The Top 10 Offbeat Museums
July 8th, 2009 by Mara Rogers
The museum with the most mustard
To view a painting by Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo you go to a museum. Right? But what if you’re looking for something more unique, say, the history of candy?
There are museums housing some quirky ‘collections’ such as the popular Austrian PEZ candy dispensers at The Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia. Invented in 1927, the candy was originally flavored peppermint, in fact, the word “Pez” is derived from the German word for peppermint (Pfefferminz), and the candy was marketed for people trying to quit smoking. Later in time, fruit-flavored candy was ushered in as well as the PEZ candy dispensers that have cartoon ‘heads,’ there are over 500 different ‘heads’ so far, and counting.
Or, you will find a gallery devoted entirely to a love affair with mustard as you will see at The Mustard Museum. At this museum created solely for this condiment, there are more than 5,000 prepared mustards from every state of the US and from more than 60 countries in addition to hundreds of historical items connected to mustard such as vintage mustard advertisements and mustard pots.
La Crosse, Kansas is home to The Barbed Wire Museum where you can learn about one of the Midwest’s most important contributions to America’s history often referred to as the “Devil’s Rope.” There are over 2000 barbed wire varieties, including samples manufactured between the years 1870 and 1890 as well as hundreds of the pioneers’ antique fencing tools currently on exhibit.
Continue your virtual tour of these top 10 offbeat museums:
- The International UFO Museum, Roswell, New Mexico
- Triangle Tattoo & Museum, Fort Bragg, California
- The Santa Claus Museum, Santa Claus, Indiana
- The Museum of the American Cocktail, New Orleans
- The Museum of the Weird, Austin
- The Elvis Museum, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
- The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum, New Orleans
- The Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia, Burlingame, California
- The Mustard Museum, Mount Horeb, Wisconsin
- The Barbed Wire Museum, La Crosse, Kansas
[Mustard photo by sam.jackson from flickr; Elvis photo by oddsock from flickr]
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