Adirondack Museum

People live in the Adirondacks, too, and this museum tells their story 

A lot of the land in the Adirondack Park is “forever wild” – marked off-limits to development. There’s more to this place, though, than mountains and trees. People live here, too, in towns and villages across its 6 million acres. In a lot of ways, the Adirondacks are an experiment to see how communities can co-exist with their natural surroundings; the museum highlights that relationship in exhibits that span 20 buildings on its 32-acre campus. Transportation, an extensive collection of Adirondack watercraft, camps and resorts, logging – if it was important to the development of the Adirondacks, it’s on exhibit. 

At a glance
  • The grounds, and view, are their own attraction. The view from the cafeteria alone is spectacular.
  • Your admission ticket will let you back in again for free within seven days; it’s also good for a $2 discount at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake.
  • See the carriage that brought Teddy Roosevelt to the train station the night he became president, walk through a restored private luxury railcar, climb a decommissioned fire tower – there are more cool exhibits here than can possibly be mentioned.