We all love our state’s big show-stopper museums: the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, with its dinosaur room and IMAX theater, and the Denver Art Museum, with its works by Albert Bierstadt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy Warhol and other heavy-hitters. They are swell places to spend an afternoon or take out-of-town guests who need convincing that cattle, in general, don’t roam our streets.
But Colorado has a wealth of small museums worth seeing. A few are best visited on the way to somewhere else. Others are dandy destinations in their own right.
Whether you wish to view a vintage Stanley Steamer, a Cold War B-1 Lancer bomber, or the — gulp — inch-thick noose used on the last prisoner hanged in this state, there’s a museum for you.
Here is a week’s worth of Colorado’s offbeat and specialty museums.
1. The Dougherty Museum
Housed in an unassuming building that fronts U.S. 287 east of Longmont, the Dougherty Museum is a fascinating collection of cars and farm machinery from the past century.
Highlights include a 1910 Cadillac, a 1914 Stanley Steamer and a 1915 Case tractor — all mint and gleaming. You can thank the late Ray Dougherty, a beet and turkey farmer in Boulder County, who had an eye for machinery. The museum is open June 1- Aug. 30, Fridays-Sundays 11 a.m.-5 p.m. By appointment only the rest of the year.
8306 U.S. 287, east of Longmont, 303-776-2520.
2. Colorado Railroad Museum
All aboard! This gem of a museum showcases some true Industrial Age marvels: More than 100 locomotives, coaches and cabooses are on display. Railroads played a crucial role in Colorado’s development, from narrow-gauge trains that served the mining industry to the big Pullman cars and freight trains that brought in people and shipped out goods.
It’s a great place to lose track of time. Visitors can observe ongoing train restoration projects from the roundhouse viewing area. You can also browse one of the state’s niftiest museum gift shops.
17155 W. 44th Ave., Golden. Check on hours at 303-279-4591.
3. Denver Firefighters Museum
This first-class museum offers an insider’s look at 150 years of Denver firefighting. Ranging from the days when water wagons were pulled by horses — and pumped by hand — to today’s sophisticated engines, breathing apparatus and dispatch systems, this museum has it all.
Located in an old two-story firehouse in downtown Denver, the museum is a firefighting buff’s dream. There’s also a much-praised interactive exhibit for kids.
1326 Tremont Place, 303-892-1436.
4. Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum
A massive hangar at the former Lowry Air Force Base holds more than three dozen historic aircraft spanning the history of flight. Among the standouts are a B-1A Lancer bomber from the 1980s and a North American Aviation F-86 Sabre fighter jet. The museum does a nice job with explanatory material, and friendly guides — many of them vets — are happy to chat.
7711 E. Academy Blvd, Denver, 303-360-5360.
5. Colorado Ski Museum
Housed on the third floor of the Vail Transportation Center, this museum traces the history of Centennial State schussing. Marvel at sepia photos from turn-of-the- century mining camps, where folks donned skis the length of sailboat masts. Much is devoted to the industry’s roots in the 10th Mountain Division’s World War II training camp. It’s a fascinating look at how ski technology has evolved.
231 S. Frontage Road East, Vail, 970-476-1876.
6. The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum
If you ever start feeling that your job is too hard, head to Leadville and take a tour of this museum. At tour’s end, you’ll slink back to your vehicle and thank heaven you don’t have to earn your paycheck as a hard-rock miner in the 19th century.
Mining’s colorful history is on display in what could be the world’s loftiest museum, given this former silver boomtown’s 10,162-foot elevation. Old photographs, equipment and dioramas give you a taste of what it was like to pull ore from unforgiving stone.
120 W. Ninth St., Leadville, 719-486-1229.
7. Museum of Colorado Prisons
This monument to misery sits just a couple of handcuff tosses from the Arkansas River.
The collection includes cells filled with exhibits and mannequins, the noose that slipped around the neck of the last man executed by hanging in Colorado, confiscated weapons, a gas chamber and historical photographs of life in stir. There are also displays of disciplinary equipment that go far beyond getting your knuckles rapped by a ruler.
201 N. First St., Cañon City.
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
