Southern Pines, North Carolina

Creation Museum, Taxidermy Hall of Fame, and Antique Tool Museum

A curious blend of taxidermy, antique tools, creationism, and a purported antediluvian rock.

Housed within a Christian bookstore, a panoply of taxidermy—of every wild animal species that can legally be killed in North Carolina—awaits visitors along with snippets of scripture , slogans supporting creationism, and an extensive collection of antique tools.

This Bible Belt attraction makes no bones about its worldview. According to its website, the museum’s core purpose is to promote the “Genesis account of creation” and to thwart the encroaching evolutionary account of man’s origins. The museum has a case that claims to hold all the evidence in the world for evolution. The case is empty. Another display is what looks like run-of-the-mill rock, but the museum claims this rock was extant before the Genesis flood and therefore was part of God’s original creation.

The fulmination against evolution and promotion of creationism aside, the museum boasts an impressive array of 200 stuffed animals, including pieces that have won awards at the state and national levels. Scorpions, caribou, deer, wild boars, pheasants, and a fish swathed in white fur adorn the walls and glass cases at the museum.

While taxidermy can be construed as a celebration of God’s creation, tools don’t seem to fit with that theme. The owners of the museum admit that tools have little to do with creationism on their website. They do, however, connect them to the museum’s overarching biblical theme by suggesting that tools remind humans of God’s capacity to build what they cannot. Perhaps there is a connection to creationism after all.