Clinton, Tennessee -
Museum of Appalachia - Perpetual Motion Machine

Museum of Appalachia - Perpetual Motion Machine

A rural living museum that surprises with devil burls, angel swirls, Apocalypse signage, and a full-size perpetual motion machine. 65 acres, several buildings, 250,000 items. Roadsideamerica.com Report...

Gol Cooper's Glass Eye
One of the treasures that caught our eye at this large, eclectic museum. Roadsideamerica.com Report...

Angel Crowns
The Museum of Appalachia displays eerie swirls of feathers from the pillows of dead children. Roadsideamerica.com Report...

Museum of Appalachia - "Jesus is Coming Soon" signs

The Museum of Appalachia is a pretty nice museum of historical artifacts and such, but they have one thing not mentioned in their brochure, which may be of interest to roadsideamerica-holics. A guy by the name of Harrison Mayes spent much of his life carving large signs that say "Jesus is Coming Soon," "Prepare to Meet God," etc., and putting them up all over the world (a lot of them have since come home to roost). He said God told him to do this, and he also hoped to eventually put them up on all the planets! The exhibit is not listed on the tour map (probably because they're still working on it), but it's definitely worth the price of admission...... [e. shoemaker, 10/12/2002]

Museum of Appalachia - Anvil Launching

The Museum of Appalachia is actually in Norris, a great collection of what life was like well before the Atomic age, or even before electricity. Upstairs in the main building you can even buy some of the junk that did not make it into a display.

I believe there are several festivals throughout the year but near the 4th of July they hold an event where they "launch" anvils. What they do is put a blacksmith's anvil in the middle of a field and balance another on top of it, then some explosives are stuffed between them, they light a fuse and run. Of course everyone is kept well back since there is little control over where the anvil will land. [Rich Cloutier, 07/30/2000]