In 1996 the oddly named Maine resident Nancy 3 Hoffman found seven umbrella covers in her wardrobe, so she decided to open a museum. . Hoffman then spent the next year gathering more of them from friends and family, and opened her collection of around 80 covers later that year.
Astonishingly the museum has continued to grow, collecting umbrella covers from over 44 countries around the world. In total, the museum now houses over 700 umbrella covers of all shapes and sizes ranging from doll accessories to patio furniture sized covers. Hoffman’s strange accomplishment has even been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest umbrella cover collection in the world.
Tours of the Umbrella Cover Museum are conducted by Hoffman herself who accompanies the walkthrough with a live, accordion rendition of “Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella”