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What are some interesting landmarks in your neck of the woods?
Obviously I don't want anyone to dox themselves here, but if you're comfortable sharing, what are some interesting oddities or landmarks in your state, county, country, etc.?
Think like "World's Largest Teapot" or "Carhenge". Or even smaller oddities or things that are unique to your area.
A couple come to mind for me.
There's the Harrisburg Statue of Liberty, which was created as a prank in the 80s on an old railway piling in the middle of the Susquehanna river. It's kind of a local legend type thing and was made official in the 90s with an actual metal replacement when the original got wiped out by a storm.
There's also Mister Ed's Elephant Museum & Candy Emporium, which is tourist trap kind of place? They have a ton of old elephant figurines, statues, displays, etc. anything you can think of. And it's built around a candy store. It's very hokey, but it's a place my wife and I used to go when we were dating because we couldn't think of anything better to do with our day. They have very good fudge!
I don't have any photos of this, but there's a shopping center near by where for some reason a tiny spruce tree is growing out of one of the little planter medians in the parking lot. People started decorating it year-round and it's currently decorated for Halloween. Pretty sure it has its own Facebook page. And this seems to be a tradition when these trees pop up, because it happened a few years ago on the side of a nearby road and people started decorating that and it too had a Facebook page. There isn't much to do around here...
edit- thought of another one! There's the Earthoid Water Tower. I grew up nearby there and it's big enough that you can see an "earth rise" on the horizon if you're close enough. It's pretty neat!
This site is so tiny I wasn't expecting to see another person in the harrisburg region on here but it was the first comment.
Oh hello neighbors! Similarly impressed at the (south) central PA representation. I was shocked to see Mr Ed's at the top of the page ha. That is a fun one!
Not too odd or anything, but Chickies Rock is a cool geologic feature and it creates a high up lookout over the Susquehanna. I'd like to check out the petroglyphs in the river sometime too. I'll have to keep thinking!
Can confirm, fairly large PA representation here. Grew up in York myself, and spent a fair bit of time living in Carlisle.
York was my childhood, let's see if I can remember a few of my haunts.
Haines shoe house is a historical landmark that goes through phases of attempted commercial activity and condemned. I see now it's currently an AirBNB. I might have to book that as I spent my childhood seeing it almost 3x a week and have never been inside.
You can go request a tour of Modern Landfill, and go see where an awful lot of trash from NY and NJ ends up. I made a fair bit of money bout 20 years ago chainsmoking while on shift picking up trash bags off the perimeter fence.
I still think the 462 Colmbia/Wrightsville bridge is one of the most beautiful. It's the longest multi-arch concrete bridge in the world They have an annual celebration to commemorate when they burned the prior bridge to stop the confederates from marching further.
Harrs drive in in Dillsburg is a great way to watch some movies in the summer. In that same area there's easy access to the Appalachian trail if you're up for a hike and camping (like real camping with no electricity or water).
Oh wow, I remember the Statue of Liberty from field trips to Harrisburg. Never occurred to me to try to look up its history, though. (Also, this would have been around the turn of the millennium, so at the time that research would have itself required a field trip into Harrisburg to page through archives of local newspapers…) Now I know!
I'm from the same general area, and sort of close to me we have the Washington Monument. Not the big, majestic phallus we all know and love in Washington DC, but rather an earlier and much more modest little chode in rural Maryland. Don't go out of your way but if you happen to be nearby then check it out, I guess!
Man it really is a small world. I spent my teen years in that town. Could even see the monument up on the mountain from my bed room! Also reading the wikipedia page, I had no idea that John Brown's son fled there after the Harpers Ferry raid. I think it's funny that they had no idea wtf it was and then still didn't when interviewing about it 20 years later.
Wow, such a small world. I'm from Frederick County myself. Being from Boonsboro, do you know Nora Roberts?
hah, can't say I've ever met her. Not really my cup of tea from a genre standpoint (unless she's started writing scifi/fantasy), but can't deny the impact she's had on the town.
Mine either. How cool would it be if she started writing scifi/fantasy/horror, but set in the mid-Atlantic region like so many of her works are. I'd be all over it!
South Colorado's Gator Farm!
Throw kibble at a mass of 20-40 alligators! Pet an emu! See the owner's cats! If you don't mind the smell it's a pretty fun time, like being at the zoo but every exhibit is just more gators.
The town of Vulcan, AB is close to where I live! Small, but neat sight for any Star Trek fans. Live long and prosper!
But my personal favorite is the Nikka Yuko Japanese garden in Lethbridge, AB. It's a bit of a drive for me, but an unexpected find a couple summers ago when we were in Lethbridge for an event. The garden is located in a larger park next to a lake, and there is a very nice path that goes all the way around.
The Nikka Yuko garden is absolutely gorgeous.
Also in that area a tire shop in Taber has a giant statue of a woman randomly. If you search for World's Biggest Hoe (in reference to the fantastic Corner Gas episode World's Biggest Thing) this giant statue comes up as one of the few results last time I searched it a few years back.
I'll have to check that out.
Corner Gas - great show!
The statue is not anything worth checking out, unless you are in Taber. I have never seen it I don't think. My wife grew up in a town on the No. 3 highway so she has seen it.
Corner Gas is fantastic, and I would recommend anyone living in the Canadian prairies to watch it if they haven't already. I would also recommend anyone living in southern Saskatchewan to check out the town of Rouleau as that is where they filmed any exterior shots (the gas station/Ruby has been torn down though since I think that was the only building built by the production company and therefore did not hold up well after filming ended).
Heinhold's First and Last Chance Saloon in Jack London Square Oakland California was built before the 1906 earthquake and the floor curves dramatically because of earthquake damage. It also has dollar bills pinned to the walls that were left by soldiers and sailors who were shipping out to fight in the Pacific during World War 2.
That's cool! It's not every day you get see living geologic history like that!
I'll have to make an effort to stop by there the next time I fly into SFO (usually on the way to the central valley). That looks super awesome!
You can catch the ferry to Jack London Square, although I guess you might be driving if you are heading to the Valley. JLS has plenty of parking.
Yeah, I likely last visited in the late 80s/early 90s as a child (I do remember the Spaghetti Factory had a train car in there, that we somehow never got seated in, but one time we went with some family friends and the son managed to kick a table football napkin at someone's arm hanging out, so we struck up a convo and got to go in and see it once).
Odense is the birthplace of H. C. Andersen so they have made it the city's trademark. Like, everywhere you go, there will be little signs he grew up here and there's even painted shoeprints on the pavement so that you can take a walk in his footsteps, and lots of monuments to his books.
Out of the dozens of landmarks about him, the most interesting one to me is the one that really just makes this H. C. Andersen obsession so hilarious: the place where his mother did laundry
Speaking of Denmark, while I don’t live there anymore, I did spend some time in Herning in the past, where you may encounter the occasionally flame-throwing Elia.
Edit: For some reason the Wikipedia entry above has zero images of the sculpture. There’s some (without flames) here.
Definitely an interesting one! Unfortunately most only know of it because of the accidents :(
There is a topiary of Abraham Lincoln's head
https://www.visitforgottonia.com/lincoln-topiary-sculpture/
Clicked on the forgottonia link thinking it couldn't be macomb but I guess it's been added since I was at school there!
I grew up regularly hiking the trail to visit the ruins of an old, civil war era paper mill north of Atlanta. It's one of many monuments and historical remains from that time period around Georgia, but probably the one I'm most familiar with, from how often we hiked down there as kids.
Omfg, my original backyard. I spent years running the trails around sope creek but moved overseas for university.
This is wild, I rowed the Chattahoochee and am a marietta/East Cobb boy through and through.
Nice, when did you grow up there? I'm still in the area, live in Roswell currently.
I was there '93 to '11, lived in and then around Indian Hill GC for most of it but was always close enough to the Chattahoochee for running and I used to make my way down via Sope Creek.
I moved to NZ for uni and have only been back once, around 2015. Everything had exploded and I really didn't recognize much especially near Johnson Ferry Baptist and the old Mellow Mushroom that's become a Northside Hospital. I can only imagine how different it is now...
Nice! I moved to EC I think in 1994? I was technically born in Texas (In 1989), but I claim to be from Atlanta, I started kindergarten at Mount Bethel and spent all my developing years here. Congratulations on your life in NZ! I have a friend who moved out there after college to get into the film industry and she hasn't looked back. It looks like a nice life!
Wow, I did my Eagle Scout project at Mt Bethel around their pond and was a youth soccer referee for them through high school.
Crazy the proximity and I am glad I didn't miss this thread!
Have a great rest of your week!
I meant the school, not the church 😂 But yes, me as well! If you find yourself traveling to Atlanta again let me buy you a beer! Have a good week as well!
This giant golden pyramid house is interesting in a kooky way. It burned up a few years ago and I'm not sure how restoration has been going.
There's also several huge amusement parks nearby, most notably Six Flags Great America which is tied for having the most landmark roller coasters with some other park in the US.
That's crazy, because Six Flags took over Marriott's Great America/Great America/Paramount's Great America, and I'm not the only [ex-]Californian who has referred to it as "Six Flags Great America". I did not even realize until I read this that I am/was incorrect.
I believe the only time I visited was during Marriott's owning time in the 80s, and I hated the feeling of falling at that age (until my late teens when I overcame it to try to be cool, but I still hate it), and all I really remember was Looney Tunes were the mascots, and I got soap in my eye at the hotel we were staying at.
The looney tunes characters are still a big thing there, and one of the aspects I remember most as a kid. I never did like roller coasters much, so the park doesn't draw me.
I no longer live there, but my hometown set the world record for 'Largest cup of softdrink' back in 2017. The cup is still standing there today as basically decoration next to the Rhodes 101 gas station that built it. Sorta funny to see if not a grim reminder of the areas obscesion with giant Styrofoam cups full of soda lol
Coming soon to a Paunch Burger near you!
I used to live somewhat near this guy who has giant whale statues in his front yard. I've had this article bookmarked for years because I've been meaning to write about it in someway but I haven't been doing much writing recently.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/911-whale-sculptures
OMG I forgot about that site. I swear I found it around 20 years ago, though I may be confusing it with another "obscura" website that highlighted oddities around the world (the coincidence seems a stretch though).
Here's a few things from South Jersey:
Accidentally stumbling upon Martin Z Mullosk Day in Ocean City was one of the greatest moments of my life.
Discovered there's an honest to god rodeo just a bit south-west of Philadelphia.
The Cape May Ferry is a neat experience, mostly because I used it 2x because it is the fastest route to Lewes DE and Ocean City MD. Cheaper too depending on tolls and milege of vehicle.
My work is located at one of the office towers at One Bangkok, Wireless Road, Bangkok. It's probably the coolest English road name in Thailand as the Thai name is วิทยุ (Witthayu, meaning Radio).
Apparently the One Bangkok site were a historical site, and when they were excavating the underground parking lot for the project they also have found parts of the original building that give the name to the road - Saladaeng Radio Telegraph Station, one pair of the first telegraph station in Thailand. If you visit the shopping mall today you can visit the Wireless House which the design is influenced by the original building. This small museum exhibit the history of the original buildings, and show objects found during the excavation. At the back of the building is the actual original radio mast, now reduced in height (you can see the top on 4th floor of the shopping mall - voted one of the most labyrinthine mall in Thailand)
Another lesser known thing of this mall is that the next door of the site is the Australian embassy, which shares a street exit with the project. The driveway is called "Soi Arun McKinnon" (ซอยอรุณมักกินนอน / Arun likes to eat and sleep). The story was that the Australian ambassador Allan McKinnon met with the current king to announce that the embassy has moved. Since the driveway had no name, the king blessed the ambassador's name as the official name.
I was in a border town in Thailand and visited the largest postbox in Thailand, which was pretty cool: https://www.tourismthailand.org/Attraction/the-largest-postbox-in-thailand
What's your first thought when you hear 'the Big Apple'? Probably New York right? Well not if you grew up in Ontario. Let me introduce you to the Big Apple in the thriving metropolis of Colborne, ON. Thankfully wikipedia still has a picture of the way it looked when I was young as some crazy person decided to draw a face on it. You can go to their website if you want to see what that looks like, but it's nightmare fuel.
I live within walking distance of the garden where Gregor Mendel was growing his famous pea plants. BTW, they still grow pea plants there.
Villa Tugendhat by Mies Van Der Rohe is another interesting place nearby. Architecture buffs keep telling me it is a big deal - I am not entirely sure why, but I like sitting in that beautiful garden.
I love visiting the ruins of the Templar castle, Templštejn (we used to go there with dad). Unlike other castles, which are usually touristy, this one has been abandoned for a long time, and it's a bit of a forgotten place. Pretty often, there is nobody there. Ideal place for introverts.
Another place I like is the 12th-century Romanesque church of St. Peter and Paul. I often cycle past it - there's a beautiful road along the river - and I always stop there. The place radiates tranquility.
My town boasts The World's Largest Cherry Pie Pan, the Lake Michigan shoreline, and a large historic state mental hospital campus that's been turned into condos, shops, and restaurants. The tunnel tour is worth the price of admission.
Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore is one of the nicest parks in the country, with miles of easy-ish trails and bike paths.
There are seven lighthouses within reasonable driving distance, one that requires a boat ride.
The whole area is postcard-ready.
I'm not doxxing myself here, as I live quite a drive from this, but Fitch's Falls in Western NY is amazing. It's a hidden gem as there is no public access to it even though it's on public lands. The usual route folks take is to follow a right-of-way trail under some high voltage power lines, and then hike across the back of some farmland to get to it. The folks that own the farms usually don't mind as long as you're respectful. It's not Niagara Falls, but it feels so special because not that many people know about it.
https://www.nyfalls.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=1703
I’ll avoid doxing myself but I was passing through Tulsa, OK yesterday and checked out a local “interesting landmark” while I was in the area: the Center of the Universe. It’s an acoustic anomaly of sorts, supposedly if you stand in this spot, people outside the circle will not be able to hear you. And any sound you make will be echoed back (and amplified) to you.
It was a fun little detour to make, and free apart from downtown parking. I definitely observed the phenomenon but it wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the stories claim. My voice was oddly echoed back in my ears but not louder than it started. People outside of the circle could hear me clearly.
When I went it didn’t look like all the pictures online. There is construction happening around the site and they appear to be in the middle of resurfacing it. The circle was marked on the ground but there were no bricks around it. I wonder if some of the effects were magnified by reflections off those materials that are no longer present. If I’m ever out that way again I’ll have to swing by to see it it’s been restored to its former glory.
Similar:
New Brunswick, Canada
Edit: oh I forgot the man made landmark of a giant magnet to accompany the optical illusion
Oh nice, that reminds me of the Mystery Spot, whose Wikipedia page links to the generic gravity hill article. Nice primer on these sorts of illusions if anyone’s curious.
There's a field of concrete corn near us, very fitting for central Ohio!
Of all the funny answers, the photo of this one made me legit laugh out loud. I really wasn't expecting something so manicured and uniform.
Oh that pretty much describes the suburb it's located in!
Taco bench.
Hexagon house.
Tree wizard. (Sadly, someone set him on fire a few years ago, but He Is Immortal.)
For man made features, I suppose the [Angel Of The North] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_the_North) sculpture.
Carhenge reminded me of the Spindle in Berwyn just outside Chicago. I stood in line for the Nintendo Wii back in 2006 at that Circuit City that can be seen in the photo... It was removed and destroyed a couple of years later, which was kind of sad - it was a pretty cool landmark.
Interestingly Google Streetview even captured it back in 2007 not long before its demise.
Deep down, Elephant Rock is nothing more than a split rock formation beside a country road that somewhat resembles an elephant if you squint hard enough. Fortunately there's no squinting required, as locals have painted the rock hundreds of times over the years to celebrate birthdays, cultural milestones or draw attention to a cause. I no longer commute past it, but when I did I'd always enjoy seeing new elephants as they appeared and joined in painting some on a few occasions.
Some highlights I want to see (and may have...):