These curiosities range from unusual museums to Guinness World Records to strange memorials. Giant statues of beavers, an enormous moose made out of chocolate and a jolly green giant are just a few of the sights that can take your mind off the road and give you a chance to stretch your legs. Whether it’s a giant talking penguin, a museum dedicated to hammers, or the spot where a Soviet satellite crashed, every state has interesting, quirky, unusual, and just plain wacky places to visit. They’re not the most famous or popular attraction, just ones that will make you scratch your head and say you never knew that.
The famous Route 66 that stretched from Chicago to Los Angeles was riddled with such curiosities, and many can still be found all across America to this day, along famous trip routes like the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Pacific Coast Highway to the back roads and scenic routes you might take just to see an unusual sight.
Sometimes, these attractions and museums were specifically created to be tourist traps, with no historical context for their presence. Others are sites of unusual, famous, and often infamous events in local history. In one case, an event that has not even happened yet—and probably never will.
This week's blog covers Alabama thru Georgia.
1) Alabama
Strangest attraction: Unclaimed Baggage Center
Year built: 1970
Ever wonder what happens to luggage that never gets picked
up from the airport? It ends up here, in the Unclaimed Baggage Center, and so
do nearly a million annual visitors who come to comb through the contents of
the bags — sorted ahead of time into departments for easy shopping.
2) Alaska
Strangest attraction: Hammer Museum
Year built: 2002
It’s hammer time all the time at the world’s first museum
dedicated to preserving the history of the world’s first tool. More than 2,000
hammers are on display at any given time, ranging from modern tools to old ones
such as hammers from ancient Egypt, and from tiny hammers two inches long to as
big as 20 feet. Just look for the giant ball-peen hammer in the front yard.
3) Arizona
Strangest attraction: Flintstones Bedrock City
Year built: 1972
What began as a six-acre tourist attraction, including theme
park and replicas of the Flintstone and Rubble residences (furnished with
props), today also doubles as an RV campground and parking site. This ode to
the ‘60s classic cartoon has a large metal slide resembling a brontosaurus so
you can recreate the opening credits. Yabba-dabba-doo!
4) Arkansas
Strangest attraction: Gallows of Hanging Judge Parker
at Fort Smith
Year built: 1873
The gallows at Forth Smith is where 19th century hard
justice was meted out. Fort Smith was where the Lawless West met the Civilized
East. For 21 years, Isaac “Hanging Judge” Parker held the bench of the U.S.
Court for the Western District of Arkansas and sentenced 160 people to death.
The gallows that stands today is a reconstruction.
5) California
Strangest attraction: Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch
Year built: 2000
On a stretch of old Route 66, Elmer Long, who is often on
site, created his Bottle Tree Ranch. Elmer Long welded together a forest of
metal trees and hung dozens of colorful glass bottles from each one. And
atop each tree he placed a found object such as a sewing machine, guitar,
rifle, and various signs.
6) Colorado
Strangest attraction: UFO Watchtower
Year built: 2000
It makes sense that a UFO sighting hotspot would have a
watchtower. The San Luis Valley has more UFO sightings than anywhere else in
America, according to paranormal experts. The tower has a 360-degree view, so
you can look all around as well as up. In addition to the observation platform,
there’s a campground and, of course, a gift shop.
7) Connecticut
Strangest attraction: Frog Bridge
Year built: 2000
Officially, it’s the Thread City Crossing, but it’s known as
the Frog Bridge because of the four copper frogs on each end of the steel
bridge over the Willimantic River. The frogs commemorate 1754’s The Battle of
the Frogs, a story about a large-scale death of frogs fighting over the last
water in the middle of a drought. The frog deaths were loud enough to convince
residents that the French and Native American were coming to town to slaughter
them. The invaders never came, and the frog battle became a part of Willimantic
history.
8) Delaware
Strangest attraction: Miles the Monster
Year built: 2008
The Dover International Speedway, a racetrack known as “The
Monster Mile,” is proud of its monster mascot. He’d been the mascot since 2000,
so when the track got a makeover beginning in 2007, a huge 46 feet tall “Miles
the Monster” creature statue was erected just outside the track. You can find
Miles also on the winner’s trophy, tickets to the races, t-shirts, as action
figures, and other memorabilia.
9) Florida
Strangest attraction: World’s Smallest Police Station
Year built: 1963
The World’s Smallest Police Station that stands on U.S.
Highway 98 is a replica of the original phone booth that served as the
department’s call box. Remember, those were pre-cell phone days, and calls
would come to one location. The previous phone was bolted to the outside of a
building. Standing inside the booth provided protection when it rained.
10) Georgia
Strangest attraction: Georgia Guidestones
Year built: 1980
Sometimes referred to as America’s Stonehenge, the Georgia
Guidestones granite monument consists of five slabs, astronomically aligned,
and a capstone lying atop of them. A message consisting of a set of 10
guidelines or principles for humanity and Earth is engraved in eight different
languages: English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and
Russian.
Check back here next week for part 2 of 3 covering Hawaii – New Jersey.
4 comments:
I remember stopping at many places like these when I was a kid in the 50s.
What a wonderfully fun topic. And what a lot of research. Great post, sure got my attention.
Ilona: Me, too. Whether it was short road trips or long ones.
Thanks for your comment.
Gini: When I came across information for this, I thought it sounded like a fun topic, too.
Thanks for your comment.
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