Arrowtown presents visitors with a wide variety of heritage activities, at the top of most lists is the Lakes District Museum. The museum invites patrons to interact with a variety of exhibitions and educational programmes, encompassing the history of Arrowtown, and the wider area. The museum first opened in the late 1940s as a single exhibition dedicated to Arrowtown’s roots as a mining town in the billiards room at the Ballarat Hotel.
Since then, the museum has grown and relocated to a former Bank of New Zealand building which has been preserved, along with a number of other buildings from the original township. The museum works to continue the preservation of historic and heritage sites throughout the area, and provides a rolling programme of exhibitions showcasing the best in art and history information to that end. One of the most popular exhibitions is the streetscape, including a range of buildings from the 1800s such as a schoolhouse, butcher and farm shed.