Thursday, October 9, 2008

Tank Museum

On our travels, we like to travel back roads instead of major interstates if we have time. Yesterday we saw a billboard that advertised about a Tank Museum in Danville, VA which holds 114 tanks and my husband couldn’t believe it. We have never seen that many tanks in one place before so we just had to go check this museum out and we are really glad that we did.

It cost $10 per person admission but it was well worth the money. You are not allowed to take any flash photography but I could still take photos. First we went through rooms and rooms of uniforms from all different levels of personnel and wars. It was fascinating to see all the different styles. They were in excellent condition and consisted of a wide variety too. As a teacher, I was impressed with the in depth research that was done either about the uniform or the person who actually wore it. They weren’t long summaries but enough to get my interest.

Then there were huge rooms full of tanks. The best thing about this was that these tanks weren’t just sitting there with a placard telling the name of it. Many of them were put in a scene as if they were in action. Others had a mural behind them. These settings made it easier to imagine them in use and what the soldiers had to go through while in them. There was also a huge area designated for remote controlled tanks. The whole museum had probably the most impressive collection of tanks I had ever seen.

As we roamed through the museum, we met the curator who was extremely fascinating to talk to. Of course, I’m sure I asked him way too many questions but he didn’t seem to mind answering them. He rode around the museum on a bicycle because it was so huge and you could tell that he really enjoyed his museum. Originally this museum was in Mattituck, NY and moved to VA about 6 years ago. How lucky people are that he is willing to share this with the public!

If you are close to Danville, VA, this is one of the museums you don’t want to miss. It’s educational and interesting too!

4 comments:

Paul C said...

How fascinating! Interesting that it was travel serendipity for you.

In southern Ontario there is the Canadian Transportation Museum and Heritage Village developed by a group of private donors. It's in the middle of no where close to Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary.

It's also a great place for student field trips.

Penny Ryder said...

Isn't it great that we have people who obsess over things to this extent and then share it with the world? It makes me think of the boy in my class with an obsession of sharks. Maybe one day he will have a shark museum...

loonyhiker said...

Paul: I will have to check that out if we get up that way. Thanks for telling me about it.

loonyhiker said...

Penny: Hmmm, I think a shark museum would be interesting. As long as I didn't have to get in a cage and swim with them.