Mustard Museum
Over 5000 contemporary and “historic” mustards from around the world are moving to a new location
For many years the highlight of Mount Horeb, Wisconsin was the famous Mustard Museum, run by a local celebrity (Barry Levenson, famous for the mustard museum, naturally) and home to a huge collection of both new and “antique” mustards from all over the world. The museum was small, but delightful, and the collection of antique mustard serving sets was particularly charming. There was also a stream of movies (like “Mustard: The Spice of Nations”) shown throughout the day on a big television in a little seating area known as the “Mustard Piece Theatre.”
Sadly, the mustard museum is leaving Mount Horeb. Not far – just 18 miles away to Middleton – but far enough for Mount Horeb to be concerned. As for the mustard museum, they have been given 1.4 million dollars to help build up a new mustard museum in Middleton, and plans are in place to make the museum bigger, better, and more mustardy than ever before.
The town of Mount Horeb is not without a fallback plan. Besides mustard, the town is full of carved wooden trolls and known (at least locally) as the “Troll Capital of the World.” Surely, there must be a museum in that. “People will still come,” says village administrator Larry Bierke “Mount Horeb has a resiliency that’s going to prove itself.”
The Mustard Museum’s gift shop offers hundreds of mustard’s ranging from fruity to super hot, all of which can be sampled on request. If one is really serious about mustard, the first Saturday of August is National Mustard Day, and cause for a full-on festival at the Mustard museum – wherever it is located.
Read more about Mustard Museum on Atlas Obscura…
Category: Museums and Collections, Unique Collections
Location: Wisconsin, US
Edited by: michelle, Dylan