Motoring Monday: Wellington glass museum is colorful, nostalgic

The NDGA National Glass Museum in Wellington features American-made glassware from the late 1800s through midcentury modern.

 A display of Depression-era fishbowls
at the glass museum in Wellington.

At the NDGA National Glass Museum in Wellington, visitors can witness more than every color and shape in antique/vintage glassware.

You might hear someone say something like, “My grandmother had those same drinking glasses!” When visitors see the old glass, it brings back memories, says Pam Meyer, president of the National Depression Glass Association (NDGA) and spokeswoman for the Wellington museum.

“It makes you smile” to hear visitors get nostalgic, Meyer says.

The museum -- at 117 S. Washington, in the heart of Wellington -- is accessible from Interstate 35 and U.S. 160. And it’s free, although donations are accepted.

A display of glass insulators
at the glass museum in Wellington.
Photos courtesy of NDGA National
Glass Museum.

What can you see?  Not only Depression glass from the 1930s but also glassware from the late 1800s and early 1900s to midcentury modern. The collection includes machine-made and hands-on glass. There’s an etched goblet that passed through 75 hands as it was produced. It’s all American-made.

There’s plenty of kitchenware. You can also check out molds and tools used to make glass. And there are antique fruit jars and glass insulators.

Museum hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and by appointment. If visitors reach the museum outside those hours, they can call a number listed on the museum door, at a reasonable hour.