The Noorder Dierenpark (Animal Park) has a varied collection of animals, with a savanna in which African animals roam freely and a butterfly garden (1,000 butterflies of 25 species). It is the only zoo in the Netherlands which is entitled to call itself a museum.
About 10km/6mi east of Emmen, at Barger- Compascuum, is the Oale Compas Open-Air Museum, a faithful reconstruction of an old moorland village. Visitors can tour the site either on the peat railroad or in a boat.
The Hondsrug Museum of Antiquities, in an old farmhouse of 1865 at Marktplein 17, has a collection of material on the history of the town, ranging from prehistoric finds to folk art.
In the area surrounding Emmen (e.g. at Odoorn and Schoonoord) there are altogether 11 of the megalithic tombs known as hunebedden. One tomb which is particularly worth seeing is De Papeloze Kerk between Sleen and Schoonoord, to the west of Emmen, which has largely been preserved in its original state and is easily accessible.
Southeast of Emmen, at Nieuw-Dordrecht, is a Neolithic bridge built of tree-trunks: an indication of the difficulties experienced by Stone Age man in making roads through the peat bogs.
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