Great Museums You've Never Heard Of

It's easy to include the Louver, the Getty and other world-acclaimed historical centres to any travel schedule. But smaller, lesser-known collections are generally deserving of a visit. The subjects it handled, from waves to the art and history of salt, often leaves you feeling as revived and enlightened as any big-ticket destination can. Here is a list of several museums that you need to visit on your next trip.

Museum of Jurassic Technology

This Culver City storefront has little to do with dinosaurs; it's more wildly diverse homage to natural interests. Musical drama arias and chirping crickets tail you as you travel through the maze of softly lit rooms that are loaded with one oddity after another. A horn once thought to be connected to the back of a lady's head, a duck's breath caught in a test tube, a stink ant from the Cameroon and microscopic sculptures of Pope John Paul II and Napoleon will surely amaze you. And also, make sure to visit the Tula Tea Room on the third floor, where Georgian dark tea is served most days from an antique samovar.

Florence Griswold Museum

Florence Griswold was a ship captain's daughter who turned her family's riverside house into a retreat for artists at the turn of the 20th century. It eventually turned into the headquarters of the Lyme Art Colony and the centre of American Impressionism.

Surrounded by greenery near a winding stream, the late Georgian house gives not only a first-rate art experience but also a chance to see the actual trees and marshy coastline included in the paintings on display by Childe Hassam, William Chadwick and Henry Ward Ranger. The collection has expanded throughout the years to incorporate a modern display featuring rotating exhibits. Visit in the spring before the summer beach crowds arrive.

Tobacco and Salt Museum

Tobacco and salt may not appear like the ideal match, but rather both items have been vital in Japanese culture and trade for quite a long time. This museum seeks to explain that through a wide exhibit of artefacts and dioramas.

One section is devoted to the bitter leaf and its effect on Japanese lives and culture. On display are all types of pipes, cigarette packets from around the globe and a look at tobacco use during the Edo period of Japan (1603 to 1858). Another exhibit pays homage to Japanese modes of salt creation and salt harvest technologies around the world.