Photo Credit: Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum

Fairbanks Museums & Cultural Centers

Fairbanks is a young city where the people who made history are often still alive to tell it. Local museums are prized community gems that quietly share remarkable stories of Fairbanks’ uncanny ability to “beat the odds” (as a local historian puts it in the title of his book) rather than die out like so many other gold rush towns. These stories are told through historic exhibits, black-and-white photos, oral histories, and living legends on staff at the Fairbanks Community Museum, Tanana Valley Railroad Museum, and Pioneer Air Museum. This is what people are referring to when they say Fairbanks has “character.”

The UAF Museum of the North is consistently ranked as one of the top museums in the state and is a “must” for first time visitors or repeat guests who want to brush up on their trivia of the last frontier. The Gallery of Alaska walks you through relevant cultural touchstones from regions around the state, providing a solid overview for new arrivals to get their footing in Alaskan history.

History and culture also “comes alive” at several venues in Fairbanks with shows and demonstrations at Pioneer Park, Fairbanks Ice Museum, and Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center. Look for opportunities to live it, instead of just reading about it. The machinery of the frontier days still runs full throttle at Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum for a noisy, clinkety, gas-fueled blast into the pioneer past.

Though it’s easy to stroll through these facilities on your own, many of the best stories remain in the minds of museum staff. Don’t be shy—say hi, and ask for a favorite story or memory from their time in the Golden Heart City.

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Museums, Cultural Centers

Season: Year Round $18

Alaska’s road to mod­ern­iza­tion a cen­tu­ry ago was a dra­mat­ic jour­ney, and the Foun­tain­head Antique Auto Muse­um explores that jour­ney in fun, vivid detail. On the grounds of Wedge­wood Resort — a mem­ber of the city’s pre­mier, local­ly owned hotel group — the muse­um show­cas­es dozens of his­tor­i­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant pre-World War II auto­mo­biles, and offers vis­i­tors a trip back to Alaska’s rugged and excit­ing for­ma­tive years.

Expe­ri­ence the inte­ri­or of Alas­ka 100 years ago! Pio­neer Park is a his­toric vil­lage that fea­tures orig­i­nal build­ings moved from down­town Fair­banks, as well as muse­ums, and the Gold Rush. Come enjoy the carousel and train that runs the perime­ter of the park, an array of local shops, and rus­tic cab­in restau­rants. Stay for a cou­ple of hours or spend a full day; Pio­neer Park offers fun for the whole family.

The Mor­ris Thomp­son Cul­tur­al and Vis­i­tors Cen­ter in down­town Fair­banks has brochures, maps, free WiFi and tele­phone, dai­ly lodg­ing avail­abil­i­ty, and local walk­ing and dri­ving tours. Serv­ing as the region­al vis­i­tor facil­i­ty, the friend­ly and knowl­edge­able staff have answers to all your questions.

Devot­ed to all things ice, this muse­um will put you in a win­ter mood no mat­ter what the sum­mer tem­per­a­tures are like. You’ll see sev­er­al large ice dis­plays, a freez­er you can go in to feel like it’s 20 degrees below zero, a huge-screen slide show with the annu­al World Ice Art cham­pi­onships, and freez­ers with huge ice tableaux.

The mis­sion of the Pio­neer Air Muse­um is to col­lect, pro­tect, and pre­serve for edu­ca­tion­al pur­pos­es objects that reflect the his­to­ry of inte­ri­or and arc­tic Alaskan avi­a­tion through acquir­ing, restor­ing, inter­pret­ing, and dis­play­ing his­tor­i­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant objects. View log­books, cloth­ing, maps, ear­ly flight instru­ments, and air­craft sport­ing skis and floats adapt­ed to rugged Alaskan runways.

Vis­i­tors can pur­chase tick­ets to hop aboard the Crooked Creek Whiskey Island Rail­road encir­cling Pio­neer Park and pulled by Old 67. It’s just $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and kids under 12 (lap babies are free). The train runs every 15 min­utes dur­ing the open sea­son from noon to 7:30pm. An on-board guide points out his­toric attrac­tions and activ­i­ties in each section. 

From Alas­ka native art to polar dinosaurs, you’ll find some­thing inter­est­ing on exhib­it here. Head to the cen­ter­piece of this muse­um, the Rose Berry Alas­ka Art Gallery, to see the full spec­trum of Alaskan art, from ancient Eski­mo ivory carv­ings to con­tem­po­rary paint­ings and sculptures.

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