Roadside oddities37.2645° N, 109.8835° W
Mexican Hat, UT
A dirt-road loop winds among isolated sandstone towers, buttes and pinnacles that resemble a miniature Monument Valley. Road conditions can become poor after storms.
- Access
- Open to visitors
Roadside oddities
Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.
Roadside oddities2,517
Suggest a stopGiant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
- Roadside oddities32.2726° N, 110.9366° W
Tucson, AZ
Built beginning in the 1920s, this hand-made fantasy landscape contains winding paths, grottoes, towers, tunnels and theatrical spaces created from rock and concrete. Public access is tied to tours, performances and scheduled events rather than daily open-gate visitation.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities38.9607° N, 76.9541° W
Hyattsville, MD
Artist and conservator Clarke Bedford transformed his home and vehicles into dense assemblages of metal, found objects, antlers, machine parts and architectural fragments. It is a private residence: admire it from the public street unless the owner is present and explicitly welcomes visitors onto the grounds.
- Access
- Private land, view only
- Roadside oddities39.9395° N, 82.0155° W
Zanesville, OH
Vasehenge was a circle of enormous painted ceramic vases installed as a tribute to Zanesville's pottery heritage. The installation has been removed and is no longer accessible, but the former location is worth recording as a closed OddWay stop rather than sending travelers there expecting the giant vases to remain.
- Access
- Permanently closed
- Roadside oddities39.6753° N, 85.9634° W
Acton, IN
Since 1961, the Veal family has used pond water and winter weather to build an enormous naturally frozen sculpture beside their home. Pipes and sprinklers add layer after layer until the "tree" becomes a towering mass of icicles, but it only appears when sustained cold makes construction possible.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities41.1394° N, 105.3772° W
Albany County, WY
Massive weathered granite outcrops create stacked, rounded forms that look improbably balanced above the high plains.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities33.8062° N, 78.8896° W
Conway, SC
Wild Venus flytraps grow naturally in this protected landscape near Myrtle Beach, within the plant’s remarkably small native range in the Carolinas. Visitors must stay on legitimate access routes and never remove or disturb the carnivorous plants.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities34.7712° N, 112.0596° W
Clarkdale, AZ
Passenger trains travel through a canyon otherwise difficult to access, passing old rail infrastructure, red-rock cliffs and remnants of the mining-era route. Vintage-style cars make the transportation itself part of the attraction.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities41.4076° N, 92.9166° W
Pella, IA
This towering working Dutch windmill rises above Pella and contains a functional grain-milling system. Guided access lets visitors climb through the machinery and see how a traditional European mill works.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities43.5939° N, 73.2677° W
Fair Haven, VT
Fair Haven's marble industry left the town with several striking homes built or faced with the same stone that made the region famous. The unusual cluster gives ordinary residential architecture the appearance of small civic monuments; most buildings should be viewed from public streets.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities43.8864° N, 72.2508° W
Thetford, VT
This enormous dinosaur-like folk sculpture was assembled from scrap lumber near the Post Mills Airport. The roughly 122-foot-long creature became locally famous after a dispute over whether something this large counted as art or as a building requiring a permit.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities43.6419° N, 96.2137° W
Luverne, MN
Luverne unveiled the 65-foot-plus Verne the Patriot in July 2026, creating a working-jaw nutcracker promoted as the world's tallest. The brand-new giant adds a contemporary record-chasing landmark to Minnesota's long tradition of oversized roadside figures.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities34.0787° N, 107.6183° W
Socorro, NM
Twenty-seven giant radio antennas spread across the Plains of San Agustin and move along railroad tracks to change the telescope's configuration. The visitor route makes one of America's most recognizable scientific landscapes accessible without entering operations areas.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities32.3521° N, 90.8834° W
Vicksburg, MS
A long series of large painted panels on the Mississippi River floodwall depicting episodes from Vicksburg's history, river culture and local legends. The outdoor location makes the murals an easy walkable stop immediately beside downtown river attractions.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities40.8258° N, 74.1056° W
Rutherford, NJ
Artist Victor Victori filled the lawn around his home with a crowd of expressive white figures tied to his 'multiplism' style. The sculptures are on private residential property, so travelers should view them only from the public sidewalk or street.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities32.7896° N, 79.9056° W
Mount Pleasant, SC
Patriots Point recreates a Vietnam-era brown-water Navy support base and Marine artillery position with bunkers, helicopters, vehicles, equipment, and immersive environments. The land-based exhibit can easily be overlooked by visitors focused only on the nearby ships.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities38.4526° N, 75.0537° W
Fenwick Island, DE
A Viking-themed miniature-golf course populated by oversized Norse figures, trolls and a large two-headed dragon. It is a commercial attraction rather than folklore history, but the sculptural theming makes it a strong visual OddWay stop during its operating season.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities32.7081° N, 117.1461° W
San Diego, CA
An exuberant 1887 Queen Anne mansion built for musician and spiritualist Jesse Shepard contains stained glass, towers and rooms tied to San Diego's occult-tinged Victorian history.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities38.9202° N, 75.5144° W
Houston, DE
Another surviving Futuro House — one of the distinctive prefabricated flying-saucer homes designed in the late 1960s — stands on Deep Grass Lane. It is a private residence and should be treated strictly as a public-road viewing stop.
- Access
- Private land, view only
- Roadside oddities34.2268° N, 80.7011° W
Lugoff, SC
An old automobile sits on the roof of a laundromat at the former Boykin Studebaker building. The car was restored to the roof after local residents missed the landmark when it was temporarily removed, preserving an eccentric piece of the building’s automotive past.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities35.8468° N, 85.3116° W
Sparta, TN
A strenuous trail leads through sinkhole and cave-country terrain to a waterfall that emerges from one cave opening and disappears into another. State-owned caves in the area may be closed to protect bats; stay on the designated trail and obey all cave restrictions.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities35.1306° N, 106.7803° W
Albuquerque, NM
Trails circle extinct cinder cones that produced the basalt escarpment now covered in Albuquerque's petroglyphs. The overlook connects the city's volcanic geology directly with the cultural landscape below.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities35.7227° N, 77.9125° W
Wilson, NC
More than two dozen enormous kinetic sculptures by North Carolina folk artist Vollis Simpson fill this downtown park. Built from salvaged industrial parts, reflectors, fans, gears, and metal scraps, the towering whirligigs spin and flash whenever the wind catches them. Archive: https://spacesarchives.org/explore/search-the-online-collection/vollis-simpson-whirligigs/
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities46.9140° N, 103.5218° W
Medora, ND
This preserved 1880s house is connected to the family of Medora de Vallombrosa, namesake of the town. Its domestic rooms provide a smaller and more personal counterpart to the grand Chateau de Mores nearby.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed