From frontier towns along the Great Wagon Road to inventing country music, Southwest Virginia brims with amazing historical culture. These nifty and niche museums provide a window into often-overlooked wonders.
Roanoke Pinball Museum: Experience the zany history, art, and science of pinball and its entertainment progenitors in this interactive downtown installation. Test your skills on more than 70 machines that trace the game’s progression from 1932 to today.
Museum Of The Middle Appalachians: Take a trip through 30,000 years of natural and anthropomorphic history at this downtown Saltville gallery. Exhibits range from a fossilized mammoth and saber-toothed tiger skull to authentic Native American jewelry to the town’s legacy as a 19th-century salt mining hub.
The Roots of American Music Museum: Galax’s Blue Ridge Music Center is known for its beautiful outdoor amphitheater that attracts major national musical acts. But it’s also home to a 2,300-square-foot museum that carries visitors on a journey through three-plus centuries of music traditions in the Appalachian Mountains…