museum of the middle appalachians

This museum is unique, so is the quaint little town of Saltville! My family really enjoyed our visit. I have also taken students from my second grade classroom to visit the museum and they loved it! The museum covers the history of Saltville throughout the ages with exhibits showcasing prehistoric animals, Native Americans, the Civil War era, and Saltville as a company town. There is also a very nice gift shop to buy souvenirs. Great place!

This is no stretch of the truth. It stands alongside the Smithsonian Museum of Art in Washington, DC and the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, Mississippi as one of the top museums in the entire country. Wooly mammoths, amazing fossils, wildlife, Spanish explorers long before Jamestown was founded, native American artifacts of Woodland Indian tribes, excellent Civil War exhibits including 4 new short movies on the salt mines and 2 key battles as the Union tried to destroy the key salt work in the Confederacy and much more. Visit www.museum-mid-app.org for more info. The Salt Park, Well Fields, Walking and Birding Trails, Civil War sites and fortifications, and much more. The museum uses artifacts, lots of them, and not pictures to tell these stories. Saltville may well be THE MOST HISTORIC SPOT IN AMERICA. Pull off of I-81.

My 11 year old grandson and I visited the Museum of the Middle Appalachians in Saltville, VA last week and thoroughly enjoyed the visit. It is a small museum in downtown Saltville and very inexpensive but well worth the time and effort. He and I both had a good time at the museum and would recommend it as a fine way to spend an hour or two.

Saltville is a town with a story to tell and not just one story but many. the Museum does a fabulous job of sharing all the history. I mean Wooly Mamonths, Indians, Civil War, Company town. So much for such a small town..

En route to Roanoke we stopped at the VA visitor center and the information personnel marked a map with what he thought were valuable places to stop and see. This was the first on the list. The ladies inside were very helpful and knowledgeable. As you enter the museum you first see the geological happenings that made this such a rich salt deposit. You can see how that salt has been crucial to life from prehistoric times through early native American occupation and extinction by the Spanish, and the new European entry continuing through the very critical nature of this salt in the civil war. There are excellent exhibits and artifacts. You move through the buiding for each timeline. Around the ceiling lines in each room are deep earth core samples designated by timelines, fascinating. There are drawers to open to see finely made tools from the Native American occupation. There is a footprint of a Giant Sloth from prehistoric time and a model, along with a mastodon skeleton and woolly mammoth head on the wall. There is also a quilt room and women gather in the back and quilt still. What excellent workmanship! A Great stop and well worth the small fee.

We often follow the brown road signs for historic things of interest, and we lucked out when we found this musuem! The exhibits were very interesting and well done, and we learned a LOT of things we didn't know! The staff was knowledgable and helpful, and they even had the locally-mined salt for sale, which we bought as a treat for guests of our WV inn!

I took a group to the Museum of the Middle Appalachians in Saltville, VA, on Saturday, March 16, 2013. Harry Haines was the one that showed the group around and gave them the history of the the museum displays. The group learned a lot about Saltville and was very pleased with the way the museum is put together. The admission price is very reasonable. I would certainly recommend this museum to others.

the museam was very interesting and not expensive at all. we were traveling across the state to work and saw the signs. I am very interested in the civil war relics and other related history. the people were very nice and willing answer any questions you might have. definately worth the trip if you are into civil war and in the area.

I was expecting less so I didn't give myself enough time to see everything before closing time. Historians, geologists, and fossil hunters will be interested to see what has been discovered in the Saltville area. (wooly mammoth) I'm going back when I have more time!