Optical Heritage Museum — Attraction in Southbridge

This is a funky museum that I had heard about, I was in the area, so I dropped in. I found a big assortment of stuff that came from the former American Optical plant that was in Southbridge. I was fortunate enough to have the museum director take for a tour of the place - because he had the key to the museum area. Inside there was a large amount of equipment from either the American Optical manufacturing facility where the built lenses and frames for eyeglasses, along with the tools for measuring those lenses, or the medical devices they built to accurately determine the corrections for the patient's vision. The stuff you would have seen in an eye doctor's office. The problem is that this is an all volunteer effort with limited funding. With all the equipment on display it would have been great if they showed you how it worked and what it did. Instead I left seeing a bunch of interesting stuff, but still not knowing how it was used or why it was important. There is a lot of potential here, but they haven't reached it. 4 stars is for having the stuff there, it was really more of a 3 star...

This was a really cool, unexpected experience. It is a world-class exhibit, but it's not well known, and consequently not a lot of traffic. The museum was closed when we visited, but Mr. Whitney was in his office across the hall, and proceeded to open it up and give us a guided tour for the better part on a hour. I would have gladly spent another two hours going over the exhibits (but my kids' patience was tested after the first hour). During your visit, you will get a sense of what it was like to be a pioneering firm here in the "new world" during a very exciting time of research and development. Would have loved to see the factory...

Really great intimate museum showcasing the history of optics and eyeglasses with a huge focus on American Optical here in Southbridge. Over 100 years of history and some really unique instruments and displays! Highly recommend calling ahead of time, as you can get a personal tour from the head of the museum who worked for AO for several decades. I think they also do online or in person educational talks for schools or other groups if you contact them....