Although not as well known as some of their larger counterparts, these one-of-a-kind museums located throughout Indiana are fun and affordable reminders of our state’s rich history and culture.

If you work in the medical field or simply find it fascinating, The Indiana Medical History Museum on the grounds of Indianapolis’ former Central State Hospital is the place to visit. Dedicated to preserving the history of health sciences in Indiana, the museum houses more than 15,000 medical and health-care artifacts from the 19th and early 20th centuries. While touring the historic structure you’ll see diseased human brains, antique stethoscopes and X-ray machines, and "quack" devices such as the "ultraviolet ray kit," once used to shoot electric currents through the skin to relieve pain. Medical Landmarks USA refers to the Indiana Medical History Museum as a "marvelous museum quite simply without peer in the entire country."

Just north of Indianapolis is the city of Carmel, where less is always more at the Museum of Miniature Houses and Other Collectibles. Even the museum’s largest exhibit – a replica of co-founder Nancy Lesh’s childhood home – measures only 15 square feet. But the museum’s more than 50 one-of-a-kind exhibits, including furniture, room settings and intricately furnished and lighted miniature houses, have attracted a lot of attention from visitors since it opened in August 1993.

Many of the miniature houses were built from scratch and furnished with custom-made furniture. One of the museum’s tiny houses, a four- by six-foot "wedding house," has a dining room table set with Lilliputian dinnerware. Another miniature house is a $15 thrift shop item purchased during the Depression. Hobbyists who no longer have room for dollhouses donated many of the museum’s collections. The houses range in value from $700 to $40,000.

Northern Indiana: The Place to Blow Off Steam

At the Hesston Steam Museum, an unusual outdoor attraction in rural northern Indiana, nostalgia lovers can explore the bygone era of the steam engine. Visitors can stroll among the machines that once furnished power for a growing America or ride behind a genuine coal-fired steam locomotive through 155 acres of meadows and forests on a two-mile railway line.

Known as an operating museum of restored vintage equipment, the museum’s collection includes trains, an electric power plant, a 92-ton crane, a sawmill, traction engines and stationary engines. Easily accessible from I-94 and the Indiana Toll Road, the museum can be a convenient side trip or a special outing.

In Valpairaso, let the quiet joy of art envelope you at the Brauer Museum of Art on the University of Valparaiso campus in Valparaiso. There is a hush in the seven galleries as you look at the 19th and 20th century works of art.

East of Indianapolis along the Old National Road, stop in Knightstown and visit Trump’s Texaco Museum, a nostalgia buff’s paradise. The museum is a dream come true for owner Bruce Trump, who practically grew up in his father’s Texaco station. The 2,000-square-foot museum houses everything from gas pumps with globes to oil cans dating back to the 1920s. The "gas station" looks so authentic that several people have actually stopped to buy gas.

More than 9,000 people from more than 30 states and three countries have visited the museum since it opened in 1996. Visitors include Texaco representatives and others just wanting to recapture memories of days gone by. Admission is free. Call for an appointment.

If seeing the country’s most complete collection of light tanks at the Historical Military Armor Museum in Anderson isn’t enough to satisfy your curiosity, you can experience a tank ride through 13 acres of woods adjacent to the museum. And if you work up an appetite, you can get another taste of military life - literally. The museum serves cafeteria-style meals in its realistic mess hall. Housed inside the 30,000-square-foot museum are a variety of vehicles, all of which are completely restored and operational, including trucks, tanks, halftracks and a general’s command car.

Western Indiana: A Rotating Jail and Collection of

In Crawfordsville, you can tour the first of seven rotary jails built in the United States. Known today as the Old Jail Museum, the Rotary Jail of Montgomery County was built in 1881 to control prisoners with

Lilliputian dinnerware. Another miniature house is a $15 thrift shop item purchased during the Depression. Hobbyists who no longer have room for dollhouses donated many of the museum’s collections. The houses range in value from $700 to $40,000.

At the Hesston Steam Museum, an unusual outdoor attraction in rural northern Indiana, nostalgia lovers can explore the bygone era of the steam engine. Visitors can stroll among the machines that once furnished power for a growing America or ride behind a genuine coal-fired steam locomotive through 155 acres of meadows and forests on a two-mile railway line.

Known as an operating museum of restored vintage equipment, Hesston Steam has a collection that includes trains, an electric power plant, a 92-ton crane, a sawmill, traction engines and stationary engines. Easily accessible from I-94 and the Indiana toll road, the museum can be a convenient side trip or a special outing.

In Valpairaso, let the quiet joy of art envelope you at the Brauer Museum of Art on the University of Valparaiso campus in Valparaiso. There is a hush in the seven galleries as you look at the 19th and 20th century works of art.

East of Indianapolis along the Old National Road, stop in Knightstown and visit Trump’s Texaco Museum, a nostalgia buff’s paradise. The museum is a dream come true for owner Bruce Trump, who practically grew up in his father’s Texaco station. The 2,000-square-foot museum houses everything from gas pumps with globes to oil cans dating back to the 1920s. The "gas station" looks so authentic that several people have actually stopped to buy gas. (At 32 cents per gallon, who wouldn’t?)

More than 9,000 people from more than 30 states and three countries have visited the museum since it opened in 1996. Visitors include Texaco representatives and others just wanting to recapture memories of days gone by. Admission is free. Call for an appointment.

If seeing the country’s most complete collection of light tanks at the Historical Military Armor Museum in Anderson isn’t enough to satisfy your curiosity, you can experience a tank ride through 13 acres of woods adjacent to the museum. And if you work up an appetite, you can get another taste of military life. The museum serves cafeteria-style meals in its realistic mess hall. Housed inside the 30,000-square-foot museum are a variety of vehicles, all of which are completely restored and operational, including trucks, tanks, halftracks and a general’s command car.

Western Indiana: A Rotating Jail and Collection of

In Crawfordsville, you can tour the first of seven rotary jails built in the United States. Known today as the Old Jail Museum, the Rotary Jail of Montgomery County was built in 1881 to control prisoners without the necessity of personal contact between the prisoners and the jailer. The rotary cellblock consists of a two-tiered turntable divided into pie-shaped wedges, with a total of 16 cells. The jailer would simply rotate the mechanism to bring a particular cell to the opening to put prisoners into and out of their cells.

The jail was abandoned in the late 1960s and reopened as the Old Jail Museum in 1975. It features exhibits related to local history, art and the Old Jail itself. Items such as Indian artifacts, pioneer artifacts, period costumes and household furnishings are just a few of the things you’ll see in the sheriff’s residence, an interesting example of late Victorian architecture.

At Bedford’s The Land of Limestone museum, you can see entertaining and educational exhibits that recreate how Lawrence County’s famous resource, limestone, was used to build and embellish such distinguished architectural landmarks as the Empire State Building.

For a trip back to the heyday of carousels and carnivals, visit Dale, where at Dr. Ted’s Musical Marvels you’ll find a colossal collection of street organs, nickelodeons, orchestrions, music boxes, phonographs, player pianos and a wonderful Wurlitzer carousel organ.

So the next time you’re looking for something different to do, take a road trip to one of these little-known wonders and bring home with you some interesting facts. You never know when they’ll come in handy!