clemenceau heritage museum

nobletc

If you are into the history of the verde valley it is a wonderful place to visit, with great pictures and memorabilia

LucieB1824

We learned quite a bit about Cottonwood and I particularly enjoyed the "train" room. The docents are friendly and knowledgable. You can walk the museum on your own or have a docent accompany you.

gleasonl

This museum is well done. It has some very interesting exhibits and plenty of folks /volunteers to explain what each exhibit is all about and why it was and is important. Check out the model train setup. it is awesome. Children young and old will love this place. Enjoy!

YonderMountain

The HO model train exhibit in this museum is well worth a visit. The detail is amazing. There is no charge, but donations are appreciated.

NYU62

We are real museum addicts, and will visit any museum we encounter. This one is easy to miss, as it is not very readily identifiable. We passed it without knowing, and had to turn around and search again. The museum is in a wing of an old school building. A small group of very nice and knowledgeable volunteers run it. They can tell you just about everything about this area. The exhibits (many, many old photos plus items collected from long ago) all pertain to this region. There are even old yearbooks to look through. When we were there (8/22), there was someone with a magnifying glass searching through the yearbook photos for, perhaps, a "long lost" friend. There is also a model train layout, which takes up an entire room. It is so detailed with so many charming touches, that we spent about half an hour there. The diorama has been constructed to be authentic to this area. Five trains were running.We were so happy we made a point of visiting this attraction. Entrance is by donation, and hours are short and they are not open daily. Best to check before making the trip.

525SusanG

What a nice surprise to find so much history in this museum. Our tour guide was so very knowledgeable and still excited about the museum's content. Someone has taken a lot of time and effort to put it all together so perfectly.

Boulderpeople

Could have come back just to visit with the two guys who run the train diorama. It's amazing and the short visit was super-friendly!

Vorchek

This volunteer-run, donations only place keeps very tight hours (during the week open only Wednesday morning), so for years I'd been missing it. Luck put me in Cottonwood sight-seeing at the right time at last, and pleased I am. The Clemenceau is a fine local history museum, with many impressive exhibits. The highlight-- what elevates the museum to five star level-- is the incredible model train diorama, which represents an enormous amount of work on the part of its creators. One could spend an hour just examining its entertaining detail.The museum is located in the 1920s school, which is an impressive building in its own right, worth a look for that reason alone. Next door is the old Bank of Clemenceau.

jeniferjmeyer

A surprise visit to this very unknown museum was a nice addition to our day. It is a piece of a former town, now incorporated into Cottonwood, with a large miniature train room, lots of authentic pieces from the past in the late 1800's, lots about the Verde Valley, old school room with old seats (have a seat), mining photos and artifacts and a great staff of senior volunteers! Donation only!

delr470

It is nice to see that the Verde Valley heritage is well taken care of by the museum staff and volunteers who were very friendly and informative.

schmatz

The displays are top notch. Be sure to visit the model train room. Fantastic.

Cottonwood_Hotel_930

Love the model train room. The place to learn about the Verde Valley mining, smelting, cattle ranching and railroads.

RobertandKate

The volunteer interpreters were the highlight of this attraction. Very interesting and enjoyable especially the model railway room and the old schoolhouse room/a wonderful 90 minute visit that was affordable- admission by donation. To the folks at the Clemenceau Museum- you made our day and showed us the history of your community. We would return to visit you again

4redrocker

Good for local history-be sure and mapquest to find.

Ispeak4u

French Premier Georges Clemenceau was a good friend of James Douglas, founder of the town where the museum was located. So this little spot in the middle of the desert has a touch of France and a cookbook with a French recipe for sale. If you're looking for big-city excitement and quality, this is not the place, but I give it five stars for friendliness, value (donation only), and because the miniature train exhibit is remarkable. One room of the museum seems to be more of an education center which could be of interest to children. This could be a nice place for families, too, and it shares a building with the school administration. It's nice to have a place like this as a break from either the sun or snow as you're out exploring the area.