Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Frontier Trails Museum will be closed through 2020.
Independence was the major “jumping-off” point for the American West, and the National Frontier Trails Museum is an interpretive museum, library and archive, devoted to the western trails.
We are the only museum in the nation certified by the National Park Service as an interpretive site for five national, historic trails: the Lewis and Clark Trail, the Santa Fe, Oregon and California trails, and the Mormon trails.
The facility includes an award-winning film, exhibits highlighting the trails, covered wagons, trail diaries and artifacts, and a research library. Covered wagon rides are available seasonally. Swales (grassed-over wagon ruts) from the trails-era can be seen from a walking trail nearby.
Visit our website for details and schedules.
Admission: $6; age 62+, $5; ages 6-17, $3; 5 and younger, free.
