The Edam Museum occupies what is claimed to be the oldest wooden house in the Netherlands, a building from the early 16th century on the Damplein. Most Dutch houses from this period were later refaced in brick; this one survived because it was used as a town hall and then a museum before anyone thought to modernize it.
The collection covers Edam's history from its fishing and dairy-trading past, with period rooms, maps, and a particularly good display on the old cheese trade. The standout curiosity is the floating wooden cellar in the basement — a room that bobs gently on the groundwater. The museum is small enough to see in forty minutes and is worth the modest entrance fee for the building alone.