I'd like to know what this place has about federal mine inspector Bill Spradlin. He was my…read moregrandfather.

My family and I stopped here on our way to see the homeplace of Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle. We…read moreopted to stop at the museum. It close to closing time but they were nice to give a tour. It was only $5 per person and there was three of us. This place is located out in the middle of no where. Not enough advertisement on the place. If in the area, stop by and check them out.

Today we went to this Great Farm with my grandson's school field trip. It costs $17 for adults and…read more$10 for kids! There are separate buildings to explore and it's self guided. With the school it was more of a guided tour! There is farm animals! We took a tractor pulled wagon ride! They were able to feed the animals! The buildings were full of antique items! If you get the chance go and enjoy this location!

Who knew that this marvelous experience awaited me. Here is the important point; This spotless Farm…read moreMuseum tells the economic history of West Virginia. Salt, Natural Gas, Oil, and Glass. Do you know who owns most of the State's mineral rights? Do you know how many Glass Companies existed? Do you know why Charleston was home to so many chemical companies? Have you walked through a low seam coal mine? Well, you will here and you can try a ropes course, zip line, and see how large a Bald Eagle's nest is. The staff is 100%.

Thursday nights are the best. Lots of love music. Great people. It can be a bit of a Covid-19 super…read morespreader event and my family members did pick up the dreaded virus just a few weeks ago. They did fine. Be carful and have fun.

I've driven by this location countless times as I'm in the Paintsville area. Finally, we decided to…read morestop in. The building is huge, but not the museum area, not so much. When you walk in, there is a 3D print of Loretta Lynn's Homeplace, so you can stand in front of it and snap a selfie and probably get away with using it as proof that you visited Butcher Holler. There's a gift shop area. So, if you want a Chris Stapleton t-shirt this is your place. You pay for your admission at the register in the gift shop and then you literally pull the curtain back to step into the museum. It's merely one room of memorabilia of Chris Stapleton, Keith Whitley, Patty Loveless, Loretta Lynn, Billy Ray Cyrus and several others who are from small towns in this same area connected to the strip of highway where you'll find this museum. There is apparently live music here on certain days. The portion of the building dedicated to that is what takes up most of the building. So, looking from the outside, don't think that it's all a museum. Would I pay admission again? No. But they have to keep the lights on somehow.

I've been near and around Butcher Holler countless times, in fact, my mother-in-law used to live…read morejust down the road from it. My husband who was born and raised in Van Lear had been inside either. Finally, on our last trip to the Paintsville area, we made it inside. It's everything that you can imagine. Honestly, it's probably bigger than you would think of for a childhood home of a self-proclaimed poor country singer. It's the childhood home of Loretta Lynn that obviously at least partially inspired the song "Coal Miner's Daughter." It's nestled between two fog-shrouded mountains up a "holler" just two miles southeast of the coal mining camp of Van Lear, which is part of the big city of Paintsville. The house is now owned by Loretta Lynn's brother. The day that we were there, his daughter, Loretta Lynn's niece gave us our tour. When we first walked in, she was giving another group their tour, and the way she explained it, is that to go in and look around, it's free, but a tour is $5 per person. The parking is very limited, there probably couldn't be any more than 5 cars parked in the driveway at once. So, if you have a big vehicle that it's easy to maneuver, forget it.

So interesting to see how people that are now famous began. It's so interesting, and I learned her…read moresister is Crystal Gayle

Had a nice visit to the museum with the wife and kids. Lots of interesting stuff inside and plenty…read moreto look at for a couple of hours. The short concrete trail was well maintained but couldn't make out where the branching trails were. Everything seemed to be overgrown which was kind of a bummer. Really enjoyed the firearms collection. Staff were very friendly and gave us a little tour of the conservatory which the kids loved. They also enjoyed the craft room and the gift shop. Would recommend it for a chill day out.

When I was at the museum, Hurricane Helene came through there in September 2024. The staff was…read moresuper nice to me, as the electric kept going on and off, as did the alarm. What little bit of the museum that I got to see was amazingly beautiful. I only got to stay at the museum for a little bit, because they were closing the museum at the time. The staff allowed me to stay inside with them long enough for the storm to finish blowing through. I hope to come back to visit again soon, because I would really like to get to go through the museum to see it in its entirety.

This is the centerpiece of Saltville. This unoriginally named town holds more intrigue than you…read morewould probably think. The salt is a product of some unusual geologic conditions that lead animal bones to be well preserved, making this a top site for archaeology. In addition, the salt was also of enormous economic value and was a military asset during the Civil War, making this the site of a significant set of armed conflict. Some other environmental and cultural history pops up as well. The museum has several well-produced and substantial documentaries showing in a tiny theater. The two rooms of exhibits take up more time than you'd think, and I was probably there for an hour and a half or so. The $5 admission is worth it, easily. The town continues to have some unusually salty ponds that you can walk around on some paved trails, as well as some historic markers and a recreated set of salt mining equipment on the edge of town. All of these features and more can be viewed and contextualized on the museum's topographic map/diaorama. It's not a metropolis, but it is an interesting place.

Self guided tour. Small but very well organized and awesome artifacts. Information on Civil War,…read moreNative Americans, geology and fossils. They also have a few videos to watch.

Friendly. Informative Interesting. New. Information Good food. Personal touch…read more !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to tour Loretta Lynn's original home in Van Lear, Kentucky you must stop by Webb's…read moregrocery, pay a $5 entry fee, and follow the tour guide in your car a mile or so to the home. The young man that runs the store is a distant relative of Loretta Lynn. But for folks in this community this store is one of the only stores within many miles of their home. He has a few Loretta Lynn's souvenirs such as t-shirts and magnets. But there is also canned goods, soda, and water for sale. The store is very old and was a railroad company store when it was originally built. I believe he told me it was around a 125 years old. He has done a great job of keeping this place up as it did not have that old smell that you find in a lot of places. Of course you will also find a ton of Loretta Lynn memorabilia throughout the store as well as other older relics of times past, such as an old Pepsi clock, soda bottles and signs. It was a quaint old store that takes you back to simple yet tough times for many Americans in the late 1800s to early 1900's. I loved it!

I went home for Christmas and took my great nieces and nephews to the Highland Museum & Discovery…read moreCenter. This museum wasn't open when I lived in the area, so I was excited to check it out. We first walked through the section of country music artists from Kentucky. Some popular ones on exhibit included the Judd's, Loretta Lynn and Billy Ray Cyrus. We learned about the early civilization of native Americans in Kentucky. There was a Kentucky clothes exhibit that dated pretty far back and up through the 80's. Then we checked out the basement, which was a total kid's zone. They loved it! There was a McDonald's, an old phone booth, dark tunnels for exploring. They all loved the boat cockpit which included all the controlles. There was a front porch with a swing. A puppet area and even an old piano. I was impressed with the museum. We went in December, and there were lots of beautiful Christmas trees and ginger bread houses on display in the atrium that were created and donated by local businesses. There was an area for the kids to write letters to Santa. This is a perfect place for kids to learn and play. And yes, the adults can learn too;)

What a cool place in the middle of ....Ashland?!?! Not far from WV in Ashland, KY lies this place…read more It is where my children got to be: astronauts, tree huggers, scientists, supermarket clark, bankers, archaeologists, and a McDonald's cashier. By looking through the front window, you would never know that this place has a bottom floor filled with a ton of things that will help a child's mind run wild with creative ideas. Some of the local schools and companies donated towards this project and it is great. My favorite part was the space shuttle area where we could talk into microphones and make our voices sound different. I was talking from the "headquarters" and my children were responding from the space shuttle in space. They loved digging for the dinosaur bones too in the rubber pit (which is very shallow--maybe 4 inches deep). So with every great experience, I like to point out something that needs improvement. For this place, the bathrooms need to be updated/worked on/fixed. In the men's room the toilet was broken (not that I went in there). In the woman's bathroom, 1 stall was out of order and the other toilet leaked from the base when you flushed it. This is gross! On the main floor of the building they had some Christmas trees displayed and well as a gingerbread house contact. Oh, they also have this amazing sound wall where you touch the different shapes in order to make different noises. They also have a country music exhibit. Who knew that my man, Billy Ray, shook his achy breaky heart in this town. same with the Judd's. I wonder if this is where Miley comes to visit too. Anyways, when you have nothing to do when visiting this area...now you do!

This museum is full older/antique radios and old stereos from back in the day. Being that I like…read moreseeing these old radio prototypes and being allowed to touch and look at the insides of these older radios, this museum was right up my alley. I wish my father could've came with me when I went through this museum, because I think my dad would have enjoyed himself immensely, considering my dad loved horsing around with the guts of old radios and things like that back in the day. Granted, the museum is only open on the weekends, but it's definitely worth a look, along with the donations, if you can give one. The guys that run this museum are super nice and knowledgeable.

What a gem. The personal tour by Lloyd McIntyre was so interesting. Stuff will not see anywhere…read moreelse.