Education and Exploration: These Museums are the South’s Best Kept Secrets
By Kellie Walton
Museums, galleries, and national parks are the hallmark of any good vacation, and some remarkable options are sprinkled all across the south. From the Louisville Slugger Museum honoring America’s favorite pastime to the enormous World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta and the STEM-forward U.S. Space and Rocket Museum in Huntsville, many southern museums draw visitors from far and wide.
But, in small towns and lurking in the shadows of some of the typical on-the-map museums stand plenty of hidden gems built for education and exploration. On your next adventure, plan a stop at these seven spots.
Knock Knock Children’s Museum
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, may be known best as the home of the Louisiana State University Tigers, but college students aren’t the only visitors that will enjoy a visit to the city. The Knock Knock Children’s Museum is an excellent institution for kids, packed with interactive exhibits and displays that target math, science, art, and literacy. The neighboring community inspired the museum’s programmatic organization around ’Town’ and ’Nature’ exhibits with local influences like a Mississippi tugboat and the nearby Horace Wilkinson Bridge into whimsical opportunities for interactive play.
Kids can shop at a pretend grocery store, burn some energy climbing a wall, enjoy a sensory garden, and venture through activities like a music and art studio and a bubble playground – all in the name of creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. The 26,000-square-foot facility sits on top of Knock Knock Hill overlooking City-Brooks Community Park, and was designed by world-renowned architecture firm, CambridgeSeven.
knockknockmuseum.org/
Booth Western Art Museum
Cartersville, Georgia, is known as Georgia’s “Museum City” thanks to its collection of museums and historical sites, and one in particular offers a rootin’ tootin’ good time. The Booth Western Art Museum houses an impressive collection of artifacts and art that depict the American West. Since opening in 2003, the museum has grown to be the largest permanent exhibition space for Western art in the U.S., measuring at more than 120,000 square feet. Guests can peruse incredible paintings, sculptures, photographs, and other collected works, as well as participate in educational programs, workshops, and lectures detailing Western art and culture.
In late October, the museum will host the Booth Western Art Museum’s West Fest, an annual event that will bring together the community to enjoy vendors, live music, food trucks, train and hay rides, living history encampments, a petting zoo, mechanical calf roping, at reenactments of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This one-of-a-kind event is not to be missed.
boothmuseum.org/
Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium
Nestled near New Orleans, Louisiana, the renowned Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium recently unveiled its $41 million transformation, a stunning expansion by architecture firm EskewDumezRipple (EDR) in collaboration with architects and exhibit designers CambridgeSeven.
The onsite Butterfly Garden and Insectarium is now the largest free-standing museum in the United States solely dedicated to insects, offering an interactive experience for visitors to explore different bugs and butterflies – think beetles, ants, walking sticks, and even spiders. In addition to the interactive opportunities, the museum is dedicated to education around life cycles and pollination.
Also onsite is the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, a state-of-the-art facility showcasing a variety of aquatic life from around the globe, with marine animals onsite from the nearby Gulf of Mexico to the far away Amazon Rainforest.
audubonnatureinstitute.org/aquarium
Africatown Heritage House
Africatown may be a small village near Mobile, Alabama, but its history is mighty and can be explored at the Africatown Heritage House and its newest exhibit, Clotilda: The Exhibition. The international slave trade had been outlawed 52 years prior, and yet a group of West Africans were illegally brought to the United States aboard a ship called the Clotilda in 1860. Once on land, the ship was burned and sunk in an effort to conceal the illegal activity, and after slaves were freed a few years later, the group of 110 pooled their limited resources and purchased the land, transforming it into the community of Africatown.
The story of the Clotilda was passed down to descendents, and the wreckage was located in the river in 2019. The story has been detailed in the Netflix documentary “Descendant,” produced by Questlove, who is himself a descendant. The Clotilda’s powerful story and those of its survivors can be explored in the new exhibit that opened this summer.
www.mobilecountyal.gov/africatown-heritage-house-2/
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Located in Bentonville, Arkansas, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art was founded by the daughter of Sam Walton (of Walmart and Sam’s Club fame), Alice Walton. Named for the nearby Crystal Spring and nearby bridges, the museum showcases American artwork spanning generations, dating back to the colonial era through modern works. Browse a collection of sculptures, paintings, photographs, and art installations while also taking in the surroundings – the building itself, designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, places an emphasis on the stunning natural landscape through the use of glass walls. The property spans 120 acres of trails and sculpture gardens.
The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art houses a number of works from prominent artists like Andy Warhol, Georgia O’Keeffe, Norman Rockwell, Thomas Cole, and Mary Cassatt, among many others.
crystalbridges.org/
Corvette Museum
Fan of fast cars? The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is the spot for you. The museum is dedicated to the iconic sports car, taking visitors through the history, design, and evolution of the infamous Chevy model from the very first prototype to the latest and greatest. Of course, there are plenty of Corvettes onsite for viewing, from rare collectibles to special editions, concept cars, and even a collection of cars that were damaged when a sinkhole opened beneath the museum itself.
While browsing Corvettes may be exciting enough, there are a number of special events, car shows, and other happenings taking place at the museum throughout the year. Guests can even take part in the “Corvette Experience,” which places them in the driver’s seat for a cruise. An assembly plant is also located nearby for those interested in a behind-the-scenes look at how the cars are built.
www.corvettemuseum.org/
North Carolina Transportation Museum
Spencer, North Carolina, is home to the North Carolina Transportation Museum, a collection of historic buildings surrounding a former train repair facility. The buildings, which once served as a back shop, roundhouse, and other maintenance and repair shops, now house exhibits and artifacts related to all things transportation: locomotives, railcars, aviation, and automobiles. After exploring the exhibits, guests can take a ride on a steam-powered train. The museum hosts special events throughout the year, like special train rides and festivals.
www.nctransportationmuseum.org
Houston Museum of Natural Sciences
Houston is a Texas hotspot, and one can’t-miss attraction is the Museum of Natural Sciences. In fact, it’s one of the most visited museums in the U.S., with a multitude of educational opportunities sprinkled throughout its multiple rooms: a state-of-the-art planetarium exploring space, astronomy, and celestials; the Morian Hall of Paleontology housing a collection of dinosaur fossils; the Hall of Ancient Egypt with artifacts like mummies and ancient art; the Weiss Energy Hall dedicated to energy production and consumption; the Cullen Hall of Gems and Minerals packed with dazzling gemstones; and even a three-story glass conservatory filled with thousands of live butterflies, the Cockrell Butterfly Center.
There’s something to wow everyone at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, whether hoping to learn about the distant past or take a peek into the future of science and technology.
www.hmns.org
