The Museumboerderij is a restored 19th-century farmhouse that tells the story of the community that built Giethoorn — the peat-cutters who dug the canals, built the islands, and shaped the landscape over several centuries. It is a small museum, but a useful one: understanding what the village originally was for makes the canal system and the architecture make much more sense.
The displays cover the tools and techniques of peat extraction, the daily life of farming families who worked the land alongside the canals, and the gradual transition from an isolated working village to a tourist destination in the mid-20th century. Worth an hour before or after your boat hire, particularly if you want something more than just the scenic surface of the place.