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Historic Oddities

Browse documented historic oddities from across America.

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109 documented oddities Highest curiosity first

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Historic Oddities

John J. Makinen Bottle House

Kaleva, Michigan

Built from more than 65,000 glass bottles, the John J. Makinen Bottle House is one of Michigan's most unusual historic structures. Constructed in Kaleva during the…

Historic Oddities

Forestiere Underground Gardens

Fresno, California

Beneath the dry landscape of Fresno, California, lies a hidden world carved entirely by hand. The Forestiere Underground Gardens are a remarkable network of tunnels, courtyards,…

Historic Oddities

Pompeys Pillar

Pompeys Pillar, Montana

William Clark's 1806 signature remains carved into a sandstone pillar.

Historic Oddities

Cincinnati Subway

Cincinnati, Ohio

Beneath Cincinnati lies more than two miles of abandoned subway tunnel and unfinished stations from a transit system that ran out of money before a single…

Curious Landmarks

Fort Delaware

Delaware City, Delaware

A massive polygonal fortress occupies an isolated island in the middle of the Delaware River.

Abandoned Places

Cape May Point Beach Bunker

Lower Township, New Jersey

A once-camouflaged World War II battery now stands exposed on the beach.

Curious Landmarks

Thorncrown Chapel

Eureka Springs, Arkansas

A woodland chapel made from 425 windows seems to disappear into the surrounding Ozark forest.

Curious Landmarks

Lightship Overfalls

Lewes, Delaware

A bright red floating lighthouse survives as one of America's last preserved lightships.

Historic Oddities

Moonville Tunnel

McArthur, Ohio

A lonely brick railroad tunnel survives in the woods where the mining settlement of Moonville disappeared, leaving the tunnel as the community's most substantial remaining landmark.

Historic Oddities

Stumphouse Tunnel

Walhalla, South Carolina

Workers dug this mountain railroad tunnel by hand before the Civil War, abandoned it unfinished, and decades later Clemson researchers discovered that its constant fifty-degree air…

Historic Oddities

Rye Sunken Forest

Rye, New Hampshire

At rare low tides, a drowned forest briefly reappears off the Rye coast.

Historic Oddities

Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay

Nanjemoy, Maryland

The Potomac River holds the skeletons of more than 100 abandoned ships, many built for World War I and later burned, salvaged, scuttled, and slowly transformed…