Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.
Giant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
Paducah, KY
Artist Michael Terra created a 22-foot chrome-plated needle with a bright red thread extending dozens of feet through the ground. Formally titled E Pluribus Unum, the sculpture celebrates Paducah's internationally known quilting culture with an appropriately enormous sewing tool. Address: 533 N. 5th St., Paducah, KY
Ashland, KY
Two roughly 30-foot bronze figures of the Roman deities Vulcan and Venus stand along the Ohio River beside an even taller abstract sculpture called Genesis. Installed at Riverfront Park in 2019, the enormous figures turn Ashland's public riverfront into a surprisingly monumental art stop.
Clermont, KY
Artist Bill Secunda unveiled this 27-foot metal reinterpretation of the Tin Woodsman at Bernheim Forest in 2025. Rather than carrying his ax as a weapon, the giant figure embraces the forest, turning the familiar Wizard of Oz character into a towering environmental sculpture at the Jackson-Yoe trailhead.
Horse Cave, KY
Hidden River Cave opens directly beneath downtown Horse Cave and was once badly polluted before becoming a major cave-restoration success story. Visitors can descend beneath Main Street for guided cave tours and visit the American Cave Museum above the entrance.
Frankfort, KY
Dedicated in 1961 behind the Kentucky State Capitol, this functioning clock uses a massive planted face that changes with seasonal flowers. The mechanism moves oversized hands across the living display while coins tossed into the pool below help support horticultural scholarships.
Munfordville, KY
Chester Fryer hauled huge rocks from the surrounding area to create his own interpretation of Stonehenge beside his Munfordville home. The property also includes other rock installations such as Earth Mysteries and the Garden of Gethsemane, with designated visitor parking.
Beaver Dam, KY
Folk artist Donald Bray created a full Last Supper scene from concrete along with additional homemade sculpture and mural work on his rural property. The installation is visible beside Rochester Road, but there is little parking and the art is on private land, so OddWay visitors should remain roadside unless invited closer.
Bowling Green, KY
Lost River Cave carries visitors by boat into an underground river system beneath Bowling Green. The site also has a strange human history involving mills, Civil War activity and an underground nightclub that once operated inside the cave entrance.
Louisville, KY
A former limestone mine beneath Louisville was expanded into an enormous man-made underground space stretching beneath part of the city. The cavern has been used for storage and civil-defense planning and now hosts commercial underground attractions and tours.
Mammoth Cave, KY
Mammoth Cave National Park protects the longest known cave system on Earth, with hundreds of miles of surveyed passages beneath central Kentucky. Ranger-led tours range from enormous historic corridors to tight stair-filled cave routes, while the park above ground remains open without an entrance fee.
Crestview Hills, KY
Two Benedictine monks built this tiny fieldstone chapel in the late nineteenth century, and Ripley's Believe It or Not later promoted it as an exceptionally small church. The entire building was moved to what is now Thomas More University, where it sits beside a pond near the campus entrance.
Hazard, KY
George Stacy built this circular stone home beneath the enormous body of a goose beginning in the 1930s. The bird's eyes were made from automobile headlights and still illuminate, but the structure remains a private residence and should only be admired from the public roadside.
Stanton, KY
This narrow, unlit tunnel was blasted through solid rock in the early twentieth century for a logging railroad before being converted into a one-lane automobile road. Now known as the Gateway to Red River Gorge, it is just wide enough for a single vehicle and still carries normal traffic through the mountain.
Mount Vernon, KY
A bronze banjo player at Renfro Valley honors Manuel Dewey Clark Jr., who performed the comic old-time character "Old Joe Clark" for decades. The statue freezes the entertainer in mid-performance beside the historic Barn Dance complex.
Guthrie, KY
A bright pink fiberglass elephant stands with its trunk raised outside a roadside gas-station property on Dixie Beeline Highway. The statue has been repainted several shades of pink over the years and was still being photographed in 2026.
Falmouth, KY
Beginning in 2003, Charles "Punky" Beckett built a miniature nostalgic town beside his home using vintage signs, tools and salvaged material. The personal folk-art environment includes a gas station, jail, church, bank and water tower; because it shares private residential property, visitors should arrange access or remain respectful from the roadside.
Rabbit Hash, KY
Tiny Rabbit Hash is famous for ceremonially electing dogs as mayors, turning a historic Ohio River community into one of Kentucky's strangest civic traditions. Its nineteenth-century general store remains the center of town after being rebuilt following a devastating 2016 fire.
Covington, KY
Artist Jonathan Queen reimagined Colonel Sanders as a roughly 20-foot futuristic Japanese-style warrior on the exterior of Earth To Kentucky. The mural is based on a physical Shogun Sanders figure displayed inside the collectible shop, giving Kentucky's most famous colonel a deliberately bizarre pop-culture makeover.
Dunmor, KY
Lake Malone State Park is home to a growing family of enormous wooden characters known as the Big Twigs. The 10-to-17-foot sculptures are scattered around park trails and recreation areas in scenes involving fishing, camping, reading and wildlife.
Versailles, KY
A full-scale modern castle rises unexpectedly above the horse farms along US 60 outside Lexington. Construction began decades ago, the property sat unfinished for years and later suffered a major fire before being transformed into an operating hotel, restaurant and event destination.
Cynthiana, KY
Cynthiana native Tony Moore co-created The Walking Dead comic, giving the small Kentucky town a direct connection to the franchise. Portuguese artist Sergio Odeith painted an enormous 3D-style undead mural beside Rohs Opera House in 2016, turning downtown into a destination for comic and horror fans.
Bardwell, KY
A miniature white church stands in Bardwell City Park between downtown and the railroad tracks, accompanied by an equally tiny lighthouse. The little structure is one of Kentucky's classic miniature roadside churches and can be visited from the public park.
Middlesboro, KY
A marker atop Tri-State Peak identifies the meeting point of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. Visitors reach it by trail from Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, allowing them to stand at the junction of three states on the same hike.
Berea, KY
Berea's 2003 Show of Hands public-art project scattered a dozen roughly six-foot fiberglass hands around town, each decorated differently by an artist. Several still survive in the Old Town area, and the visitor center at 3 Artist Circle is the best starting point for finding them.
