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Roadside Attractions

These are the places that turn a drive into a story. Browse Ninigret Park’s trolls, Apple Valley Hillbilly Garden, Petersen Rock Garden, Randyland, and many more unusual stops. Each entry provides the background and practical details behind the detour.

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123 documented oddities Highest curiosity first

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Roadside Attractions

Blue Whale of Catoosa

Catoosa, Oklahoma

An eighty-foot blue whale rises from a roadside pond, complete with a walk-in mouth, ladders, portholes, and the cheerful expression of a concrete sea monster stranded…

Frog mural by artist Robert Dafford in Rayne, Louisiana, the Frog Capital of the World

Roadside Attractions

Rayne’s Frog Army

Rayne, Louisiana

The Frog Capital of the World did not stop at a nickname. Painted concrete frogs, giant frog art, murals, a live frog pond, and amphibian mascots…

Haunted Locations

The Clown Motel

Tonopah, Nevada

Thousands of clowns fill a working desert motel beside Tonopah’s old cemetery.

Curious Landmarks

Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk

Riverside, Iowa

A small Iowa town claims to be the birthplace of a fictional starship captain who will not be born for centuries.

Roadside Attractions

Metaphor: The Tree of Utah

Wendover, Utah

An 87-foot concrete tree covered in huge colored spheres rises alone from the Bonneville Salt Flats like vegetation imported from another planet.

Roadside Attractions

Turtle Boy

Worcester, Massachusetts

Worcester's beloved Turtle Boy fountain pairs a nude bronze youth with an enormous sea turtle in one of New England's most gloriously awkward public sculptures.

Curious Landmarks

Big Easel

Goodland, Kansas

An 80-foot easel holds a 24-by-32-foot Van Gogh reproduction above a western Kansas park devoted to sunflowers.

Curious Landmarks

Center of the Universe

Wallace, Idaho

A decorated manhole cover marks the exact center of everything, according to the town of Wallace.

Roadside Attractions

Sun Tunnels

Lucin, Utah

Four enormous concrete tubes sit in an empty Utah desert, aligned with the solstices and drilled with constellations that project moving stars of sunlight inside.

Curious Landmarks

Little A’Le’Inn

Rachel, Nevada

A tiny desert inn turns Area 51 lore into alien burgers, souvenirs, and UFO photo ops.

Curious Landmarks

Steampunk Treehouse

Milton, Delaware

A towering steel treehouse built for Burning Man now looms over a Delaware brewery.

Roadside Attractions

Perry’s Nut House

Belfast, Maine

Since 1927, Perry's Nut House has mixed candy and souvenirs with a stuffed gorilla, giant hides, trick mirrors, vintage roadside spectacle, and something advertised simply as…