Next to the Natural Bridge is a Wax Museum and Factory Tour. The Museum offers a three dimensional trip through Shenandoah Valley history, featuring legends of the Revolution and the historical generals of the Confederacy. The Museum displays wax figurines of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, confederate soldiers, General Lee, Daniel Boone and 170 other life-like figures in narrated historical scenes.
A theatrical presentation of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, “The Last Supper” is offered at the end of the tour. The tour also includes a trip through the wax museum factory to see how these figures are made. The Natural Bridge Wax Museum in VA is the only museum that ships its figurines and statues worldwide to other museums and collections. Here is one of the scenes in the museum.
The front entrance of the Wax Museum at Natural Bridge, Virginia. Here is a wax figure of a boy swinging on a rope from the ceiling over the porch.
Check out the little wax boy which greeted us on the front porch. He looked so real from far away, but not so much from close up.
The museum’s dioramas mix regional lore with occasional nods to the Bible. We started our tour by entering the Garden of Eden, then a journey took us through the history of the bridge. There are exhibits including the Monacan Indians, Thomas Jefferson, and many others. The last room includes presidents as well as other historical people. Many of the exhibits have an audio narration where you can push a button and hear about the exhibit and how it relates to the bridge.
This scene is called “The First Records”. John Sallings was probably the first white man to see the Natural Bridge. In 1736 he built his cabin and settled in the area after 6 years of Indian captivity. From Sallings’ diary Col. John Buchanan preserved the earliest written record of the bridge.
King George III and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson purchased the Natural Bridge in 1774; wrote the Declaration of Independence; was Inaugurated President in 1801.
“For some lesser known yet colorful stories of the Natural Bridge area please push a button below and learn how an early settler lost a wife and how Patrick Henry gained one” – from the sign next to this scene.
First manual elevator to take visitors to the top of the Natural Bridge.
Not a wax figure on the right of the picture.
The town of Lexington, located just North of Natural Bridge, served as a recruiting area for the South. Here sons of both the rich and the poor cast their fate with the Southern Army.
President Jefferson Davis (Confederate States) and General Lee.
Those two visitors are actually wax figures. I couldn’t tell if they were real right away in the dark, so I initially waited for them to leave the scene. 🙂
Winter Civil War vignette.
White Lightning Scene. The Hills of Virginia were ideal for countless “Still” operations. The authentic still depicted here was a gift from the James River Recreation Area in Natural Bridge Station, VA.
Here is the Presidents Hall in the Museum. Below are some folks in the wax museum who were famous personalities that visited the Natural Bridge Hotel.
And not a famous person among them. 🙂
Lots of things have happened at Natural Bridge. One display reveals wacky local moonshiners, another depicts a somber meeting of Confederate leaders Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis. Yet another places Thomas Jefferson and all seven other Virginia Presidents in the same nearby 19th century tavern, a time paradox that seems to have left Jefferson woozy. Big Foot Wallace is in the tavern too. There are Carter, Ford, Bush, many others and the Obamas are in the Presidents Hall.
Jefferson and Sally Hemings.
The attraction concludes with a sound-and-light extravaganza combining Leonardo da Vinci, the Last Supper, and the Crucifixion, which was very well done! In general, it was a good experience for us. In my opinion, the figurines there don’t have Madam Tussaud’s quality and some of them need a “face-lift”, but with the right light they look pretty good, especially in the scenes. It felt like walking inside of a 3-D movie. It was different. 🙂
