Gumbo was visiting Toy Town Junction in Virginia. Unfortunately no one was able to solve where we were visiting this week.
Toy Town Junction is a self-guided museum of sorts that is located adjacent to the entrance of Luray Caverns and admittance is included with the purchase of cavern entrance tickets. There are many discounts to cavern tickets that you can view online and you can purchase tickets in advance online. Rack rate same day tickets are Adults $28, Seniors $25, Children $15 and those under 6 years of age are Free. If you are driving there, the GPS address is 101 Cave Hill Road, Luray, Virginia 22835. Toy Town Junction is open Sunday to Saturday from 9AM to 5:30PM.
If you are an older senior citizen like me, you will thoroughly enjoy the nostalgic memories that these toys will bring. Like others, I always wondered what happened to my childhood toys. Probably got passed down to my younger brothers then given away or tossed out. My favorites were Tinkertoys, wind up tin toys, Lincoln Logs, Tiddlywinks, Slinky, View-Master, bow with suction cup tipped arrows (easily child removable), metal shoe skates with a key, and Pick Up Sticks. Leave your list of favorites in the Travel Gumbo comments below.
The Toy Town Junction collection began when Reverend Richard Worden, a Methodist Minister, donated his huge collection of over 1,000 toys and artifacts to Luray Caverns for the public to enjoy. Additional toys were also added from the private collection of Luray Caverns. Reverend Worden began his collection in 1941 when he was 5 years old growing up in Pikeville, Kentucky, and was fascinated by the coming and going of the C&O trains. The museum includes timelines of when various popular toys were invented. The Parker Brothers Parcheesi board game was actually adapted from a medieval India game called Pachisi and the View-Master was first introduced at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. And how about that early graphics art design device called the Etch-A-Sketch !
Getting there: Apparently from my research there is no train stop at Luray and the old train station is now a visitors center and small museum. Bus and taxi combined, or private / rental car seem to be the modes of travel to get to Luray from Washington DC which is about 90 miles away. Luray is located in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with many other attractions nearby. Adventures such as horseback riding, river canoeing, and wilderness camping are plentiful. Local vineyards conduct wine tasting events and Luray borders the Shenandoah National Park which has many more natural sites and attractions for the entire active family.
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