21 Museums in Cody Yellowstone to Feed Your Curious Soul

If you’re the kind of traveler who craves context, wandering around a museum is one of the best ways to unearth and understand the nuances and historical nuggets of a destination. In Cody Yellowstone, curiosity – and a sturdy pair of walking shoes – is all you need to experience the delights and surprises of the many museums in and around this legendary destination in northwest Wyoming.

Thanks to its legendary founder, Buffalo Bill Cody, this northwest Wyoming hub is packed with places where history isn’t just displayed — it’s lived. And whether you’re chasing cowboy tales, Native American traditions, or natural wonders, the region’s museums offer a bold, hands-on way to connect with the spirit of the West.

Buffalo Bill: The Man, The Myth, The Museums

Buffalo Bill Museum (Buffalo Bill Center of the West)

The namesake museum that started it all. Discover the showman, scout, and visionary through immersive exhibits honoring the life and legacy of Buffalo Bill Cody.

Buffalo Bill Dam and Visitor Center

Once the tallest concrete dam in the world, this engineering marvel offers an awe-inspiring look at how water shaped the West — and Cody’s future.

Pahaska Tepee

Buffalo Bill Cody’s own hunting lodge near Yellowstone’s East Gate. Explore where he entertained guests like Teddy Roosevelt, then stay for a meal, a gift shop visit, or an overnight stay in a rustic cabin.

Museums That Define the West

Old Trail Town & Museum of the West

A recreated frontier town complete with 28 authentic buildings. Walk the same boardwalks Butch Cassidy and the Hole in the Wall Gang once haunted.

Cody Dug Up Gun Museum

Explore over 1,000 firearms and relics unearthed from real-life battlefields, homesteads, and outlaw camps — each with a tale to tell.

Cody Heritage Museum

Located in downtown Cody, this new museum explores the heritage of Cody with displays showcasing ranching, railroads, rodeo and more.

Cody Firearms Museum (Buffalo Bill Center of the West)

This Center of the West museum houses the most comprehensive collection of American firearms in the world. The heart of the museum is the Winchester Arms Collection.

Western Art, Culture & Design

By Western Hands

A non-profit artisan guild, By Western Hands focuses on Western design and functional art with exhibits that showcase how the region became the birthplace of Western design and how its artists continue to honor that heritage through their creations.

Whitney Western Art Museum

This Smithsonian-affiliated museum in the Center of the West is frequently named one of the best Western art museums in the country. Visitors will find works from artists such as Charlie Russell, Frederic Remington, Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt.

Living Indigenous Traditions

Plains Indians Museum (Buffalo Bill Center of the West)

One of the most significant Native American collections in the U.S. Explore the art, traditions, and modern lives of Plains Indian peoples.

Natural Wonders, Explained

Draper Natural History Museum (Center of the West)

Explore Yellowstone’s four ecosystems — complete with scents, sounds, and scavenger hunts that bring the wild indoors.

Canyon Visitor Education Center (Yellowstone National Park)

This modern facility captures the imaginations of visitors with exhibits featuring Yellowstone’s supervolcano as well as geysers, hot springs and other geothermal features that can be found throughout the park. Curious visitors will especially appreciate the interactive exhibits and displays of real-time scientific data about the park.

Norris Geyser Basin Museum

Built in 1930, when touring the park by private automobile was preferred over the guided tours in touring vehicles, so that visitors could educate themselves about the park. Designated a National Historic Landmark, like many buildings in the park, this museum includes exhibits about the park’s hydrothermal features as well as general park information.

Albright Visitor Center (Yellowstone National Park)

Located in Mammoth Hot Springs, the northern region of Yellowstone National Park, this historic structure was built by the United States Army in 1909 as bachelor officers’ quarters for the cavalry troops that protected the park before the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916. Exhibits provide a general orientation to the park’s cultural and natural resources.

Photography & Pioneer Stories

Charles Belden Museum of Western Photography

The Charles Belden Museum of Western Photography includes Belden photographs of the Pitchfork Ranch, “Little Wahb”, one of the largest grizzlies ever taken in the Yellowstone ecosystem, Mike Crocker’s “Grand Slam” of North American Wild Sheep, antique sheep wagons, and the Endangered Black-Footed Ferret exhibit.

Meeteetse Museum

This museum features an array of permanent exhibits, including one that explores the history of the Black-Footed Ferret, a species that was thought to be extinct until one was spotted in Meeteetse in 1981, prompting a successful push to repopulate the species. There are also rotating exhibits and a room devoted to the collection of oral history.

Bank Museum

The Bank Museum showcases a diverse collection of authentic artifacts, including the original bank vault and safes, a teller’s cage, an early telephone switchboard, dictaphones, and historic photographs. 

Human History at its core

Heart Mountain WWII Interpretive Center

This award-winning museum tells the stories through photographs, artifacts, oral histories, and interactive exhibits of the 14,000 Japanese Americans who were confined at the Heart Mountain WWII Japanese American Confinement site.

Homesteader Museum

Celebrate the grit of the settlers who helped shape the Big Horn Basin through homesteading cabins, schoolhouses, and family archives.

Museum of the National Park Ranger (Yellowstone National Park)

 It is fitting that the world’s first national park offers a museum that highlights the lives and contributions of national park rangers. Located near the Norris Geyser Basin, the historic structure was built in 1886 as a station for the soldiers who patrolled the park before the National Park Service was established. It was also used as a ranger station and residence until the 1959 Hebden Lake earthquake damaged its structure. The restored museum is staffed by retired rangers, and there are displays highlighting the history of the National Park Service and the rangers who have protected the parks.

Cody Mural and Museum

The Grigware mural in the LDS church rotunda depicts scenes from the colonization of the West and the settling of the Big Horn Basin. The recently renovated museum features new interactive exhibits and memorabilia displays.

Discover Your inner historian in cody yellowstone

From frontiersmen and firearms to geysers and ghost towns, Cody Yellowstone’s museums aren’t just educational. They’re places where the past comes alive, and each of them makes a fantastic addition to your itinerary.

Ready for the full frontier experience? Request your free 2025 Cody Yellowstone Adventure Guide and start planning a museum crawl you’ll never forget.