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World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

Aug 22, 2023
World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

Seale, Alabama, United States--Created by artist and collector Butch Anthony, The Drive-Thru Museum in Seale, Alabama is made from stacked shipping containers, with windows cut into the sides to reveal a myriad of items collected or created by Anthony; the Drive-Thru Museum is open 24 hours a day, and entrance is free; the museum sets the world record for being the World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

"Created by artist and collector Butch Anthony in 2014, the Drive-Thru is an offshoot of his Museum of Wonder, and was built to help control the crowds who show up at the museum. In an unincorporated town of just a few hundred people, having even one such destination would be a gem, but having two near each other is an exceptional wealth of local folk art, unusual collections, antiques, and curios," the Atlas Obscura says.


"The Drive-Thru Museum is made from stacked shipping containers, with windows cut into the sides to reveal a myriad of items collected or created by Anthony. It’s a short drive to get through the whole collection, but each piece will make you hit the brakes.


"There’s the two-headed ducklings, a large gallstone attached to poems (art he calls “intertwangleism”), drawings of skeletons and bones superimposed on old photographic portraits, and found-object art mixed with taxidermy animals. Take as much time as you need."

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

"It's not every day you can drive through an array of glass-walled oversize shipping containers and view everything from a portrait of William Shatner to a taxidermy three-headed chicken," the AL.com says.


"Those sights were at the installation on U.S. Highway 431, billed as "The World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery." If you enjoyed your trip, you're encouraged to leave a dollar in a slot in one of the containers.


"The drive-through exhibits are definitely worth a detour when traveling through rural Alabama."

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

"Recently, my friends and I discovered one of our new favorite spots, the Museum of Wonder Drive-Thru, and had an adventure while doing it. We have highlighted the 4 main reasons you need to get up and go visit the Museum of Wonder Drive-Thru in Seale, Alabama," the Bama Buzz says.


"The first thing that you need to now about the Museum of Wonder is that it is really funky. It is also very weird, but if you’re anything like me, then you might like a little bit of weird here and there. Butch Anthony, the mad mind behind the masterpiece, has collected and curated odd items and trinkets his whole life to create his artifact and taxidermy room in the 1970s. Once it gained popularity, he decided to make a drive-thru section in 2014.


"Now, it is full of some of the strangest and best things I have ever seen. Antiques, art, artifacts, and taxidermy (plus a lot of bones and even some snakes), you name it— they have it. The bulk of the museum is made up of boxcars with added windows to peer inside. Most of the trinkets are placed curiously into these boxes in an exciting layout, but there are other odd things placed around the path."

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

"The Museum of Wonder is a modern-day cabinet of curiosities filled with art, artifacts, and found or gifted objects including the world’s largest gallstone and an actual footprint from Sasquatch!" the official website says.


"At the age of fourteen, Butch built a one-room log cabin that became a workshop for his many creations and eventually the first incarnation of the Museum of Wonder. As his skills developed, Butch began to build and fashion furniture, sculptures, and many other works of art and constructions. The Museum soon became too small and too popular for the log cabin to contain.


"In 2014, Butch built The World’s First Drive-Thru Museum out of shipping containers. It sits off U.S. HWY 431 in Seale, Alabama and exhibits a rotating display of Butch’s handcrafted designs and curiosities for the wonderment of visitors and passerbys alike."

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

"When most people think about museums, they probably imagine large buildings loaded with historic artifacts and clean displays. The Drive-Thru Museum is anything but that," the Only In Your State says.


"Tucked inside the rural town of Seale, this quirky art gallery is reminiscent of small town folk museums from days gone by. And to make things even more bizarre, you can’t walk through it. This attraction is definitely one of the strangest places you can go in Alabama.


"Drive-Thru Museum is the brainchild of artist Butch Anthony, a creative Alabamian who loves collecting odd items. Displays range from abstract to creepy. Don't be surprised if you see a few animal bones or dead bugs in jars. As if things weren't strange enough, The Drive-Thru Museum is open 24 hours a day, and entrance is free."

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

"Butch Anthony is a multi-faceted self-taught artist from Alabama. At fourteen he was building birdhouses and stuffing his own taxidermy. His first building, a little log cabin on his grandfather’s farm, would eventually become his shop. He has spent decades building the Museum of Wonder, a walk-through cabinet of curiosities," the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art says.


"Started in the 1970s as Butch’s taxidermy shop and artifact room, the Museum of Wonder is now filled with art, artifacts, and antiques including the world’s largest gallstone. Butch also hosts the Possum Trot Auction, a weekly junk and art auction on his 80-acre parcel of land in Seale, Alabama.


"He has also built the Museum of Mystery, the first drive-through art and antiques gallery (pictured right). In addition to making and selling art, building bizarre roadside attractions, and collecting found objects to incorporate into his own artwork, Butch contributes to Auburn University’s Rural Studio design + build program."

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

"Artist Butch Anthony has brought this effortless approach to the world of outsider art with his Museum of Wonder. Butch has collected curiosities since he was a kid, but didn't become an artist until his early thirties," the Roadside America says .


"Butch added an Airstream trailer to the shipping containers to display even more wonders, and hitched it to his art-car Cadillac whenever he wanted to take his Museum on the road. The containers and trailer are lit from inside at night, which actually makes it easier to see some of the exhibits. The Museum of Wonder is a 24-hour drive-thru.


"The wonders displayed in the drive-thru fall into two categories: Butch's art and the weird stuff that always seems to find a way into Butch's hands. He calls his art Intertwangleism, and it includes everything from freak taxidermy to sculptures made of metal and bones. "What most folks throw away I'll turn into somethin' that people want in New York or London," said Butch."

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

"Here's one museum you can enjoy without even getting out of your car: a drive-thru museum in Seale, Ala.

Created by artist Butch Anthony, it's a collection of odd items — many of which people have given him — that he has decorated and set up inside shipping containers cut out with large display windows," the NPR says.


""Then I've got it mixed with my artwork," he says. "I take old portraits from like the 1890s, but then I put bones on top of them, sort of like an X-ray, like you can see through them. That's the kind of art I do. I call it Intertwangleism. Sort of like cubism. That's my ism."


"Anthony's art career got started when he was kid and found a dinosaur bone. "So I took it home and made a little display, a little pedestal, a little piece of velvet on it, stuck it in a old barn we have, people were coming all around looking at it," he says."

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

Reviews from TripAdvisor

"We stopped on the way back from Florida and enjoyed it. You can see it all in less than 30 minutes. Some very interesting items and words. A very good representation of Alabama culture."


"Only takes a couple of minutes to look through the oddities, objects-de-art(ish) and taxidermy in the glass front shipping containers, and the visitor-added graffiti is almost as amusing as the bizarre items collected inside. We recommend this as a twisted little roadside stop if you are rolling along US Hwy 431."


"This is by far the creepiest place I've ever been. Its basically a bunch of box containers with windows, and inside are some of the wackiest odds and ends I've ever seen. It's like American Horror Story meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a little Motel Hell thrown in."


"I love quirky off the beaten path gems and this fit the mark! Yes, it is tiny but we cracked up checking out the exhibits. It's perfect for those with limited mobility. If your an off the beaten path gem seeker then this is for you!"


"A few box cars full of random oddities, and a handful of other miscellany in the grass. The stuff was interesting to look at, but all in all it’s a very small dirt loop that takes no more than a minute to drive through."

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: world record in Seale, Alabama

World's First Drive-Thru Art and Antique Gallery: Seale, Alabama


The Museum of Wonder Drive Thru

Address: 970 AL-169, Seale, Alabama, United States

GPS: 32.3293, -85.1682
Directions: Seale is in eastern Alabama, about 15 miles southwest of Columbus, Georgia. The Drive-Thru is located at the intersection of US 431 and State Road 169. It's open every day, 24 hours a day. The Museum of Wonder is located at 41 Poorhouse Road, about 1 mile away.

Facebook: Museum of Wonder
Hours: Open 24/7

Cost: Free!
website: https://museumofwonder.com/visit

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