parlor question:

[queenlua]

What's the most niche museum you've ever been to?

(derived from a delightful lunch conversation, in which we discussed some tribal-black-magic museum so obscure Google could not summon it, and a telecommunications museum that apparently is like church: only open Sundays, and a couple very niche artists' museums, etc)

My own answer is probably either the National Ainu Museum in Sapporo, or the Fillmore County Historical Society Museum in Fountain, Minnesota, which punches SHOCKINGLY far above its weight—I was there mostly because I happened to be in the area, and I found myself totally enthralled with all these old musical instruments you were allowed to just... play? and old Civil War diaries you could read with your own two hands? and just so much totally random Americana stuff in a giant room for you to sift through? Delightful.

(Also, while I don't think this makes the cut because it's technically not niche enough, it's so cool I always have to mention it: the Living Computer Museum is an absolute delight; it's packed with a bajillion old computers and you are allowed to play with ALL OF THEM; it's so fun and god I hope they come back post-covid and such...!)

Feel free to answer here, if you so choose! or just save it in your back pocket next time you need entertaining cocktail party discussion-starters :P

ETA (Sept 28, 2022): someone made a Twitter thread to this effect & the replies are great

Comments

[helicoprion]

Maybe stretching the definition of "museum," but mine is Agecroft Hall, which was a Tudor-era English manor that some crazy 20th-century rich guy had DISASSEMBLED AND SHIPPED TO AMERICA AND REBUILT IN THE ENVIRONS OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA because that's a thing you could do in the 1920s? You can putter around the house and grounds and look at historical furniture and sometimes they have theater productions on the lawn.

ETA actually I think the harness racing museum in Goshen, NY might be more niche than that

[queenlua]

Tudor-era English manor that some crazy 20th-century rich guy had DISASSEMBLED AND SHIPPED TO AMERICA AND REBUILT IN THE ENVIRONS OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

sorry what

that's. i just googled and omg. more eccentric rich guys like this plz :P

also TIL harness racing was a thing, ever, lol

[helicoprion]

My grandma is actually a Known Entity at the harness racing museum because her genealogy research turned up a connection with one of the big shots of mid-19th-century racing. So she went there to look at some of their records and became kind of a regular. One time she sent me some photocopies of RARE PRIMARY DOCUMENTS where a guy took out an editorial in the paper to say, "critics say my favorite trotter is an ugly horse. Critics need to shut up, this horse is so strong and deserves our respect, and he's also very normal-looking"

(included was a painting of a very normal-looking horse, but ofc I don't know how he matched up to the breed standards of the day, or how many liberties the painting took)

But yeah I guess harness racing is only a known phenomenon to people who either have ties in upstate New York or got deep into Marguerite Henry's back catalog in their horse girl phase XD

[queenlua]

WHAT.

ok this is the most delightful niche family legacy i've heard since "turns out Bird Guy has some kind of great-aunt who's in Canada's curling hall of fame", ty this made my month

critics say my favorite trotter is an ugly horse. Critics need to shut up, this horse is so strong and deserves our respect, and he's also very normal-looking

a tragedy this guy was born before the era of tumblr. that'd have like 50k notes minimum

[lassarina]

or got deep into Marguerite Henry's back catalog in their horse girl phase excuse u I'm in this picture lol

[helicoprion]

Lol, I mean, same. Also Walter Farley, but I think Marguerite Henry made more of an impression because of a childhood day trip to Assateague. omg the feral ponies are real and you can just go LOOK at them

[lassarina]

I grew up in Maryland so Chincoteague was nearby. I never actually went though. Which is surprising, because my parents were remarkably indulgent of my Horse Girl phase (I had riding lessons, etc.)

[helicoprion]

Possibly the secret is to already be on a trip to Ocean City when you start lobbying for a day at Chincoteague/Assateague? It was barely even going out of the way at that point. XD

[lassarina]

Ahhh, that might be the trick! We always did Ocean City, NJ.

[lassarina]

there's a delightful winery, Castello d'Amorosa, in Napa Valley built on the model of a Tuscan villa - they didn't ship a whole actual villa just a shit ton of discarded bricks, but yeah. 107 rooms including a torture chamber, and they hired two artists to paint frescoes from the town hall in Siena, Italy on the walls, and the artists were brothers, and one of them fucked off without finishing the job - so his brother did it, but painted over his signature and replaced it.

It's a delightful fucking place to visit and if you like sweet wine they got you. (It literally exists because a guy who was fourth-generation Napa vintner was like "oh me what shall I do with my free time and money, I know, I NEED A CASTLE")

[helicoprion]

Hi, hello, yes, what, everything about this is amazing. A torture chamber???

[lassarina]

A torture chamber! I think it has some actual antiques in it. Anyway, it's a stunningly beautiful place and they have great wine, I loved it and I want to go back.