Welcome to Three Forks: Visitors have three opportunities to learn more about area

With summer in full swing, visitors to and new residents of Three Forks have ample opportunity to learn more about the area.

The Railroad and Trident Heritage Center, Headwaters Heritage Museum, and Visitor's Information Center are all open for the season, and each gives travelers a place to stop during their stay.

Open from June 1 to Labor Day in old Milwaukee Railroad caboose at 110 N. Main, the Visitor's Information Center is operated by the Three Forks Chamber through a grant from Yellowstone Country. The center offers a variety of tourist information, including magazines and pamphlets, and is also manned by a staff member who can assist travelers by answering questions, giving directions, and whatever else they might want to know about Three Forks, the surrounding areas, as well as information about Yellowstone National Park.

Three Forks Chamber Executive Director Melissa Jenkins is thrilled to use the grant to give people a little bit more information when they are visiting.

"This is a great opportunity to promote Three Forks and keep people in town to both recreate and visit our local restaurants and other businesses," she said.

The VIC is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Headwaters Heritage Museum is located at 202 S. Main and is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is free of charge, although donations are encouraged.

New to the museum in 2021 is a Willow Creek Room upstairs, and school memorabilia displays in the Gilmore Room.

The museum also has Native American art and artifacts, Lewis and Clark memorabilia, fur trader exhibits, lots of railroad artifacts, mining and agriculture exhibits, and exhibits of early settlers and businesses, veterans, and homemakers.

Other highlights of the museum are an anvil of Fort Three Forks, a barbed wire collection, sizeable photo archive, obituary collection, and newspaper microfilm library.

"It is great to see the Museum have the school memorabilia on display with the All-Class Reunion coming up next month," Jenkins said.

Located in the old Northern Pacific Depot relocated from Trident in 2012, the Railroad and Trident Heritage Center is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the cost to attend $5 for adults, $4 for ages 6 to 12 free for children under six. The admission goes to help operate the facility that the Three Forks Historical Society runs.

The center is located at 112 N. Main next to John Q. Adams Milwaukee Park features a plethora of railroad artifacts.

The center is also home to the Trident Center Steam engine, which was moved to the location in the summer of 2020. In addition, the "Vulcan" engine played a role in the construction of the Panama Canal.

Jenkins said it is so nice to have the center next to the VIC.

"Visitors can make the short walk over and learn a lot about railroad history," she said.