Museum of Salt & Pepper Shakers

During our October 2018 stay in Gatlinburg, Tennessee (see previous post), we selected just one of the many tourist themed museums to visit: The Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers. Well away from the frenzied crowds of the downtown tourist area, this experience was fun and unique, and a feast for the eyes with an amazing amount of visual detail.

This charming museum houses more than 20,000 pairs of salt and pepper shakers from all over the world. The museum was founded in 2002 by Andrea Ludden, a Belgian archaeologist, with the goal to show the creativity of all the artists that have crafted an everyday item into a myriad of shapes and materials. There is also a sister museum in El Castell de Guadalest, Alicante, Spain, which displays another 20,000 pair.

Andrea started collecting pepper mills in 1984, and very soon after that salt and pepper shakers became the focus of her collection. The museum itself appears to be a converted house, with the rooms dividing and organizing the different collections and galleries. The many display cases exhibit shakers in dozens of categories, including Christmas, Plastic, Americana, Amish, Wood, Vegetables, Transportation, Chefs, Foods, Drinks, Chickens, Cows, Cats and Dogs, Wild Animals, Marine, Characters, Souvenirs, Asian, Glass, Metals and Delft. The shakers are also organized by material and color, and if a particular set comes in more than one color, these are included to show all the possibilities.

The shakers on display are not for sale, but there is a small gift shop with a generous selection of salt and pepper shakers that are available for purchase. Andrea’s stated purpose for the museum is that it be both entertaining and educational, to see how civilizations can change, and to see one aspect of those changes through the evolution of salt and pepper shakers. The museum is often visited by art students and home schoolers, and is a dog-friendly establishment.

The price of admission was just $3 each, more than worth the experience. The designs ranged from fun and frivolous, to intricate and artistic; covered the gamut from whimsical to functional, with many capturing the social, political, and entertainment themes of the day. It would take several visits to really take it all in, there was so much detail, over so many displays. We were welcome to take pictures, which only hint at what it was like to be there in person, but here at least is a little glimpse of the collection.