Ok, so I thought I was scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one but was really pleasantly surprised. The Cotton Museum is located in the beautify renovated old Cotton Exchange Building, all the way downtown. The tour starts in a small room off of the main lobby. There a receptionist hands you an iPod and provides the tour intro. Next you go on an interesting outside walking audio tour that takes you through the ins and outs of the cotton industry. After the walking tour, you return to the Cotton Exchange Building and see the former floor of the Cotton Exchange. This trading floor has been refurbished, but still keeps the charm of beautiful hard woods and gleaming brass. The room itself is not that large but the exhibits provide a lot of punch for its size. The Museum uses audio and visual exhibits to further explain different elements of the cotton industry.
As a former Northerner, I found it interesting that one of the videos gave a candid overview of slavery and its importance to the South’s agricultural culture. Many museums in the South really dismiss the entire brutality of slavery. There is a second room that deals with the science of growing cotton - way cool. This small museum and walking tour takes about two hours. By the way, the bathrooms were also nicely refurbished.
Recommendation: A must see on a sunny day.
click here for the Cotton Museum
http://www.memphiscottonmuseum.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment