Cottage Hill Bill
CGN Regular
- Location
- Pensacola, FL USA
I recently made a trip to Ruston, Louisiana and had a most serendipitous encounter. When I booked my hotel, I noticed a pin in the map marked “Military Museum”. I got in about 3:00 in the afternoon. I looked up the museum, hours 9-4. Pulled up the map and found it was only ½ mile away. I raced over and found what looked like a two-story house with five or six tanks, a jet, and a helicopter in the yard, all looking rather worn and uncared for. I wasn’t very hopeful, but when I walked in, holy crap! The walls were packed with floor to ceiling cases full of firearms, edged weapons, mannequins and other assorted militaria from the American Civil War to the War on Terror. There were guns in the cases that I’ve only seen in books or magazine articles. The curator/docent/attendant, Ernie is a Viet Nam era USMC vet. He was gracious enough to stay past closing so I could keep drooling on the cases. It was arranged by conflict and by country within conflict. Ernie enjoyed the fact that I was also a collector and knew what most of the pieces were and commented on the rarity and quality of the displays. I commented on one piece and he replied “I chased that for 25 years to get it in here. Most people look at it and go “That’s nice.” But you knew what it was!” I hope/think he enjoyed the visit as much as I did. Ruston is in north central Louisiana on interstate 20. If you are in the area, make time to stop and take a look. Ernie is a great guy and takes great pride in showing you around. Here’s a couple pics to give some of the flavor of the place.
I nearly tripped over this when I walked in. They're moving some things around and a few pieces were out of their cases.
I nearly tripped over this when I walked in. They're moving some things around and a few pieces were out of their cases.
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