6 Best Sights in Deer Lodge, Helena, Bozeman, and Southwest Montana

The Frontier Montana Museum displays hats, saddles, spurs, chaps, and all things cowboy. Also here are Civil War items, Native American artifacts, and Desert John's Saloon, complete with whiskey memorabilia.

Guided or self-guided tours of the 1,600-acre Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, a working cattle ranch run by the National Park Service, provide insight into ranching life in the 1860s. You can learn about roping steers, watch blacksmithing demonstrations, and bounce along in a covered wagon.

The Montana Auto Museum is a car buff's delight. Displays include more than 160 vintage Mopars, Chevys, Fords, and Studebakers dating from 1903 to the 1970s, including such rarities as a 1886 Benz Replica.

Built in 1871, the old Montana Territorial Prison did not shut down until 1979. It's now where you can enter cells and learn about early Montana law. Also on display is the gallows tree taken from town to town in territorial days to hang convicted prisoners.

The Powell County Museum focuses on local history; it includes a hand-carved wood folk-art collection, photographs, mining memorabilia, and vintage furniture and household items.

Whimsical old toys including model trains, dolls, and Hotwheels Cars inhabit Yesterday's Playthings. Admission here grants you access to the Montana Auto Museum, Frontier Montana Museum, and Old Montana Prison Museum.