My objective to get through Texas relatively quickly....so drove all this morning to north Houston to visit the National Museum of Funeral History, no this is not a joke. Really!! I needed something to break up the long days drive.
So, ate lunch in their parking lot and headed inside, not quite sure what to expect. Well.....here are the pics and it is not only different, but exceedingly well done and was a nice break from driving. They started with the Arlington Cemetery Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with uniforms of two of the Marines who served there - they take 21 steps because of the 21 gun salute. aha! Then they moved on to Presidential funerals, had an alcove about pop movie, music, cultural folks, some fantastic funeral vehicles, including the hearse used for Presidents Reagan, Ford and Princess Grace. They talked about the history of embalming, starting with the Egyptians (basically salt drying) until the modern forms of embalming that began during the civil war.
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| The hearse that carried Presidents Reagan and Ford |
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| Recreation of Lincoln's funeral. They had a train tour of the US with the casket so folks could pay their respects. |
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| Gorgeous wood carving on this old hearse |
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| A recreation of a casket workroom by the company that made most of the presidential caskets - solid mahogany |
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| Sleigh Hearse |
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| Beautifully carved and painted silver |
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| A Japanese hearse - they also talked about funeral customs of different cultures |
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| Day of the Dead recreation - Mexico celebrates and laughs about death - even the casket coverings are material with funny skeletons |
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| An artist from Africa specializes in making custom fantasy caskets |
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| Embalming started with the Egyptians, basically drying the body |
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| An exquisite funeral bus with room for twenty mourners |
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| In the pop culture category, we had the Wicked Witch Death Certificate |
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| And we had the original glass casket for Snow White from the Disney Film |
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| The white one was for children |
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| A flower car still with its New Jersey license plates |
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| Whoa, this was ordered by a couple who had lost their daughter and decided they would commit murder/suicide to be with their daughter. Didn't say why the casket maker agreed, but the couple changed their minds and simply moved out of town. |
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| Entrance to the pop culture area where they had original funeral cards, invitations, etc. |
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| They also had a large area that talked about the history of popes and deaths of recent popes |
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| Recreations were popular here |
Drove another two hours and stayed the night in Beaumont Texas, very near the Louisiana border.
My objective to get through Texas relatively quickly....so drove all this morning to north Houston to visit the National Museum of Funeral History, no this is not a joke. Really!! I needed something to break up the long days drive.
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