Two small but excellent volunteer-run museums in a single building at Haroldswick on the north-east coast. The Heritage Centre covers the social history of Unst — fishing, crofting, knitwear (Fair Isle and Shetland lace), the Viking and Pictish past — through household objects, photographs and oral histories. Next door, the Boat Haven holds an indoor collection of traditional Shetland small boats, including the sixern — six-oared open boats used for deep-sea fishing well into the 20th century.
A replica Viking longship, Skidbladner, stands outside the building and can be boarded; the longhouse next to it is a full-scale reconstruction of a Viking-era home. Open seasonally, typically May to September. Donation entry. The volunteer guides know the islands' history at first-hand level and are part of the appeal.