You Can “Experience” The Final Hours of Doomed Titanic Passengers in This Tennessee Museum

The Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, TN

When you get your boarding pass at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, you get a real passenger’s name and story.

By the time you reach the memorial room two hours later, you’ll know if ‘you’ survived that April night.

It’s this attention to personal stories, plus the largest collection of Titanic artifacts in the US, that sets this place apart from other stops in touristy Pigeon Forge.

Here are more interesting facts about the Titanic Museum.

They host exclusive dinner parties

There’s a hidden dining room where they throw fancy events with servers in period costumes and centerpieces that would make a wedding planner jealous.

You need at least 35 people to book this space, so start making friends. The three-course meal is exactly what the rich folks would’ve eaten aboard the actual Titanic.

The owner actually dove down to the real Titanic

The museum’s co-owner John Joslyn led a $6 million expedition to the actual Titanic wreck in 1987. The guy made 32 dives to the ship sitting 12,500 feet underwater and filmed it for TV.

His documentary “Return to Titanic…Live!” became the second-highest-rated documentary ever at the time.

Joslyn and his wife Mary spent 44 days at sea during the expedition, then dropped $25 million to build this museum in 2010.

They’re so legit that even James Cameron picked their brains when making his Titanic movie.

Half of all surviving Titanic life jackets are right here

That’s six of the twelve remaining Titanic life jackets in existence.

Most of the ship’s life jackets either went down with the vessel or rotted away in the Atlantic, making these some of the rarest Titanic artifacts anywhere.

These weren’t pulled from the ocean floor but either carried off by survivors or found floating after the disaster.

Each one sits in a special temperature-controlled case worth about $500,000 total.

There’s $4.5 million worth of authentic stuff from the ship

Every single artifact here is 100% authentic, with over 400 items valued at more than $4.5 million total. The collection fills 20 different galleries across 30,000 square feet.

The coolest might be the master key for Titanic’s first-class E deck, worth a casual $150,000. Since opening in 2010, they’ve added tons more pieces through private collectors and relatives of survivors.

See through the eyes of the Titanic passengers

The Flooded Stairway Simulator lets you see what passengers saw as water rushed into the ship, except you stay completely dry behind a sheet of Plexiglas.

The volume and flow rate match historical accounts of how quickly the Titanic actually filled with water.

They even added authentic creaking sounds and rushing water based on marine acoustics research.

You can feel how cold the ocean was during that fateful night

You can touch a real ice formation that’s kept at exactly 28 degrees, the same temperature as the North Atlantic that fateful night.

Next to it, there’s a water tank also at 28 degrees that you can stick your hand in.

The specialized refrigeration equipment runs 24/7 regardless of how hot Tennessee gets or how many people are visiting. The ice wall stands over 6 feet tall and uses about 2,000 gallons of water monthly.

The floors actually tilt like they did during the sinking

The sloping decks are angled at exactly the same degrees as the real Titanic was during its sinking.

You can experience three different tilts: 5 degrees (early sinking), 15 degrees (middle phase), and a stomach-dropping 30 degrees (final moments).

Check out the half-scale Titanic replica

That cash went into 56,000 bricks, custom structural steel, and the engineering to make a ship-shaped building that looks like it’s sitting in water.

Over 200 craftspeople, engineers, and designers spent more than two years on the project. They’ve done two major renovations since opening, with the most recent 2023 upgrade costing another $4 million to update exhibits.

The iconic Titanic staircase has seen over 500 marriage proposals

More than 500 couples have gotten engaged at the top of the Grand Staircase since the museum opened.

If you’re thinking of popping the question, they offer special packages starting at $750 for proposals and $2,500 for actual wedding ceremonies.

Each wedding includes period decorations, professional photography, and private access to the staircase when other visitors aren’t around.

They even have a dedicated coordinator who knows all about Edwardian-era wedding traditions to make it historically accurate.

On display are the only known photos taken aboard the real Titanic

The Father Browne Gallery displays 35 photographs taken by a Jesuit priest who happened to be an amateur photographer.

He boarded the Titanic but, lucky for him (and history), got off at the last stop in Ireland before the ship headed into the Atlantic.

These are literally the only existing photos of life aboard the Titanic during its brief journey. His religious superior ordered him to disembark in Queenstown (now Cobh), inadvertently saving both him and his camera.

Visiting Titanic Museum

The museum is located at 2134 Parkway, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863. Open daily 9AM-9PM. Self-guided tours take about 2 hours.

• Adult (13+): $35 at door, $33 online
• Child (5-12): $15
• Family Pass (2 adults + 4 children): $115

Book ahead online since they sell out all the time. Parking’s free and plentiful.