Are These the 20 Weirdest Places in America?

From unique natural phenomena to human-created peculiarities, we’ve assembled 20 utterly unforgettable stops to add to your next road trip.

March 08, 2022

By: Lauren Oster

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Plan a Visit You'll Never Forget

As the legendary oceanographer Don Walsh once said, “Exploration is curiosity put into action.” In his case, that meant going where no one had gone before. In this case, we’ve pulled together fanciful, beautiful and just plain unusual places to indulge your curiosity — and we strongly suggest you follow in our footsteps. (If you experience coulrophobia, or fear of clowns, go ahead and skip Nevada’s Clown Motel, pictured above. But you get our drift.) Read on for an itinerary that’s truly one-of-a-kind.

The Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot, Idaho

This spud-centric destination offers much more than the inevitable backdrop for your next holiday-card photo. Home to the world’s largest potato chip (or crisp, if we’re being technical, since it’s a Pringle), a cafe serving every potato-related delicacy you can imagine (and many you surely haven’t), a Potato Lab teeming with hands-on science experiments and all the history you can dig, the Idaho Potato Museum is the single-subject stop you didn’t know you needed.

Gator Chateau in Jennings, Louisiana

Eco-conscious swamp tours are an excellent way to spend a day or two, but let’s be honest: Some of us just dream of holding a baby gator. For that very specific experience, head 170 miles west of New Orleans to the Jeff Davis Parish Visitor Center, where the Gator Chateau — a hands-on educational facility that collaborates with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries — raises hatchlings from the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge. (When the gators reach a length of 7 to 7.5 feet, they’re released back into the Refuge.) Visits from the public are free, and visitors can hold baby gators under the supervision of gator handlers. At present, the facility houses four hatchlings, nine alligators and Pierre, an 86-year-old alligator snapping turtle. The dream is alive.

Mill Ends Park in Portland, Oregon

Recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Smallest Dedicated Park, Mill Ends Park — which boasts a total area of 452 square inches — is located in the median strip of SW Naito Parkway in downtown Portland. The micro-recreation area was inspired by Dick Fagan, a columnist for the Oregon Journal, who wrote a popular column about the park’s “events” after World War II, and it’s been an official city park since St. Patrick’s Day 1976. Mill Ends has featured a swimming pool and diving board for butterflies, statues and a miniature Ferris wheel (“brought in by a normal-sized crane,” per the Parks and Recreation Department) and hosted concerts, picnics and rose plantings. If you’re visiting Portland and have a few minutes to spare, we would note that “I once ran 30 laps around a city park without stopping for water” is a pretty solid brag.

Route of the Hiawatha Trail in Wallace, Idaho

The Milwaukee Railroad’s spectacular route through tunnels and over trestles in the Bitterroot Mountains along the Idaho-Montana border was once known as one of the most scenic train rides in America. The line was abandoned in 1980, but it now enjoys a magnificent second act: A 15-mile stretch featuring those atmospheric, pitch-dark stretches and sky-high vantages is now a one-of-a-kind, family-friendly downhill trail that’s open to hikers and bikers between May and September. Visit the Route of the Hiawatha Trail’s ticket and rental shop for everything from trail passes and shuttle tickets to bikes, lights and helmets.

Doll’s Head Trail in Atlanta, Georgia

Speaking of unforgettable trails, could we interest you in one that’s embellished with an assortment of disembodied doll parts (among other things)? The folk-art extravaganza known as Doll’s Head Trail — a 1.6-mile forested section of an urban nature trail in southeast Atlanta's Constitution Lakes Park — starts with what Atlanta Trails calls a “charming little doll arm pointing you in the right direction.” It was born in 2011 when a local carpenter named Joel Slaton began making offbeat installations with discarded items, such as toys, fishing gear and construction materials he found while hiking. The ever-changing array now features contributions from countless other artists, and it’s also home to snakes, of course.

The Georgia Guidestones in Elberton, Georgia

East of Atlanta at the highest point in Elbert County, a very different array has been puzzling visitors since its completion in 1980. Commissioned by a man who went by the pseudonym of Robert C. Christian and composed of 28-ton slabs of local Pyramid Blue Granite, the Georgia Guidestones — also known as “America’s Stonehenge” — are sandblasted with 10 cryptic guidelines for humanity repeated in eight languages and positioned to serve as a crude astronomical calendar. Whether the mysterious messages are sinister or helpful could have more to do with who’s reading them than why they were written; the stones themselves simply say that they were sponsored by “A Small Group of Americans Who Seek The Age Of Reason.” The rest is up to your imagination.

Arcosanti in Mayer, Arizona

An “ongoing experiment in architecture, ecology, art and community,” otherworldly Arcosanti was introduced in 1970 as a prototype “arcology” (that is, architecture + ecology) for the urban-planning concepts of architect Paolo Soleri. This alternative to urban sprawl features soaring structures, prioritized live-work spaces and the natural environment. The micro-city didn’t ultimately grow to house thousands of people, but it has evolved into an inspirational urban laboratory that hosts thinkers, artists and makers of all kinds — and welcomes architecture-lovers from around the world.

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California

Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester’s husband, William, amassed a fortune as treasurer of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Shortly after his death, she moved out West, bought an eight-bedroom farmhouse, and undertook what has been called the world’s longest home renovation. Between 1886 and her death in 1922, Sarah spent the modern equivalent of $71 million expanding her property into a labyrinthine, 24,000-square-foot mansion with doors and stairs that lead nowhere, a single room with seven heat sources and design curiosities galore. After opening for public tours in 1923, it began to attract ghost hunters and other visitors almost immediately. Harry Houdini visited on his nationwide spiritualism tour in 1924. The Winchester Mystery House is now open for both daylight tours and, if you’re feeling especially intrepid, self-guided flashlight tours after dark. (Call ahead for the schedule.)

White Sands National Park in New Mexico

There’s undeniable magic in sledding down a hill of sparkling, new-fallen snow on a winter morning, but what’s to be done when the urge strikes in April, or it’s concurrent with an urge to wear a tube top? You can pick up a waxed plastic snow saucer in the gift shop and live your best winter-sports-in-warm-weather life in southern New Mexico’s White Sands National Park, where the world’s largest gypsum dunefield covers 275 square miles of desert. (Seasoned sand-sledders report that you’ll need a bit of practice, since sand isn’t slippery like snow.) Don’t be alarmed if you return from the park with a sudden urge to dress in white like Tom Wolfe: The animals who live in White Sands’ ethereal dunes have actually evolved to be a lighter color.

The Desert of Maine in Freeport, Maine

Speaking of unexpected dunes, a memento of the Ice Age is a century-old roadside attraction on the other side of the country, in coastal Maine. The Desert of Maine originated more than 12,000 years ago when the Laurentide Ice Sheet deposited glacial sand over an area of 40 acres; 19th-century farmers cleared the forest and eroded the topsoil that covered it, and by 1890, it was on its way to becoming a natural curiosity. The “Desert” (which gets quite a bit of precipitation) now offers everything from dune exploration and a center for arts and ecology to miniature golf, a labyrinth and a campground with A-frame cabins.

The Grand Canyon Caverns in Peach Springs, Arizona

If you fancy a retreat that’s a bit more expansive than an A-frame cabin, consider reserving Grand Canyon Caverns’ Cavern Suite (above), cozy digs that can accommodate up to six guests 200 feet underground in the largest dry cavern in the United States. A reservation includes a cavern tour and control of the lights; if you choose, you can sleep in complete darkness. If a stay of that sort sounds daunting, know that tourists who paid 25 cents to visit the caverns a century ago were simply tied to a rope and lowered 150 feet down with a kerosene lantern and matches. You can opt for the more refined experiences of a guided tour or weekend lunch reservations in the atmospheric Cavern Grotto (which is also 200 feet underground).

The Alien Research Center in Alamo, Nevada

Twenty miles away from Area 51 (the super-secret military facility known more officially as the Nevada Test and Training Range at Groom Lake) at the eastern end of Extraterrestrial Highway (Nevada’s homages-to-all-things-alien-studded Route 375), the delightfully kooky Alien Research Center is a fitting spot for extraterrestrial enthusiasts to trade information-gathering techniques and stock up on souvenirs. It’s also an excellent alternative to actually storming Area 51 (as the Nevada Division of Tourism puts it, “seriously, you’ll be arrested before you can say ‘ET’").

The Republic of Molossia in Dayton, Nevada

If the prospect of international travel both intrigues and exhausts you, consider a visit to the 11.3-acre Republic of Molossia, a sovereign micronation that exists entirely within Nevada in something like the way that the Vatican exists entirely within Rome, if the Vatican had currency tied to the value of cookie dough and prohibited onions and walruses. Visits during tourist season (that is, April 15 through October 15) must be planned and escorted, and foreign visitors can stay for a maximum of three hours. That said, there are no visa requirements and you can actually get your passport stamped, if you wish. Will that stamp complicate your passage through other nations’ checkpoints? Travel, it’s said, is the best teacher.

The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin

The House on the Rock would be a singular destination for its exterior alone: The prow of its 3,264-window “Infinity Room” juts out 218 feet over a sandstone formation in southern Wisconsin’s Wyoming Valley and is visible from miles around. Its kitschy interior is even more singular. Constructed by the eccentric collector Alex Jordan as a weekend retreat and filled with his weird flights of fancy, the house offers attractions like an indoor carousel (above, with hundreds of animals, chandeliers and angels but no horses), a 200-foot-long sea creature, a trio of theater organ consoles and a recreation of a 19th-century street. Do its dolls come alive at night? The management suggests joining one of the “Dark Side” tours (in late September and October) to find out for yourself.

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Spring Hill, Florida

The Mermaids of Weeki Wachee State Park (about 80 miles west of Orlando) and their predecessors have been performing for visitors for six decades, and their twice-daily show currently includes a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. The mermaids perform musical numbers and eat and drink underwater for guests who watch from a submerged, 400-seat auditorium. Note that while admission to their performances is included with tickets to the park, seats aren’t guaranteed — and mermaid performances can, of course, be canceled due to lightning or chilly temperatures. (Safety first, ladies.)

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Just five blocks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, an edifice of a very different sort watches over the City of Brotherly Love. Opened in 1829 as a penitentiary, or institution that would inspire regret in its prisoners through what social reformers described as confinement in solitude with labor, the massive Eastern State Penitentiary was expensive and attention-grabbing. Both philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville and author Charles Dickens toured the penitentiary, and more than 10,000 tourists visited in 1858 alone. Al Capone served his first prison sentence there between 1929 and 1930. Closed in 1970, then abandoned and neglected for years, it now has been taken up by preservationists, historians and criminal-justice reformers. Eastern State now welcomes visits from schoolchildren, tourists, artists, photographers, Halloween thrill-seekers and even gargoyle fans.

Salton Sea State Recreation Area in California

Here’s a trivia question that can serve double duty as a day trip: What’s the lowest community in the United States (located at 223 feet below sea level)? Answer: Bombay Beach, California, a luxury resort destination that attracted half a million tourists a year (and A-listers like the Beach Boys and Frank Sinatra) in the ‘50s, then became desolate in the following decades as toxic runoff tainted the draining inland Salton Sea that served as its waterfront. Now considered a “living ghost town,” Bombay Beach attracts an offbeat influx of artists, musicians and creators (and plays host to a now-yearly Bombay Beach Biennale art festival that coaxes unique expressions out of the decay).

The Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wisconsin

Dedicated to America’s 50 million anglers and boasting 50,000 dated lures, 1,000 outboard motors and 300 mounted fresh water fish, the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame does maintain a database of world-record fish and line-class records for all of the fresh water species in America. More importantly, it recognizes communicators, guides and artists who promote and expand the sport and promote the conservation principles that make it possible. Even more importantly, one might argue, it features Big Musky, a half-city-block-long and four-and-a-half-story-tall concrete, steel and fiberglass muskellunge with an open-jaw observation deck that can fit 20 people (including more than a few wedding parties) and serves as a “Shrine to Anglers.” Big Musky, we salute you.

The Underwater Museum of Art in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

If you’ve caught yourself gazing at a museum exhibit and thinking, nice, but where are the sea snails?, Florida’s Underwater Museum of Art — America’s first permanent underwater sculpture garden — is for you. Each year, works from around the world are selected to be installed 58 feet below the surface and about a mile from shore in the Gulf of Mexico. Over time, marine life has claimed them and they've become part of the local ecosystem. Visitors who want to experience the art at-depth should be certified divers; you can virtually peruse four years’ worth of installations (and maybe work up to a flippered visit) here.