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.
Kokomo, IN
Highland Park preserves two major Kokomo oddities under neighboring shelters: Old Ben, a famously enormous steer born in 1902 and preserved by taxidermy after his death, and the huge stump of an ancient sycamore. Combining them into one stop avoids sending travelers to duplicate coordinates while preserving both pieces of Kokomo roadside history.
Durham, NC
The Museum of Life and Science preserves a vintage concrete dinosaur from an earlier era of roadside science attractions alongside a modern dinosaur trail. The surviving old Brontosaurus is especially appealing because it looks more like a mid-century monster than a scientifically current reconstruction. Museum: https://www.lifeandscience.org/visit/
White, GA
A sprawling forest filled with thousands of old vehicles slowly being reclaimed by vines, pine needles and trees. What began as a salvage yard became a walk-through automotive time capsule where rusting cars and wooded trails have effectively merged into one giant outdoor installation.
Yellowstone National Park, WY
Yellowstone's best-known cone geyser, famous for frequent, comparatively predictable eruptions from the Upper Geyser Basin.
Mount Vernon, KY
A bronze banjo player at Renfro Valley honors Manuel Dewey Clark Jr., who performed the comic old-time character "Old Joe Clark" for decades. The statue freezes the entertainer in mid-performance beside the historic Barn Dance complex.
Baton Rouge, LA
Louisiana's Gothic Revival former capitol looks more like a castle than a conventional government building. It now operates as a political-history museum with an especially theatrical interior.
Washington, DC
A National Park Service observation tower rises above the Old Post Office and contains the Bells of Congress, with free elevated views over central Washington.
Riverton, KS
The 1925 general store has served generations of travelers and remains one of the most authentic operating businesses on Kansas Route 66. Its groceries, deli, old building fabric, and road history give it more substance than a recreated nostalgia stop.
Winston-Salem, NC
A giant metal coffee pot has been a Winston-Salem landmark since the 1800s. Originally built as advertising for a tinsmith business, the oversized pot survived relocation and generations of local folklore to become one of the city’s oldest roadside oddities.
St. Augustine, FL
Ancient live oak estimated to be several centuries old near St. Augustine's historic mission grounds.
Eastport, ME
Powerful tides in the waters between Eastport and Deer Island create Old Sow, generally regarded as the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere. It can sometimes be seen from shore, but boat tours provide closer views when tides and conditions cooperate.
Woodland Hills, CA
Concrete frontier figures made by motel owner John Ehn were relocated to Pierce College, preserving a bizarre homemade vision of the Old West.
Fredericksburg, TX
An abandoned railroad tunnel now shelters millions of Mexican free-tailed bats and cave myotis, producing huge seasonal evening emergences.
Perry, ME
An old granite marker beside the road commemorates the halfway point between the Equator and North Pole. Modern surveying places the exact 45th parallel a short distance away, making the historic marker both a geographic landmark and a surveying curiosity.
Santa Fe, NM
This small adobe in the Barrio de Analco is traditionally promoted as one of the oldest surviving houses in the United States, with building fabric layered over an even older settlement landscape. The museum preserves that complicated architectural story.
Paxton, NE
This longtime roadside restaurant is filled with mounted animals collected during decades of hunting trips, turning a meal into a walk through an old-school trophy room. The dense taxidermy makes it visually unlike a typical Nebraska steakhouse.
Baton Rouge, LA
This unusual downtown sculpture honors Oliver Pollock, a merchant credited with helping popularize the dollar sign in American financial correspondence. It is a small public-art stop with an unexpectedly large connection to everyday symbolism.
Springfield, MA
A 15-foot wooden head carved by Peter Wolf Toth stands at the Route 5 entrance to Forest Park. It belongs to Toth's nationwide 'Whispering Giants' series and is dedicated to Indigenous peoples of the Pioneer Valley.
Onaway, MI
A roughly 30-foot steering wheel towers beside the road in Onaway as a tribute to the city's history manufacturing wooden automobile steering wheels. Built by local metal artist Tom Moran, the sculpture turns a forgotten piece of Michigan automotive history into an oversized visual pun.
Garberville, CA
A single enormous redwood log was hollowed into a compact mobile home, exhibited around the country and eventually parked permanently beside U.S. 101.
Texola, OK
A tiny concrete jail survives in nearly vanished Texola near the Texas line. The single-room lockup and sparse surroundings give the stop the feel of a forgotten fragment of an older Route 66 town.
Liberty, ME
This tiny eight-sided building began as a harness shop in 1870 and later served as Liberty’s post office. The town promotes it as the only octagonal post-office building in the United States; it now operates as a small historical museum with limited summer access.
Leasburg, MO
Onondaga Cave contains a dense concentration of stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone and large rooms beneath its namesake state park. Missouri State Parks offers scheduled guided tours during the 2026 cave season.
Stillwater, OK
A towering handmade interpretation of Optimus Prime stands beside a Stillwater business. The metal robot turns Transformers fandom into large-scale roadside sculpture.
