East Texas Oil Museum

Hwy. 259 at Ross St.
Kilgore, Texas 75662
On the Kilgore College campus

http://www.easttexasoilmuseum.com/

Museum Hours
Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday – Monday, closed
Closed Easter & Thanksgiving
Special Holiday Schedule:
Dec. 20 – Jan. 1

Guided tours by reservation only.
A nominal fee is charged.

Adults: $8 / Children: $5

When Lili told me we had to go the Oil Museum in Kilgore, I had no idea what a gem she was referring to! I figured we’d walk into a small building with a few artifacts, but I boy was I wrong! And what could be cuter than the girls in their old school baby doll dresses??

 When you first walk in there are cool oil rig replicas and jumpsuits of what oil men wear in the fields. They had huge murals, classroom sets, and vintage kitchen setups.

*If you’ve ever wondered how many products petroleum and oil contribute to, they have a display case and full list to educate! You will be very surprised…*

Inside the glass doors it’s like you step back into time, before paved roads and automatic fuels pumps….

We were greeted by “buddy” he welcomes you to museum and gives you a few little tidbits about the era you are stepping into.

The whole town looked so lifelike, you really felt like you were in East Texas circa 1930’s! The sky was gloomy, and make sure to watch your step, because the mud left terrible conditions in the road. You had to balance on boards just to cross the street… 🙂

We took a break at an adorable soda shoppe

We in such awe of all the set ups and decorations.. although you couldn’t touch very much, we always enjoy a chance to use our imagination!

 They actually have a simulated ride that actually feels like you’re going deep deep into the ground to explore the different layers of rock until you find oil. You get in, shut the doors and these puppets navigate your journey.

We got to enjoy a historical look into the oil boom in a real old fashioned theater. The girls attention span was not long, but the film lasted about 20 minutes and at the end morphed into an IMAX theater of sorts!

Although there were a lot of things you shouldn’t touch because of how delicate and meticulous the set up is, there was plenty of opportunity to let the girls be a little hands on! They played checkers, checked out an old phone booth, cut the cheese, haha, played pat-a-cake outside the barbershop and more!

The super sweet man at the museum even showed the girls how you use to have to pump gas and let the girls have a try. Let me just say.. I’m thankful for the pumps we have today!

All in all, we had an awesome time! Definitely a fun (and educational) way to spend an afternoon and how darn cute are these girlies?? Everyone we encountered was so sweet and helpful. They even drew us a map to help us find our next location 🙂

After we left, we decided to continue our oil exploration and take a look at the

World’s Richest Acre Park

If you haven’t explored downtown Kilgore, it is actually pretty cool. They have shops, cafes and we even got to see a couple trains pass by!

We decided to be a bit rebellious and snag some cute pictures on the train tracks of these cuties…

Even us moms got in on a bit of the action.. However, we do not recommend this and are aware that this is probably not the best example to set.. but, YOLO sometimes 🙂

THINGS TO REMEMBER

• Money for admission and the gift shop (Cash & card accepted)
• Camera with a flash (It is a bit dark inside the coolest parts)
• Make sure to go to every exhibit, there are neat parts in each one
• Parking for the museum is located behind the museum.
• Give yourself a little time to explore downtown Kilgore.

 

All our love,

The Adventurers