Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Central Asia yurt night stars
Uzbekistan • 15 days, 14 nights
Central Asia Road Trip: Backroads & Bazaars
from
A view of Brașov’s Old Town.
Romania • 12 days, 11 nights
Legends of Romania: Castles, Ruins & Culinary Delights
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
Pinal Airpark
Note the chrysanthemum crests.
Hachiman Bridge
Clarendon War Memorial.
Clarendon War Memorial
This fried chicken is one of Bangkok’s most famous.
Gai Tord Jae Kee
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
Cacio e pepe lasagna combines two classics.
C'è pasta... E pasta!
Spaghetto taratatà is named for the sound of rattling sabers.
Giano Restaurant
The gnocchi here get blanketed in a sugo with braised oxtail.
Cesare al Pellegrino
Romans insist you should feel the cracked peppercorns and cheese grains on your tongue.
Flavio al Velavevodetto
Tripe is fried to a crisp.
L’Osteria della Trippa
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
Haleakalā National Park’s summit region, shrouded in the pre-dawn fog.
Beware the Legends Behind These National Park Souvenirs
23 days ago
For Aguilar-Carrasco, nature is a powerful reminder of the interconnectedness of all life.
How Can National Parks Be Made Accessible to All? AO Wants to Know.
24 days ago
Podcast: Finding ‘The Great Gatsby’ in Louisville
25 days ago
Here’s which treats you can safely lug home without risking a fine.
Dear Atlas: What International Food Can I Legally Bring Into the U.S.?
26 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Georgia Vidalia Vidalia Onion Museum
AO Edited Gastro Obscura

Vidalia Onion Museum

A sweet tribute to Georgia's official state vegetable, which even has its own mascot: "Yumion."

Vidalia, Georgia

Added By
Adiakina
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
Vidalia onions.   Mike Mozart/CC BY 2.0
Vidalia onions.   Mike Mozart/CC BY 2.0
Onions grow on small plots of land outside the museum.   Adiakina / Atlas Obscura User
Information inside the museum.   muffinn/CC BY 2.0
Information inside the museum.   muffinn/CC BY 2.0
Vidalia takes pride in its signature crop.   wtoc11/CC BY 2.0
  Kerserker / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Why does an onion make you cry? It’s the high sulfur content, absorbed from the soil. But if you happen to grow an onion where the winters are mild, the rain is regular, and the sulfur is low, that’s a story with a sweeter ending.

In the 1930s, a farmer named Ed Tensley came to Georgia to teach local farmers about the benefits of crop rotation, introducing onions as one of the rotating crops. A few years later, as the Great Depression swept the United States, farmer Mose Coleman noted the sandy soil of Toombs County, Georgia produced a sweet-tasting onion, and began selling his unusual crop from a trailer he made from the back of a Model T.

He recounts a meeting with a buyer at a grocery store chain: “I pulled out my onion and I ate it there in front of him. He’d never seen anything like it. There wasn’t any tears coming out of my eyes, and I wasn’t making no face.” Not only did the buyer buy Coleman’s onions, he advised his managers to do the same. Coleman planted 10 times as many onions the next year.

The onions remained an obscure local delicacy until 1949, when government officials decided to build a market in Vidalia, where two major roads met, to sell them to those passing by. They therefore came to be known as Vidalia onions, though they’re actually grown in 13 counties and portions of seven others, all in Georgia. 

Vidalia-native Gerry Achenbach, a Wall Street advisor who helped establish the Piggly Wiggly supermarket chain, launched Vidalias across the southeast when he began stocking the onions in the chain's stores and built a distribution center in Vidalia, conveniently centered between Macon, Augusta, and Savannah. Soon, the onions went national, and in 1986, the Georgia General Assembly passed the Vidalia Onion Act so that only sweet onions grown in this particular region of Georgia can be called Vidalias.

Today, Vidalia onions are the official state vegetable of Georgia. They’re still planted and harvested by hand, and available in all 50 states and most of Canada. If you visit the area in April, you may catch the annual Vidalia Onion Festival and meet the Vidalia mascot, "Yumion." But any weekday, you can visit the Vidalia Onion Museum to learn more about the history and local onion agriculture, and pick up a cookbook full of Vidalia onion recipes. The museum contains exhibits about the vegetable’s economic, cultural, and culinary importance, and even has recorded oral histories from some of the Depression-era farmers who first unpeeled the many layers of the onion’s sweetness.

Related Tags

Food Museums Food Onions Museums

Community Contributors

Added By

Adiakina

Edited By

wray, Kerry Wolfe, Kerserker

  • wray
  • Kerry Wolfe
  • Kerserker

Published

August 10, 2017

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://www.vidaliaonion.org/about_us/history_and_facts
  • https://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/the-bitter-legal-battle-behind-the-sweet-vidalia-onion
  • http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/travel/article9062453.html
  • http://vidaliaarea.com/vidalia-onions-sweet-museum/
Vidalia Onion Museum
100 Vidalia Sweet Onion Dr
Vidalia, Georgia
United States
32.203768, -82.371339
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

U.S. National Tick Collection

Statesboro, Georgia

miles away

Ruins of Sir Goony's Golf Castle

Hinesville, Georgia

miles away

Old Liberty County Jail

Hinesville, Georgia

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Georgia

Georgia

United States

Places 219
Stories 15

Nearby Places

U.S. National Tick Collection

Statesboro, Georgia

miles away

Ruins of Sir Goony's Golf Castle

Hinesville, Georgia

miles away

Old Liberty County Jail

Hinesville, Georgia

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Georgia

Georgia

United States

Places 219
Stories 15

Related Stories and Lists

The Ultimate Guide to the World's Food Museums

List

By Sam O'Brien

Scientists Now Know Exactly Why Onions Make You Cry

science

By Kelsey Kennedy

Related Places

  • Scallion cyclists greet you at the entrance.

    Su'ao, Taiwan

    Sanshing Green Onion Culture Palace

    Eat green onion ice cream and other allium-centric treats at this unusual museum.

  • Vero Beach, Florida

    Indian River Citrus Museum

    This small museum concentrates on the juicy history of orange production in Florida.

  • Waverly, Virginia

    First Peanut Museum in the U.S.

    A museum in the heart of Virginia peanut country devoted to the humble goober.

  • The National Cookie Cutter Museum.

    Joplin, Missouri

    National Cookie Cutter Historical Museum

    A small museum dedicated to the whimsical tool that turns sugar cookies into works of art.

  • Sample food at Sample Kobo.

    Gujō-shi, Japan

    Sample Kobo

    Make your own fake treats at this factory and workshop in the epicenter of Japan's food replica industry.

  • The “pet ham” is 119 years old.

    Smithfield, Virginia

    World’s Oldest Edible Ham

    The nearly 120-year-old piece of pork wears a brass collar and was once a man's "pet ham."

  • The Big Pineapple.

    Bathurst, South Africa

    The Big Pineapple

    The world's largest pineapple building honors Bathurst's favorite fruit.

  • Different varieties of kimchi at the museum.

    Seoul, South Korea

    Museum Kimchikan

    Tracking the 1,500-year history of Korea's star cabbage.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.