and Museum is a 100-acre zoo and history museum in Beemerville, a corner of Wantage Township in Sussex County, New Jersey. It began in 1927 as a quarter-acre general store that happened to shelter a few trapped wild animals, and it has since grown into a sprawling complex with more than 500 live animals and thousands of Americana artifacts packed into a row of old barns. The same family still runs it, four generations later.
If you’ve never heard of it, that’s part of the charm. Space Farms doesn’t show up on many “best of New Jersey” lists next to the splashier attractions, but anyone who grew up in the northwest corner of the state probably has a memory of standing in front of a bear cage here as a kid.
How a Country Store Turned Into a Zoo
The story starts small. Space Farms traces its history to 1927 in the countryside near Sussex, when Ralph and Elizabeth Space purchased a quarter-acre parcel of land that featured a small general store, repair shop, and wild animal shelter. As native farm people, Ralph Space ran the repair shop while Elizabeth headed the general store, and to supplement the family income, Ralph Space began trapping predatory animals for the New Jersey State Game Department.
He never set out to open a zoo. People around the area soon heard about the Space family’s wild animal collection and would drive by to see it, buying some gas, maybe some candy and soda, and visiting the animal collection. Although he never intended it, Ralph Space soon had a zoo! By 1928 it was official — Ralph’s first zoo permit is on display dated 1928, and the original zoo was called the Blue Ridge Wild Animal Farm and Indian Museum.
Then the Great Depression hit, and it reshaped the place in a way nobody expected. During the Great Depression, Elizabeth would accept family heirlooms like firearms, dolls and tools from local farmers in exchange for supplies and repairs they could not afford at the time, and the items could be retrieved when the bills were paid. A lot of those items were never picked up. That pile of unredeemed pawn-shop collateral essentially became the seed collection for what’s now a museum with tens of thousands of objects.
What You’ll Actually See at Space Farms
These days the zoo side holds a serious amount of wildlife. Space Farms Zoo includes bobcats, tigers and lions, buffalo, hyena, wild ponies, timber wolves, various types of foxes, bears and deer, leopards, monkeys, jaguars, coyotes, llamas, yaks, snakes, and hundreds more. The zoo was founded in 1927 and is home to more than 500 live animals, including some endangered species. It bills itself as having the largest private collection of North American wildlife anywhere, which, after walking the grounds, doesn’t feel like much of a stretch.
Once you’re done with the animals, the museum half is where things get genuinely odd in the best way. After visiting the playful and exciting animals in the zoo portion of Space Farms, visitors can take a step back into history and browse through 11 historic buildings that contain thousands of items unique to American history. Inside, you’ll find an extensive variety of antique vehicles and items used during the early history of the United States, such as horse-drawn carriages and early motorcycles, largely unrestored and in much the same condition as when they were acquired.
There’s more than just cars. The museum holds over 500 antique dolls, plus an antique firearm collection considered one of the largest in the United States. The museum itself sits on a former Native American campsite at the base of the Blue Ridge section of the Kittatinny Mountain range. Ralph and his son Fred spent decades picking up artifacts right off the property, and you can tell — the displays feel like someone’s attic rather than a curated exhibit, which honestly is the appeal.
Meet Goliath, the Record-Holding Bear
No visit is complete without Goliath. He was a Kodiak bear who became the zoo’s most famous resident, and one old write-up described him simply as “a 12-foot-tall, 2,000-pound Kodiak bear, who arrived as a cub 30 years ago and remains an attraction, having been stuffed after his death in 1991.” Goliath lived at Space Farms from 1967 to 1991. He’s still there, mounted and standing in the museum’s main hall, and his oversized skull is on display upstairs so you can compare it to other animals’ skulls. It’s a strange, slightly haunting photo op, and almost everyone takes one anyway.
Is Space Farms Zoo and Museum Worth Visiting?
It depends on what you’re after. This isn’t a slick, modern zoo with naturalistic habitats and polished signage — one travel review even described the restrooms as still “a place that still labels its restrooms ‘Chiefs’ and ‘Squaws'”, which gives you a sense of how little the place has updated its old-school roadside personality. Reviews are genuinely split: some visitors love the unpolished, time-capsule feel, while others find the enclosures dated and wish for more upkeep.
What keeps people coming back is the family story behind it. Space Farms is the oldest family attraction in the State of New Jersey still owned and operated by the original family. The current owner, Parker Space, is a member of the New Jersey State Senate who assumed office on January 9, 2024 — so the same guy voting on state budgets in Trenton is also out there running a 100-acre zoo on the weekends. That kind of small-town, hands-on ownership is rare anywhere, let alone at an attraction with lions and jaguars.
Planning Your Visit: Hours, Tickets, and Location
Space Farms sits at 218 Route 519, in the Beemerville section of Wantage Township in Sussex County, New Jersey, roughly tucked into dairy country near the New York border. As of the current season, daily walk-through tickets run $26 for adults ages 13 to 64, $22 for children ages 3 to 12, and $25 for seniors 65 and up, with the zoo open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last admission at 4 p.m. If you plan on visiting more than a couple of times, a season pass makes sense — an adult season pass runs $52 and a child’s runs $44, which pays for itself fast if you’re local.
Plan on spending a couple of hours here at minimum — there’s a lot more ground to cover than the modest parking lot suggests. Bring cash or a card for the snack bar, wear shoes you don’t mind getting a little dusty, and don’t rush the museum buildings. The animals are the draw that gets you in the gate, but it’s the cluttered, slightly chaotic Americana collection upstairs that you’ll actually be talking about on the drive home.
NOTE TO THE ADVENTURER: This guide is meant to spark curiosity for what lies beyond the horizon — not to serve as a guarantee. Roads fall into disrepair, buildings are torn down and rebuilt, and properties change hands; 'tis your responsibility to do your own research before setting out. Always heed local and regional law, and always respect ground that isn't your own. Take every entry here as a suggestion, not a decree. This guide's contents were gathered with the aid of artificial intelligence, and like any scout, it will from time to time lead you astray. You assume all risk in following its counsel, and neither this blog nor its author is liable for any loss, injury, or misfortune that results.
