Want to switch up traditional cultural visits while in the United States? Some of America’s most unique museums, with their theme, location or architecture, attract many curious people from all over the country every year. From the world’s smallest museum in New York to the UFO Museum in Roswell via the Neon Museum in Las Vegas, head to these institutions that are truly unlike any other.
Museum in New York, the smallest museum in the world
This museum is housed in a narrow freight elevator overlooking a street in New York’s TriBeCa neighborhood. The exhibition wants to embody a new form of journalism by presenting objects that invite public reflection, such as receipts for the last meals of death row inmates in the US or the Molotov cocktail used during the 2019 riots in Hong Kong.
Museum, 4 Cortlandt Alley, New York, NY 10013. Open Fridays and Saturdays, spring-early winter, 11am to 6pm. Admission: $8 donation per person. Website
Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., nest of spies
Washington, D.C.’s Spy Museum encapsulates the murky world of espionage with an extensive collection of some of the most infamous acts and artifacts. Special mention to this real Bulgarian umbrella with a syringe filled with cyanide. Various workshops invite everyone to test their skills to become the perfect spy. The beginning of the profession.
Spy Museum, 700 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC 20024. Open daily 9am to 7pm (8pm Fri-Sun). Admission: $26.95 ($16.95 for children ages 7 to 12 and $23.95 for seniors). Website
Burial History Museum in Houston, Death with a Big Bang
Founded in 1992, the Houston Museum of Funeral History celebrates the thoughtful work of funeral directors. The visit is organized by 17 thematic exhibits, from the funerals of American presidents to the culture of funerals in Japan or Ancient Egypt. Something to address the motto of the museum. “Every day off the land is a good day.” »
National Museum of Burial History, 415 Barren Springs Drive, Houston, TX 77090. Open daily from 10am to 4pm (until 5pm on Saturday and noon to 5pm on Sunday). Admission: $10 ($7 for children 6 to 11 and $9 for children 55 and older). Website
UFO Museum in Roswell, Museum of the 3rd Kind
Are we alone in the universe? The Roswell Flying Saucer Museum provides a clear answer in the negative, detailing what it presents as a 1947 spacecraft crash in the New Mexico desert that defeats the official version of the lost sonic balloon. Don’t miss a visit to a store that multiplies gadgets from space.
UFO Museum, 114 N Main Street, Roswell, NM 88203. Open daily 9:00-17:00. Admission: $5 ($2 for children ages 5 to 15, $3 for seniors). Website
National Mustard Museum when the mustard goes to the nose
Barry Levenson began his unique collection of mustard pots in 1986 while wandering through a supermarket devastated by the loss of his favorite baseball team. Nearly 40 years later, the prank has created one of Wisconsin’s most popular museums, with more than 6,000 jars from more than 70 countries.
National Mustard Museum, Hubbard Ave., Middleton, WI 53562. Open daily 10:00-17:00. Admission is free, but visitors are encouraged to make a donation. Website
The Hammer Museum in Alaska, a completely hammer museum
Dave Fall left his native Ohio in 1973 to rebuild his life in Alaska as a blacksmith. In love with his craft and his tools, he created the first museum dedicated to the hammer in 2002. The collection today exceeds 12,000 hammers, including an ancient model used by the builders of the Pyramid of Mykerinus in Egypt. Amazing!
Hammer Museum, 108 Main Street, Haines, AK 99827. Open Wednesdays and Thursdays, mid-May to mid-September, 10am-5pm. Admission: $7 (free for children 12 and under). Website
Kansas Barbed Wire Museum, wire
In 1874, businessman and farmer Joseph Glidden patented barbed wire. The invention will radically change the life of the pioneers of the conquest of the West and the management of cattle. An epic adventure told by this small museum located in the middle of the Kansas plains and rich with more than 2,400 different models.
Kansas Barbed Wire Museum, 120 W 1st Street, La Crosse, KS 67548. Open daily from 1 May to early September, 10am to 4.30pm (from 1pm on Sundays). Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Website
Idaho Potato Museum, all about potatoes
Providing nearly a third of America’s potato production, Idaho also boasts a museum dedicated entirely to the tuber. The Idaho Potato Museum opened in 1989 in Blackfoot, the self-proclaimed “Potato Capital of the World.” The museum tells the story of potatoes, production techniques and even displays the world’s largest potato chip.
Idaho Potato Museum, 130 Northwest Main Street, Blackfoot, ID 83221. Open Monday to Saturday, 9:30am to 5:00pm (until 7:00pm, including Sundays, June-August). Admission: $6 ($3 for children ages 5 to 12, $5.50 for seniors). Website
The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, a brilliant museum
Since 1996, the Neon Museum has been collecting decommissioned Las Vegas advertising neon lights. The main set, with 200 panels, is displayed outside along the Neon Bunyard, a neon graveyard. Hint. choose to take a tour after dark when the neon lights come on.
Neon Museum, 770 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas, NV 89101. Open daily from 4pm to midnight in summer (2pm to 10pm in winter). Admission: $20 ($10 for children 7 to 17 and $16 for children 65 and older). Website
Salt and Pepper Museum, a museum where there is no shortage of salt
Trained archaeologist Andrea Laden fell in love with salt and pepper shakers. Its collection now exceeds 20,000 objects, including some dating back to the early 16th century. The displays, organized by theme and color, line up a variety of curiosities, such as this salt and pepper shaker in Braille.
Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum, 461 Brookside Village Way, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Open daily 10:00-16:00 (until 14:00 on Sundays). Admission: $3 (free for children 12 and under). Website
Source: Le Figaro
