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.
Dublin, OH
This 12-foot stone portrait of Wyandot leader Leatherlips was created by artist Ralph Helmick and installed at Scioto Park in 1990 near the area traditionally associated with Leatherlips' 1810 execution. Visitors can walk into the limestone sculpture and look through it toward the Scioto River; the City of Dublin and Wyandotte Nation have also worked to correct a later, inaccurate "curse" legend attached to his name.
Madrid, IA
Pea's Creek cuts through steep sandstone ledges and a narrow canyon crossed by a low road that can flood after heavy rain. The cliff walls and shallow stream crossings create one of central Iowa's most unusual park landscapes.
Cross Village, MI
Polish immigrant Stanley Smolak built this eccentric stone-and-timber restaurant with driftwood, local rock and handmade decorations, then lined the roof with upside-down cast-iron stove legs that gave the inn its name. The heavily decorated interior adds taxidermy, carved wood and folk-art details to the already unusual building.
Baker, NV
An elaborate marble cave system beneath Great Basin National Park contains stalactites, shields, and rare cave formations; entry is by ranger-guided tour.
Honolulu, HI
The trail into and up the rim of this tuff cone passes through tunnels, stairways, and remnants of a former coastal defense complex before reaching the summit. Nonresident entry is reservation-controlled, and the military engineering is as important to the OddWay stop as the crater itself.
Lemmon, SD
Entire towers, arches, sculptures and structures were assembled from petrified wood, fossils and stone during the 1930s. The result is a city-block-sized landscape that looks somewhere between a geological garden and a fantasy ruin.
Seattle, WA
A large bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin, originally made for Czechoslovakia, stands privately owned in the middle of Fremont. Its relocation from the former Eastern Bloc to a Seattle shopping district makes the setting intentionally jarring.
Scarborough, ME
Lenny is a life-size moose made from about 1,700 pounds of milk chocolate and displayed inside Len Libby Candies. He is joined by other chocolate woodland figures in one of Maine’s strangest edible-looking roadside displays.
Woodbury, CT
Scrap metal, discarded machinery and automotive parts have been assembled into human figures outside Murray Brothers Garage. The homemade characters turn an ordinary repair-shop lot into a compact roadside sculpture garden.
Lewes, DE
This freestanding town clock is intentionally designed to look much older than it is. Installed in 2022 and funded by local donors, the roughly ten-foot landmark commemorates Lewes and its 1631 Dutch-settlement history while blending into the town’s centuries-old streetscape.
Whitehall, MT
A major limestone cave system filled with stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and winding passages. Cave entry is by guided tour during the operating season.
Mammoth Hot Springs, WY
A 37-foot dormant hot-spring cone whose shape reminded early visitors of the peaked caps associated with the French Revolution.
Washington, DC
Millions of physical catalog cards survive inside the Library of Congress as a monumental pre-digital information system; public access varies by area and tour.
Tallahassee, FL
Fairy-tale Tudor cottage, giant ancient live oak, gardens, and a labyrinth hidden beside a busy city road.
Richland, WA
The public center at the Hanford gravitational-wave observatory explains how kilometer-scale laser interferometers detect ripples in spacetime. Its location beside a working world-class physics instrument gives the stop unusual scientific scale.
Washington, DC
At Ford's Theatre Center for Education and Leadership, a spiraling tower of thousands of books symbolizes the enormous literature written about Abraham Lincoln.
East Hartford, CT
One of the pieces on the Hartford-area Lincoln Financial Sculpture Walk compresses major stages of Abraham Lincoln's life and career into a vertical sculptural column. It is part history lesson and part unconventional presidential monument.
Porter Township, PA
Lincoln Caverns and adjoining Whisper Rocks contain passageways filled with flowstone, crystals and other limestone formations discovered during road construction in the 1930s. Guided underground tours operate from the visitor center, with special black-light and themed programs offered on selected dates.
Albany County, WY
A gigantic bronze bust of Abraham Lincoln sits atop a 30-foot granite pedestal at the highest point of Interstate 80.
East Hartford, CT
A life-size young Abraham Lincoln sits on a boulder with his hand extended toward an empty neighboring rock, deliberately inviting visitors to sit beside him. The 2006 sculpture is one of the more interactive presidential monuments in Connecticut.
Marion, NC
North Carolina’s only show cave leads visitors through narrow underground passages filled with mineral formations, pools, bats, and trout living in total darkness. Tours have operated here since the 1930s.
Freeport, IL
A meticulously scaled neighborhood baseball field recreates Wrigley Field's ivy, scoreboard, rooftops, and marquee in miniature.
Collegedale, TN
Giant sculptures of Little Debbie snack cakes turn a public park into a playful monument to the brand headquartered nearby. Oversized oatmeal creme pies and other familiar treats make the park intentionally absurd without requiring a ticket.
Gold Butte, NV
Delicate red sandstone fins, arches, and improbable eroded shapes make this remote Gold Butte formation look almost sculpted; rough-road conditions can limit access.
