For a small town, Boise has large number of museums. Like Boise the city, its museums are smallish and absolutely adorable. Splendidly curated and infinitely interesting we enjoyed each one we visited. Allow we to introduce you to our favorites:

The Idaho State Museum. Separated into ecosystems such as desert and mountain, the museum provides easy to understand and beautifully curated introduction into the natural wonders of Idaho and the history of people’s use of these bounties. I’ll give them credit, they start with the Native Americans who lived and thrived here long before settlers arrived.

The Boise Black History Museum: A nineteenth century original anyone-but-white church was moved to the downtown park and now tidily presents the history of black people’s participation in Idaho History. Nicely done. We were met by the man who runs it and given a lovely run-down of Afro-American’s history in the west.

The Boise Art Museum. Its small but interesting. While we didn’t enjoy every single exhibit there I give the museum credit for focussing on local and western artists.

The Basque Museum and Cultural Center: Really the former house of a mover and shaker in the Basque community, it was a great look into how the Spanish Basque’s came to Idaho, how they lived and the communities they built. Unfortunately the restaurants in the area are no longer Basque oriented which was a shame, but the little cultural center and museum were very interesting.