Do you believe in fate? I’m not very superstitious, but visiting the The American Museum of the House Cat [4704 Hwy 441 South Sylva, North Carolina, NC 28779] happened to be one of those kismet moments for me. I am well known as a crazy cat lady to my friends, and one facetiously tagged me in a post about this very museum that opened up in spring of 2017.
She didn’t even know I was cruising through the area at that time. Buzzworthy internet videos are the cat’s meow, at least in this case. So I added it to my itinerary, just 30 minutes away from Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The museum is located within an antique mall, so you can do some shopping for treasures before or after if you’d like. It is $5 to get in and the money is used for local no-kill shelter. Inside is a private collection of cat related trinkets densely lining the walls. A barrage of pictures,
works of cat lover Andy Warhol,
a cat pinball machine,
smoking cats memorabilia,
and even a carousel with carved cats.
The owner and a docent were present to share odd facts about particular pieces of interest – such as cat figurines whose eyes follow you as you walk past.
There were bits of history and trivia intermingled with the art. Egypt is well known for worshiping cats, the museum has statue of the feline goddess Bastet from 600 BC and a cat amulet necklace from 1000 BC.
A shocking artifact was the cat petrified in the chimney of a medieval era home.
There is information about how cats traveled the world in ancient times and even found their way to America – often brought on ships because they are excellent mousers. It’s funny these days the things cat owners take for granted, like food and litter at the grocery store. In the mid to late 1800s cat food was popping up in stores, and in the 1940s litter debuted on the scene.
What knowledge you can learn! Cool cats can be occupied for hours in this little place