The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum is the best single stop for understanding Almonte. It occupies the annex of the former Rosamond Woollen Company, part of a mill complex that helped make the town a serious textile centre in the Ottawa Valley.
The exhibits cover woollen production, mill work, and local industrial history, with changing shows that often bring in contemporary art. Even if you only stop briefly, the building itself helps explain why Almonte looks the way it does.