One of our family’s favorite things to do on vacation is taking factory tours. That’s one of the biggest reasons we prefer road trips to plane trips, because it allows us to stop all along the way and learn about how stuff is made.
5 Things We Love about Factory Tours
What’s so great about factory tours? I could name lots of things, but I decided to stick with the top five. These are the things that keep us coming back for more:
Factory tours are educational
We love getting to see how things work, and factory tours provide a fun, hands-on, memorable way to do just that. The opportunity to view behind-the-scenes manufacturing operations has provided a great way to broaden our children’s experience and education, and keeps them learning, even while we’re on vacation. 😉
Factory tours are inspiring
From carving granite to blowing glass to cultivating tea to manufacturing guitars to mining salt, there is a certain level of craftsmanship that goes into creating even the most mundane items. Observing the many steps required to make such things is simultaneously humbling and motivating and fosters a deeper appreciation for the world around us and the workers in it.
Factory tours are inexpensive
Most of the factory tours our family has taken were completely free. Not only did we gain knowledge by taking these tours, but many times, we were given free souvenirs by which to remember our visit, as well. You can’t beat that!
Factory tours are uncrowded
Those hour-long lines at Disney World? You’ll seldom, if ever, encounter crowds like that on a factory tour. With the exception of Hershey’s Chocolate World, I don’t think we’ve ever been in a factory tour group with more than 15-20 people in it. Many times, our family members were the only ones there. We could ask all the questions we wanted without feeling like we were monopolizing the tour guide.
Factory tours are refreshing
When you’re taking a road trip with children, you’ve got to stop every couple of hours for restroom breaks and to let everyone stretch their legs, anyway. Factory tours make for much more interesting rest stops than gas stations (and the bathrooms are usually cleaner, as well). 🙂
Where can we find factory tours?
First, I’d recommend starting close to home. Local businesses are often happy to give tours and explain what they do to anyone interested — all you have to do is ask. We’ve toured fire stations, pizza parlors, TV stations, concrete plants, fish hatcheries, hospitals, laundry services, plant nurseries, construction sites, zoos, and many other things this way.
Keep your eyes and ears open, do a little brainstorming, make a few phone calls, and learn about the businesses in your own backyard.
Second, when planning road trips, take into consideration what industries you may be traveling past, check to see if they offer tours, and allot enough time for that in your travel plans. I’ve found an invaluable resource for such planning is the website Factory Tours USA. They have details for nearly 600 factory tours, searchable by state. Occasionally, I’ll find broken links or outdated information in their listings, but it’s a great starting place for finding tours, regardless. Most listings provide phone numbers, so it is an easy matter to double-check prices and other information before going.
A Few of Our Favorite Factory Tours
Martin Guitar Factory (Martin, PA)
[FREE] This tour takes visitors right out on the factory floor and walks them through the entire 300-step process required to produce a hand-crafted guitar. The tour takes about an hour, but you’ll want to allow extra time to try your hand at playing one of the practice instruments at the end of the tour and viewing the extensive museum exhibits. The grounds are beautiful, and our entire family was glad we took time to stop.
The Old Mill (Pigeon Forge, TN)
[FREE] We love the Old Mill district in Pigeon Forge — there is so much to do and see. Unfortunately, they were no longer giving tours of the mill the last time we were in town, but you can still visit the pottery shop and watch the artisans turning their distinctively designed earthenware. The one working when we were there happily answered all our questions as he worked. A candy store down the street features a taffy making machine prominently displayed in the front window. It has been busily pulling, cutting, and wrapping taffy every time we’ve visited. Both the Pottery House Cafe and the Old Mill restaurant used grain milled at the Old Mill in their baking, and Pottery House serves all their meals on hand thrown plates that were crafted, glazed, and fired in the pottery studio next door. We also usually buy a couple of bags of seed from the General Store to feed the geese along the river that runs beside the mill.
Rock of Ages Granite Quarry
(Barre, VT)
[FREE/$$] You can see the Visitors Center, watch a short documentary, try your skill on the outdoor granite bowling lanes, and take a self-guided tour of the factory to watch memorial production — all for free. But you must pay a nominal fee to tour the nearby granite quarry (which we highly recommend doing).
Want more? Click on the name of any state below to read our family’s impression of some of the factory tours we’ve personally taken in each one.
ALABAMA:
- Golden Flake Factory (Birmingham, AL)
[FREE] This factory tour is the real deal. They show you an introductory film, put you in a hairnet, and lead you right out onto the floor where all the action is going on. We saw a variety of Golden Flake potato chips and snack foods being made the day we visited, and our tour guide would sometimes even pause to catch a basketful of chips hot off the conveyor belt for us to sample. She also loaded us down with packaged samples once the tour was over — all free. My kids still talk about the great time we had there and point out Golden Flake trucks whenever they spot them in Texas (which happens occasionally as the company expands into new markets).
FLORIDA:
- Davidson of Dundee (Dundee, FL)
[FREE] This makes a great rest stop if you are in the neighborhood. In addition to fresh fruit, they sell citrus candies and marmalades, many of which you can sample in the store. You can also watch the entire candy-making process, from start to finish, through several plate-glass windows that overlook the factory. The lady behind the cash register gave us a brief history of the company, explained what we were observing, and answered all our questions. This took less than half an hour — only slightly longer than all the candy we purchased there lasted. 😉 - Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, FL)
[$$] We’ve never been big NASCAR fans, but we really enjoyed touring this amazing facility and learning about how the world of racing functions.
- Florida’s Natural Grove House (Lake Wales, FL)
[FREE] This is not an actual factory tour, but a visitor center that stands next to a small orange grove and serves complimentary samples of citrus juice. It also features a small museum with several films and interactive exhibits that explain the orange growing process. - Whetstone Chocolate Factory (St. Augustine, FL)
[$$] For a fee, you can take a behind-the-scenes chocolate-tasting tour. Our tour guide was both funny and informative and volunteered to take pictures of us standing next to a model of Lucille Ball working on the candy wrapping line.
GEORGIA:
- Federal Reserve Bank (Atlanta, GA)
[FREE] The Monetary Museum far exceeded our expectations. It boasted several rooms of interesting and highly interactive exhibits. Visitors can learn all about the history of money and take a look inside the Reserve’s cash-processing operation, where millions of dollars are counted, sorted, or shredded daily. They’ll even give you some of the shredded money to take home as a souvenir — a huge hit with our kids.
MASSACHUSETTS:
- Metropolitan Waterworks Museum (Boston, MA)
[FREE] To gain a better understanding of where running water comes from, visit Boston’s Waterworks Museum. It’s a great place for budding engineers — especially if you visit on one of their regularly scheduled family days, like we did. They bring in extra hands-on activities and additional volunteers to answer questions on those days.
MISSOURI:
- Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery (Branson, MO)
[FREE] There is a nice museum, a fascinating film about why and how they breed fish, and many outdoor tanks full of fish at different ages, which you can feed.
NEVADA:
- Hoover Dam
[$$] You can tour the dam, the power plant, and/or the visitor center. It’s been a few years since we’ve done this one, but we really enjoyed it when we were there. It’s an amazing feat of engineering.
PENNSYLVANIA:
- Hershey’s Chocolate World (Hershey, PA)
[FREE/$$] The basic tour is free, which is the only one we’ve ever done, as we are normally just passing through. The tour is an automated explanation of how Hershey’s chocolate is processed. Our kids liked the fact that the tour was conducted like an amusement park ride. If you are going to be in town for longer, you may want to also buy tickets for the Chocolate Tasting Experience, the Trolley Tour, the “Create Your Own Candy Bar” class, or the adjoining amusement park.
- Martin Guitar Factory (Martin, PA)
[FREE] This is another real-deal tour that takes visitors right out on the factory floor and walks them through the entire 300-step process required to produce a hand-crafted guitar. The tour takes about an hour, but you’ll want to allow extra time to try your hand at playing one of the practice instruments at the end of the tour and viewing the extensive museum exhibits. The grounds are beautiful, and our entire family was glad we took time to stop.
SOUTH CAROLINA:
- Charleston Tea Plantation (Charleston, SC)
[FREE/$$] You can take a self-guided tour of the factory for free, but will have to pay a small fee to take the trolley tour of the grounds. We’d highly recommend doing both. Be sure to get free samples of flavored tea in the visitor center while you are there.
TENNESSEE:
- The Old Mill (Pigeon Forge, TN)
[FREE] We love the Old Mill district in Pigeon Forge — there is so much to do and see. Unfortunately, they were no longer giving tours of the mill the last time we were in town, but you can still visit the pottery shop and watch the artisans throwing or turning their earthenware plates, bowls, and mugs. The one working when we were there happily answered all our questions as he worked. A candy store down the street features a taffy making machine prominently displayed in the front window. It has been busily pulling, cutting, and wrapping taffy every time we’ve visited. Both the Pottery House Cafe and the Old Mill restaurant used grain milled at the Old Mill in their baking, and Pottery House serves all their meals on hand thrown plates that were crafted, glazed, and fired in the pottery studio next door. We usually buy a couple of bags of seed to feed the geese along the river that runs beside the mill.
VERMONT:
- Grafton Cheese Village –
[FREE/$$] You can watch the cheese-making process through observation windows in the gift shop, where you may also sample a wide variety of cheeses made onsite. All that is free. For a small fee, you can also visit the petting farm on the premises. - Rock of Ages Granite Quarry & Factory Tours (Barre, VT)
[FREE/$$] You can see the Visitors Center, watch a short documentary, try your skill on the outdoor granite bowling lanes, and take a self-guided tour of the factory to watch memorial production — all for free. But you must pay a nominal fee to tour the nearby granite quarry (which we highly recommend doing). - Simon Pearce Glassware (Quechee, VT)
[FREE] You can watch the glassblowers ply their trade from a catwalk above the workroom, then view the finished products in the showroom. The glassware is really exquisite and the grounds are beautiful, too.
I’ll be adding to this list as we take more tours in the future, so if you are interested, bookmark or pin the page and check back later for more.
We Are Open to Suggestions
Do you know of any fun factory tours you think we’d enjoy? Tell us about your favorites in the comment section, and we’ll try to stop in next time we’re in the neighborhood!
Um Charleston isn’t in North Carolina!
But you should definitely check out Ben and Jerry’s and Vermont Teddy Bear Factory tours the next time you’re there!
Thanks for the tips, Heidi, and for catching that typo! I totally missed that when proofreading.
So beautiful! Some tips from our experience:
Go in August. Seattle has two seasons, August and the rainy season. We were there August 10-17, and the weather was PERFECT.
Crater Lake in Oregon is an absolutely gorgeous park. It has one (legal) trail down to the lake, the Cleetwood Cove trail, which is 2.2 miles round trip and 700′ elevation change each way. Believe it or not, we saw people of all ages hiking up and down, and you get a real sense of accomplishment when you finish. Just check before you go, because the trail is closed until summer 2017 for repairs.
Mt. St. Helens is another great park. On the west side is the Johnson Ridge Observatory, which is a long but easy drive, ending you up 5.5 miles from the crater. There’s a must-see presentation in the Visitors Center that ends up with a spectacular view of the volcano. On the east side, there’s the Windy Ridge Observation site, which takes you through the blast zone and lets you look into the crater, but it’s a lot of driving on National Forest roads, which aren’t the best, so you have to decide if that’s worth it for your crew.
It’s not too difficult to work the tip of northern California into the itinerary. We stayed near Crescent City, and on Sunday morning after church, on a tip from a local, we went to the harbor and ate Subway sandwiches in the fog while watching floating docks covered with seals and sea lions all barking away and pushing each other on and off the docks. The redwoods are also very close.
For an experience the boys won’t forget, you can rent ATVs on the Oregon Dunes. Also fun to climb over on foot.
I’m like you, I have detailed trip itineraries, including motels and cancellation numbers! You have my email–if you all decide to go next year, and you want information about high quality budget places to stay, just email me and I’ll be happy to pass them on to you!
What a wealth of information! Thank you, Jackie, for taking time to write. I’ll add all those ideas to my file. And yes, we’ll add California into the plans, as well. It has been several years since we’ve been — several of our children had not even been born last time we were there, and we want them to see this magnificent part of the country, too.
Hi Jennifer, we’re a homeschooling family of ten in Florida who also love to take long road trips! We just came back from a two week, 3000 mile road trip around Oregon and Washington, and one of the highlights was the Boeing Factory tour in Everett, Washington, 1/2 mile north of Seattle. It’s the world’s largest warehouse by volume, and they took us through the whole thing, and explained how the planes are put together. We got to see lots of brand-new planes, and also learned a lot about Boeing’s history. There’s also a fantastic museum at the visitors’ center. While the museum is free, the tour is $20 for adults and $14 from kids 15 and under, but I highly recommend splurging–there’s nothing like it anywhere else.
Another place i recommend is the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, WA. It’s free, and if you’re there during work days, you can stand in a glassed-in promenade above the factory floor and watch the workers processing all these blocks of delicious Tillamook cheese. There are also exhibits about the factory’s history, and free cheese samples, and best of all, you can sample their delicious ice cream (not free, but so worth it!)
Thanks for the tips, Jackie. I’m adding both those suggestions to my travel file. I’m thinking we’re due for another tour of the Pacific Northwest — maybe next summer? We’ll be sure to take both tours when we go. Washington and Oregon are so beautiful, aren’t they? I remember thinking last time we were there how incredible the views were, even from the highway. Waterfalls and clear rocky streams flowing right beside the Interstate, and lush foliage so green it hardly even looked real.