Category: Learning

Closed in the Winter. The National Oregon/California Trail Center is located near the Clover Creek Encampment of the Oregon Trail in Montpelier at 320 North 4th Street. The trail center depicts the 2000-mile, 5-month journey along the Oregon Trail in daily Living History tours. They also host Conventions and Meetings…

Open year round. The Idaho Potato Museum celebrates the humble spud and its contribution to humanity. Located in Blackfoot, Idaho, the Potato Capitol of the World, the Idaho Potato Museum explores the history, cultivation and harvesting of potatoes. Displays showcase unique artifacts including the World's Largest Potato Crisp, as noted…

China Hat and China Cap are rhyolite domes that formed around older volcano lava flows. There are many faults located in the area which have had a part in forming these land forms as well as multiple "grabens". This is also a great Bird Watching area. The best bird viewing…

Open year round. The theme, purpose, and value of the museum is to sell the public on the value of clean. Cleaning efforts over the centuries will be chronicled through displays, demonstrations, and even dramatized in a cleaning melodrama. Items dating back more than 2000 years, along with an amazing…

Tour through a wondrous half-mile of stalactites and stalagmites in the largest limestone cave in Idaho.

Fort Hall is a replica of the historic facility that served pioneer travelers along the Oregon Trail. Enter the massive wooden gates and wander through the Company Hall, Frontier Room, Indian Room, Factor's Quarter, Blacksmith and Carpenter's Room. This replica of the stockade trading post tells the story of one…

Open summer only. The oldest continually settled town in Idaho, Franklin was founded in 1860 by Mormon pioneers. Several original buildings stand in the historic district: the Relic Hall, the old ZCMI store, the Hatch House, and others. The Old Yellowstone Route is just outside of Franklin where stagecoaches full…

Open summer only. The museum features exhibits detailing the history and development of Power County. Visitors take a trip back to the era of the moving of the town to make way for the American Falls Dam. We have pamphlets available with the list of National Historic Place

The De Smet Monument in Soda Springs, Idaho is comprised of a bronze bust of Father Pierre-Jean De Smet and four interpretive signs briefly describing the history and exploits of De Smet, a frontier missionary, peacemaker, world traveler and author.

The Cave was formed when basalt lava flowed out of a vent 500 thousand years ago forming a lava tube typical to this type of volcanic activity on the Snake River Plains. It was important to early settlers and native Americans for food storage. 

The site is a 7 mile segment of "The Lander Cut-off of the Oregon Trail", the first road commissioned by Congress with funding for location and construction. F.W. Lander supervised the project.

Open year round. Visitors will discover dinosaurs, ice-age mammals, how to live off the land, and more. They can also experience science hands-on in the Discovery Room! See fossils of animals that used to live right here in Idaho, including whorl tooth sharks and dinosaurs! Children will get excited about…

Celebrate Welsh Culture and History in Samaria Idaho. Malad Valley Heritage Square is a wonderful collection of Pioneer era cabins, an old fashioned Ice Cream store, covered wagons and farm machinery. It includes the Osmond Family Homestead. Visit their Facebook page for news and events. View a poster of Malad Valley…

Open summer only. The Bingham County Historical Museum is located in the John Brown Mansion. It was built in 1905, and served as home to the Brown Family before being deeded to the Stewart Hoover American Legion Post to serve as the legion hall until it was deeded to the…

This Forest Service developed site near Pocatello includes trails and an amphitheater. Over 100 bird species have been documented in the area. Commonly seen mammals include the least chipmunk, red squirrel, white-tailed jackrabbit and raccoons.

Visit Idaho’s largest butterfly house where you can enjoy the beauty of many different species of butterflies, plants and birds. Showcasing many different species found here in Idaho.  Walk through the indoor botanical garden and watch the butterflies flutter around you.

Open 3rd Saturday each month. There is the Museum with historical information about the Union Pacific Railroad operation in Pocatello. Including items from Railroading on display. There is a Geo Tracks Table for the very little young.

Open year round. The Bannock County Historical Museum houses exhibits, objects, and records relating to Bannock County and Pocatello's history. Exhibit themes include railroad history, early medical practices, general store, the military, Victorian era parlor and  Shoshone-Bannock Indian artifacts. It sits adjacent to the Fort Hall Replica and the zoo in…

Gutzon Borglum was a prolific American sculptor best know for his presidents' sculptures on Mount Rushmore, South Dakota. Borglum was born in St. Charles, Idaho in 1867.

This site is the point on the Bear River where water was first diverted by Mormon settlers to develop an agriculture industry in Gem Valley. It was completed in the early 1900's and was an engineering masterpiece for it's time. The Last Chance Canal Company was started with 64 original…

The January 29, 1863 Bear River Massacre of 250 or more Native Americans, by Colonel Patrick Connor and his troops, occurred here. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990. The battle became one of the worst disasters for Native Americans in the west.

Red Rock Pass was cut through a sill of resistant Paleozoic shale, limestone, and dolomite, and forms a narrow gap two miles long. At one time the pass was at the shoreline of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, 300 feet higher. Lava flows in the vicinity of Pocatello diverted the Bear River through Lake Thatcher into Lake Bonneville.

Sheep Rock was the location of the first split of the Oregon-California Trail. The Bidwell-Bartleson Party and the Hudspeth Cutoff diverged from the main trail here. Oregon Trail Public Park and Marina – This park, on the shore of Alexander Reservoir, features a marina, picnic area and playground, and a remnant of the Oregon Trail.

Summer only. This small log and wood frame building over 125 years old, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In Georgetown’s early settlement, it functioned as a local chapel, schoolhouse and general meeting hall. For many years it was a focal point for the female society of…

Open year round. Both permanent and rotating exhibits about the history of the Lava Hot Springs area and development of the surrounding rural communities of Arimo, Inkom, Downey, McCammon, Virginia and Swan Lake.

Emigrants by the thousands entered present day eastern Idaho at this location traveling along the Oregon-California Trail. Emigrants on the trail encountered Big Hill, thought to be the steepest and longest descent found on the trip west.

The Academy is a unique 3-story Romanesque stone building, constructed in the early 1890s. It is one of three, out of 35, similar surviving buildings from the days of Mormon Church sponsored education. It was moved from Preston High School to it's current location in 2004.