Tourists who love alligators and crocodiles will find gators in all their glory at the Great American Alligator Museum on New Orleans’ Magazine Street, famous for its eclectic vintage shops, variety of local retailers, artisan outposts and places to buy funky costumes.
Photos: Lacy Davillier
She’s a trained geologist. He’s a metal collector. They initially started a rock and gem enterprise that evolved from a flea market booth to a brick-and-mortar shop. At various markets, they spotted Cajun backscratchers fashioned from alligator feet and collector decor like taxidermy alligator heads. The couple began wholesaling the heads. Then they grew enamored with the animal’s prehistoric roots and near extinction. Now, there are farms raising alligators and an annual sanctioned state hunt to curb the population.
Q. What is the goal for the Great American Alligator Museum?
A. The museum’s guiding principle is to collect and preserve alligator artifacts that would be of interest to the public. So, we have a nearly 14-foot taxidermy alligator and a 50-million-year-old fossil of an alligator — one of two complete specimens in the country. We lent it to the Field Museum in Chicago for research and now it’s back. We have five rooms of alligator collections and an attached retail shop along with a dedicated crocodile room.
Q. Why are gator heads so plentiful and is there a demand for them?
A. When we noticed alligator heads at the open-air markets, we learned more about why we could even sell them. While alligators were almost extinct in the 1970s because they were being poached and hunted, Louisiana started a conservation program where they harvested eggs and took care of the alligators until they were 3 to 4 feet long so they would survive in the swamp and not be prey for birds and other predators.
“Alligators are scary and fierce but also cute. There is an endearing appeal to them.” — Liz McDade
Q. What unique souvenirs can guests find in the museum’s gift shop?
A. We have everything from plush to toys, prints, stickers, magnets, Christmas ornaments and T-shirts. We also carry Alligator King (our wholesale business) alligator meat snacks and hot sauces that come with a gator foot lanyap, a Cajun word for a little something extra. Children love the squishy and stretchy alligators, and we sell a crocodile dentist along with salt-and-pepper shakers, purses and everything alligator, really.
Q. What are some fascinating features at the Great American Alligator Museum?
A. You can’t miss the 14-foot alligator and prehistoric fossil. Our folk art room features pieces like a guitar with an alligator head mounted on it, a 4-foot basket woven into an alligator shape, and other art pieces.