The Tom Gaskins Cypress Knee Museum
The Tom Gaskins Cypress Knee Museum once sprawled across both
sides of U.S. 27, the museum on one side and the swamp catwalk and
gift shop on the other. All glorified the bizarrely twisted "knees"
that grow out of the roots of cypress trees. Tom's treasures
included knees that looked like people, animals, and other objects
from the mundane to the bizarre.
One of the most memorable parts of this attraction was the
series of signs along US-27 leading to the museum. Bare cypress
logs with hand-carved letters sitting on their branches urged
drivers to "COME SEE TOMS KNEES" and remarked "LADY IF HE WONT STOP
HIT HIM IN HEAD WITH SHOE". Sadly, the signs are long gone.
You can learn a lot more about this bizarre and wonderful
attraction from articles hosted by Roadside
America and Kozmic Dreams.
Tom Gaskins died in 1998, and his son took over the operation of
the museum. But in June 2000, the museum closed after a break-in,
when many of the best knees were stolen. It has never reopened.
This cache serves as a memorial to the lost piece of Floridian
Americana that was the Cypress Knee Museum.
