The American Museum of the House Cat in North Carolina

In honor of World Cat Day (August 8^th), we’re sharing an unique spot we found not long ago. I was reminded of the American Museum of the House Cat by a Facebook post on Henry’s House Feral Community’s page. They’d posted a link to an article on the museum by Atlas Obscura.

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Last fall Tom, Jack, and I headed to Asheville and Lake Lure for our school break. We enjoy taking our time and discovering places along our route to stop or note for future road trips. If you spend any time on our blog, you’ll quickly notice we love cats. We’ve volunteered at Furkids for over 11 years so long before the youngest son was born. About 45 minutes to an hour outside Asheville we passed a sign for the American Museum of the House Cat. To say I hit the brakes and did a u-turn is an understatement! This was a place we needed to visit. It’s located inside the Old School Antique Mall in Sylva, North Carolina. Upon arriving, you enter the main doors to the antique store and pay at the cash register for admission, and then proceed down the hall to the museum.

You walk into a space filled with almost anything related to the American domesticated cat. It’s an interesting place to wander and explore fine art, folk art, collectibles, literature, and to learn about the history of the cat. You can walk the aisles and read the history of the domesticated feline across the centuries and on a global scale. Have you ever seen a petrified cat found in a 16th-century English fireplace or a mummified one? Well, now you can if you visit. There’s a unique hand-carved cat carousel. It’s amazing too to see how cats themselves have been used for decades in marketing and advertising. We all know they truly are popular in today’s culture too.

The creator of the American Museum of the Cat is Dr. Harold “Catman” Sims. He’s a retired biology professor, and he and his wife Kay opened the museum in 2017. Dr. Sims had been rescuing cats in Jackson County, North Carolina from the mid-1990s to 2002 when he started the CatMan2 cat shelter. A strong advocate for stray, feral, and abandoned cats, he built the CatMan2 shelter into the largest no-kill, cage-free one in Western North Carolina. A collector of cat-centric items for over 30 years, he wanted a place to educate the public about the welfare and shelter of cats. He wanted to share his love of felines and combine it with a way to benefit them. Museum admission and sales through the Tabby Cat Souvenir Shop go directly to support the CatMan2 shelter after museum costs are met.

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The boys and I thrive on finding fun, interesting, quirky places to visit and this place definitely qualifies. So, if you’re in the area, stop, explore and benefit a great cause.

Check out Atlas Obscura to uncover more wonders of the world and curious places. A link to their mission is below:

Henry's House Feral Community, Inc is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was created to improve the lives of feral, strays and homeless cats in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Medical care including Spays/Neuters, vaccines, daily wet/dry food, fresh water and shelters are provided to keep cats healthy and limit the size of the communities. It certainly is a worthwhile cause worth donating to.

by Jennifer Graham