The United States abounds with museums. There are more than 8,000 of them, from the popular, like Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, to the obscure, like the Devil’s Rope Museum, which displays all types of barbed wire, in McLean, Texas. In fact, if your interest is specialized, chances are you can pursue it at one of the growing number of offbeat museums in our nation.
For example, if wacky airplanes are your cup of tea, you might make your way to the Mid-America Museum, west of Hot Springs, Arkansas, where a cache of playful contraptions can be seen and touched. If, on the other hand, your quest is for the perfect wave, you can visit “the world’s first surfing museum,” in Santa Cruz, California.
If you happen to prefer roller skates to waves, don’t be despondent—just head to the National Museum of Roller Skating in Lincoln, Nebraska. There you will find antique roller skates, costumes, motorized skates, and even old skate keys. However, if it’s a mellow musical experience you’re after, your choice may be the Miles Musical Museum in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. On a leisurely tour, the owners will entertain you by cranking up any number of antique musical machines.
No matter how absurd they may seem, these offbeat museums are true American treasures. They preserve our shared past by keeping the things that matter to us and
also reveal a good deal about our people and country. With these goals in mind, it shouldn’t surprise you to know that there is even a museum that honors American know-how—for that’s exactly the aim of the Rough and Tumble Engineers’ Museum in Kinzers, Pennsylvania. There, old steam engines, threshers, and tractors are fixed to run almost like new, proving that in this country, no matter how far-out your interest, there is probably a museum just for you.