The picturesque small town of Sylva, North Carolina, is home to The American Museum of the House Cat. It’s a stunning 4,000-square-foot private collection of world-class cat art, antiques, artifacts, ephemera, and unusual feline finds. After a move and big renovations in late 2019, it reopened in April 2023, delayed due to the pandemic.
Rural western North Carolina might not be where one expects to find a museum dedicated to cats, but thousands of cat lovers have been drawn to it every year. Each visit helps support an amazing no-cage, no-kill shelter, too!
Image via YouTube
“These treasures teach people the history of the house cat,” says the associated shelter director Keleb Lynch.
Here’s a great tour of the museum by The Carpetbagger:
A World-Class House Cat Collection
Former Navy man and biology professor Dr. Harold “Cat Man” Sims Jr., 88, established and curates the one-of-a-kind feline museum. He and his late wife Kay collected many cat items while traveling the country for six decades!
Images via Instagram/wnccatmuseum
Sims considers cats “little works of art with feet” and first fell in love with them after the couple adopted a white Persian named Buzzy. He’s also a prolific author, including a book about creating the first no-kill shelter in Jackson County (more on that next).
Portrait of Buzzy the Persian who started it all. Image via YouTube
There are no limits, and you never know what you’ll find here.
Sims with a rare moving atomiton cat.
One of the standout displays includes full-sized antique carousel cats visited by the late, great Captain Patch the Ambassacat. Captain Patch visited right before Sim’s 88th birthday in April. We miss you, little buddy!
Captain Patch the Ambassacat at the museum via Instagram
There are even ancient Egyptian artifacts, the subject of Sim’s most recent cat book.
“From a sarcophagus that’s believed to date back to ancient Egypt to life-sized rideable carousel cats, the American Museum of the House Cat in Sylva seems to harbor every feline-inspired artifact you could ever dream of,” wrote Carolina Home and Garden.
Egyptian cat mummy at the museum via YouTube
You can follow the museum on Facebook and Instagram.
The Museum Helps Support an Ameowzing No-Kill Shelter
The American Museum of the House Cat is one of two dreams come true for Sims. In 2002, he opened the first no-kill and no-cage shelter in Jackson County, the CatMan2, in nearby Cullowhee.
“No cat that’s a stray or no cat that’s relinquished by its owner has committed any crime. So, why should a cat be put into jail?” Sims asked. “A cat is a house cat. It ought to live in a house, not in a cage.”
Harold “Cat Man” Sims Jr. via Instagram
Adoptable Cats Choose Their Humans
The museum helps support the shelter, located in a spacious house. Adoptable cats are given plenty of room to play and are thus much more comfortable similar to the cat café model. When visitors arrive, the cats choose their humans, as it should be! (Visitors should make an appointment first.)
The Catman2 also provides affordable and even free spaying, neutering, and vaccinations (TNVR) to help control the local pet population. As a result, there has been a drastic reduction in euthanasia rates at county shelters. Frequently, the shelter also saves area wildlife like opossums.
What an incredible contribution Sims Jr. and his team have made to cats and their communities! You may follow CatMan2 Shelter on Facebook and YouTube.
Below, meet Harold Cat Man Sims and get a tour of the American Museum of the House Cat in the documentary “Little Works of Art” by Kim Best below:
