Albright Visitor Center (formerly bachelor officers' quarters) & Museum, located five miles inside the North Entrance, houses a museum with its major theme being history: Native Americans (pre-1800), the mountain men (1807-1840), early exploration (1869-1871), the Army days, and early National Park Service. In early 1998, new exhibits with a predator-prey theme were installed upstairs. Of special note are the Moran Gallery where fine reproductions of watercolor sketches by the painter and expeditionary Thomas Moran are displayed and the Jackson Gallery where original photographs by William Henry Jackson, also of the 1871 Hayden Survey, are exhibited. There is a theater in the visitor center where Park Rangers show film and video presentations every half hour in summer and on request in winter. Films include The Challenge of Yellowstone (1979, 25 min) on the history of Yellowstone and the evolution of the national park idea and Thomas "Yellowstone" Moran (1997, 12 min) on Moran's contribution toward the establishment of Yellowstone National Park and are shown year-round.The Yellowstone Association (A nonprofit that funds and provides educational products and services for Yellowstone National Park) has a sales area near the information desk in the visitor center. The Division of Resource Management and Visitor Protection operates a backcountry office inside the visitor center during the summer months. This office issues backcountry camping permits, boating permits, fishing permits, and general information. The visitor center and all the red-roofed, many chimneyed houses down the street from it were built by the U.S. Cavalry during a time when this was "Fort Yellowstone," an Army post dedicated to protecting the national park. Although the soldiers left after the Park Service was created in 1916, outwardly the old fort has changed little from the time of Army residency. Fort Yellowstone, comprised mostly of this block and the two rows of buildings behind it, is one of the best remaining examples of a 1900-era cavalry post. Call 307-344-2263 for more information.
Directions from The North Entrance: Travel five miles south. Located at the northwest corner of the upper loop of the Grand Loop Road.
Seasonal Information:
Normally Open:
Year-round
(NOTE: Open 8am-7pm Memorial Day through Labor Day. Peak season July and August. Open 9am-5pm the rest of the year.)
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