Museums & Galleries in Taylors

What began as fewer than 30 paintings hanging in two rooms has since grown into the Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery, a collection of more than 400 baroque paintings displayed in 30 galleries. The paintings—works by Rubens, van Dyck, and Murillo that date from the 14th through 19th centuries—are thoughtfully displayed in context, surrounded by furniture, sculptures, tapestries, and popular emoticons from their respective time periods. Architectural elements also add texture to the various galleries, flooding them in colorful light from stained-glass windows or framing their walls with the carved corners of fireplace mantels.

At Heritage Green, a satellite location boasts special exhibits of works pulled from the main galleries or on loan from private and public collections. Up on the second floor, interactive exhibits educate visitors of all ages on works by the old masters.

Heralded by Cycle World, American Motorcyclist, and comedian Jay Leno, the Wheels Through Time Museum recently picked up even more exposure on an episode of History Channel's American Pickers. In "The Belly Dance," hosts Mike and Frank come to the museum in need—they've found a rare belly-tank racer, but unless they can get it to run, the find will have cost them more money than it's worth.

That's where museum founder and curator Dale Walksler, automotive enthusiast par excellence, comes in. In 1993, Walksler invited crowds and fellow bike buffs to join in the astonishing details of his obsession: more than 300 rare and historical classic motorcycles amid a collection of tens of thousands of related artifacts. Free from the ghosts of vengeful traffic cops, the double-decker garage resembles a fever-dream cycle showroom gleaming with vintage and contemporary models by Harley Davidson, Indian, and Excelsior, and one-of-a-kind machines that include the handsome Traub. The ahead-of-its-time machine was discovered bricked up inside a Chicago wall in 1967, built by a brilliant designer who apparently never built another bike before or after. Despite dating back to the 1910s, nearly all of the machines can still run—often zooming straight through the 40,000-square-foot museum floor¬—and lecture passersby on four-way intersection etiquette.