DETROIT – The Detroit Historical Museum ranked as the best alternative landmark in Michigan.
A poll from Barefoot Yachts Indonesia, a luxury yacht company, surveyed 3,000 international travelers on what lesser-known American landmark they would most like to visit.
Recommended Videos
The Detroit Historical Museum ranked #8 on the list—the only Michigan location to make it in the top ten.
The museum, located on Kirby Street, was created after a chain of events originating from an attorney and historian, Clarence M Burton, donating a collection of historical papers to the Detroit Public Library in 1914.
Burton and 19 local historians came together and founded the Detroit Historical Society in 1921. After hiring a curator, the museum opened in 1928 and was known as the “highest museum in the world” since it was located in a room in today’s Cadillac Tower downtown. In 1951, the museum moved to its permanent location.
The museum displays cobblestone streets, 19th-century stores, an auto assembly line, toy trains and a fur trading post from the 1700s.
Here are the top 10 most popular “Alternative” landmarks nationwide:
- The Seven Magic Mountains, Las Vegas, Nevada
- The Pyramid Lake, Northeast of Reno, Nevada
- The International UFO Museum and Research Center, Roswell, New Mexico
- The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, Medora, North Dakota
- Little Wild Horse Canyon, near Goblin Valley State Park, Utah
- The Old Slave Mart Museum, Charleston, South Carolina
- The Dunes, Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana
- The Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit, Michigan
- The Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle, Washington
- The Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Carlsbad, New Mexico
An honorable mention, the Kitch-iti-kipi in the Upper Peninsula ranked #63 on the list.
