Museum of History in Granite - Felicity, California

 

Felicity is a tiny town in California just over the river from Yuma, Arizona, but it does have it's very own exit from Route 8.  There isn't much to the town, although there is a Sheriff's station there.  This museum is very different from almost every museum I've ever been in.  It's not in a building, except for one exhibit, the Official Center of the World!  This center is housed in it's very own building, in the shape of a pyramid.

 



 

 

 

If you look to the right of the pyramid housing the Center of the World plaque, you'll see a tiny chapel up on a hill, which is also part of the museum.  The view from the chapel shows the layout of the rest of the museum.

 



The rest of the museum consists of giant triangular shaped displays faced with granite and engraved with pictures, illustrations and text.  According to information at the site, the museum is only 26% finished as of the end of last year.  The granite panels are about 3'x5' and there are 30 panels on each side of these long triangular shaped displays.  There are many such display areas, but I estimate that more than half of them are either blank or are being worked on.  The one shown below is a memorial for the Korean War, although I did not see any for either World War.  One side of one of the displays was dedicated to the history of French aviation.  Others were dedicated to the early history of man.  California and Arizona history took up one entire display.

 

 

This staircase is from the Eiffel Tower, which was installed in the late 1800s but proved to be too heavy for the Tower.  A 500' section was removed and a lighter stairway was installed as a replacement.  This short section was purchased in 1989 by the Mayor of Felicity as a reminder of his home city of Paris.  It was then installed at the museum.

 

 

Below is a sculpture installed as a sundial.  When I first saw it, I thought the time was wrong, but then I realized I crossed the time zone when I came over from Arizona!

 

This is certainly a different concept for a museum and I'm not sure that I would prefer more museums to be like this.   I can't imagine there's much traffic here in the summer when it's 90 - 100 degrees out.  But it was a pleasant visit, and certainly a unique experience.