Many of these miniatures come from famous fantasy like the Lord of the Rings, or from fairy stories and nursery rhymes… for example let’s start with Hobbiton… What in the world is a troll doing in Pippin’s house? Here are some nursery rhyme illustrations. Read more

Here we see a representation of Swan Lake. How about some classic American furnishings? Or a colonial parlor?     From about the same period we have the Spite House in Maine. And again from about the same period various bedroom and other furnishing. Or French Furnishings   Or how about something from the roaring 20s?           Read more

Here’s one of my favorites from my home boy from Chapel Hill— JT. Read more

A goodly number of exhibits included a Christmas theme due to the time of year.  For instance, here is a miniature of Santa’s workshop…   But there is much more, for instance, miniatures of the Titanic state room, complete with miniature showing of the movie Titanic! Wow Kay the collector loved all things Victorian, including of course Charles Dickens. Or how about a scene from the Southwest in the U.S.? Or how about a few Italian vignettes?       Read more

Kay’s interests wandered far and wide to all kinds of different periods, different designs, different architecture, different sorts of buildings and clothes, including some from Kentucky. For instance here is a Kentucky Horse Farm library…. Or how about an exhibit of ancient Portuguese tiles? Or on a grand scale, how about an Inn? Or a very posh cando structure? Or recreatures of favorite stage characters and musicals including beauty and the beast? Or how about Nautical folk art re-created?  ... Read more

There are included miniatures of famous houses or rooms, not just imaginary ones.  For instance, here is George Washington’s office. Here is a Swedish man’s dinette in a house….   O Or how about a beautiful stained glass window in a door? Read more

Who could imagine a violin shop inside a violin?  But Mr. Tracy did… or how about other miniature musical instruments? Or how about a room full of miniature paintings? Or how about a Tudor dining room? As it turns out, there are many artists creating these miniature wonders, and one wonders how they don’t all go blind. They must be working with really good magnifying glasses and very steady hands.  I mean look at the detail in this next one!... Read more

The Kathleen Browning Miniatures Museum involves a truly remarkable, indeed jaw-dropping collection of 1 to 12 scale miniatures of all sorts of houses, rooms, churches, Hobbiton, cloth shops, pubs and much more.  It will not be possible to cover all of this in one or two posts, as the holdings are vast. Suffice it to say, it is certainly worth the trip to Maysville to see this unbelievable human craftsmanship in miniature. Technically, the museum is called the Kentucky Gateway... Read more

Maysville is a quaint old river town on the Kentucky side of the Ohio river. It is a town of about 8,800 people today, but it has been around for about 300 years and has many interesting features, including a world-class miniatures museum which we will talk about in subsequent posts.  Here I just want to give you a sense of the visual aspect of the town itself.  First of all the impression you should get is of a well-preserved... Read more

One of the subjects not really discussed in this book, except tangentially, is the role of the police in our society, whose motto is ‘to serve and protect’ which frankly is something we all need in a violent society like America’s.  At the same time, there is need for police reform in various places, which includes better training, and actions based on better information. For example, there shouldn’t be any ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ attitudes, nor should there... Read more