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.
Minneapolis, MN
A former church now houses a museum focused on Russian and Soviet-era art, an unusually specialized collection for the Upper Midwest. Rotating exhibitions can range from icons and folk art to Soviet realism and contemporary work.
Somerville, MA
A shop devoted almost entirely to fungi sells unusual edible mushrooms, cultivation kits, tinctures, books and mushroom-themed objects. It functions as a small mycological gallery and community hub for people fascinated by the hidden world of fungi.
Ansted, WV
Guided tours through a tilted building where a ball rolls uphill and standing straight feels wrong, run since 1973 beside Route 60 with a Volkswagen Beetle embedded in the wall. Fifteen or twenty minutes, seasonal hours, no cameras inside, and entirely committed to the bit.
Nashville, TN
A towering former industrial silo is covered by a monumental mural, turning a remnant of Nashville's working landscape into a neighborhood landmark. Its scale is difficult to appreciate until standing beneath it.
New York, NY
Walter De Maria filled a second-floor SoHo loft with roughly 250 cubic yards of earth in 1977, turning an ordinary interior into a permanent room of dark soil. Dia Art Foundation maintains the installation and allows visitors to see it for free during posted weekly hours.
Asheville, NC
Taxidermy, animal skulls, jarred creatures, dolls’ heads, unusual memorabilia, and a 17th-century bezoar are integrated directly into the decor of this Asheville bar and performance space. It feels closer to an oddities cabinet crossed with a music venue than a normal neighborhood bar.
Cape Elizabeth, ME
A coastal rock formation creates the profile of an old man’s face when seen from the correct angle along Shore Road. The naturally occurring silhouette has been compared to New Hampshire’s lost Old Man of the Mountain, though it is much easier to miss.
Swayzee, IN
Swayzee proudly advertises itself as the "Only Swayzee in the World," a slogan tied to a local story that a wartime postcard addressed only to "Swayzee" still reached its destination. The claim appears on town signage and has become the tiny community's defining roadside identity.
Houston, TX
A handmade architectural environment of mosaics, found objects, walkways and folk-art structures built by postal worker Jeff McKissack in praise of the orange.
Rockport, MA
Mechanical engineer Elis Stenman built a summer house using layers of newspaper, glue and varnish instead of conventional wall material. He then continued the experiment by constructing newspaper furniture, including a desk, chairs and a piano covering. The seasonal attraction still operates on an old-fashioned honor system.
Nashville, TN
Nashville built a full-scale replica of the ancient Parthenon for the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition and later rebuilt it permanently in concrete. Inside stands a colossal Athena statue, making the structure one of the country's most improbable pieces of civic architecture.
Washington, DC
James McNeill Whistler's intensely decorated Peacock Room is a room-sized artwork filled with blue-green ornament and gilded peacocks.
Sturgeon, MO
A narrow limestone ridge rises sharply between two creeks at this Boone County park, creating fins, cracks and elevated scrambling routes unusual for central Missouri. Visitors should stay on established public access and use caution on exposed rock.
Fairmont, WV
The Poky Dot was a famously colorful Fairmont diner known for enormous desserts, including a nine-pound banana split, and an interior that looked more like a carnival than a conventional restaurant. The business is now permanently closed, so this is a record of a vanished roadside institution; view the former location only from public ground and do not attempt to enter.
Sitka, AK
A weathered prospector figure stands outside the historic Pioneer Home, creating one of downtown Sitka's stranger human-scale monuments. The surrounding grounds also place the sculpture beside one of Alaska's long-running elder-care institutions and the old cemetery landscape.
Lyndon Center, VT
A bronze pig fountain spits a stream of water from its mouth, giving the otherwise decorative animal its memorable local nickname. Dedicated in 1912, the sculpture is modeled on the famous Florentine Porcellino tradition.
Niland, CA
A rough outdoor stage and performance space serves as Slab City's improvised community venue, especially on weekend nights during the cooler season.
Sinks Canyon, WY
Water from the disappearing Popo Agie resurfaces downstream in a large trout-filled pool after traveling through the canyon's subsurface system.
Traverse City, MI
Artist Dewey Blocksma built this approximately 12-foot figure beside the Boardman River from old canoes and other found materials. The towering assemblage appears to guard the riverbank, turning discarded watercraft into one of downtown Traverse City's strangest pieces of public art.
Deerfield, MA
A roadside geology shop surrounds visitors with dinosaur replicas, fossils, minerals and a backyard 'Dinosaur Forest' that even includes a UFO-and-alien scene. It is part educational rock shop and part old-school roadside attraction.
Calhoun, GA
A miniature fantasy landscape built from stones, shells, concrete and other found materials behind Calhoun Seventh-day Adventist Church. Tiny castles, cathedrals, villages and bridges turn a small garden into an unusually detailed handmade world.
Indianapolis, IN
Three massive stone figures from the demolished St. Paul Building in New York City were rescued and incorporated into a strange architectural installation in Holliday Park. The sculptures now rise from a deliberately ruined-looking structure that combines public art with pieces of a vanished skyscraper.
Boston, MA
A large carved wooden cod hangs inside the Massachusetts State House as a symbol of the fishing industry's importance to the Commonwealth. The object has been stolen as a prank more than once, making it one of America's stranger pieces of official government decor.
Fairborn, OH
The Secret Chamber is an oddities shop and gallery packed with sideshow-style specimens, skeletons, unusual taxidermy, purported haunted objects and macabre artwork. It opened in 2017 and remains a public retail stop, making it an easy detour for travelers who want something stranger than a conventional museum.
