American Wind Power Center

Description:

• Between 1850 and 1920, more than 700 American companies manufactured windmills, but today a mere two U.S. businesses make these iconic machines. Such statistics provided an impetus for this unique and worthwhile museum, which displays a collection of 200 water-pumping windmills. Windmills of every size, shape, and color are displayed in the main gallery and outside on the museum's grounds, including a rare twin-wheel windmill, with a pair of 12-foot wheels on a single tower, and a 164-foot Vestas wind turbine -- with 77-foot blades. (It powers the museum as well as 60 homes.) Indoors, the center houses many more unusual windmills, an art gallery, and a gift shop. Allow 1 hour.

• © Frommer's 2012