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.
Eminence, MO
A vivid blue spring flows beside the red Alley Mill, one of the most recognizable historic structures in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. The combination of karst hydrology and preserved milling machinery makes this a high-value OddWay stop.
North Myrtle Beach, SC
This reptile park at Barefoot Landing holds an enormous collection of alligators, crocodiles, snakes, lizards, and other unusual animals. Its residents have included exceptionally large crocodilians, making it a far stranger stop than a conventional small coastal zoo.
Raleigh, NC
A series of colorful poles along the greenway marks the heights reached by historic floods in Raleigh. A decoder beneath the bridge identifies the storms represented, turning destructive flood levels into a strange walk-through data visualization.
Fields, OR
A vast dry lakebed forms a nearly featureless playa beneath Steens Mountain; BLM warns never to drive onto wet or questionable surfaces because vehicles can become deeply stuck.
Dwight, IL
A beautifully restored 1930s gas station and visitor center preserves the look of early Route 66 automobile travel.
Amboy, CA
A nearly symmetrical cinder cone rises beside Route 66 above a broad black lava field and can be reached by a desert hiking trail.
Manning, SC
A bronze statue honors the famously literal-minded children’s-book character Amelia Bedelia and her creator, Peggy Parish, who was born in Manning. The sculpture turns misunderstandings like “dust the furniture” and “dress the chicken” into a permanent piece of hometown literary history.
Fort Kent, ME
A monument in Fort Kent marks the northern beginning of U.S. Route 1, the highway that runs from northern Maine to Key West, Florida. It is a clean geographic bookend stop for anyone traveling the far northern reaches of the state.
Eldon, IA
Grant Wood used this small Carpenter Gothic house as the architectural backdrop for American Gothic. Visitors can see the actual house, use costume props at the adjacent center and recreate one of America's most recognizable paintings.
Minneapolis, MN
The turreted Turnblad Mansion combines a lavish immigrant-era residence with a museum of Swedish and Swedish-American culture. Carved interiors, unusual fireplaces and the castlelike exterior make the building itself part of the OddWay draw.
Albany County, WY
A 60-foot granite pyramid stands alone near the former highest point of the original transcontinental railroad route.
Sedona, AZ
A 36-foot Buddhist stupa and prayer-wheel garden occupy a quiet red-rock setting in West Sedona. It is an active sacred space open to visitors, not a novelty attraction, and should be treated accordingly.
Big Pine, CA
Trails pass some of the oldest known individual trees on Earth, twisted bristlecone pines growing in stark white dolomite high above Owens Valley.
Brookline, NH
More than 100 large-scale sculptures are scattered through roughly 140 acres of wooded hiking trails on Potanipo Hill. The pieces appear unexpectedly among rocks, trees and former ski-area terrain, turning the mountain into an outdoor gallery that feels more like a scavenger hunt than a conventional museum. Trails are open daily from dawn to dusk.
Greeneville, TN
The preserved tailor shop where Andrew Johnson worked before entering politics sits within his National Historic Site. The tiny trade shop offers an unusually intimate physical link to a president whose later impeachment and Reconstruction politics remain deeply contested parts of U.S. history.
Old Fort, NC
Despite its name, this tall plume of water is not a natural geyser. The gravity-fed fountain was created as a railroad-era scenic feature and memorial, producing an unexpectedly dramatic jet of water against the mountain landscape when operating.
Brunswick, ME
Built in 1892 by John A. Roebling’s Sons, the company associated with the Brooklyn Bridge, this pedestrian suspension bridge crosses the Androscoggin River between Brunswick and Topsham. Locals call it the Swinging Bridge because the narrow span noticeably moves beneath walkers.
Mount Airy, NC
Mount Airy’s museum preserves one of the largest collections of Andy Griffith memorabilia, much of it donated by Griffith’s longtime friend Emmett Forrest. Costumes, props, personal items, and television artifacts connect the real North Carolina town with the fictional Mayberry it helped inspire.
Lake Geneva, WI
A bronze statue honors cartoon character Andy Gump and his creator Sidney Smith, who had strong ties to the Lake Geneva area. The public monument is a niche pilgrimage point for early newspaper-comic history.
Seligman, AZ
Angel Delgadillo's former barbershop became headquarters for the effort that helped establish Historic Route 66 in Arizona. The operating gift shop preserves memorabilia and the story of the people who helped revive the road after interstate bypasses nearly erased it.
Johns Island, SC
This enormous Southern live oak spreads massive limbs across more than 17,000 square feet of shade, with some branches resting on the ground before rising again. Estimates place it at several centuries old, and local folklore has also attached ghost stories to the tree. The City of Charleston operates the surrounding park with set visiting hours.
Bloomfield, NM
A pale sandstone pinnacle rises above eroded badlands filled with hoodoos, petrified wood and fossil-bearing layers. BLM warns that the unpaved access road can become impassable when wet and recommends high clearance.
Wauwatosa, WI
One of Frank Lloyd Wright's final designs reinterprets a Byzantine church through a low circular form and broad blue dome. The building remains an active place of worship, so visitors should use scheduled architectural opportunities or respectfully view the exterior.
Middlebury, VT
A granite monument on the Middlebury College campus promotes the eccentric dream of defeating or controlling gravity. It was connected with Roger Babson's Gravity Research Foundation, an organization that funded unconventional gravity research and placed similar monuments at colleges around the country.
