Roadside oddities34.1347° N, 116.3137° W
Joshua Tree, CA
This compact arts compound combines galleries, outdoor installations and eccentric desert artwork beside the World Famous Crochet Museum.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
Roadside oddities
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Roadside oddities2,517
Suggest a stopGiant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
- Roadside oddities32.5106° N, 93.7502° W
Shreveport, LA
A roughly twenty-foot spotted dog sculpture by artist William Joyce guards Central ARTSTATION, with its spots recognizing arts supporters. The outdoor work is visible from the public arts district even when the building is closed.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.3565° N, 71.0755° W
Boston, MA
The enormous head of Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler is assembled from dozens of stacked aluminum plates. From a distance the face looks solid, while closer views break it into thin shimmering slices, creating an unusually effective optical illusion along the Charles River Esplanade.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities40.6376° N, 74.1957° W
Elizabeth, NJ
This enormous railroad lift bridge raises its center span hundreds of feet to allow ships through the Arthur Kill between New Jersey and Staten Island. It remains an active piece of rail infrastructure and should only be viewed from legitimate public vantage points rather than approached on the tracks.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities44.6927° N, 110.7380° W
Yellowstone National Park, WY
A hillside thermal area of pastel mud pots, steaming vents and hot springs reached by a short trail and boardwalk.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities36.3637° N, 116.8024° W
Death Valley, CA
Oxidized minerals color a volcanic hillside in greens, pinks, yellows and purples along the one-way Artists Drive.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.4219° N, 98.1577° W
Royal, NE
A prehistoric volcanic ashfall buried and preserved entire herds of rhinoceroses, horses and other animals here. Visitors can look directly into an active excavation inside the Hubbard Rhino Barn, making the site one of Nebraska’s most exceptional fossil experiences.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities41.4601° N, 81.2994° W
Novelty, OH
ASM International's headquarters is covered by a huge open-air geodesic dome built in the late 1950s from an aluminum framework. The office building itself is not a general tourist attraction, but the landscaped Materials Park and exterior dome can be viewed during the property's posted public-ground hours.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities46.8890° N, 102.3200° W
Richardton, ND
Twin church towers rise over the prairie at this Benedictine monastery, creating one of western North Dakota's most unexpected architectural silhouettes. Visitors should respect worship, residential and monastic areas and follow posted access rules.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities46.1813° N, 123.8176° W
Astoria, OR
Climb the 1926 hilltop column whose exterior spiral mural wraps Pacific Northwest history around a 125-foot concrete tower; the observation deck gives a commanding Columbia River view.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities33.5018° N, 79.0677° W
Murrells Inlet, SC
Industrialist Archer Huntington and sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington built this sprawling Moorish-inspired winter residence in the 1930s. Its stark brick corridors, enclosed courtyards, ironwork, studios, and strange floor plan feel more like an abandoned Mediterranean fortress than a South Carolina beach house.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities33.8416° N, 84.3860° W
Atlanta, GA
The enormous circular painting depicting the Battle of Atlanta is displayed in a purpose-built gallery at the Atlanta History Center. The work wraps around the viewer and survives as both a Civil War artifact and an example of the once-popular panoramic entertainment format.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities33.5592° N, 81.7221° W
Aiken, SC
Aiken’s long relationship with the nearby Savannah River Site inspired this unusual piece of public art made to resemble a radioactive-waste shipping container. The sculpture turns one of the region’s most consequential industries into an unexpectedly playful downtown object.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities37.7884° N, 122.4242° W
San Francisco, CA
A purpose-built dark theater surrounds listeners with sound moving through more than a hundred speakers, creating a concert experience centered on spatial audio rather than sight.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities34.7567° N, 112.1173° W
Jerome, AZ
A glass-covered shaft lets visitors look straight down into the 1,900-foot Audrey mine shaft beside massive surviving headframe machinery. Railings and a protected viewing area turn an otherwise dangerous mine feature into a controlled public stop.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities39.8812° N, 84.2708° W
Dayton, OH
Artist Thomas Dambo created three enormous trolls named Bo, Bodil and Bibbi from reclaimed wood for Aullwood Audubon, turning the preserve into a giant-creature scavenger hunt. The trolls remain on the nature trails even though the original giant nest was removed in 2025; admission is required and reaching all of them involves roughly one to two miles of walking.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities65.0539° N, 146.0598° W
Chena Hot Springs, AK
A year-round ice environment contains carved rooms, sculptures and an ice bar kept below freezing even in summer. The attraction uses roughly a thousand tons of local ice, producing a surreal frozen interior beside a hot-springs resort.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities30.2667° N, 97.7686° W
Austin, TX
One of Austin's surviving 19th-century moonlight towers, an obsolete citywide lighting technology preserved as a distinctive part of the urban landscape.
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- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities34.1754° N, 86.8165° W
Cullman, AL
Brother Joseph Zoettl spent decades building a miniature world of shrines, churches, temples and imaginary structures from stone, concrete, shells and discarded materials. More than a hundred miniature buildings fill the landscaped hillside at St. Bernard Abbey.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.7348° N, 105.6111° W
Converse County, WY
LaPrele Creek passes beneath a naturally eroded rock arch in a small county park hidden below the surrounding plains.
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- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities42.2977° N, 71.2641° W
Wellesley, MA
A 28-foot rotating globe weighing roughly 25 tons dominates the Babson College campus. Built at the direction of eccentric businessman Roger Babson, the enormous sphere was designed as an educational model of the world and remains one of the largest rotating globes ever constructed.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities36.3812° N, 94.2044° W
Bentonville, AR
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House was dismantled in New Jersey and rebuilt on the Crystal Bridges grounds in Arkansas. It is a rare chance to walk around a relocated Wright Usonian house.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.5965° N, 91.5589° W
Dundee, IA
Iowa's oldest state park is centered on a narrow ridge of exposed dolomite known as the Devil's Backbone. Trails pass cliffs, caves, forest and stone structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities36.4391° N, 82.2311° W
Bluff City, TN
A backyard in northeast Tennessee evolved into a homemade dinosaur park filled with large creature sculptures and prehistoric scenes. The hand-built quality makes it feel closer to outsider art than a polished theme park; check current visitor hours before making the detour.
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- Seasonal or ticketed