National Bottle Museum

The National Bottle Museum, located in downtown Ballston Spa, is a free museum showcasing the history of bottles and bottle making in the United States. The collection is filled with interesting containers that range from vintage poison bottles to tiny antique perfume bottles, and a section dedicated to vintage pharmacy items, with old shampoos, potions, and more.

Upstairs you’ll find rare and interesting bottles, including glow-in-the-dark uranium glass bottles and holographic limited edition presidential bottles. The owner has been collecting bottles for a long time and she knows a lot, so if you have a chance to talk to her, definitely do! One major plus about this museum is that you can donate $5 and adopt a bottle to take home. The owner will even take a look at it and tell you her best guess on what it is, what time period it was likely made in, and what it held.