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.
Leicester, VT
A roughly 19-foot concrete gorilla stands beside Route 7 while holding an old Volkswagen Beetle high above the ground. The absurd King Kong-inspired sculpture has become one of Vermont's most recognizable roadside giants.
Swanton, VT
Swans have been kept in the village park since the early 1960s, when the community's original pair arrived through an arrangement associated with Queen Elizabeth II. Today's birds are successors rather than the original royal pair, but the unusual local tradition continues.
Putney, VT
Opened in 1957, Santa's Land is a classic Christmas-themed roadside park filled with vintage storybook buildings, figures and holiday attractions. The property has gone through multiple closures and revivals, so visitors should verify the current 2026 operating schedule before making it a dedicated stop.
Colchester, VT
This cinema-themed motel sits beside the seasonal Sunset Drive-In and leans fully into old-school movie culture. The combination of themed rooms and a functioning outdoor theater makes it more than a standard roadside motel stop.
Rutland, VT
A full-size locomotive-like sculpture assembled from scrap metal and discarded industrial parts stands near Rutland's train station. Its deliberately mechanical, steampunk appearance makes the piece look like a fantasy engine built from the remains of real machinery.
Woodstock, VT
A tiny rustic chapel sits along the walking route at Sugarbush Farm, tucked among the woods and maple-sugaring landscape. The small structure adds an unexpected roadside miniature to a working Vermont farm that is open to visitors.
Bennington, VT
A monumental Abraham Lincoln stands outside the Bennington Museum in an unusually theatrical composition that also includes a small nude figure. Clyde du Vernet Hunt's sculpture, known as The American Spirit, has become locally famous for Lincoln's distinctive hat and imposing pose.
Westford, VT
Three enormous wooden middle fingers rise beside Route 128 as the product of a long-running local zoning dispute. The display sits on private property, but a roadside pull-off allows visitors to see the deliberately confrontational sculptures without entering the property.
Rutland, VT
Patrick Villiers Farrow's bronze sculpture shows a dog straining against an invisible leash attached to an old-style parking meter. The surreal downtown piece has been a Rutland landmark since the 1980s and now stands in Depot Park.
Lyndon Center, VT
A bronze pig fountain spits a stream of water from its mouth, giving the otherwise decorative animal its memorable local nickname. Dedicated in 1912, the sculpture is modeled on the famous Florentine Porcellino tradition.
Barre, VT
This 1924 war memorial includes a curved granite bench with an acoustic trick: a whisper at one end can be heard clearly at the other. The effect makes the solemn monument double as one of Barre's strangest interactive landmarks.
Fair Haven, VT
Fair Haven's marble industry left the town with several striking homes built or faced with the same stone that made the region famous. The unusual cluster gives ordinary residential architecture the appearance of small civic monuments; most buildings should be viewed from public streets.
Thetford, VT
This enormous dinosaur-like folk sculpture was assembled from scrap lumber near the Post Mills Airport. The roughly 122-foot-long creature became locally famous after a dispute over whether something this large counted as art or as a building requiring a permit.
Randolph, VT
Two enormous bronze whale tails rise from the landscape in Jim Sardonis's Whale Dance. The sculpture echoes the artist's better-known granite whale tails near Burlington while creating another deliberately oceanic landmark in landlocked Vermont.
Burlington, VT
Burlington artist Bren Alvarez created “File Under So. Co., Waiting for…” in 2002 from stacked filing cabinets as a joke about decades of paperwork surrounding the long-delayed Southern Connector highway. The sculpture was moved and revised in 2020 and now stands at an art park outside 208 Flynn Avenue, where visitors can view it freely from the public-facing site.
