Instead of relegating Native arts and experience to the past, this indigenous-run museum shows how the original inhabitants of Maine are still very much present. Informational boards on the wall clearly delineate the various nations under the umbrella term “Wabanaki” and I loved a large wall map showing what the Wabanaki lands looked like, sans recent national borders. In the exhibit that was up when I visited, everyday-use items like canoes and tools and baskets looked to be so carefully wrought as to be works of art themselves.

My kids and their friends loved the museum, and one said it was his favorite museum he’s ever been to.