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Giant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
Bemidji, MN
Bemidji’s Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues were built in 1937 for the city’s winter carnival and quickly became one of Minnesota’s defining roadside images. They remain beside Lake Bemidji near the visitor center, where travelers can walk up and photograph the historic pair for free.
Houston, TX
Jim Love created “Paul Bunyan Bouquet No. 2” in 1968, turning heavy industrial forms into a whimsical monumental bouquet. The sculpture is on the Rice University campus in Houston rather than West University Place, and travelers can see it as part of the university’s outdoor public-art collection.
Brainerd, MN
A giant talking Paul Bunyan has greeted generations of visitors at this old-school amusement park, with an equally enormous Babe nearby. The attraction preserves a distinctly mid-century form of Minnesota roadside tourism around rides, statues and folklore.
Muncie, IN
A roughly 25-foot Paul Bunyan-style fiberglass giant has stood in Muncie since the mid-twentieth-century roadside-advertising era. Originally connected to a lumber business, the figure later moved to the property near Kilgore Avenue and remains one of Indiana's classic Muffler Man survivors.
Cheshire, CT
A 26-foot fiberglass Paul Bunyan towers over West Johnson Avenue. When local height rules complicated his oversized axe, it was replaced with an American flag, allowing the classic Muffler Man to remain one of Connecticut's biggest roadside figures.
Atlanta, IL
Atlanta’s giant is the famous Bunyon Giant, an original fiberglass Muffler Man installed at Bunyon’s restaurant in Cicero when it opened in 1966. After the restaurant closed, the figure was moved to Atlanta in November 2003 and dedicated there in 2004; travelers now find him standing along the town’s Route 66 corridor holding a giant hot dog.
Bangor, ME
Bangor’s 31-foot Paul Bunyan has stood near Main Street since 1959 and represents the city’s claim to the legendary lumberjack. The giant fiberglass figure also fits neatly into Bangor’s larger Stephen King and folklore identity.
Portland, OR
A towering fiberglass Paul Bunyan has watched over Portland's Kenton neighborhood since 1959, a classic remnant of mid-century roadside promotion.
Durham, NH
The Paul Bunyan Tree was a famously massive old tree in the University of New Hampshire’s College Woods, estimated to be more than two centuries old rather than something “built.” Current map data identifies the individual tree as deceased, so a traveler should not expect to find the living giant that originally earned the nickname.
Ortonville, MN
Paul Bunyan’s “Boat-Anchor” is a 110-ton granite-and-iron monument dedicated in 1958 for Minnesota’s statehood centennial. It sits on a hilltop at the Big Stone County Historical Society Museum grounds in Ortonville, where travelers can view the enormous tongue-in-cheek Bunyan relic and the surrounding lake country.
York, ME
An enormous fiberglass Paul Bunyan head appears among the trees near the York River with the rest of the legendary lumberjack nowhere in sight. The head is associated with private land, so it should be viewed only from legitimate public access without entering the property.
Mona, UT
Paul Bunyan’s Woodpile is a natural geologic formation of columnar volcanic rock, not a man-made Bunyan prop. The “logs” formed roughly 30 million years ago, and travelers reach them on BLM land by driving about 3.5 miles on a dirt road and then hiking roughly one mile to the formation.
Arcadia, OK
A roadside sign commemorates Paul McCartney's low-key 2008 trip along Route 66 and his stop in Arcadia. The marker turns a brief celebrity road trip into a permanent piece of local highway lore.
La Pine, OR
The highest point on Newberry Volcano's caldera rim provides a dramatic view into the crater, over Paulina and East lakes, and across central Oregon.
Buena Vista, VA
Artist Mark Cline unveiled the 24-foot Paulverizer in 2013, transforming the familiar Muffler Man form into a giant science-fiction cyborg with a control pod and robotic details. It remains outside the Auto Recyclers property on Sycamore Avenue and can be appreciated as a roadside photo stop without interfering with the operating business.
Micanopy, FL
Wild bison and horses roam a vast sink-like prairie basin in central Florida.
Blaine, WA
A large white arch straddles the U.S.–Canada boundary as a monument to peaceful relations between the countries. The surrounding state park is public, but travelers should still respect all border and customs rules.
Asheville, NC
This community garden doubles as a dense found-object art environment filled with sculptures, paintings, reclaimed materials, and tributes to major figures in Black history. Food-growing spaces, art, neighborhood history, and environmental work are intentionally mixed together.
Bishopville, SC
Self-taught artist Pearl Fryar transformed rescued and discarded shrubs into hundreds of sweeping, abstract topiary sculptures across his three-acre yard. Fryar died in April 2026, but the nonprofit preserving his work continues to operate the garden as a free public attraction and living memorial.
St. Louis Park, MN
This slender 1899–1900 concrete cylinder was an engineering experiment that proved circular reinforced-concrete grain elevators could work. It became a prototype for a form that would eventually define grain-handling landscapes across North America; view the structure from lawful public areas.
Little Compton, RI
Peggotty is an eccentric thatched artist's studio designed to resemble an overturned boat and built by Rhode Island artist Sydney Burleigh in the early 1900s. The unusual structure was preserved and relocated to the Little Compton Historical Society's Wilbor House property. Museum access is seasonal.
Pelican Rapids, MN
Pelican Rapids built a concrete pelican on the river in the 1950s, creating a mascot that is far larger than any living bird. The riverside setting makes Pelican Pete more than a signboard curiosity and lets travelers walk right up to the landmark.
Pella, IA
Mechanical figures emerge from this downtown clock installation to perform short scenes connected with Pella's Dutch heritage. The moving characters make an ordinary streetscape suddenly behave like an oversized music box.
Gregg Township, PA
Penn's Cave is a limestone cavern explored almost entirely by boat, with tours traveling along an underground stream before emerging onto the property's lake. The attraction operates on a seasonal schedule and also includes wildlife and farm tours above ground.
