Fodor's Expert Review Silver City Museum

The unusual mansard-roof Italianate-style Henry B. Ailman House, built in 1881, serves as headquarters for the Silver City Museum, whose main gallery mural of the mining and ranching community circa 1882 provides a good overview of the area's colorful history. Displays include pottery and other relics from the area's ancient (and now extinct) Mimbres and Mogollon cultures, as well as a nice lot of items from the heyday of the mining era. From the museum's tower you can catch a grand view of the eclectic architecture around town. The store carries Southwest-themed books and gifts, and the museum also has a local-history research library.