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Buckskin, Indiana: Henager Memories and Nostalgia Museum

The former "Loneliest Museum in America" is now too popular for that designation, but it's still worth a visit. Packed with over 20,000 items.

Address:
8837 S. Hwy 57, Buckskin, IN
Directions:
I-64 exit 29B, then north on Hwy 57 for 4.5 miles.
Hours:
By appt. (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
Phone:
812-795-2230
RA Rates:
Worth a Detour
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Visitor Tips and News About Henager Memories and Nostalgia Museum

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Henager Memories and Nostalgia Museum

The greatest experiences in my 35 years of utilizing the Roadside America app/website is when you get a one-on-one tour with a great collection owner, where you tap into the infinite insatiable soul of a person understanding clearly their obsessions and joys. My wife and I reserved an extra day in our July 2022 trip to see this overwhelming collection (James Henager is also fully involved in storing and delivering food across the country to homeless vets from his museum/warehouse).

His collection and its purpose has expanded tenfold in the past couple of years. What you get in the three-hour(!) tour is a sound and visual explosion of pop culture memories from a Baby Boomer Vietnam Vet. Roy Rogers, Abraham Lincoln, Boy Scouts, music from hundreds of speakers, Christmas, and endless celebrities are a part of the various collections you will see covering every wall and ceiling space. It will probably be the highlight of your vacation.

[Royd Buchele, 07/23/2022]

Smokey Bear display.

Henager's Memories & Nostalgia Museum

Curator and creator James Henager sent us an update that might be depressing coming from any attraction other than one trying to hold onto its claim as Loneliest Museum in the America, as we dubbed it in 2007. "In 2010, we had less than 100 people show up at the museum, and no one so far this year," wrote Henager. "But that doesn't stop us."

Drawing attention to an attraction as the nadir of tourism traffic can be risky. It's not as if Henager lives in some remote Fortress of Solitude, and his collection includes interesting items. When public broadcasting picked up on the "Loneliest Museum" label, we were ready to write off the Memories and Nostalgia Museum as just another victim of media overkill, going the way of punk rock and Burning Man.

But it's 2011, and Buckskin is mighty quiet, especially in the winter. Henager is putting together the largest Roy Rogers Centennial Celebration in the country. His museum has its own Roy Rogers section, but the celebration will be at the Gibson County Fairgrounds in Princeton, Indiana on July 22-24, 2011. Not in Buckskin, where visitors might wreck the silence.

"I still say we are the loneliest museum in the U.S.," wrote Henager.

[RoadsideAmerica.com Team, 01/31/2011]
Henager Memories and Nostalgia Museum

After visiting Mr. James Henager and his collection of...things, I was simply amazed that he has managed to amass such an impressive collection based on the simple principle that people have a lot a treasures they don't want but can't part with.

Henager's small museum feels like a storage room at the Smithsonian. From Boy Scout handbooks to cast photos from '80s TV shows to Smokey Bear and Woodsey Owl, it's all there.

Sadly, however, Mr. Henager needs help to pay his air conditioning bill lest his treasures of Americana past wilt in the heat.

[Faye Travis, 07/04/2010]

Nearby Offbeat Places

Weather Rock and Animal StatuesWeather Rock and Animal Statues, Haubstadt, IN - 3 mi.
Giant SantaGiant Santa, Evansville, IN - 8 mi.
Grave of a Gypsy QueenGrave of a Gypsy Queen, Evansville, IN - 14 mi.
In the region:
Uncle Sam Statue, Vincennes, IN - 34 mi.

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