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We've compiled the best of the best in Laramie - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
The center houses more than 90,000 cubic feet (or nearly 17 miles) of rare books, collections of papers, and memorabilia related to such subjects as American and Western history, the petroleum industry, conservation movements, transportation, and the performing arts. Permanent and temporary art displays also fill the museum space.
You can learn about the stars and watch science presentations that transport you to vast landscapes at the planetarium's full-dome theater. Entertainment shows, where images dance to music above you, are also sometimes offered. Public shows are typically on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, as well as certain holidays. Private bookings also available.
This impressive, Queen Anne–style mansion is home to a growing collection of historical artifacts that help tell the history of the Laramie plains area. The home itself is a big part of the city's past. Its first owners, Edward and Jane Ivinson, were on the very first passenger train in 1868, and later constructed the mansion during Edward's run for governor of the new state of Wyoming. The home was saved from demolition in 1972 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Tours are offered by informed docents.
The herbarium focuses on Rocky Mountain plants, but also includes other examples of flora from the Northern Hemisphere. But don't expect any living plants here. This is a working dry plant research facility, and features 1.3 million specimens mounted on paper. Visitors are welcome to take a tour.
The Anthropology Museum at the university takes visitors on a journey through human evolution, starting in Africa millions of years ago. Part of the museum also celebrates hunter-gatherer societies throughout world history.
Among the artworks displayed in the campus art museum are paintings, sculpture, photography, and folk art from America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Kids especially enjoy looking at the butterflies, mosquitoes, and other crawling and flying critters at the Insect Gallery at UW. The collection includes preserved insects, as well as a small zoo of live ones.
Perhaps because of the bedlam of the early days, Laramie became the site of the Wyoming Territorial Prison in 1872. Until 1903 it was the region's federal and state penal facility, locking down Butch Cassidy and other infamous frontier outlaws. Today the restored prison is a state historic site that brings to life the legends of frontier law and justice. Open year-round, with curtailed hours in the winter.
