America Gets Very Weird Off The Highway
America's strangest roadside attractions are almost impossible to explain without seeing them. There are giant bugs, buried Cadillacs, enormous twine balls, a clown-filled motel, and even a house shaped like a shoe. Some are charming, some are baffling, and a few are genuinely unsettling. Here is the weirdest stop we found in every state.
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Alabama: Boll Weevil Monument
Enterprise may be the only city with a monument honoring an agricultural pest. The statue shows a woman holding an enormous boll weevil above her head, commemorating the insect's role in pushing local farmers to diversify beyond cotton. Today, the monument is one of the city's defining landmarks.
Michael Rivera, Wikimedia Commons
Alaska: Santa Claus House
Christmas lasts all year in North Pole, Alaska. Santa Claus House sells holiday gifts year-round and sits beside a nearly 50-foot-tall Santa statue. Visitors can also send mail with a North Pole postmark and fully commit to the town's festive theme.
Srishti Sethi, Wikimedia Commons
Arizona: The Thing
For decades, Interstate 10 billboards have asked travelers one question: “What is The Thing?” The roadside attraction in Texas Canyon grew around a deliberately mysterious exhibit and has since expanded into a larger museum experience. You still have to go inside to find out what all the signs are teasing.
BowlinTravelCenters, Wikimedia Commons
Arkansas: Christ Of The Ozarks
A massive white statue of Jesus towers over Eureka Springs. Christ of the Ozarks has stood on the grounds of the Great Passion Play since 1966 and rises roughly seven stories tall. The enormous figure is hard to miss against the surrounding Ozark landscape.
Bobak Ha'Eri, Wikimedia Commons
California: Cabazon Dinosaurs
Two gigantic dinosaurs have been stopping California road-trippers for decades. Dinny the Dinosaur and Mr. Rex became pop-culture landmarks after appearing in movies including Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Visitors can even shop for souvenirs inside Dinny's enormous body.
Colorado: Bishop Castle
Jim Bishop spent decades building an enormous stone-and-iron castle in the Colorado mountains. Towers, bridges, staircases, stained glass, and metalwork climb above the surrounding forest. Visitors can explore the structure, although the attraction makes clear that they do so at their own risk.
Connecticut: PEZ Visitor Center
Connecticut has an entire visitor center devoted to PEZ dispensers. The attraction in Orange includes thousands of square feet of memorabilia, factory viewing windows, and an enormous PEZ dispenser. It is a surprisingly serious tribute to a very unserious candy container.
Delaware: Miles The Monster
Dover Motor Speedway turned its “Monster Mile” nickname into a literal monster. Miles stands 46 feet tall in Victory Plaza and holds a full-size race car in one giant hand. The green creature has become one of the speedway's most recognizable sights.
Airman Liberty Matthews, Wikimedia Commons
Florida: Coral Castle
Coral Castle is one of Florida's strangest man-made landmarks. Edward Leedskalnin spent decades carving and moving more than 1,000 tons of limestone to create walls, furniture, sculptures, and other structures. The fact that he largely worked alone helped turn the site into an enduring mystery.
Georgia: BabyLand General Hospital
Cabbage Patch Kids are treated like actual newborns at BabyLand General Hospital. The Cleveland attraction features nurseries, adoption ceremonies, and thousands of dolls displayed inside a grand Southern-style building. It is part toy store, part theater, and entirely committed to the concept.
Michael Rivera, Wikimedia Commons
Hawaii: Dole Plantation
The pineapple gets full theme-park treatment at Dole Plantation. The Oahu attraction features gardens, a train tour, pineapple treats, and a maze covering more than three acres. What began as a fruit stand in 1950 grew into one of Hawaii's best-known visitor stops.
Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, Wikimedia Commons
Idaho: Idaho Potato Museum
Idaho gave its most famous crop an entire museum. Located in a former railroad depot, the Idaho Potato Museum explores potato farming, history, harvesting, and nutrition. Naturally, visitors can also pose beside a giant baked potato.
KRRK at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons
Illinois: Leaning Tower Of Niles
Illinois has its own leaning tower inspired by Pisa. The Niles landmark was built in the 1930s and originally helped conceal a water tank serving a nearby recreational park. Its bells still ring, although visitors can no longer climb the tower.
Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, Wikimedia Commons
Indiana: World's Largest Ball Of Paint
This enormous roadside attraction began as a baseball. Decades of added paint transformed it into a giant sphere that keeps getting bigger with every new layer. Visitors have even been allowed to add coats of their own.
Iowa: Matchstick Marvels
Patrick Acton turned millions of wooden matchsticks into spectacular sculptures. His Gladbrook museum includes detailed models of the U.S. Capitol, the space shuttle Challenger, and the USS Iowa. The amount of patience involved may be stranger than the attraction itself.
Scott Fiddelke from Iowa City, IA, USA, Wikimedia Commons
Kansas: World's Largest Ball Of Twine
Cawker City built part of its identity around one enormous ball of twine. Residents and visitors have continued adding material to it over the years, turning the attraction into an ongoing community project. It may literally be larger every time you return.
TigerPaw2154 at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons
Kentucky: Ark Encounter
A massive wooden replica of Noah's Ark rises from the Kentucky countryside near Williamstown. The Bible-themed attraction contains three decks of exhibits inside the enormous structure. The site also includes restaurants, a zoo, zip lines, and other activities.
Louisiana: Abita Mystery House
Abita Mystery House feels like an eccentric collector's attic expanded into an entire attraction. Thousands of found objects, homemade inventions, arcade machines, miniatures, and odd displays fill the space. Every room seems determined to get stranger than the one before it.
Stockstill, Tiffany, Wikimedia Commons
Maine: Desert Of Maine
A sandy landscape hidden in Maine's forests sounds completely out of place. The Desert of Maine is actually an area of exposed glacial sand that emerged after farming disturbed the soil above it. The unusual landscape has operated as a tourist attraction for about a century.
Bigmacthealmanac, Wikimedia Commons
Maryland: National Museum Of Dentistry
Baltimore offers visitors the chance to spend their vacation looking at teeth. The National Museum of Dentistry holds tens of thousands of objects related to dental history, technology, famous smiles, and even George Washington's dentures. It is hard to imagine a more specific museum.
AndrewHorne, Wikimedia Commons
Massachusetts: Paper House
This Rockport house takes recycling to another level. Newspapers were used to build much of the structure, while furniture inside was made from tightly rolled paper. Visitors can tour the strange little home seasonally.
Michigan: Mystery Spot
The Mystery Spot promises tilted rooms, odd sensations, and distorted perspective. The St. Ignace attraction dates back to the early 1950s and uses visual tricks to make normal physical expectations feel wrong. Mini golf, a maze, and zip lines add to the roadside spectacle.
John Margolies, Wikimedia Commons
Minnesota: World's Largest Twine Ball Made By One Man
Minnesota's giant twine ball comes with a very specific distinction. Francis A. Johnson spent 29 years creating the huge sphere in Darwin, where it is now displayed in a gazebo. It even inspired a “Weird Al” Yankovic song.
Mississippi: Birthplace Of The Frog
Leland celebrates its connection to Kermit the Frog. Jim Henson spent part of his childhood in the Mississippi Delta, and the Birthplace of the Frog exhibit honors that link. A nearby tableau beside Deer Creek commemorates the landscape associated with Kermit's beginnings.
Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia Commons
Missouri: Uranus Fudge Factory
Missouri's Uranus Fudge Factory is built around one joke and never gets tired of it. The Route 66 attraction sells fudge, candy, souvenirs, and novelty merchandise filled with Uranus-themed humor. Whether you laugh or groan, the place absolutely commits to the bit.
Adventuregirlkat, Wikimedia Commons
Montana: Garden Of One Thousand Buddhas
Rows of Buddha statues fill a peaceful garden in Montana's Jocko Valley. The site features 1,000 hand-cast figures arranged around a central representation of Yum Chenmo. It is more contemplative than kitschy, but its scale and setting make it one of the state's most unusual stops.
Dietmar Rabich, Wikimedia Commons
Nebraska: Carhenge
Nebraska recreated Stonehenge with old automobiles. Carhenge was built near Alliance in 1987, with cars arranged to mimic the famous English stone circle. More sculptures made from vehicles and car parts now surround the site.
The Washington Post, Getty Images
Nevada: Clown Motel
Tonopah's Clown Motel is exactly as unsettling as it sounds. Thousands of clown figures and decorations fill the property, while the historic Old Tonopah Cemetery sits directly next door. The owners openly embrace the motel's spooky reputation.
New Hampshire: America's Stonehenge
New Hampshire has a mysterious stone complex with an extremely ambitious name. America's Stonehenge includes chambers, walls, and other structures on a site with thousands of years of human activity. Its exact history has inspired decades of debate and speculation.
J. Miers - User: (WT-shared) Jtesla16 at wts wikivoyage, Wikimedia Commons
New Jersey: Lucy The Elephant
A six-story wooden elephant stands near the Jersey Shore. Lucy was built in Margate in 1881 and originally helped attract attention to local real estate. Today, visitors can take guided tours inside the enormous National Historic Landmark.
FirozAnsari, Wikimedia Commons
New Mexico: International UFO Museum And Research Center
Roswell turned its famous UFO story into a major tourist industry. The International UFO Museum focuses heavily on the 1947 Roswell Incident while also covering sightings, eyewitness accounts, and related topics. Alien souvenirs are much easier to find than aliens.
New York: Secret Caverns
Secret Caverns has been luring road-trippers with hand-painted signs for decades. Visitors descend 103 steps into underground passages before reaching a roughly 100-foot waterfall. The advertising is almost as memorable as the cave itself.
North Carolina: Land Of Oz
High on Beech Mountain, visitors can still follow the Yellow Brick Road. Land of Oz began as a Wizard of Oz-themed attraction and now reopens for special events. Costumed characters and storybook scenery bring Dorothy's journey back to life.
North Dakota: Enchanted Highway
A 32-mile stretch of rural road doubles as an enormous outdoor art gallery. The Enchanted Highway features giant metal sculptures of pheasants, deer, grasshoppers, and other subjects. Each one appears dramatically against the open prairie.
Ohio: Longaberger Basket Building
For years, workers in Newark went to the office inside a giant basket. The seven-story former Longaberger headquarters was designed to resemble one of the company's signature products, complete with enormous handles. The company is gone, but the building remains.
Barry haynes, Wikimedia Commons
Oklahoma: Blue Whale Of Catoosa
A giant smiling whale sits beside Route 66 in Oklahoma. Hugh Davis originally built the roughly 80-foot-long structure as a place for his family to swim. Swimming is no longer allowed, but visitors still stop for photos, picnics, and fishing.
G. Edward Johnson, Wikimedia Commons
Oregon: Enchanted Forest
Oregon's Enchanted Forest feels like a children's storybook built in the woods. The amusement park near Salem features fairy-tale scenes, rides, unusual buildings, and winding paths. Its handmade appearance gives it much of its strange charm.
Canobie Coaster, Wikimedia Commons
Pennsylvania: Haines Shoe House
Pennsylvania lets visitors stay inside an enormous shoe. The Haines Shoe House was built in 1949 as a promotional guest house for a shoe-store owner. The giant work-boot-shaped landmark can now be rented for overnight stays.
Lorie Shaull, Wikimedia Commons
Rhode Island: Big Blue Bug
A gigantic blue termite watches over Interstate 95 near Providence. The 58-foot-long creature, officially called Nibbles Woodaway, advertises a local pest-control company. It even gets dressed up for holidays.
South Carolina: South Of The Border
You will probably see the billboards long before you reach South Of The Border. The Interstate 95 complex includes restaurants, shops, lodging, an arcade, reptile exhibits, and a 200-foot observation tower topped with a giant sombrero. Subtlety was clearly never part of the plan.
John Margolies, Wikimedia Commons
South Dakota: Wall Drug
Wall Drug turned free ice water and endless billboards into a roadside empire. The sprawling complex now includes restaurants, souvenirs, Western displays, novelty attractions, and five-cent coffee. By the time you arrive, you may feel as though the signs have already won.
Tennessee: Salt And Pepper Shaker Museum
Gatlinburg has an entire museum devoted to salt and pepper shakers. Thousands of sets appear in nearly every shape and theme imaginable. It is proof that even the most ordinary kitchen objects can become spectacularly weird in large enough numbers.
Texas: Cadillac Ranch
Ten Cadillacs are buried nose-first in a field outside Amarillo. Visitors regularly spray-paint the cars, covering them in constantly changing layers of graffiti. The installation has become one of America's most recognizable roadside artworks.
Wirestock Creators, Shutterstock
Utah: Hole N" The Rock
South of Moab sits a 5,000-square-foot home carved directly into sandstone. Hole N" The Rock offers tours of the unusual dwelling along with shops, sculptures, vintage objects, and an animal attraction. Even the name looks like it belongs on an old roadside sign.
Vermont: World's Tallest Filing Cabinet
Burlington turned bureaucratic frustration into public art. The roughly 38-foot-tall sculpture is made from stacked filing cabinets and was inspired by the long-delayed Champlain Parkway project. It may be the world's most literal monument to paperwork.
brett Vachon from Montreal, canada, Wikimedia Commons
Virginia: Dinosaur Kingdom II
Virginia combines Civil War imagery with rampaging dinosaurs. Dinosaur Kingdom II presents intentionally absurd scenes involving historical figures and prehistoric creatures. Stonewall Jackson fighting a dinosaur tells you almost everything you need to know.
Katherine Bowman, Wikimedia Commons
Washington: Maryhill Stonehenge
A full-scale concrete Stonehenge replica overlooks the Columbia River in Washington. Samuel Hill built the monument as a memorial to local servicemen killed in World War I. Its unusual appearance hides a much more serious purpose.
West Virginia: Mothman Museum
Point Pleasant has fully embraced its most famous cryptid. The Mothman Museum contains memorabilia, archives, movie props, and exhibits tied to the legend. Outside, a 12-foot metallic Mothman statue with enormous wings waits for photos.
Wisconsin: House On The Rock
Calling this place a house barely explains it. The sprawling attraction near Spring Green contains bizarre rooms, huge collections, mechanical displays, an enormous carousel, and the cantilevered Infinity Room. The deeper you go, the stranger it gets.
bogdanstepniak, Wikimedia Commons
Wyoming: Smith Mansion
A bizarre wooden structure rises from a hillside near the road to Yellowstone. Lee Smith spent years adding rooms, balconies, staircases, and towers to the building in Wapiti Valley. Construction ended after his death in 1992, leaving behind one of Wyoming's strangest landmarks.
George Bannister from Woodville, MS, USA, Wikimedia Commons
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