Southeast USA Museums and Culture

MOSH funding is provided in part by the City of Jacksonville and the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, Inc.; the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, and the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts; Historical Museums Grants-in-Aid Program assistance provided by the Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State, Secretary of State; and the generous support of our donors and members.

The mission of the Carolina Art Association (the Gibbes Museum of Art) is to offer through collection, exhibition and interpretation a thorough knowledge of the visual culture of Charleston, the Lowcountry and the American South from the colonial era through today.

Nestled in picturesque Orlando Loch Haven Park, the Orlando Museum of Art (OMA) is one of Florida's cultural gems and a popular destination for visitors from all over the world. The collection focuses on American art from the 19th century to the present, African art and art of the ancient Americas. Outstanding temporary exhibitions are drawn from private collections and those of the world's great museums.

Displaying more than 30 authentic Winston Cup race cars, the Winston Cup Museum chronicles RJ Reynolds Tobacco's 33-year sponsorship of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. The museum also displays a extensive variety of racing artifacts.

Since 1983, the Tobacco Farm Life Museum has been preserving the history and cultural heritage of Eastern North Carolina farm life. The museum was started by a group of local families who had pride in their past and a strong volunteer spirit. Having seen the way of life of their parents and grandparents becoming obsolete, these families wanted to preserve this personal and special history of the Eastern North Carolina flu-cured tobacco farm family for future generations.
The museum has grown to an internationally recognized and accredited museum and today continues to interpret and present this important rural legacy to the public.

The Orlando Science Center fosters curiosity, innovation, discovery and intellectual achievement, drawing together all our varied Central Florida cultures, through participative, authentic experiences that create an appreciation for the importance of science and technology to our way of life.

A venue to foster greater understanding, appreciation, enjoyment, and stewardship of the natural and cultural heritage of the lower St. Johns River basin through time.
To achieve this goal, the Mandarin Museum & Historical Society will research topics, collect, preserve, interpret and exhibit documents, objects, and oral histories that relate to the history of Mandarin within the context of regional, Florida, and national history.

The story of Badin begins circa 10,000 BC when Native Americans camped on the hill above the falls of our river and fashioned spearheads from outcroppings of rhyolite rock. Many native tribes followed, using this area until the 1700's. Settlers arrived in the 1600's and 1700's and the river was given a name: the Yadkin. Its rushing waters were instrumental in the beginning of our town when...

The Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry (CML) is Charleston’s first hands-on learning environment designed just for children ages 3 months to 12 years and their families. Since opening its doors on September 21, 2003, more than 450,000 visitors have explored the museum’s eight interactive exhibits, ranging from a full-scale shrimp boat to an area just for infants and toddlers. CML is the perfect family destination—many parents seize the opportunity to be a kid again and discover the exhibits with their child(ren), and each exhibit offers something for children of any age.
The mission of the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry is to spark the love of learning in all children of the tri-county area. Through hands-on, interactive experiences with the arts, sciences and humanities, children will develop creative thinking and problem solving skills and a belief in their own potential.

"The NEW World of Coca­Cola is the only place where visitors can explore the complete story—past, present and future—of the world's best-known brand! For over 120 years, we've been putting our secret formula into bottles. Now, we've put it all in one amazing place—the NEW World of Coca­Cola.
With 62,000 square feet of guest areas, the NEW World of Coca­Cola is approximately twice the size of the previous World of Coca­Cola.
We will feature more than 1,200 artifacts from around the world that have never been displayed to the public before. In fact, only about 50 artifacts from the previous World of Coca­Cola will be showcased at the NEW World of Coca­Cola.
A visit of the entire facility lasts an average of 90 minutes."

The American Military Museum in Charleston, S.C., offers a one-of-a-kind experience in military history for travelers and residents.
Located in Aquarium Wharf adjacent to the debarkation point for tours to historic Fort Sumter, the Museum is filled with authentic artifacts from 14 American conflicts from the Revolutionary War through the recent war in Iraq.

Located in the historic district of Goldsboro, the Wayne County Museum strives to educate and entertain people of all ages by offering varied and diverse exhibits. The aim of the museum is to collect, preserve, study, and exhibit objects illustrating the history, science and cultural heritage of Wayne County and Central Eastern North Carolina.
The Wayne County Museum was founded in 1986 when the Goldsboro Woman’s Club graciously donated its classical Jeffersonian style building to the Wayne County Historical Association. The building constructed in 1927, and the home of the U.S.O. in the 1940’s, is filled with the rich history of Wayne County. The museum officially opened in 1988 and sponsors several special exhibits each year.

The science portion of the museum has fourteen different collections in Archaeology, Arthropod, Botany Herbarium, Economic Geology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate, Mammalogy, Mycological Herbarium, Ornithology, Paleontology, Pollen and Plant Microspore, Rocks and Minerals, and Zooarchaeology as well as more than 325,000 alcohol-preserved fish specimens. In addition, there are exhibits, archives, and entertainment for children.[4] Its more than four million objects makes it one of the largest museums in the Southeast. Source

From a stately home on Peachtree Street to its current award-winning buildings in a spectacular setting, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta has grown to become the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States with its renowned collection of classic and contemporary art and renowned architecture by Richard Meier and Renzo Piano.

The museum is an important component of The University of Tennessee, and participates in the implementation of the University's mission. The University of Tennessee is committed to the development of individuals and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. This is to be accomplished through teaching, scholarship, artistic creation, public service, and professional practice.
The complementary mission of the Frank H. McClung Museum is to advance understanding and appreciation of the earth and its peoples through the collection, preservation, study, interpretation, and exhibition of objects and data. The Museum is dedicated to the support of the academic programs of The University and to the attraction and education of the broadest spectrum of participants.

This 80,000 square foot Museum opened in August 2003 with main galleries featuring contemporary Western American art. Other galleries feature Civil War art, Presidential portraits and letters, Western movie posters, and Western illustration. Sagebrush Ranch is an interactive gallery where children of all ages can learn about art and Western America. The Museum’s Special Exhibit Gallery hosts three to five temporary exhibits per year.
The Museum Store offers books on art and the West, as well as prints and other items featuring Western American art images. The Café offers light lunches to guests and members visiting the Museum. A multimedia theatre, with seating for 60, shows the orientation film “The American West” every 20 minutes.

The KMA’s predecessor, the Dulin Gallery of Art, opened in 1961 in a beaux-arts mansion in West Knoxville. By the middle 1980s the Dulin had outgrown its quarters, and a major community effort raised $11 million for a new museum in downtown Knoxville at the site of the 1982 World’s Fair. The Knoxville Museum of Art opened in March 1990 in a state-of-the-art, 53,200 square-foot facility designed by renowned museum architect Edward Larrabee Barnes. The building, clad in Tennessee marble, is named in honor of local philanthropist Jim Clayton, the largest donor to the building fund.

Creative Discovery Museum is recognized as one of the premier hands-on children's museums in the region. Gather the young and young-at-heart and make plans now to visit us at Creative Discovery Museum. Whether it's for a couple of hours or a whole day, time spent at the Museum is sure to be worthwhile learning for the whole family.

The beginnings of the Tennessee State Museum can be traced back to a museum opened on the Nashville public square in 1817 by a portrait artist, Ralph E.W. Earl. A young boy who visited that museum in 1823 wrote home that he had seen a life-size painting of then General Andrew Jackson. That same painting hangs today in the State Museum, now located at the corner of Fifth and Deaderick streets.
In 1937 the General Assembly created a state museum to house World War I mementoes and other collections from the state, the Tennessee Historical Society and other groups. This museum was located in the lower level of the War Memorial Building until it was moved into the new James K. Polk Center in 1981. The Tennessee State Museum currently occupies three floors, covering approximately 120,000 square feet with more than 60,000 square feet devoted to exhibits.