Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.
Small, specific collections run by people who care far too much.
Baltimore, MD
Rather than concentrating on conventionally trained artists, this Baltimore museum is devoted to self-taught and visionary creators. The campus is packed with giant sculptures, mosaics, kinetic pieces and objects made from unexpected materials, making the exterior alone an OddWay-worthy stop.
Baltimore, MD
George Herman “Babe” Ruth was born in this Baltimore rowhouse in 1895, just a few blocks from what is now Camden Yards. The restored house operates as a museum containing Ruth memorabilia, photographs and exhibits covering his life and baseball career.
Boonsboro, MD
This eccentric small-town collection ranges far beyond local history, with Civil War weapons sitting alongside Egyptian material, carved bullets, unusual medical and military objects, and a bouquet made from human hair. Tours operate on selected weekends from May through December or by appointment.
College Park, MD
The museum stands beside the world's oldest continuously operating airport, where the Wright brothers trained military pilots beginning in 1909. Exhibits cover early flight, unusual aircraft and the airport's long experimental history, with active aircraft often visible just outside.
Baltimore, MD
Edgar Allan Poe lived in this tiny Baltimore rowhouse with members of his family from roughly 1833 to 1835. The preserved house now operates as a museum devoted to Poe's life and writing, with period rooms, exhibits and artifacts connected to one of America's most enduring masters of the macabre.
Baltimore, MD
Completed in the 19th century, the Peabody Library's soaring atrium is lined with multiple tiers of cast-iron balconies and hundreds of thousands of books. Often described as a cathedral of books, the historic research library is open to visitors during posted public hours when not closed for events.
Havre de Grace, MD
The Decoy Museum preserves the Chesapeake Bay tradition of carved waterfowl decoys, working boats, hunting gear and folk art. Its large collection includes historic and contemporary carvings that turn an otherwise ordinary hunting tool into a distinctly regional art form.
Bowie, MD
A 1906 storekeeper's house is packed with early radios, televisions, crystal sets, vacuum tubes and broadcasting equipment. The museum traces the rapid transformation from wireless telegraphy to household television and operates on limited weekly public hours.
Colesville, MD
This volunteer museum preserves historic streetcars and the technology of electric urban transportation. On operating days visitors can inspect restored cars and ride along the museum's demonstration railway, so access depends on the published schedule.
Annapolis Junction, MD
The National Security Agency's public museum explores codebreaking, espionage and communications intelligence from early ciphers through modern computing. Displays include historic cryptographic machines, Cold War equipment and artifacts from some of the most secretive parts of American history.
Cockeysville, MD
The National Electronics Museum preserves more than 10,000 objects related to radar, radio, sonar, satellites, communications and electronic warfare. The collection has moved to the Hunt Valley/Cockeysville area, so travelers should use the museum's current address and check its posted schedule before visiting.
Baltimore, MD
Founded in 1983, this museum uses more than 100 life-size wax figures and immersive scenes to interpret Black history. Some exhibits intentionally confront slavery, lynching and racial violence in unusually direct and graphic ways, making it very different from a conventional wax museum.
Frederick, MD
This museum examines the grim realities and surprising advances of medicine during the Civil War through surgical instruments, field-hospital material and stories of doctors, nurses and patients. Its displays include subjects such as battlefield surgery, embalming and wartime disease that fit OddWay's darker-history side particularly well.
Baltimore, MD
The University of Maryland's dental collection preserves thousands of objects tracing the strange, painful and occasionally ingenious history of dentistry. Holdings include early instruments, dentures, dental advertising and other material from the national collection of the American dental profession; confirm public visiting access before routing because it is housed within the dental school.
Silver Spring, MD
Founded during the Civil War as the Army Medical Museum, this institution holds one of America's most unusual medical collections. Visitors encounter anatomical specimens, pathological material, military medicine exhibits and artifacts tied to major events including the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Boonsboro, MD
The museum tells the story of the National Road, America's first federally funded highway and one of the routes that transformed early road travel westward. Exhibits recreate pieces of the road's tavern, transportation and roadside history, and the museum also serves as Boonsboro's visitor center during its limited open hours.
Catonsville, MD
Spring Grove traces its institutional history to 1797, making it one of the oldest continuously operating psychiatric hospitals in the United States. Its small alumni museum preserves early medical equipment, photographs, furniture and records from the hospital's past, but visits are guided and by appointment.
Berlin, MD
This small upstairs museum in downtown Berlin treats mermaids as a mixture of folklore, art, popular culture and imagined natural history. Displays include mermaid artifacts, stories and curiosities assembled into an intentionally unusual cabinet-of-wonders experience.
Linthicum Heights, MD
Housed at the American Urological Association, this highly specialized museum preserves the history of urology through antique cystoscopes, surgical instruments, microscopes, medical illustrations and other unusual artifacts. Public visits are generally arranged in advance, so contact the museum rather than treating it as a drop-in attraction.
Baltimore, MD
This Hampden museum is devoted to the history, mythology and pop-culture legacy of the Ouija board, which has deep roots in Baltimore. Opened as the Baltimore branch of the Salem Witch Board Museum, it sits inside Bazaar and covers figures such as Elijah Bond and Helen Peters alongside the board's stranger cultural history.
