Basket Country and the Ohio Oddities
A two-day loop through central and eastern Ohio, where the world's largest basket sits opposite the world's largest apple basket, and a cuckoo clock keeps time over an Amish village.
7 stops · 2 days · Ohio · roughly 160 miles point to point
See the whole route and everything odd beside it
OddWay draws your route first, then plots every stop that falls inside the detour you're willing to make. No hunting through a list to work out what is actually on the way.
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Every one of the 7 places in the index. Plan a route and the map narrows to what's actually near it.
Ohio has more of this per square mile than anywhere outside Wisconsin, and the eastern half of the state holds an unusually good run of it.
Start in Columbus
Fear Columbus and Haunted Hootchie are both serious seasonal haunt attractions rather than roadside curiosities — October only, ticketed, and not somewhere to turn up in April expecting to look around.
If you are here outside the season, start at Frazeysburg instead.
The basket rivalry
Frazeysburg has the world's largest apple basket. Dresden, eight miles away, has the world's largest basket.
This is not an accident. Dresden was the home of the Longaberger company, whose headquarters was famously built as a seven-storey replica of a market basket, and the area's whole identity was basket-making. Two towns that close with two basket records is a rivalry, however politely nobody says so.
Sugarcreek and Kent
The cuckoo clock at Sugarcreek anchors a village that leans hard into its Swiss and Amish heritage. Then north to Kent for the Iron Hoop, a five-piece sculpture by Brinsley Tyrrell, who taught at the university for decades — a reminder that not everything large beside a road is folk art.
Finish in Warren
The world's largest drumsticks, which is the kind of object this route specialises in: a thing a town made because it could.
Practical
Everything except the two haunts is free, outdoors and open year-round. The haunts are October-only.
Two days is comfortable. One is possible if you skip Columbus.
The Route
Fear Columbus Haunted House
Columbus, Ohio
The former 13th Floor Haunted House in Columbus now operates under local ownership as Fear Columbus Haunted House. It remains a large seasonal horror attraction with elaborate walk-through sets, live actors and additional special-event nights, but the OddWay record should be renamed and pointed to the current brand.
Haunted Hootchie
Pataskala, Ohio
Haunted Hootchie at Dead Acres is an intense, adult-oriented Ohio haunted attraction known for large sets, live performers and deliberately extreme horror imagery. It is a seasonal fall destination and should be treated as limited access outside its posted operating nights.
World's Largest Apple Basket
Frazeysburg, Ohio
Longaberger built this huge apple-filled basket at its Homestead property in 1999 as another supersized expression of the company’s basket-making identity. The commercial village later closed and the property became restricted; the basket was repainted in 2022 and is still visible, but travelers should remain on public/access roads and respect barriers and no-trespassing signs.
World's Largest Basket
Dresden, Ohio
Dresden’s giant Longaberger Market Basket was built from hardwood maple and dedicated in 1980. Measuring 48 feet long, 11 feet wide and 23 feet high, it still stands at Fifth and Main streets as a free downtown photo stop tied to the town’s basket-making history.
World's Largest Cuckoo Clock
Sugarcreek, Ohio
This giant animated clock was built in 1972 for the Alpine-Alpa restaurant near Wilmot and later donated to Sugarcreek. It was moved and restored downtown in 2012, where travelers can still watch its cuckoo bird, mechanical band and dancing figures perform on a regular schedule.
The Legend of the Iron Hoop
Kent, Ohio
A five-piece outdoor sculpture by Brinsley Tyrrell, professor emeritus at Kent State, made in 1980-81 and inspired by twisted dry wood near his home. After stints elsewhere in Ohio it was installed permanently near Henderson Hall in July 2011.
World's Largest Drumsticks
Warren, Ohio
Warren’s giant drumsticks were carved from two roughly 23-foot poplar logs by local artist Joel Eggert and installed as part of Dave Grohl Alley in 2013. They remain outdoors with murals and other Grohl-themed artwork celebrating the Foo Fighters frontman’s Warren birthplace.