Funky, Fun and Fascinating Museums Worth Getting Off the Highway

As a kid our family vacations started an hour before dawn...hopping in the car (invariably an Oldsmobile), driving for two hours, having breakfast, getting back in the car, driving at least four more hours before stopping for a picnic lunch - typically a banana, crackers and braunschweiger, all washed down with Coca-Cola.   Before the ants could even gather to carry off the crumbs, we were back in the car, driving until dusk, then starting to look for a motel along the highway.  If you could see something interesting from the road you were in luck.  If anything was five miles or five minutes off the highway it remained a mystery.  We covered a lot of ground and we had fun, but...

 

 

There are many interesting sights five miles off the highway, much less (oh, my, dare I even suggest it?) twenty-five miles off the highway.  On several of our trips Mike and I have discovered a number of funky museums that certainly deserve a visit.  We would like to share a few fun, funky, and fascinating museums.

 

My first road trip.  Pictured are my Mom and Dad, Dorothy and Tracy, somewhere in 
New Mexico.  Mom was 8 months pregnant with me when this photo was taken

 Yvonne, family friend Bonnie, and Mom "styling" in a convertible
at a J. C. Penney's in New Mexico about 1954

 

Vacuum Cleaner Museum               St. James, MO

       * 600 working vacuums

       * Social significance and historical context explained

       * Includes vacuums from the collection of the famous St. Louis
             organist Stan Kann

       * Did you know...that no vacuum cleaner business went out of
             business during the Great Depression?  Why? The introduction
             of a new business strategy called time payments!

       * The prototype for R2-D2, of Star Wars fame, was a canister vacuum.

Free Admission...and you can also buy a new vacuum cleaner while you are there!

 

http://vacuummuseum.com/

 

 

American International Rattlesnake Museum               Albuquerque, NM

       * Home to the largest collection of different species of
             LIVE rattlesnakes in the world.  The museum considers
             itself a "conservation" site as much as a museum

       * Most rattlesnakes are 2 to 4 feet in length, but the longest

             one on record was 8' 1" long

       * Rattlesnakes are only found in the Americas (North,

             Central and South America)

       * The Timber Rattlesnake was seriously considered as the United

             States' national symbol, and was found on many early flags

 Admission charged          www.rattlesnakes.com

 

 

Museum of Independent Telephony               Abilene, KS

       * Re-creation of a telephone exchange circa 1890-1910

       * Extensive collection of telephone insulators

       * Display of rotary dial phones through the decades

BONUS:  On the grounds you will also find the Dickinson County (KS) Historical Museum and an Outdoor Village Museum of restored 19^th century buildings.  Housed in one of the buildings is a fully restored, functional, 1901 Parker Carousel.  And yes, you can take a ride on the carousel.

Admission charged                http://www.heritagecenterdk.com/

 

 

 

 

Leila's Hair Museum               Independence, MO

       * Hair jewelry and hair art

       * Thousands of pieces of hair jewelry from the Victorian Period,
             including watch fobs, necklaces, pins...

       * Over six hundred hair wreaths, including one using the hair of
             members of the League of Women Voters from 1865

       * Snips of hair from famous celebrities, several Presidents of the
              United States, and many historical figures

       * You can even take a class from Leila to learn how to make the
              almost-lost art of hair weaving and preservation

       * Visit Leila's ”gallery” on her website for dozens of examples of
              this unique art form

Admission charged               http://www.leilashairmuseum.net/

 

 

After visiting the museum one day in June 2013, we had a chance meeting with Leila and her husband at a local restaurant. She is a charming lady who is quite the expert in her chosen field.  It is fun to meet people who have a grand passion!

 

 

 

Pearl Button Museum               Muscatine, Iowa

       * Muscatine, Iowa began producing buttons in 1865

       * By 1905 Muscatine button manufactures produced 1.5 BILLION
             buttons annually, nearly 1/3 of the world's supply

       * The material used for the buttons were freshwater mussel shells
              from the Mississippi River

       * The museum includes recorded stories about and interviews
              with people involved in the manufacturing and packaging
              of buttons. 
       * At one point over half of the town's work force was involved
              in the button industry

       * There are vast examples of products made from 1865 to
             the 1950s

Freewill donation requested        http://www.muscatinehistory.org/

 

 

 

 

National RV Museum & Hall of Fame               Elkhart, IN

View great classic RVs ...including but not limited to...

       * The first and only 10-foot-long Airstream trailer ever built

       * The “home on wheels” that Paramount Studios offered to entice
             Mae West away from vaudeville to motion pictures

       * All the major manufactures have joined together to establish
             and contribute to the museum.  Most manufactures, including
             some trail-blazers that no longer exist, are represented in
             this glimpse of a national past-time through the decades

 

 

Admission charged           http://www.rvmhhalloffame.org/

 

 

  

NOTE:  Due to the possibility of changing prices, no specific admission fee has been listed.  At the time of this posting, no entry fee was higher than $10 and the majority of those that charged a fee were less than $5.

 

 

There are tons more of these quirky museums out there to be visited.  Maybe we'll bump into you at a turnstile, but you can be sure we'll be visiting others and sharing more Road Stories.
 

 

1940’s travel postcard