Soulé Steam Museum - Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum — Attraction in Meridian

I visited the Industrial Heritage Museum on a visit from the UK back in November 2023. I am an engineer with a keen interest in industrial heritage, and I was very excited to see what the museum had to offer. Unfortunately I had just missed an operational festival, but even though the exhibits were static I was still excited to look around.

Upon arrival, we were - I want to say greeted, but it's the wrong word - met by the gentleman behind the counter, who seemed far more interested in his phone than the paying visitors in front of him. Our interaction consisted primarily of me asking a couple of questions, and him giving one word answers or just grunting. I paid our entrance fees and we walked into the museum. The museum itself was very enjoyable, and we spent quite a bit of time looking at the various pieces of manufacturing heritage. Of particular interest to me were the furnaces, of which I am very jealous as I would love to have some back home.

As we were leaving via the gift shop, I once again attempted to engage the gentleman behind the counter in conversation with questions I had about the exhibits. He again seemed only interested in the videos on his phone, and was, in my opinion, rude and dismissive of us, which was wholly unnecessary. I have been a volunteer at a museum in the UK for many years, and if one is in a public facing role, it is expected that one engages with paying visitors and does ones best to ensure that they have an enjoyable experience. This gentleman it appears doesn't subscribe to this concept, which is a great shame as the museum was otherwise extremely enjoyable.

It is a shame that I feel compelled to rate this museum as such, as it is clear that an awful lot of time and effort goes into making this piece of heritage available for the education of the public, and without places such as this knowledge of these wonderful technologies would likely be lost to books and photographs alone. I do however feel that when charging for entry into a museum on an off day, visitors should be able to expect at least a basic level of human interaction with the one member of the team present. I would like to visit the museum again should I be in the area, and I sincerely hope that I can find a more friendly and enthusiastic member of the...

As a local I will recommend that you visit at least once. Do yourself, or your family a favor by putting the devices down and spend some time together by seeing for yourself how many things were once manufactured, the hard way. I believe the first weekend in every November is the Soule Steam Feed festival, go. See how steam once ruled the nation. They also hold the local Maker Faire here once a year and checking out all the neat...

First off I visited this museum the same day that they had a festival there. This place really serves my interests because I like mechanical things and I enjoy the historic side of it. The day my son and I visited, there were demonstrations of various pieces of equipment. There were also vendors on site which offered additional demonstrations. If you share an interest in mechanic things then you'd probably...