What are the opening hours?

Monday 10am - 5pm Tuesday 10am - 5pm Wednesday 10am - 5pm Thursday 10am - 5pm Friday 10am - 5pm Saturday 10am - 4pm Sunday 12pm - 4pm

Legacy of The Lakes Museum

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Alexandria, MN
Legacy of The Lakes Museum

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The Legacy of The Lakes Museum celebrates our lake traditions and legacies, and is committed to their preservation for future generations. Discover classic boats, grand hotel and resort history, fishing memorabilia and much more as you stroll through our ever-changing exhibits. The Legacy Gardens, on the Museum's campus, showcases beautiful landscaping, water features, walking paths, gazebos, and quiet alcoves.

09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day!

Our museum is closed today, 9/7/2026, so staff can have a much deserved day off. We will reopen with normal business hours on 9/8/2026.

Photo: The finishing department at Alexandria Boat Works, 1960s.

09/05/2026

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Here are the museum hours for this weekend:

Saturday 10 am-4pm
Sunday 12pm-4pm
Closed Monday

Photo: Alexandria Boat Works, 1960s.

09/03/2026

Coming up next Thursday, 9/10, in the BoatHouse, we are hosting a free presentation, "Boats, Builders, and Battles: America's Small Craft at War." The talk will look at the impact small craft and small craft builders had on United States history, in honor of America's semiquincentennial.

This talk is free and open to the public. It will begin at 6:30 pm.

The BoatHouse | 205 3rd Ave W, Alexandria, MN

09/02/2026

Christmas came early at the museum today!

The newest boat in our collection was just delivered to the museum. Legacy, a 1946 16' Gar Wood Ensign, has travelled from Michigan to Minnesota to Colorado and back again throughtout its life and will now make its home with us.

Legacy’s hull identification number marks it as the very first Ensign off the production line out of 650. The post-WWII model was a mix between a speedy runabout and a utility and would become the volume leader for Gar Wood, outselling all other models in the company’s history. The first 25 or so Ensigns were made with mahogany hulls, but then the building material switched to cedar.

Due to our current exhibits, Legacy won't be on display until 2027, but we're very excited it has joined the fleet! Legacy was generously donated to the museum by Shirley Stocks and Richard Galvsha. It was delivered to the museum by Roger Miller, who also restored it.

08/29/2026

We're up in Nisswa today for the Gull Lake Classic Boat Show at Bar Harbor Supper Club!

Staff and volunteers have a booth set up on shore and are giving free rides in Stella, our 1907 Fay & Bowen launch.

Thank you to Land-O-Lakes Classic Boat Club and Bar Harbor Supper Club for your hospitality and for a great show!

08/28/2026

We're pleased to announce our winning paddles for the 2026 Paddle Art Contest! Thank you to all our participants and to everyone who voted in person and online.

People's Choice Award-Youth: Nova Balendy, Jurassic Paddle
People's Choice Award: Paige Atwater, Noonan's Park
Most Transformed Paddle: Meg Jones, Pandemonium
Best Spirit of the Lakes: Mike Skogberg, A Fisherman's Dream-Minnesota Waters
Juror's Honorable Mention-Youth: Ellen Aarsvold, Under the Sea
Juror's Choice Award-Youth: Emery Peterson, Lux et Tenebris
Juror's Honorable Mention: Rob Segal, A Century of Century
Juror's Choice Award: Averie Mounsdon, Be Someone's Butterfly

We want to thank our wonderful exhibit sponsor, CM Woodworks, who not only sponsored the exhibit, but made the awards received by our winners.

The paddles will be up through the end of our season (October 31st). Select paddles will be going up for a fundraising auction in October (more details to come).

08/27/2026

We'll be announcing the winners of our 6th Annual Paddle Art Contest tonight! For a fun Throwback Thursday, we're taking a look at all the past Juror's Choice Award winners from our previous five contests, Adult and Youth Categories.

2020: "Lady of the Lakes" Myron Sahlberg & "Call of the Loon" Lucas Brovold (Youth)
2021: "Legacy of the Lakes?" Debbi Anderson, Sandra Johnson & " Winter Ice Fishing" Keegan Anderson (Youth)
2022: "Pisces Oara" Meg Jones & "Midnight Shore" Carlee Schliepsiek (Youth)
2024: "Minnesota" Ursula Sanchez & "Where the Fish Swim" Ava Jones (Youth)
2025: "Black Crappie" Ann Gremmels & "The Lost Shoe Creek" Joel Anderson (Youth)

08/26/2026

Happy Birthday to us! Today, August 26th, marks 20 years since we held our opening celebration for museum members in 2006. During the week that followed, we had 3,000 visitors come through the museum.

The museum has come a long way in 20 years, but we couldn't have done it without you! That's why, in honor of our 20th anniversary, we're offering free admission for today, August 26th!

Photos: Images from the 2006 opening celebration of the museum.

08/20/2026

It's our final week of featuring artists from the 2026 Paddle Art Contest. Voting for the People's Choice Award, Adult and Youth, is open through August 26 in person at the museum or you can vote online here: https://forms.gle/aoP3csPxHfNXyf766. We'll announce the winners of all our awards after the Award Ceremony next week.

This week's featured artists are:
Rob Segal-A Century of Century
Mike Skogberg-A Fisherman's Dream-Minnesota Waters
Britt Strong-Coastal Confetti
Emery Peterson, Youth Artist-Lux Et Tenebris

08/19/2026

For this , we thought we'd share the very first boat ever accessioned into the museum's official collection, item #2004.001.0001-a BlueJay class sailboat.

This sailboat was home-built to International Blue Jay Class Association specifications (IBJCA) around 1954. It was designed by Sparkman and Stephens, Inc. in 1947, one of the leading sloop-designed sailboats, with over 7,200 are in existence today. This boat was donated by the Lynde siblings, who are descendents of the DuBeau Family who once owned Blakes by the Lake resort. It was restored in 2007 by Dean Dainsberg and has over 2,000 brass screws.

Although it was accessioned (formally added & cataloged) in 2004, it was accepted back in 2001, before the physical museum existed. In the photo of the article, you can see there were once dreams to house all three of Alexandria's historical institutions under one roof. Today, the sailboat resides suspended in the North Gallery of the museum.

Address

205 3rd Avenue W
Alexandria, MN
56308

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 5pm
Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 5pm
Saturday	10am - 4pm
Sunday	12pm - 4pm

Telephone

+13207591114

Website

http://legacyofthelakes.org/

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