Abandoned Cypress Knee Museum
1,285Exploring the now closed and abandoned Cypress Knee Museum by Thomas “Tom” Gaskins. Tom took an interest in the knees of cypress trees in 1938 by boiling and carving them into shapes with labels identifying what they signified.
In 1951, he acquired land from the Lyke Bros Company for basically a handshake ($15/yr), and opened this open-air museum so he could display his works. The museum was featured on the Sally Jessie Rafael, Jay Leno and Johnny Carson talk shows. He turned down an invite by David Letterman because he thought he was too mean.
Across the road from the museum, Tom hand-built a rickety boardwalk out of 2x4s that spanned 3/4s of a mile and told people that if they fall in, just to push the gators aside. He also hand-built his own billboards out of cypress wood along US 27 to advertise his roadside attraction.
Tom Gaskins retired in 1998 leaving the museum to his son, Tom Jr. After this time, new government wetland laws prohibited cutting cypress knees. This prompted thieves to break into the museum to steal most of the displays in 2000. The museum closed right after the break-in and has sat abandoned since.
There was a small building adjacent to the museum where Tom Gaskin’s likely resided during his time here. I wanted to explore it but it was just too overgrown for my liking in Florida. I’m not a fan of snakes. Tom Gaskins had stated himself that the museum had a lot of snakes that would climb into the exhibits, and that was while they were in business. I can imagine how many snakes are residing there now that it’s abandoned in the thick underbrush in 2019.
Photos: State Library & Archives of Florida - www.floridamemory.com
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