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All the United States New Mexico Sandia Park TinkerTown

TinkerTown

"I did this all while you were watching TV."

Sandia Park, New Mexico

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CAPTION
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/31408547@N06/...
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/txkimmers/270...
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/31408547@N06/...
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/31408547@N06/...
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/txkimmers/270...
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/31408547@N06/...
Come On In   kristykountz / Atlas Obscura User
Sign visible from the road   HTap / Atlas Obscura User
I see you!   kristykountz / Atlas Obscura User
The Walls   kristykountz / Atlas Obscura User
The Indian Rock   kristykountz / Atlas Obscura User
This deal may or may not always be happening when you visit   HTap / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Ross Ward began carving wood in junior high school. His first piece was a miniature wooden circus. Little did he know this was to the first of many thousands of carvings, paintings, etchings, and drawings he would complete in his lifetime. His first subject was a fitting one: Ward eventually gained employment as a carnival backdrop painter and for over 30 years he traveled with the circus, exhibiting his self-taught paintings and carved miniatures around the world.

Today a 22-room museum, also built by Ross Ward, is packed with Ward's art as well as his eccentric collections of American ephemera. The museum itself is a curiosity built out of 50,000 glass bottles. A true labor of love, it took Ward four decades to build, collect and stock the Tinkertown museum. Wagon wheels, old fashioned store fronts, and western memorabilia also make Tinkertown's exterior as much a part of the museum as the wonders within.

Among the many other items the museum features, besides Ward's art, are thousands of wedding cake couples, antique tools, bullet pencils and much, much more. Other highlights include Otto the one-man-band and Esmerelda, the Fortune Teller (a quarter each) as well as a 35-foot-long antique wooden sailboat that braved a 10 year voyage around the world. It is displayed in the backyard.

A testament to just how much one man can accomplish in his life, in the words of Ross Ward: "I did this all while you were watching TV."

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Eccentric Homes Homes

Know Before You Go

Tinkertown is located on the Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway in Sandia Park on NM Highway 536, on the way to the Sandia Crest. Take exit 175 North off I-40. After exiting I-40, take Highway 14 six miles up the mountain through Cedar Crest and turn left on Highway 536, the road to Sandia Crest. Tinkertown is 1.5 miles on the left. Tinkertown is just 20 minutes from Albuquerque.

Community Contributors

Edited By

mbison, kristykountz, HTap

  • mbison
  • kristykountz
  • HTap

Published

February 9, 2010

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  • http://www.tinkertown.com
TinkerTown
121 Sandia Crest Road
Sandia Park, New Mexico, 87047
United States
35.168899, -106.365866
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Nearby Places

TWA Flight 260 Crash Site

Cedar Crest, New Mexico

miles away

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miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of New Mexico

New Mexico

United States

Places 179
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Nearby Places

TWA Flight 260 Crash Site

Cedar Crest, New Mexico

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Albuquerque, New Mexico

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of New Mexico

New Mexico

United States

Places 179
Stories 20

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