The six dioramas in the main hall were commissioned by Dr. Wilson in 1926. These were constructed by Ned J. Burns in Staten Island early in that year, and were brought, in August, to Castine, where Mr. Burns assembled and finished them. Mr. Burns was at the time working at the American Museum of Natural History where displays of outstanding quality were being developed. Some of his finest work was done at the Museum of the City of New York during the more than six years he was chief preparer. From 1939, when he undertook to assist the National Park Service in obtaining museums for the eastern parks, until his death in 1953, Mr. Burns was Chief of the Museum Division of the National Park Service .

These dioramas represent Cave Man of the Paleolithic, Lake Dwellers of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, and the megalithic temple, Stonehenge, shown as it must have appeared at the time of its greatest magnificence during the Bronze Age. Three of the models picture American Indian life; these are a pueblo of the Southwest, Indians of the Plains, and Eskimo life.