Eight Unusual All-American Museums
From voodoo to barbed wire, there’s an offbeat museum for every taste
The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum
Wooden masks, portraits and the occasional human skull mark the collections of this small museum near the French Quarter
By Abigail Tucker
Titan Missile Museum
In Sahuarita, Arizona, in the midst of a retirement community, tourists can touch a Titan II missile, still on its launch pad
By Tom Miller
The California Surf Museum
Learn about the evolution of the surfboard from 1912 through 2008 in this small gallery in Oceanside, California
By Rodes Fishburne
The Museum of Jurassic Technology
A throwback to the private museums of earlier centuries, this Los Angeles spot has a true hodgepodge of natural history artifacts
By Tony Perrottet
The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum
With more than 2400 variations of barbed wire, this La Crosse, Kansas, museum has a lot to teach the non-farmers out there
By James M. Cornelius
Ladew Topiary Gardens
Clipped hedges and a house full of antiques are the main attractions for this museum north of Baltimore, Maryland
By Robert M. Poole
The National Museum of Health and Medicine
Once it re-opens in its new Silver Spring, Maryland location this fall, this site will scare and educate, with displays of prosthetic eyes, amputated limbs and incomplete skeletons
By Tony Perrottet
The Ava Gardner Museum
What started as a childhood friend's collection has grown into a full-fledged museum just miles from the movie star's hometown
By Jesse Rhodes
Comments (6)
I understand there's a fascinating museum of curiosities in Wisconsin, near the Dells, I believe,(never been there nor recall the name), but I was hoping your article would have enlightened me. I LOVE your magazine.
Posted by Tom Ewing on October 28,2011 | 01:05 PM
Don't forget the contraception museum at Case Western Reserve University: http://www.womensenews.org/story/reproductive-health/050519/museum-displays-contraceptives-past-eras
Posted by K. on June 12,2011 | 02:24 PM
I really enjoy traveling and seeing various museums. The one's that I especially enjoyed the the Air & Space museum and the Museum of Natural History in New York. The Air & Space museum is in Washington, D.C.
Posted by Luis E. (Rick) Fernandez on June 5,2011 | 09:47 PM
My favorite museum is in the Anderson House in Washington D.C. It is the "Society of the Cincinnati" in this National Historic Landmark. It promotes interest in the American Revolution. Wonderful elegant antique furniture and paintings by famous artists of the day.
Posted by marilyn sarff on June 1,2011 | 05:40 PM
I visited Mutter Museum, a medical oddity museum in Philadelphia. It was not for the faint of heart or stomach. The building was intriguingly creepy. The exhibits ran the gamut from hideous to just plain fascinating. I strongly recommend it to anyone with a strong curiosity for how the human body can go terribly awry.
Posted by Marie Craft on May 30,2011 | 12:56 PM
I can't believe you didn't list my favorite! The Tupperware Museum - it was one of the highlights to my trip to Florida. There was a display on the history of Tupperware, a view of several "Tupperware" themed (my description) rooms, a container museum (containing Amish baskets and Egyptian vases) and - the best part - a free piece of Tupperware at the end!
Posted by L JM West on May 25,2011 | 05:20 PM