Roadside oddities36.2300° N, 116.7678° W
Death Valley, CA
A roadside boardwalk reaches salt flats at the lowest land elevation in North America, 282 feet below sea level.
- Access
- Open to visitors
Roadside oddities
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Roadside oddities2,517
Suggest a stopGiant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
- Roadside oddities42.0744° N, 87.6844° W
Wilmette, IL
One of only a handful of continental Bahá'í temples worldwide, with an elaborate white dome covered in intricate symbols and lace-like ornament.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities43.7489° N, 69.9889° W
Harpswell, ME
This unusual bridge is built from massive granite blocks stacked in an open crib-like pattern instead of a conventional solid foundation. Gaps between the stones allow tides to flow through while the heavy granite keeps the structure anchored between Bailey and Orr’s islands.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities43.4112° N, 89.7243° W
Baraboo, WI
A large quartzite boulder appears to balance precariously atop a narrower pedestal on the East Bluff above Devil's Lake. The rock is reached by a steep trail and has been a landmark for generations of park visitors.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities29.2528° N, 103.2681° W
Big Bend National Park, TX
A huge boulder improbably wedged between rock towers at the end of the Grapevine Hills Trail.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities38.7013° N, 109.5656° W
Moab, UT
A huge sandstone boulder appears precariously balanced on a narrow pedestal beside the Arches scenic road. A short loop trail circles the formation.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.5745° N, 115.0896° W
Castleford, ID
A huge rhyolite boulder balanced on a narrow pedestal in the Salmon Falls Creek canyon country. Use the established county recreation area and trail rather than scrambling on the formation.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities37.5519° N, 89.3464° W
Alto Pass, IL
A 111-foot white cross crowns a high point above the Shawnee hills, creating a stark landmark visible across much of southern Illinois.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities30.3316° N, 87.5672° W
Elberta, AL
Artist Mark Cline created a full-size fiberglass Stonehenge replica hidden in the woods near Barber Marina. The stones are arranged to echo the English monument, producing an intentionally surreal roadside destination on the Gulf Coast.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.2755° N, 71.8173° W
Worcester, MA
A 56-foot miniature feudal castle rises from Salisbury Park as a memorial to historian and U.S. Navy secretary George Bancroft. The stone folly contains small rooms and battlements but was built mainly as an elaborate decorative monument; the grounds are normally open even when the tower interior is locked.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.2777° N, 83.7354° W
Ann Arbor, MI
A massive specimen of banded iron formation sits outdoors on the University of Michigan campus as a physical remnant of Earth's ancient oxygenation history. The alternating iron-rich layers formed billions of years ago and create an unusually deep-time roadside geology stop in the middle of campus.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.3078° N, 86.1217° W
Bangor, MI
A vintage giant fiberglass Viking serves as a mascot at Bangor High School, adapting the classic roadside Muffler Man form into school spirit. Because the figure is on school property near athletic facilities, travelers should view it only from publicly accessible areas and avoid entering restricted grounds.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities38.9109° N, 77.0341° W
Washington, DC
An ever-changing front-yard installation stages dolls in elaborate seasonal scenes that have become a neighborhood landmark.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities38.8913° N, 77.0299° W
Washington, DC
Horatio Greenough's seated George Washington depicts the first president in a toga-like classical pose that startled 19th-century viewers.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities33.2436° N, 81.3648° W
Barnwell, SC
A freestanding vertical sundial erected in the 1800s still occupies a traffic circle in downtown Barnwell. Its highly visible location and uncommon design turn an old timekeeping device into the town’s defining roadside monument.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities35.0541° N, 80.9576° W
Fort Mill, SC
Fort Mill’s water tower is painted to resemble an enormous baseball, complete with curved red stitching visible across the white tank. It turns ordinary municipal infrastructure into a giant sports object hanging over town.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities38.9335° N, 77.0007° W
Washington, DC
The enormous basilica contains dozens of chapels, domes, mosaics, crypt-level spaces, and stylistic variations under one roof.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities35.1555° N, 90.0520° W
Memphis, TN
A gigantic stainless-steel pyramid originally built as an arena now contains a vast outdoor-retail complex, hotel, swamp-like interior and elevated observation deck. The sheer mismatch between ancient-Egypt-inspired architecture and its current use makes it peak OddWay.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities42.0755° N, 113.7222° W
Almo, ID
Massive rounded granite monolith named for a weathered basin near its summit. It is a distinct named City of Rocks landmark with established nearby parking and trails.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities43.9115° N, 69.8124° W
Bath, ME
An authentic Japanese torii gate stands unexpectedly on Bath’s waterfront as a symbol of the city’s relationship with Tsugaru, Japan. The connection grew from the 1889 rescue of shipwrecked American sailors from a Bath-built vessel off the Japanese coast.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities29.6389° N, 82.3822° W
Gainesville, FL
Small lakeside chapel with dramatic gothic-like windows and an unusually secluded atmosphere.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities34.5556° N, 92.5211° W
Bauxite, AR
A miner-family monument pays tribute to the workers and families who built Bauxite around the aluminum ore industry. It is a compact roadside marker for one of Arkansas’s strangest company-town histories.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities37.0259° N, 94.7348° W
Baxter Springs, KS
A restored cottage-style Phillips 66 station now serves as a Route 66 visitor center. The tiny station preserves the look of early automobile travel on the Kansas segment of the Mother Road.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities38.9615° N, 89.7637° W
Livingston, IL
A towering fiberglass beach-guy Muffler Man joins the mall's collection of giant animals and Route 66 photo props.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry