Ah, look at all the lovely people: Rigby, Idaho's historical museum

One of our favorite things to do when passing through America's small, out-of-the-way towns is to take a look inside the local museums and historical societies. There you will find proud tributes to people and things outsiders might find mundane or trivial but that are of great meaning to the locals. The small eastern Idaho community of Rigby has a terrific museum that is actually a twofer: the Jefferson County Historical Society shares space with the Farnsworth TV & Pioneer Museum, commemorating Philo T. Farnsworth, Rigby native and inventor of television. And all of this is housed in a former motel, adding to the quaint roadside ambiance. Here's looking at you, Rigby, with your TV inventors, atomic quilts, big-haired lady composers, stuffed bears and breastfeeding manuals on display. We'll be here remembering you, wearing the face that we keep in the jar by the door.

Out there in TV Land: Rigby, Idaho, birthplace of television and other delights

Rigby's Philo T. Farnsworth invented television, and they want you to know about it.

The smaller the town the bigger the hair, they say.

Ouch!

You should have seen the one that got away.

Alrighty, then.

Of all the atomic-themed quilts out there, I like this one best.

I'm guessing they're father and son.

One of our absolute favorite things to do on road trips is to seek out little museums and historical societies in small towns across this great land of ours and the small eastern Idaho town of Rigby certainly fits this bill grandly. Rigby calls itself "the birthplace of television" because of local resident Philo T. Farnsworth, who imagined the concept of television while plowing potato fields before inventing the vacuum tube television display. A tribute to Farnsworth can be seen at Rigby's Farnsworth TV & Pioneer Museum, a converted former motel that also houses the Jefferson County Historical Society. Inside you'll find all kinds of small town historical gems: photos of big-haired piano-playing ladies and fishermen with their prize catches, local criminology artifacts, books about breastfeeding, and much, much more. Places like this with their "Hey look me over" attitude make driving fun and America great. "All the lovely (sic) people...where do they all come from?" Rigby, that's where.