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.
Bealeton, VA
An enormous fiberglass roller skate has stood outside the former skating-rink property since the roller-disco era of the 1980s. The weathered oversized shoe remains visible from the public-facing commercial area and is best treated as a quick roadside photo stop.
Rapid City, SD
Visitors drive through large enclosures containing black bears and other North American wildlife before reaching a walk-through area. The concentration of free-roaming bears visible from inside a vehicle makes the attraction one of the Black Hills' stranger roadside experiences.
Bear Grass, NC
A large concrete bear with conspicuous fangs stands at Bear Grass Charter School as an unusually aggressive version of the community mascot. Sculptor Henry C. Cowan created the figure decades ago, and it remains visible from legitimate public approaches; avoid entering school grounds unnecessarily during class hours.
Eastport, ME
A cliff and rock profile across the water resembles the head of a bear when viewed from the right angle. This coordinate is a practical public viewing area on the Eastport waterfront rather than a claim that the pin sits directly on the rock formation itself.
Burbank, CA
Taxidermy, medical ephemera, strange antiques and curiosities fill this long-running Burbank oddities shop.
Beaver Meadows, PA
Dragons, dinosaurs, owls and other monsters made from concrete, scrap metal and old vehicle parts line Route 93 north of Beaver Meadows. The sculptures were created by Joseph J. Woitko and sit on private land, so they should be viewed from the road without wandering onto the property.
Beaver, AR
The one-lane Beaver Bridge spans the White River on an unusually narrow suspension deck. Nicknamed the Little Golden Gate Bridge, it has become one of the Ozarks’ most recognizable quirky road crossings.
Bedford Township, PA
Bert Koontz built this 18-foot coffee-pot-shaped building in 1927 to lure Lincoln Highway motorists into his adjacent service station and lunch business. Saved from demolition, it was moved to the Bedford County Fairgrounds and restored in 2003–04; the exterior and historical marker are always the attraction, while the interior has no dependable regular public hours.
Cottageville, SC
What began around honey-bee education has grown into an interactive rural zoo with lemurs, monkeys, giraffes, kangaroos, reptiles, farm animals, and other species. Feeding opportunities and safari-style rides make it more hands-on than a conventional roadside animal park.
Yellowstone National Park, WY
A narrow cone geyser near Old Faithful known for forceful eruptions and a small indicator vent that may precede activity.
Houston, TX
A small home covered in flattened beer cans, pull tabs, metal curtains and other aluminum decorations created over decades by John Milkovisch.
Whittier, AK
A huge Cold War-era apartment building houses a large share of Whittier's population along with community services. The concentration of daily town life inside one structure has made the building central to Whittier's reputation as an unusually vertical Alaska community.
Tuscumbia, AL
This early nineteenth-century house is one of Alabama’s most important examples of Jeffersonian or Palladian-influenced architecture. The restored mansion is operated as a historic site with limited public hours and special events.
Mount Carmel Junction, UT
An old drainage tunnel under Highway 89 has eroded into rippled sandstone walls, creating a passage that looks organic and cave-like despite being man-made. Flash-flood conditions can make the tunnel dangerous.
Waterbury, VT
Behind Ben & Jerry's Waterbury factory, faux headstones memorialize discontinued ice-cream flavors with names, dates and rhyming epitaphs. The hillside cemetery turns failed and retired products into one of Vermont's most recognizable corporate oddities.
Sparta, WI
Sparta's giant cyclist celebrates the town's long connection to bicycle manufacturing and its identity as the Bicycling Capital of America. The oversized figure stands downtown as an easy public photo stop.
Washington, DC
The exterior of Ben's Chili Bowl carries a large mural honoring prominent Black cultural figures, turning a restaurant wall into a public-art destination.
Spokane, WA
A second 1930s Benewah Dairy building uses the same giant milk-bottle form on Cedar Street. It survives as a National Register-listed example of literal advertising architecture; view respectfully from lawful public areas.
Lebanon, MO
A natural rock tunnel along a Bennett Spring State Park trail creates a compact cave-like passage through the Ozark limestone. It is a good surface-geology stop for travelers who do not want a scheduled commercial cave tour.
Put-in-Bay, OH
The forward section of the 1924 lake freighter Benson Ford was removed from the ship and placed on a South Bass Island bluff in 1986, creating a private residence that looks like a ship sailing through the trees. The house is not normally open to the public except for occasional announced charity tours, so view it only from legal public areas and do not enter the property.
Bentonsport, IA
This nineteenth-century iron truss bridge now carries pedestrians across the Des Moines River between Bentonsport and Vernon. Its skeletal metal framework creates a strong visual centerpiece for the historic village.
Butte, MT
A viewing platform over the enormous former open-pit copper mine now filled with acidic, metal-laden water—one of Butte’s starkest industrial landmarks.
Berne, IN
Berne built its 160-foot clock tower in 2010 as an elaborate tribute to the Zytglogge in Bern, Switzerland and the town's Swiss heritage. The public Muensterberg Plaza also stages a mechanical glockenspiel presentation several times a day, complete with large moving figures.
Mount Berry, GA
A massive wooden overshot waterwheel dominates the old mill complex on Berry College's mountain campus. The wheel is frequently cited as one of the world's largest of its type, giving an otherwise pastoral campus a surprisingly oversized piece of machinery.
