Wally Byam's unique gold-tinted Airstream was driven from Cape Town to Cairo.

Airstream Museum

Jackson Center, Ohio

"Welcome to the Mothership" reads the sign at the entrance to the Airstream Heritage Center Museum. Samantha Martin, the museum curator, explained that "The Mothership" is what "Caravaners" -- Airstream devotees -- call the company headquarters, which is where the museum opened in June 2022.

1948 Wee Wind: the smallest Airstream of its time.

Airstreams, the Streamline Moderne-style silver-sided rivet-bound travel trailers, have been a recognizable sight on American highways since the mid-1930s. They've also, in recent years, been modified by their owners into everything from motel rooms to monuments, although such off-brand alterations are barely mentioned in this company museum.

In contrast, Airstream founder Wally Byam makes frequent museum appearances, even though he's been dead since 1962. "We know that what is worthwhile does not come easily," he says in one of many affirmations attributed to him in the exhibits, while another display notes that, "Wally created a cultural phenomenon, a Way of Life." With a charismatic posthumous leader and oddly devotional lingo, Airstream might qualify as a cult -- although being a Caravaner seems relatively benign, something midway between glamping and living in your car.

Towing an Airstream by bicycle was a stunt to show how easily they could be pulled.

Early Airstreams had no frills, but you could sleep warm and dry.

The museum was designed with an eye for photo-ops. Visitors can straddle a bicycle to simulate a famous 1947 photo of a cyclist effortlessly towing an Airstream, and mimic the Apollo 11 astronauts, back from the moon, waving inside their Airstream quarantine trailer as they were greeted by President Nixon (It's a tribute to the solid construction of Airstreams that NASA chose one to shield our planet from a possible space plague). We suggested to Samantha that the tableau would be even more fun with a Nixon wax dummy, or if the museum simply supplied visitors with Nixon masks. Samantha laughed politely, which we understood to mean oh, that will never happen (We've heard similar chuckles at other attractions that have tactfully avoided our suggestions).

Pose and wave from behind Airstream glass, just like the Apollo 11 astronauts.

Tourists wander the museum and peer into the interiors of a number of classic Airstreams -- the 1938 Clipper, the 1948 Wee Wind, the 1955 Commodore Vanderbilt -- noticing how each model gradually added homey comforts such as screen doors and showers. There's a 1930s Airlite (one of the oldest Airstreams) and a well-used 1950s Bubble which, according to its display, may be the "most traveled" Airstream in history. There's also an unexpected Airstream hearse ("Funeral Coach") from the desperation days of the late 1970s when the company diversified its product line, fearful that gas shortages and 55 mph speed limits might end the travel trailer business altogether (It didn't).

Of special note are two uniquely colored Airstreams -- one gold, one white -- owned by Wally Byam, who had their exteriors tinted to match the paint on his tow vehicles, and used them when he led "caravans" of Airstream owners through foreign lands, mostly Europe and Central America. Lest visitors think that this was mere frivolity, a display titled "Innovation at its Finest" notes that, "For Wally, leading the Caravans was not a vacation; it was an important business venture... the opportunity to road-test his product in some of the most extreme and remote conditions in the world."

Exotic souvenirs: collected during various Airstream odysseys.

One museum showcase exhibits a selection of exotic souvenirs brought back to the U.S. by the Caravaners, as well as the ultimate mark of 1950s travel respectability: a feature story in National Geographic. Proudly displayed is Wally Byam's pith helmet as well as a telegram sent by him from Cairo, Egypt, announcing the 1960 Caravan's arrival after a 12,000 mile trek from Cape Town, South Africa. The Caravaners, it's explained, "opened their rolling homes" to people they met along the way and "promoted international goodwill."

Visitors to the Airstream Heritage Center Museum will likely come from more local stateside destinations, but all of them will no doubt appreciate the romance of travel on the road, and Samantha noted that the Center provides plenty of free parking for Caravaners with Airstreams. For now, at least, they will have to bring their own Nixon masks.