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.
Springfield, OH
Ben Hartman began building this elaborate folk-art garden in 1932 after losing his job during the Great Depression. Miniature castles, cathedrals, historical scenes and hundreds of figures made from concrete, stone, glass and other materials fill the yard, which is preserved as a free public attraction from dawn to dusk.
Boston, MA
Painted marks across Harvard Bridge measure its length in 'smoots,' a unit created in 1958 by repeatedly laying MIT pledge Oliver Smoot end to end. The final measurement — 364.4 smoots plus one ear — became a lasting engineering-school joke.
Cleveland, OH
The Haserot family memorial in Lake View Cemetery features a life-sized bronze angel created by sculptor Herman Matzen in 1919. Weathering has produced dark streaks beneath its eyes that make the figure appear to cry black tears, earning it the nickname Angel of Death; visitors can see it in Section 9 during cemetery hours.
Seattle, WA
A giant cowboy hat and pair of boots survive from a 1950s Western-themed gas station. The rescued fiberglass structures now stand in a public park as monuments to novelty roadside architecture.
Hattiesburg, MS
A miniature outdoor museum hidden in a downtown alley, filled with rotating tiny exhibits, miniature scenes and public art. The alley is designed to be discovered on foot and is accessible without entering a conventional museum building.
Honolulu, HI
Hawaiʻi's capitol rejects the usual domed statehouse design: its open-air atrium evokes a volcanic crater, cone-shaped legislative chambers represent volcanoes, and a surrounding pool symbolizes the Pacific. The building's symbolic architecture is unusually literal and island-specific.
Sibley, IA
Iowa's highest natural point sits in an otherwise gently rolling agricultural landscape and is marked with signs, displays and a viewing area. The understated setting makes the state's summit an amusing contrast to more dramatic high points elsewhere.
Belfast, ME
A life-size elephant named Hawthorne II has stood above the Colonial Theatre since 1997, staring down over downtown Belfast from the roof and marquee area. The elephant originally came from Perry’s Nut House and became one of the theater’s most recognizable eccentric features.
Macon, GA
An elaborate Italian Renaissance Revival mansion rises above downtown Macon with a cupola, curved staircase and unusually sophisticated nineteenth-century mechanical systems. Its scale and ornate interior earned it the nickname 'Palace of the South.'
Knoxville, TN
A statue of Tennessee's first governor acquired a strange visual reputation because its composition and viewing angle can make the figure appear headless from certain positions. The effect turns an otherwise formal civic monument into a small downtown visual oddity.
San Simeon, CA
William Randolph Hearst's hilltop estate combines European art, ancient objects, theatrical interiors and extravagant pools in a surreal Central Coast setting.
Park County, WY
An isolated mountain formed from a gigantic prehistoric landslide block, a classic geologic puzzle rising above the Bighorn Basin.
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.
Faith, SD
Sculptor John Lopez assembled this enormous Tyrannosaurus rex from scrap metal in the town near where the famous fossil Sue was discovered. The sculpture turns one of South Dakota's most consequential paleontological stories into a permanent piece of industrial-looking roadside art.
Tishomingo, OK
A large wooden waterwheel built in 2015 has become a downtown Tishomingo photo landmark. It has also appeared in country-music media, giving the otherwise decorative structure a small pop-culture afterlife.
Fort Peck, MT
A remote park on Fort Peck Lake surrounded by the Hell Creek Formation, the same fossil-rich rocks that have produced famous dinosaurs from the final age of the Cretaceous.
Hell, MI
The tiny community of Hell has fully embraced its name with the Gates of Hell, a tiny post office that singes mail, Damnation University diplomas, novelty mayor-for-a-day appointments and appropriately infernal souvenirs. Screams Souvenirs serves as the easiest routable center of the attraction.
Natrona County, WY
A maze of eroded badlands, ravines and spires beside US 20/26 whose name matches its harsh, otherworldly appearance.
Blackfoot, ID
BLM trail access into a stark basalt field created by relatively young lava flows. The mapped point is an official trailhead, keeping travelers away from unmarked lava-tube entrances and fragile terrain.
Blackfoot, ID
Longer BLM access point into the Hell's Half Acre lava landscape for travelers wanting a more substantial volcanic stop. Carry water and follow marked routes; the terrain is sharp and exposed.
Salem, MA
A Salem yard is crowded with creatures assembled from discarded metal, tools and machine parts. The handmade figures sit near the ferry route and turn a residential property into an evolving outsider-art menagerie. View respectfully from public space unless invited closer.
Newport, NY
Visitors break apart exposed dolostone to search for naturally double-terminated quartz crystals known as Herkimer diamonds, which formed roughly 500 million years ago. The fee-dig surface mine operates seasonally and provides basic tools and instruction, with anything found by visitors theirs to keep.
Colorado Springs, CO
A 48-times-scale Hercules beetle named Herkimer has marked the Highway 115 turn for the May Museum since the 1950s. Restored in 2022, it is a legitimate giant roadside landmark rather than a temporary promotional prop.
New Ulm, MN
A huge copper figure of Hermann the Cheruscan stands above New Ulm on a stone monument built by German-American fraternal groups. Seasonal tower access lets visitors climb beneath the statue while the grounds remain a striking exterior stop.
