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.
Darlington, SC
Beside one of NASCAR’s oldest major tracks, this museum preserves historic race cars, trophies, memorabilia, engines, and artifacts from stock-car racing history. The collection makes a good OddWay stop even when no race is taking place.
Elloree, SC
Elloree’s local-history museum contains an unexpectedly theatrical recreation of an old general store featuring an animatronic shopkeeper, Mr. Snider, along with a preserved mule and other artifacts. The moving figure gives the small-town museum a distinctly OddWay quality.
Beaufort, SC
Hundreds of kazoos and related instruments trace the surprisingly elaborate history of one of the world’s simplest musical devices. Visitors can see unusual novelty kazoos, historic examples, and the manufacturing operation that still produces the instruments.
Charleston, SC
MUSC's dental-history museum contains historic tools, dental chairs, a nineteenth-century dental-office display and a traveling dentist's chest from the Civil War era. Among its stranger artifacts is an instrument attributed to silversmith and Revolutionary War figure Paul Revere. The museum is accessed through the Waring Historical Library; appointments are strongly encouraged and required for larger groups.
Taylors, SC
This eccentric studio and folk-art environment mixes oddities, preserved specimens, found-object sculptures, fairy-garden spaces, interactive art and a collection that deliberately blurs the line between museum and backyard art project. Visitors have been encouraged to make or add art to the environment rather than simply look at it. It is run by local artists at a residential-scale property, so OddWay visitors should check ahead before arriving. Secondary source: https://www.scartshub.com/venues/mad-century-studios-and-the-house-of-the-improbable/
Rock Hill, SC
The Museum of York County grew around the Stans African animal collection, a huge assemblage of full-mounted African specimens displayed in immersive dioramas. Its Naturalist Center now adds more than 2,000 specimens that visitors can study, while the larger museum also covers fossils, regional natural history and a planetarium. The dense taxidermy halls give this otherwise conventional science museum a distinctly old-school cabinet-of-natural-history feel. Secondary source: https://chmuseums.org/collections/
Greenville, SC
The former home of baseball legend “Shoeless” Joe Jackson was moved beside Fluor Field and transformed into a museum. Exhibits cover Jackson’s remarkable playing career and the enduring controversy surrounding the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
