Must-See Roadside Attractions in Every State

Jim Bishop, the owner of this hand-built castle in Rye Colorado, started constructing the building in 1969 at the age of 15. Every year since, he has single-handedly collected and set the tons of stone that make up his fortress. He calls it a “monument to hard-working people.”

The mascot for Wild Bill’s Nostalgia Center — a sprawling curio shop that closed in 2018 — is a 600-pound motorized clown head that rises out of the top of a 33-foot grain silo. Though the mechanism no longer works, the clown head is still a popular attraction for Connecticut’s tourists.

Visible from Highway 1, this car-crushing red-eyed monster rises up 46 feet from the site of the Dover International Speedway. With the nickname “the Monster Mile,” it’s fitting that the race-track would have a mascot named Miles the Monster, who was unveiled holding a real race car in 2008.

A private residence in Safety Harbor, Florida, Whimzeyland — also known as the Bowling Ball House — is the colorful art project of childhood friends Kiaralinda and Todd Ramquist. They’ve spent over 20 years using painted bowling balls, tiles, and other recycled materials to create a flamboyant sculpture garden where visitors are welcome to explore the grounds.

Completed in 1980, the Georgia Guidestones are a granite monument contracted and funded by a mysterious man who represented a “A Small Group of Americans Who Seek The Age Of Reason” (from an engraving on the monument). The stones are an astronomical calendar and are engraved in eight languages with 10 guidelines for living.