MUSEUMS

CREATION MUSEUM PETERSBURG, KENTUCKY

The Creation Museum in northern Kentucky takes visitors on a walk through biblical history, starting from the first verse of scripture, with interactive exhibits, botanical gardens, a planetarium, zoo and zip line adventure course. In 2019, the museum revamped the first seven areas of the facility to install a new introduction that includes three new exhibits, “World View,” “Biblical Authority” and “Relevance of Genesis.” The idea was to upgrade the exhibits to make them more current and also to widen the spaces to allow for increased foot traffic due to the popularity of the nearby Ark Encounter.

Visitors to the museum can explore the seven C’s of history: Creation, which is a walk through the Garden of Eden; Corruption, the fall of man; Catastrophe, the flood of Noah; Confusion, the Tower of Babel; as well as Christ, Cross and Consummation. It is a full-day experience. In addition to the biblical exhibits, the museum also has “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made,” an exhibit about unborn children, as well as a dinosaur den with animatronic models of dinosaurs and “Dr. Crawley’s Insectorium,” which holds a massive collection of insects from all over the world. An exhibit called “Borderland” looks at Jerusalem in the time of Christ. There is a planetarium where the primary show is “The Creative Cosmos” and a 4D theater.

creationmuseum.org

WEST VIRGINIA MINE WARS MUSEUM MATEWAN, WEST VIRGINIA

The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum in Matewan details a series of battles that took place across the coal fields of Appalachia, specifically in West Virginia, as mine workers fought for their right to unionize in the early 1900s. During that time, mine workers had terrible working conditions. They endured abuse from the mine guard system and the coal industry in general. Several battles and strikes took place in the southern part of West Virginia, leading to the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest armed uprising in American history since the Civil War.

Miners and union supporters who rallied at the state capital in Charleston in wvminewars.org

1921 decided to march to Mingo County in protest. When they crossed over into Logan County on Blair Mountain, the government was unhappy. It led to a battle during which many miners were killed, and a few government officials were also injured or killed. In the end, the miners lost the battle, but it proved to be a turning point in American labor history and changed the way people viewed the working class.

Group visitors can take a self-guided tour of the museum and its exhibits, including displays and oral histories of life in the coal camps. The museum has the largest exhibition of Mine Wars history anywhere in the country, with over 800 digitalized artifacts on its website and more in the museum.

U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA

In Huntsville, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center showcases Alabama’s contributions to the U.S. space program, including the Saturn V rocket that took American astronauts to the moon. It is the official visitor center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Group visitors can see the Apollo 16 capsule that went to the moon, as well as a moon rock and exhibits that talk about the Apollo missions. They also can see onetenth scale models of ULA’s Vulcan rocket, Boeing’s Starliner Pressure Capsule test vessel, NASA’s SLS rocket and Blue Origin’s Mannequin Skywalker.

Another exhibit helps visitors understand what happens on the International Space Station. “Space Craze: A Space-Age Journey through Pop Culture” explores the public’s fascination with all things space.

Groups can schedule tours of the facility with knowledgeable docents, many of whom worked in the space industry and love to tell their personal stories. The Space Flight Center is developing the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket ever designed to carry human explorers deeper into space. It also manages the Michoud Assembly Facility, where the core stage of SLS is under construction.

The center also offers several simulators, including an Apollo 11 Virtual Reality Experience, Flight Simulator Experience, HyperShip and Multi-Axis Trainer. Groups can also take a bus tour of the Marshall Space Flight Center. At the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, visitors can take in a 3D film in the National Geographic Theater. rocketcenter.com

CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS

Nestled in a natural ravine, Bentonville, Arkansas’ Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art incorporates the natural world into its exhibits. A series of pavilions surround two spring-fed ponds and house the museum’s galleries, restaurant, museum store and a library that features more than 50,000 volumes of art reference material.

Exhibits at the museum span five centuries of American art, including works by Asher B. Durand,