Wheels Through Time Motorcycle Museum — Attraction in Waynesville

Spent the day at the Wheels through time motorcycle museum in Western NC.

We read all about the museum. Google had ~1100 5 star review. In this world in which everyone has an opinion I don't pay to much attention to reviews. One wrote it should be on any motorcyclists bucket list. Another wrote, he's been to the Smithsonian and this was better... Yeah sure..

A $15 admission gets you into this museum. Within steps of walking through you are met by not just motorcycles, but mechanical masterpieces with incredible design that truly borders on art.

There are hundreds of bikes in here from the early 1900's - present day, and they all run. The staff wonders the huge showroom and knows these bikes, stories and the history inside and out. The history. The design, the mechanics. The staff periodically will start various bikes for those visitors that are around. To hear these machines run was a treat worth the price of admission alone.

Jake. A college kid at Western Carolina is one of the experts. He shared his knowledge and stories of many of the bikes we looked at. You couldn't find nicer people to run the place. From the girls in the gift shop to the owners son, they all are eager to make their visitors feel welcome.

After 5 hours I got to meet and thank Matt the founders son who shares his dad's passion for these old bikes. Then he offered to take me and my wife to the restoration shop outback and shared his knowledge, answered questions and just generally couldn't have been more pleasant. When the founders son invites you on a small personal tour, you jump at the chance. We hung out well past closing time. We actually walked through the dark museum to get to the front door.

So a 5 star rating is truly justified in the case of the wheels through...

5 Stars for sure, if I could rate it higher I would! A friend of ours visited the Wheels Through Time museum about a week or so before we did and recommended it to us because he new my husband and I as well as our 8 year old son would love it. We were vacationing in nearby Pigeon Forge, so decided to make the drive. The staff is incredibly friendly, welcoming, and knowledgeable. Almost as soon as we got into the museum, one of the gentleman who works there asked my son if he wanted to start up a machine and was so kind to him while he taught him what to do. He realized my son was left handed and gave him some special pens made for leftys that read correctly when held in the left hand and backwards when held in the right hand. When someone asked about the machine my son had just started, the gentleman called my son back over so he can start it back up. We were also all blown away by the sheer volume of motorcycles in the collection as well as how everything was so thoughtfully curated. The entire museum looked like one giant garage where someone could have just been working on a bike. It was amazing. We wish we were able to spend more time there. Due to an accident on the highway and being caught in traffic for several hours, we only had one hour to spend at the museum. The staff was also incredible in helping my husband plan out a different route back to where we were staying once they heard that we had issues on the way there. We will definitely be back again and we will recommend it...

Edited to add: I appreciate the reply from Wheels Through Time. However, the issue is that I know it's a one lane bridge, but I was already upon it when the owner came flying to it and across it and I had to stop so we wouldn't hit, then he gave me attitude. While I wouldn't leave a negative review for the bridge, that doesn't bother, nor if another patron had done this. What bothered me is that the owner did this after I had just visited his museum. As I was leaving (after spending money on tickets and merch), the owner came flying across the bridge on his bike and then made a motion and face at me like I had gotten his way, when I was just trying to leave out a one-way bridge. It's a good thing I was going slower or he prob would've hit me. I don't what he thought I did wrong but seems really rude to do that to someone, especially knowing I'm leaving your place of business & he could assume I probably went in and spent money. Unfortunately, I felt very disrespected and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I have an Airbnb in the valley and will remove his place from my recommendation and won't be taking friends/family there when we visit due to feeling like I don't want to support someone who acts like that. Very disappointing.

(I know it was him bc I watch him on YouTube - well not...