Salt
and Pepper Shaker Museum
When the Ludden family was in searching
for a new peppermill for their dinner table, they never
imagined they would eventually end up with thousands.
"We didn't have a peppermill that worked at home, so my
parents and I started looking," Andrea Ludden says.
At the time, Andrea and her mom lived in Texas. As they
visited flea markets, they became fascinated with salt
and pepper sets. They bought, and bought, and bought...
The Ludden's recently brought their 17,000 salt & pepper
sets from Texas to East Tennessee to open a museum in
Gatlinburg. They say
it's the only museum of it's kind in the world.
"So many tourist that come through the area, we thought
it would be a perfect place," Andrea says.
The shakers are made of glass, ceramics, wood, walnut
shells, antlers, bones, sea shells, metal, crystal and
just about any other material you can imagine.
There are so many shakers, themes help categorize the
different types. A salt and pepper shaker shaped like an
oyster sits in the marine portion of the museum. Two
round ceramic pearls sitting in the oyster are the
actual salt and pepper shakers.
The tallest pepper mill ever made stands in the museum
30 inches tall. The smallest salt and pepper shakers are
there too. They're only 3/4 of an inch tall.
While the Ludden's have 17,000 shakers in their museum,
they still haven't run out of room for more.
"I don't think anybody could ever have all the salt and
pepper shakers that have been made," Andrea says.
The museum also features a spice store and a number of
salt and pepper shakers that are for sale.
The museum is located on Hwy 321 across from Brookside
Resort in the Winery Square complex. From
Pigeon Forge, come into
Gatlinburg and take a
left on stop light number three.
Admission is free, but the museum does accept donations.
Click here to view the original story posting
|
