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A large Ozark-centric collection, where you can pose for souvenir photos in the Beverly Hillbillies TV truck, see the pistols of Pancho Villa, and gaze at an Andy Williams Christmas sweater.
Roadsideamerica.com Report...
- Address:
- 1 Cultural Court, Point Lookout, MO
- Directions:
- US Hwy 65 to Hollister, which is just south of Branson. Exit west onto Main St. and follow the signs for the College of the Ozarks. Ask for directions to the Museum at the gate, or simply follow Opportunity Ave., make a left at the field house onto Cultural Court, drive to the end, and turn left to the Museum.
- Hours:
- M-Sa 9-4:30 (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
- Phone:
- 417-690-3407
- Admission:
- Adults $6.
- RA Rates:
- Worth a Detour
Personal collection of all things gourd by the world's greatest gourd-lover. On display in town since his death.
Roadsideamerica.com Report...
Angier Municipal Building
- Address:
- 28 N. Raleigh Ave., Angier, NC
- Directions:
- Angier Municipal Building. Downtown, northeast corner of the intersection of Hwys 210 and 55.
- Hours:
- By appt. only. No Sundays. (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
- Phone:
- 919-639-4413
- RA Rates:
- Worth a Detour
- Angier, North Carolina - Marvin Johnson's Gourd Collection
In one town: a 30-foot pyramid/tower of bells of all sizes, AND the artistry of Marvin Johnson's (decorated) gourd collection. We drove by and saw the bells; it's not clear whether one is encouraged to pull the attached strings and play them!
The gourds in town are cool -- many and varied. First, they're located in a combination building (library and "community building") -- and the later half is part courtroom, part meeting room, and part gourd collection!
[eric schansberg, 07/02/2010] - Angier, North Carolina - Marvin Johnson's Gourd Collection
What a collection of gourds! I wish I could have seen them in their original location. The Library/Community building they are in was okay. My wife and I just walked into the community meeting room, turned on the lights, and started viewing. We were all by ourselves and spent a good 45 minutes to an hour looking at all the gourds. It was impossible to pick one that we liked the best. If you like weird collections you must go see this!
[Cris Swanlund, 12/06/2007] Marvin's Gourds Make Their Move
Thanks to a campaign led by Wanda Gregory, the mayor of Angier, North Carolina, the contents of the late Marvin Johnson's Gourd Museum have been saved. The new home of the gourds is a dozen glass-fronted display cases along the walls of Angier's municipal building meeting room.
Marvin Johnson had collected gourds and gourd art since the early 1960s, and displayed them in a small museum on his farm just outside of Angier. He died several years ago, age 93, and turned the museum over to his nephew. But the nephew was also no spring chicken, and after a year the museum was padlocked and the property was sold to a real estate developer.
"Nobody'd been in the place for 5-6 years," recalled town commissioner Joe Pleasant, who helped to move the gourds. "The facility was in right bad shape. We probably threw away a five-gallon bucket of gourd seeds that people had sent him, back as far as the 1970s."
"We don't know what happened to a lot of his stuff, but I'd say we saved 95 percent of the gourds."
Many of Johnson's favorite gourds were rescued, including Popeye the Sailor Man and the Spirit of '76 Bicentennial gourd. Joe Pleasant could not recall if Johnson's most famous gourd, with a painting of Mr. Johnson feeding a hot dog to his pet alligator, had survived. However, Joe did volunteer that he had seen Marvin feed the alligator a hot dog in real life. "He was a rather amazing man; a super nice fellah."
Johnson collected thousands of gourds ("Gracious, there's no telling how many he had.") and many remain in storage. The town hopes to someday build a museum of which half will be local history, and the other half will be gourds. "As long as we want the gourds," said Mr. Pleasant, "we got the gourds."
The meeting room is occasionally locked, but if you ask anyone in the town library, which is in the same building, they'll open it for you.
[04/14/2006]
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