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Giant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
Lynchville, ME
At a rural Maine crossroads, a cluster of signs points toward nearby towns with names borrowed from places around the world, including Norway, Paris, Denmark, Sweden, and Mexico. The result looks like an international directional sign dropped into the Maine woods.
Long Beach, WA
Long Beach’s giant frying pan was commissioned by the local chamber of commerce and forged in 1941 for the town’s Razor Clam Festival. It has since been surpassed by larger pans elsewhere, but the 14-foot-long landmark remains a free downtown roadside photo stop and one of the classic oddities of the Washington coast.
Abilene, KS
A six-foot convex campaign button recreates the iconic 'I Like Ike' slogan at Little Ike Park. The oversized political object turns a 1950s presidential campaign symbol into a modern roadside photo stop.
Riverside, CA
Riverside’s giant concrete cup was built as advertising for the paper-cup factory that operated here under Lily-Tulip and later Sweetheart Cup; the adjacent plant produced cups from 1958 to 1997. The exact construction year of the monument is poorly documented, but the cup still stands behind a fence at the former industrial site and is best treated as a roadside photo stop.
Mebane, NC
A huge wooden reproduction of an M1911 pistol stands at Distinguished Pistol Outdoor Shooting Range. Built at roughly twelve times normal scale, the sculpture measures more than eight feet long and turns a familiar handgun silhouette into an oversized roadside object.
Boston, MA
The Museum of Science operates an enormous Van de Graaff generator capable of producing spectacular indoor lightning. Built around machinery created by Robert Van de Graaff, the towering apparatus is used in live electricity demonstrations rather than sitting silently behind glass.
Blairsville, GA
This oversized Amish-style chair was built in March 2013 outside Owltown Market south of Blairsville. It remains a free roadside photo stop beside the market, although visitors are asked not to climb or sit on the chair.
St. Louis, MO
A towering Amoco sign near Forest Park rises far above the surrounding streets, a survivor of an era when oversized petroleum advertising dominated American roadsides. The sign remains visible from public areas and works best as a quick exterior stop.
Winchester, VA
Winchester’s giant red apple began as a parade float for the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival before being permanently placed on the lawn of the historic Sheridan’s Headquarters property. The exact fabrication year is not clearly documented in current sources, but the apple has become a longstanding symbol of the region’s orchard industry and remains visible from the downtown street.
Frazeysburg, OH
Longaberger built this huge apple-filled basket at its Homestead property in 1999 as another supersized expression of the company’s basket-making identity. The commercial village later closed and the property became restricted; the basket was repainted in 2022 and is still visible, but travelers should remain on public/access roads and respect barriers and no-trespassing signs.
Birnamwood, WI
A huge badger statue towers beside the highway in Birnamwood, turning Wisconsin's state nickname into a literal roadside giant. The fiberglass figure is a simple but highly visible photo stop.
Cawker City, KS
This community-grown ball is in Cawker City, not Osborne. Farmer Frank Stoeber began rolling discarded sisal twine into a ball on Christmas Eve 1953, and the town later took over the tradition; visitors now find it beneath a roadside shelter and the community continues adding twine during special events.
Boys Town, NE
Millions of canceled postage stamps were assembled into a giant spherical mass at Boys Town. The object turns an ordinary collectible into a deliberately absurd oversized artifact and remains one of the Omaha area’s classic niche curiosities.
Darwin, MN
Francis A. Johnson spent decades winding sisal twine into a 17,400-pound ball, turning obsessive repetition into a famous roadside landmark. The ball is protected inside a glass gazebo, so it remains visible even when the adjacent museum is closed.
Louisville, KY
A 120-foot steel baseball bat leans against the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, modeled after a bat used by Babe Ruth. The enormous object weighs tens of thousands of pounds and functions as one of downtown Louisville's easiest-to-spot landmarks.
Dresden, OH
Dresden’s giant Longaberger Market Basket was built from hardwood maple and dedicated in 1980. Measuring 48 feet long, 11 feet wide and 23 feet high, it still stands at Fifth and Main streets as a free downtown photo stop tied to the town’s basket-making history.
Abilene, KS
A nearly 20-foot-wide steel belt buckle stands in Eisenhower Park and includes stairs that let visitors pose as if they are wearing it. The sculpture deliberately pushes Abilene's cattle-town identity into modern roadside-superlative territory.
Red Wing, MN
Red Wing displays an enormous leather work boot tied to the city's long shoemaking history. The giant footwear is indoors at the company's flagship location, giving travelers an unusual industrial-brand artifact rather than another fiberglass animal.
Bowie, TX
Bowie’s enormous steel knife was created as a civic landmark and earned Guinness recognition in April 2016. The 20-foot sculpture remains at the south entrance to town as a free roadside photo stop celebrating both the city name and the famous Bowie knife.
Baldwin, MI
Artist Ivan Iler built this roughly 25-foot metal trout to commemorate Baldwin's connection to the first recorded stocking of brown trout in American waters. Installed downtown in 2018, the fish was intentionally made large enough to surpass another giant brown trout sculpture in New Zealand.
Jamestown, ND
Jamestown’s 26-foot, 60-ton concrete buffalo was created by sculptor Elmer Petersen in 1959 and received the name Dakota Thunder in a public contest in 2010. It still overlooks the Frontier Village and is open year-round as a free-will-donation public attraction.
Crystal Lake, IA
The giant bullhead is actually in Crystal Lake, Iowa, not Forest City. Carl Frick and Rush Gabrilson built the 12-foot fish in 1958, and it was restored in 2007; today it sits by Crystal Lake as a free lakeside photo stop.
Franklin, KY
Franklin-Simpson High School welding students built the 24-foot "Cutting Edge of Simpson County" in 2021 after previously creating the town's giant fork. The rural sculpture park also contains other oversized student projects, including a space capsule and additional metal creations. Address: 4433 Blackjack Rd., Franklin, KY
Centerville, IN
Warm Glow Candle Company turned its headquarters into a roadside landmark with an enormous candle-shaped structure visible from Interstate 70. The oversized candle rises from the shop complex and gives travelers a straightforward stop built around one of Indiana's most conspicuous giant-object attractions.
