America’s roadways are peppered with quirky, odd, and sometimes downright bizarre roadside attractions. These unique sites often reflect the eccentricities of local culture, individual creativity, and our country’s love for the extraordinary.
There’s the weird, things that seem to pop out of nowhere as a testament to the whims of one individual.
The wild, roadside attractions that make you stop to jaw-drop.
And the rad, places that reflect some special part of our history and culture.
In this post, we’ll take a trip around the U.S. to call out various roadside stops that make us proud to be American.
Roadtrippers Knows Roadside Attractions
Roadtrippers is the #1 road trip planning app in part because we’ve got the goods on quirky roadside stops. Our app is a community-driven tool where users share experiences, pictures, and stories from the road.
We love roadside attractions because they’re always so rich in story. That’s why we devote a section of our website to fun content about funky pitstops.
It’s also why we built our Autopilot™ trip planning tool. This feature within our app creates a customized road trip for you in just a few minutes — roadside attractions and all.
Autopilot™ takes the heavy lifting out of trip planning by building an itinerary for you using data from 38 million real-life road trips. And you can easily customize the trip even more after it’s created for you.
The weird: Roadside attractions out of nowhere
These spots don’t have a rhyme or reason. They exist simply because someone decided they should, and we love them for it.
Carhenge – Alliance, Nebraska
An homage to England’s Stonehenge, Carhenge is a quirky tribute constructed from vintage American automobiles. Created by artist Jim Reinders in 1987, this art installation replicates the proportions of the original Stonehenge using old cars spray-painted gray.
This pitstop in Nebraska’s panhandle offers thought-provoking commentary on American culture and ingenuity. Or maybe it’s just an homage to some guy with too many cars and too much time. You decide 🙂
If you head east after Carhenge, check out Nebraska’s Pompeii on the other side of the state.
The International Banana Museum – Mecca, California
Home to over 20,000 banana-related items, the International Banana Museum holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of banana memorabilia. This wacky museum offers a fun and fruity experience, from banana-shaped phones to banana-themed clothing.
Note: The banana museum is temporarily closed at the time of this writing, but we just think it’s too cool not to mention — even if only as a historic part of Americana 😀
Salvation Mountain – Niland, California
Salvation Mountain is a colorful, man-made mountain covered in murals and Bible verses, created by Leonard Knight over three decades. Located in a stretch of desert near Joshua Tree National Park, this vibrant art installation spreads a message of love and faith.
Knight used adobe, straw, and thousands of gallons of paint to bring his vision to life. As a bonus, the mountain sits at the entrance of Slab City, yet another roadside wonder that’s uniquely American.
The Enchanted Highway – Regent, North Dakota
The Enchanted Highway is a 32-mile stretch of road affixed with massive metal sculptures created by local artist Gary Greff.
These larger-than-life figures include grasshoppers, geese, fish, and even a family of tin people. Greff’s original vision was to transform his rural hometown into a tourist destination. Given all the places this highway has been featured, we’d say he’s pulled it off.
That’s the power of single-minded vision pointed at a roadside attraction.
Check out this road trip for 11 more things to do while trekking through North Dakota:
The Paper House – Rockport, Massachusetts
The Paper House is built entirely of newspapers. Yes, you read that right. A guy named Elis Stenman built this in the 1920s. We can only figure he built it because he was an engineer, so, why not?
Elis varnished over 100,000 newspapers to create furniture, walls, and even curtains. One could argue that the house stands as a testament to recycling. Or, simply as the byproduct of what happens when an engineer’s wheels just won’t stop turning.
Either way, it draws in scads of visitors every year.
The Paper House—made of 100,000 newspapers—has a working fireplace, electricity, and running water
The wild: Jaw-dropping roadside attractions
These stops will leave you with a surprised look kinda feeling.
The Museum of Bad Art – Somerville, Massachusetts
The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is dedicated to celebrating art too bad to be ignored. Founded in 1994, MOBA features a rotating collection of delightfully dreadful artwork. The museum’s mission is to showcase pieces that would never find a home in a traditional gallery, providing visitors with a humorous and entertaining experience.
Check out this 48-hour Boston area road trip that features the museum as a stop:
The Unclaimed Baggage Center – Scottsboro, Alabama
Ever wonder what happens to luggage and gear left behind by air travelers? Well, turns out that an aspiring entrepreneur saw a business opportunity there years ago.
The result is this wild spot. Unclaimed Baggage Center is a one-of-a-kind store that sells items lost or left behind by airline passengers. This unique shopping destination covers 40,000 square feet and offers everything from clothing to electronics.
Think of it sort of like a treasure hunt for that item you never knew you needed until you set your eyes on it here.
The Wigwam Motel – Holbrook, Arizona
Part of the historic Route 66, the Wigwam Motel features teepee-shaped rooms that offer a wild lodging experience. Built in the 1950s, this retro motel is one of three surviving Wigwam Villages in the United States.
What better way to get a slice of Americana than by stepping back in time to the golden age of road trips?
The Ultimate Route 66 Road Trip
The House on the Rock – Spring Green, Wisconsin
The House on the Rock, built by Alex Jordan Jr., is a sprawling complex filled with bizarre and eclectic collections. Opened to the public in 1960, it features the world’s largest indoor carousel, a room full of self-playing musical instruments, and countless other oddities.
Be sure to check out the mosaic-adorned Rolls Royce and the mechanical orchestra while you’re there. There’s so much to take in that they even built a nearby resort so you can stay long enough to take it all in.
A minimalist’s nightmare: The House on the Rock overwhelms the senses at every turn
The Grotto of the Redemption – West Bend, Iowa
The Grotto of the Redemption is a religious shrine made from millions of rocks, gems, and precious stones. Father Paul Dobberstein started construction on The Grotto in 1912 and continued building it over a span of 42 years.
This intricate structure depicts scenes from Jesus’s life. It is considered the largest man-made grotto in the world and a masterpiece of religious art. The large mausoleum of handmade abstract sculpture is easily walkable so you can take it all in on a stroll.
See the Grotto on this extraordinary places Iowa road trip:
The rad: Cool cultural roadside attractions
These are the ones that speak to elements of our culture and history with fun, wild, and story packed features.
Wall Drug – Wall, South Dakota
Okay, we get it — this is the one you’ve heard of in every travel magazine, every report on American road trips, and every billboard scattered along I-90 West in South Dakota.
But still, few places are as central to the psyche of U.S. roadtripping than Wall Drug. The spot started as a small-town pharmacy in 1931, offering free ice water to attract parched travelers headed to Rushmore.
Since then, it has grown into a sprawling complex of shops, restaurants, and rad attractions. Visitors can enjoy photo ops with jackalopes, dine at the café, and explore various souvenirs. Wall Drug embodies the spirit of the American roadside.
We also love it because a road trip through Wall also puts you in range of the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore.
Beyond the Black Hills: History covers the walls of South Dakota’s Wall Drug
See all the things in the Black Hills with this road trip:
The UFO Watchtower – Hooper, Colorado
From the stories of sightings at Area 51 to recently declassified info on UFO encounters, Alien intrigue is baked into our national fabric.
The UFO Watchtower is a unique spot for UFO enthusiasts and sky watchers located in the San Luis Valley. Created by Judy Messoline in 2000, the watchtower provides a platform for visitors to observe the night sky in an area known for frequent UFO sightings. The site also includes a garden filled with eclectic sculptures and trinkets left by visitors.
The top things to do on an Extraterrestrial Highway road trip
The World’s Largest Ball of Twine – Cawker City, Kansas
Who doesn’t have a childhood memory of rolling down the road seeing signs about “the world’s largest” thing straight ahead? While the end result might sometimes be underwhelming, there’s no denying that these sorts of wacky roadside attractions are an American phenomenon to be proud of.
The World’s Largest Ball of Twine is a testament to just this sort of roadside stop. Each year, a twine-a-thon is held, allowing visitors to add their own strands to this continually growing ball, making it a true community project and a symbol of Midwestern charm and dedication.
These ‘World’s Largest’ roadside attractions prove that sometimes, bigger really is better
The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things — Lucas, Kansas
Whoa, that’s a mouthful! But it’s the only way to really describe what this place is. If you want to see all the miniaturized gigantic attractions in one place, look no further than this Kansas spot.
This whimsical museum by artist Erika Nelson features miniature replicas of giant roadside attractions. Established in 2006, it offers a tongue-in-cheek homage to America’s obsession with the “world’s largest” phenomena.
Related: Meet the artist behind a mobile museum of miniature versions of ‘World’s Largest’ items
Spite Houses — Nationwide
A “spite house” happens when one neighbor gets so mad at another that they decide to build a house specifically to block a view, make a point, or otherwise get revenge.
While we’re sure these things were contentious at the time of construction, most of them have now become fun and fascinating stops over the road.
For example, the O’Reilly Spite House in Cambridge, MA is a sliver of a home that one neighbor built when the other refused to buy the property.
The Hollensbury Spite House in Virginia was jammed into an alleyway in 1830 to prevent people using the alley for “sketchy” activities.
And then there’s the Tyler Spite House, built in Maryland to irritate a local government who’d supposedly wronged the owner.
Spite houses dot the U.S. and are a mostly funny reference to our freedom-loving spirit.
Weird, wild, and rad road stops are what make our country great. They’re a testament to an American spirit that’s deeply linked to the culture of the road. Snag the Roadtrippers app today to hit these roadside attractions on your next journey.
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