Hi!  I was at the museum this weekend and I wanted to come back on Sunday, but time wouldn't allow it. I just wanted to say how fascinated I was with your museum. To think, after all of these years, someone else adores what I hold near and dear to my heart. My grandmother gave me her collection before she died. I saw a lot of the same sets there.

Thanks for what you are doing, and I plan to come back up soon to look longer. I had my boys with me and I didn't get to stay as long as I wanted. I want to bring my mother up because she was around when my grandmother collected what she had.

I also appreciate the information I got about collecting. I will order some books to help me. Thanks again for the help.

Sincerely

A. J.

Dear Andrea Ludden (and everyone else at the Salt & Pepper Shaker Museum),

Let me thank you for providing me with what was surely the highlight of my trip to Gatlinburg last week. While I was initially skeptical before I entered (museums in such a tourist-heavy environment as Gatlinburg can either be amazing or disappointing with very little middle ground), I was won over by your museum the minute I walked in. Your museum was fascinating on so many levels: sociologically and anthropologically, in seeing how different eras and regions treated something that many people would eschew as mundane; historically, in seeing the development of how different forms were represented over time; and artistically, in seeing how many myriad variations on a theme could emerge, and how distinct so many of them were. And on top of that, your exhibits and how they are grouped are both witty and intelligent. I defy anyone to enter your museum and not emerge without a smile on his or her face.

And, let me add, to have a host with such enthusiasm and knowledge as you was a tremendous pleasure. I’m sure you probably don’t remember me, but I was with a group of four, and I purchased a set of Moai/Easter Island shakers, and your comments on your collection (not to mention your work on Easter Island!) were delightful and interesting. Rest assured that on my next visit to Gatlinburg (hopefully within the next year), I will be returning!

Once again, I thank you, and hope that this finds you in the best of health and spirits.

Cheers,

A. B.

Silver Spring, MD

Andrea,

I wanted to take a few minutes to tell you how much we enjoyed meeting your father and touring the museum Saturday! It is ABSOLUTELY beautiful, and I wish you had more room to display MORE! My mother and I could have spent the ENTIRE day there viewing each and every set, and I think we still would have missed several sets!

Your gift shop was wonderful too! We bought 2 sets that we didn’t have, and can’t wait to continue to add to my collection!

 I asked your father if there were any books that he used for his research on the sets, and he didn’t really go in to details, but said that he wished there was a better resource out there for us to use. I would suggest that he write one himself! With all of the sets your family has, you could make money on a book!  Believe me, I would buy one!

 If you ever come across any information that you think would help me with my collection, please pass it along, and I will do the same for you as well!

 Thanks again for allowing us to come and visit your shop and museum, and believe me, we WILL be back!

Sincerely,

 Melinda M. and Pat C.

Fayetteville, GA and Bowdon, GA

God bless you both!

Hi!

Just writing to see if this is the email for the salt and pepper shaker museum.

If it is and you are the kind woman who opened up the museum for us right before Christmas we ALL want to thank you so much for your kindness and your info on the Ober Gatlinburg was really a treat for us as we went to visit and had a great time.

We have told EVERYONE we know about your museum!

My family was very leery about visiting and they thought I was NUTS! but when we went through it they were fascinated and we ALL had a great time.

I do have to tell you I found out about your museum when it was in the Discoveries Magazine and planned our trip with the first stop at your museum!

We had a great 3 week trip and plan to visit your area on our next trip south we loved that area.

Sharon and Tom P.

and 3 boys

Rosemount, Minnesota

THANK YOU !

After Wonderworks, we really didn't think that there was much

that we could do to match the activities of the prior day (in

actuality, we didn't really think about it). Especially since we

were finally on our way home. But relatively early on a Sunday

morning, we just happened to be passing by something that you

just don't see every day - The Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum.
Now I realize that this isn't for everyone. In fact, it probably isn't

for much of anyone. But we're just those kind of people that like

to see things that you can't see just anywhere. And in fact we

like to see things that not everyone else sees. How many other

people have been to Wonderworks? Or Dollywood? I have no

idea. But I am sure it's a lot. How many have been to the

Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers? No idea. But we have.
Heck, it's even been featured on Unwrapped (on the Shake It

Up episode, if you're curious). Well, we've been there.
What I'm not sure about is just how many shakers are in the

museum. I can say that there are a lot. One brochure said

fourteen thousand. The web site says seventeen thousand

and at the desk they tell you a whopping twenty thousand.

However you add them up, that's a lot of salt and pepper

shakers.
If you'd like some idea of what that looks like, take a look at

this picture. This is just one section, and there are perhaps 15

of these sections in the "regular" part of the museum. The shakers

are grouped by subject, so you can see shakers for a particular

subject, or color, and it's a bit goofy, but it's really pretty cool.

The best part is that it's free. Well, it doesn't cost anything to get

in. They do ask for donations, and they have a shop if you'd like

to start your own collection.
Towards the end, they have a "vault", which is about six of these

sections, and holds the more valuable shakers. According to the

operators, just one of these shakers (or pair of shakers, I assume)

is worth three thousand dollars! Now I don't know who would

pay that much for a shaker (or pair of shakers), but I have to

believe that they would know. I also think that the vault is much

less interesting, because it's mostly crystal, gold and silver (if not

real, at least in appearance), and the theme shakers are the ones

worth watching. But it's still an impressive part of the collection.
http://jayseae.cxliv.org/2007/04/15/the_salt_and_pepper_shaker_

museum_review.php

 

And more to come....