Pennsylvania

Natural Attractions

Archbald: ★ World’s Largest Glacial Pothole – Archbald Pothole State Park, Big Ice Age hole in the ground 42 feet wide that could hold 140,000 gallons of meltwater. Conveniently located next to a highway. A handy observation deck on the rim allows you to peer into its depths.

Benton: Ricketts Glen State Park – 22 waterfalls, Rickets Gleen Falls loop trail is a 7.2 mile difficult trail takes you past 21 waterfalls.  Though there are shorter trails, most are difficult.

Bushkill: ★ Dingman’s Falls – 130 ft falls in Pocono Mountains

Centre Hall: ★ Penn’s Cave – All-Water [RA] – America’s only all-water commercial cavern; you tour it with a knowledgeable guide in a motorboat. Open since 1885.

Coudersport: ★ Coudersport Ice Mine – A small, natural, underground room that’s a mysterious freak of nature: the hotter it is outside, the more ice there is inside.

Eire: ★  Presque Isle State Park – peninsula that arches into Lake Erie

Grampian: ★ Bilger’s Rocks consist of caves, passageways, and cliffs.

Lake Harmony: ★ Hickory Run State Park – The Boulder Field [RA] – 720,000 square feet of boulders, surrounded by trees, in a remote part of a state park. Some of the rocks are 25 feet high. Glaciers left them here.

Ohiopyle: ★ Ohiopyle State Park: Some of the favorite sites include the Youghiogheny River Gorge, which stretches more than a dozen miles; several waterfalls including Cumber Falls, Ohiopyle Falls, and the Jonathan Run Falls; also, the Ferncliff Peninsula National Natural Landmark.

Pottsgrove: ★ Ringing Rocks Company Park [RA] – A half-acre or so of boulders next to a parking lot. The best implement to produce sound is a hammer of some kind. One web page states that different hammers will produce different sounds when hit against the same rock. Perhaps a light claw hammer and a 2-pound sledge hammer would make for an interesting set of drum sticks.

Sigel: ★ Beartown Rocks in Clear Creek State Park – large boulders

Upper Black Eddy: ★ Ringing Rocks County Park [RA] – A four-acre pile in the middle of the woods, where boulders, when struck, emit a sound more musical than the typical rock thud (if you remember to bring your hammer).

Wellsboro: ★ Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania [RA] – Pine Creek Gorge is 50 miles long and over 1000 feet deep. Park overlook has restrooms and binoc-viewers — just like the other Grand Canyon.

Wilkes-Barre: ★ Seven Tubs Nature Area features natural tubs. A 1.8-mile trail that’s dotted with lush greenery, small waterfalls, shimmering streams, and natural tubs. 

Wyalusing: ★ Wyalusing Rocks Scenic Overlook

Appalachian National Scenic Trail (Georgia to Maine)

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area – straddles a stretch of the Delaware River on the New Jersey and Pennsylvania border. It encompasses forested mountains, grassy beaches and the Delaware Water Gap, which slices through the Kittatinny Ridge. Miles of trails include a section of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Dingmans Creek Trail leads through a hemlock ravine to towering Dingmans Falls. Pennsylvania’s tallest waterfalls

Lower Delaware National Wild and Scenic River – river trips

Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail – 710 miles

National Parks and Monuments

Beach Lake: Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River – river trips

Elverson: ★ Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site – an example of an American 19th century rural “iron plantation,” whose operations were based around a charcoal-fired cold-blast iron blast furnace.

Farmington: ★ Fort Necessity National Battlefield – The battle at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening action of the French and Indian War. This war was a clash of British, French and American Indian cultures. It ended with the removal of French power from North America. The stage was set for the American Revolution.

Gallitzin: Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site – the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania, 

Gettysburg:

  • ☆ Gettysburg National Military Park – 1863 Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War.
  • ★ Eisenhower National Historic Site – preserves the home and farm of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President.

Johnstown: ★ Flight 93 National Memorial – Our reaction to the official Flight 93 National Memorial, after driving the miles it takes to get from its entrance to its parking lot, then walking another quarter-mile to its memorial wall, was, “So, um, that’s it?” The Wall of Names is the most memorable feature of the Memorial, made of 40 individual slabs, each engraved with the name of Flight 93 passenger or crew member

  • Friedens: ★ Flight 93 Memorial Chapel [RA] – Rural church building features several Flight 93 memorials outside, and a multimedia presentation inside.

King of Prussia: ★ Valley Forge National Historical Park – Valley Forge is the encampment site of the Continental Army during the winter of 1777-1778. The park features 3,500 acres of monuments, meadows, and woodlands commemorating the sacrifices and perseverance of the Revolutionary War generation and honoring the power of people to pull together and overcome adversity during extraordinary times.  [RA] – 90-minute trolley tours leave from the visitor center on Saturdays and Sundays.

Philadelphia:

  • Edgar Allen Poe National Historic Site – a preserved home once rented by American author Edgar Allan Poe
  • Gloria Dei Church National Historic Site – Pennsylvania’s oldest church
  • Independence National Historical Park – preserves several sites associated with the American Revolution and the nation’s founding history.
  • Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial – Home of Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish patriot and hero of the American Revolution.

Point Marion: Friendship Hill National Historic Site – Albert Gallatin is best remembered for his thirteen-year tenure as Secretary of the Treasury during the Jefferson and Madison administrations. In that time he reduced the national debt, purchased the Louisiana Territory, and funded the Lewis & Clark exploration. Gallatin’s accomplishments and contributions are highlighted at Friendship Hill, his restored country estate.

Scranton: ★ Steamtown National Historic Site –  a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on 62.48 acres in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. A visitor center, two museums, a working railroad yard, and train repair shop, a giant old roundhouse, and an excursion ride to other locations on several real vintage trains. [RA]

South Fork: ★ Johnstown Flood National Memorial – on May 31, 1889, a 40-foot-tall wall of water and debris crashed into downtown, destroying most of it in less than ten minutes, killing over 2,200 people.

  • Johnstown: Johnstown Flood Museum [RA] –

 

Offbeat Landmarks and Oddities

Adamstown: Toy Robot Museum [RA] – Formerly just a museum, this is now a gift shop with a museum in the back, which owner Joseph Knedlhans told us was open “by advance appointment or genuine interest.”

Addison: 

  • ★ Chainsaw Sculpture Park [RA] – About a dozen permanent chainsawed wooden statues – bears, a Bigfoot – stand in a little park that hosts a Chainsaw Festival every year.
  • ★ National Road Toll House [RA] – 19th century stone toll house, one of only three road fee-collection survivors on the National Pike.

Allentown: 

  • ★ America on Wheels Museum [RA] – a spacious, 2-story, 48,000-square-foot facility devoted to exhibits about “over the road transportation.” The museum’s galleries allow visitors to inspect rare and historic vehicles up close, whether it’s a 1915 Model T roadster, or an early motorcycle, or rare Mac Truck.
  • ★ Mack Trucks Historical Museum [RA] – Visit the Mack Customer Center and historical museum, learn about trucks. One hour walking tour features old trucks and an anechoic room where truck soundproofing was tested.
  • ★ Liberty Bell Museum [RA] – Liberty Bell was hidden during the revolutionary war. It’s a small exhibit, but it’s interesting.
  • Mall Model Trains – Over 40 operating trains, trolleys, subways, and other vehicles on four display layouts, with lighted cities, operating amusement parks, a ski resort with skiers coming down the mountain, a working drive-in theater, and a rainstorm with thunder and lightning every hour on the half hour!

Allenwood: ★ Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland [RA}

Allison Park: Fountain of Youth [RA] – Hidden in the woods, this ancient-looking Fountain of Youth has had its water shut off since 1955.

Altoona: 

  • America’s Oldest Gas Station [RA] – Reighard’s Gas Station,
  • Castle Halloween Museum {RA] – Curators Chris Russell and Pamela Apkarian-Russell, “The Halloween Queen,” have filled their home with over 35,000 Halloween objects. Open year-round, by appointment.
  • Vietnam Memorial – The Wall That Heals [RA] – An exact replica of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, DC, only smaller.
  • World’s Oldest Roller Coaster [RA] – Lakemont Park, Built in 1902, “Leap the Dips” is the oldest roller coaster in US. The park is a full of old rides. Lakemont Park is always worth the stop just to see the history of this park.

Alum Bank: Little Village [RA] – A private assemblage of fully furnished old buildings, or maybe replicas of old buildings. There’s a gas station, church, and metal diner, and perhaps more to come.

Amity: Grave of Solomon Spaulding [RA] – Spaulding, a Presbyterian minister, wrote a work of fiction that critics say was later turned into the Book of Mormon. His tombstone mentions none of this.

Apollo: Engine Eaten by a Tree [RA] – Outside an auto junkyard, a old, rusty engine is suspended in mid-air, half-eaten by a big tree.

Artemas: 

  • Megalith Circle in the Woods [RA] – Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary of Earth Religions, Since 1994 people have met every Labor Day at this remote farm to raise giant stones in what will eventually be a 200-foot-wide circle.
  • Roadkill Cafe [RA] – Dead highway critter-themed eatery, with road kill souvenirs.

Ashland: 

  • Big Mine Run Geyser [RA] – The only “geyser” on the East Coast, although it’s really just water erupting out of a flooded mine shaft. Best viewed in wet springs, because in summers it can dry up.
  • Whistler’s Mother Statue [RA] – a large statue “reproducing” Whistler’s Mother at the top of a steep set of stairs, surrounded by a small park
  • ★ Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine Tour[RA}

Ashley: Joe Palooka Monument [RA] – A stone tribute to America’s once-favorite two-fisted Sunday Funnies boxer. Artist Ham Fischer was born and raised in nearby Wilkes-Barre. Restored and upgraded in Oct. 2017.

Austin: Austin Dam Burst Site [RA] – a park, and a giant ruptured wall help visitors recall that in 1911 the Bayless Dam burst and killed 78 people.

Avella: ★ Oldest Human Hangout In North America [RA] – Meadowcroft Rockshelter, a multi-million dollar pavilion over the excavations.

Bangor: Columcille Megalith Park and Celtic Art Center [RA] – An American Stonehenge, built in 1978.

Bartonsville: Big Red Boot [RA] – The boot is used as a sign for an Indian crafts store named Tepee Town.

Barto: Padre Pio’s Bloody Glove [RA] – this shrine is dedicated to the controversial, self-proclaimed stigmata-bearer, Padre Pio. Tour a replica of his childhood home, see his bloody glove, and buy a handkerchief that touched the bloody glove in the gift shop.

Bath: Yard Statue Zoo [RA] – A sleepy suburban home has about 20 big animals and fish and dinosaurs parked out front

Beallsville: Madonna of the Trail [RA] – Madonna of the Trail statues stand in twelve locations from Maryland to California, tracing a historic travel route from “covered wagon days.

Beaver Meadows: Junk Sculptures [RA] – The guy’s yard is filled with random items. They were all overgrown with weeds to the point you could not see them very well.

Bedford: 

  • Dick Dunkle’s Deco Gas Station [RA] – 1933 gas station with an exterior in the ornate Art Deco style is also a fully operational Gulf station.
  • Coffee Pot-Shaped Building [RA] – Giant coffee pot building. No museum. No gift shop.

Bensalem: Giant Horse Head [RA] – Pleasantly conjuring the first Godfather film, an enormous severed horse head greets visitors to the Parx Casino and race track. The 34-ft. long, 25-ton bronze, sculpted by Nic Fiddian-Green, was installed in August 2012.

Berwick: Ape on a Roof [RA] – A gorilla with red eyes, a toothy grin, and an upraised arm greet westbound traffic on US 11 from a rooftop perch.

Bentleyville: Big Jim, Giant Gunslinger[RA] – 20-foot-tall, 70,000-pound metal gunslinger,

Bethlehem:

  • ★ Millennium Folk Art Park [RA] – A clearing in the woods is populated with oddities such as the Millennium Folk Arch (built in 1999), the Concrete Tree of Sacred Debris, the Throne of Regeneration, and the Shed of Serendipity. Calls itself an “outsider art enclave.”
  • Eerily Lit Steelworks Hulk [RA] – Rusting remnants of the old Bethlehem Steel plant are brought to a strange kind of life with Frankenstein lighting and a convenient casino. The Sands Casino, which is operating a slots parlor in a reclaimed portion of the old Bethlehem Steel Works
  • Nittany Lion Bench [RA] – Even if you know nothing of the Nittany Lion and Penn State athletics, you should sit with this one-of-a-kind terrifying photo-op replica of the person who runs around in the Nittany Lion suit.
  • Peeps Factory [RA] – No regular public tours. They give you free peeps in the lobby.
  • Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier [RA] – 1932 monument. One of more than five hundred men who died in the hospital here at Bethlehem, and was buried on this hillside.

Biglerville: ★ National Apple Museum [RA] – Museum of antique apple paraphernalia, a diorama of the local area, and posters of county apple queens. Open since 1990.

Bloomsburg:

  • Bill’s Old Bike Barn: More Than Bikes [RA] – The fruits of 40 years of collecting by Bill Morris. There are motorcycles, yes, but there’s also a Hitler dummy standing on a balcony within an indoor fake town named Streets of Billville. Lots to see.
  • Big Candle [RA] – The big candle stands in front of a motel who’s original name probably had something to do with lamps or candles, but has been forgotten.

Boalsburg: 

  • Giant Cow [RA] – A standard fiberglass steer has a commanding view from atop Kelly’s steakhouse.
  • ★ Pennsylvania Military Museum [RA] – Can go through entire museum in probably 30 minutes

Boiling Springs: Boiling Springs [RA] – The “boiling” is caused by underground pressure, not heat. Conveniently located behind the town bar.

Bradford:

  • ★ Zippo Lighter Visitors Center: [RA] – exhibits, strange installations and kinetic sculptures
  • McDonald’s Drive-Thru Oil Well [RA] – Cline Well No. 1 has been pumping oil here since the early 1870s. The McDonald’s drive-thru that now sits on top of it came along much later.
  • ★ Penn Brad Oil Museum [RA] – Walk to the towering wooden oil derrick, the outdoor centerpiece of a museum that chronicles the history of the one-time “High-Grade Oil Metropolis of the World.”

Breezewood: Abandoned PA Turnpike – “The Road” Movie Location [RA] – Several miles of roadway, abandoned as part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the 1960s, feature two long scary tunnels open to public hikers and bikers. Shooting location for 2009 post-apocalypse movie “The Road.”

Brookville: Message-Rocks Carved by a Madman [RA] – Over 100 boulders and rocks were inscribed with biblical and other messages by the insane Douglas M. Stahlman. Some have been restored; most are difficult to read.

Broomall: Big Rooster [RA] – Seven-foot-tall rooster stands on a sidewalk, awaiting your puny human size comparison.

Butler: Store Shaped Like a Stealth Bomber [RA] – Playthings Etc.

Canadensis: Loch Ness – Lake Fred Monster [RA] – Metal cutout sculpture of Nessie’s signature humps and head on a long neck stick up from a small pond. And baby Nessie.

Canonsburg: 

Carlisle: 

  • Teddy Bear’s Picnic [RA] – Private home on a highway curve has oddly arranged dozens of children’s toys along the yard frontage.
  • ★ War Weapons, Trenches, Obstacle Course [RA] – Army Heritage And Education Center, Outdoor Army Heritage Trail features battle trenches, armored vehicles, artillery, and a training obstacle course. The Soldier Experience Indoor exhibits of items from conflicts since the Spanish American War.

Cashtown-McKnightstown: Cashtown Inn – Confederate Ghosts [RA] – 1797 Inn was used as Confederate HQ just before the battle of Gettysburg. Reports of ghosts, unexplained sounds, and a rebel genera’s rocking chair that moves on its own. The sign promises “Lodging – Dining – Spirits.”

Centerport: Literal Fork in the Road [RA] – A steel dinner fork plainly marks the split of a road in the town of Centerport. Not big, look for it between two road signs.

Chambersburg: 

  • Giant Apple Truck [RA] – Franklin County Career & Technology Center in Chambersburg, PA created this 1921 Selden Apple Truck for Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway. It is 10.5-ft. high, weighing nearly 1 1/2 tons.
  • Old Jail Museum [RA] – Tour an old 19th century jail where criminals were hanged. The jail is a lot bigger than it appears, with 19th century solitary cells, a dungeon, and even a three story cell block that some visitors compare to Alcatraz.

Cheswick: Purple Elephant [RA] – Cheswick Pools, Named “Chesy.” There are other roadside elephants, but this appears to be a less common design in an unusual grape purple color.

Clarion: Large Cow Statue [RA] – Big fiberglass cow is an artifact from a dairy business that closed in the 1970s.

Clearfield: World’s Largest Hamburgers[RA] – Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub, “Home of the World’s Largest Burgers,”

Columbia:

  • National Watch and Clock Museum [RA] – Among the 13,000 timepieces on display are an alarm clock that tugs your toe and an 11-foot-tall clock that tells time by having a miniature Death strike a thigh bone against a human skull.
  • ★ The Turkey Hill Experience  [RA] – Ice cream manufacturer turned a gutted silk mill into an interactive giant tub of ice cream and a simulated deep freeze. Flush out the pipes in a fake factory and milk a robot cow.

Conneaut Lake: 10-Foot-Tall Wireframe Woolly Mammoth [RA] – Life-size steel basket weave sculpture looks out over a lake where real Woolly Mammoths lay on the bottom.

Cooksburg: Giant Yogi Bear [RA] – Yogi is probably a refugee from a Yogi Bear Campground.

Coopersburg: Big Chip, Ice Cream Muffler Man [RA] – Muffler Man named Big Chip, customized as a soda jerk and accessorized with a giant ice cream cone and scoop. 

Corry: ★ Animalistic Chainsaw Carving Studio [RA] – The outdoor workshop of Scott Dow, who says that he particularly enjoys carving zombies and skulls.

Cove Gap: James Buchanan Birthplace Pyramid [RA] – America’s 15th President — considered one of its worst — had a determined niece who fought to build a monument at his log cabin birthplace. The result is a 31-foot-tall, 300-ton rock pyramid in the woods.

Cressona: Lady Diver in a Cage [RA] – Lady mannequin in a shark cage, dressed in seasonal swimwear, accompanied by an outdoor tableau of fake coral and fishes. Under a tree in somebody’s yard. Unexpected.

Dallas: Giant Shriner’s Fez [RA] – Shriners are drawn by this huge ceremonial hat to the Irem Country Club

Darlington: Zuverman: World’s Largest Bodybuilder [RA] – Zuverman was built by Bob Zuver — it has his head — and used to stand on Muscle Beach in Southern California. Zuver fan Rick Tsai moved the statue to Pennsylvania, where it was unveiled on August 15, 2013.

Dauphin: Dauphin Narrows Statue of Liberty [RA] – 25 ft tall Statue of Liberty replica stands on orphaned bridge platform in the Susquehanna River.

Donora: 

  • Killer Smog Marker [RA] – historical marker
  • ★ Smog Museum [RA] – The museum, which occupies a former Chinese restaurant, joins a monument to the smog that was erected in 1995. 

Doylestown: 

  • Ronald Reagan Eats Invisible Potato Pancake [RA] – Bronze Reagan sits at a picnic table, just like he did when he visited a local Polish-American festival here in 1984.
  • ★ Mercer Museum: Concrete Castle [RA] – seven-story castle museum
  • ★ Fonthill, Concrete Castle Home [RA] – 10 bathrooms, 18 fireplaces, 21 chimneys, and “at least” 32 sets of stairs
  • Kids’ Castle – Playground Castle [RA] – 8-story tall playground structure of interconnected rooms, slides, mazes, and poles — with a medieval knights theme.

DuBois: 

  • ★ Dinosaurs, Bigfoot, and Railroad Cars [RA] – Dr Doolittle’s Roadside Cafe & Creamery – Miniature golf, dinosaurs, Bigfoot, and full-size railroad cars, all add outdoor busyness to this cafe/brewery/ice cream parlor.
  • ★ Large Pair of Eyeglasses [RA] – The spectacles sit on the front lawn of an eye care business for easy size appreciation and photo ops.

Dunbar: Giant Apple Core [RA] – On the property of a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house stands this large eaten apple core, a sculpture by Claes Oldenburg. Other sculptures dot the property. Sept. 2019: Apple reported out for repairs.

Duncannon: 

  • Large Exotic Dragon [RA] – Two stories tall, formerly purple, next to a restaurant that promotes its “innovative cuisine.”
  • Old Sled Works, Fire Lookout Tower [RA] – An old sled factory has been converted to an antique center, but for the tourists there’s an old time soda fountain, arcade games, a small sled museum, and a 100 ft. tall fire lookout tower.

East Whiteland Township: Mass Grave Of Irishmen [RA] – They all died of a mysterious something in 1832. A plaque and stone memorial marks the site, where the 57 deaths are attributed to cholera, but they don’t really know.

Easton: 

  • Large Bicycle [RA] – Genesis Bicycles, Replacing a 2002 bike sculpture destroyed in a storm, the current rooftop bike was constructed in 2004 of PVC tubing and welded aluminum lugs.
  • The Crayola Experience: Crayola Factory [RA] – The Crayola Experience: Crayola Factory, Parking available, for a fee, at City of Easton Parking Garage on left. Entrance on right.

Edinboro:

  • ★ Angus: Big Bad Bronze Scotsman [RA] – One of the most terrifying and massive school mascots out there, Angus the Scotsman — of Pennsylvania’s Edinboro University — weighs over 12 tons. His gleaming sword is seven feet long, but his sculptors tactfully arranged his flapping kilt for modesty.
  • Wooden Nickel Buffalo Farm [RA] – You can look at buffalo in the pastures, then eat buffalo in the restaurant.

Eldred: ★  Eldred World War II Museum [RA] – Munitions Plant [RA] – Dedicated to the people who made the bombs that beat the Nazis. The museum features a Rosie the Riveter in stained glass and, outdoors, a tank bursting through the side of the building.

Elysburg:

  • ★ Mine Horror Ride, Museum, Giant Bread Loaf [RA] – Free. Knoebels Grove Amusement Park, An amusement park pays tribute to the doomed town of Centralia with a spook ride through a fake coal mine. Plus a building shaped like a giant loaf of bread, mining museum dinosaur, and a pig head that eats paper garbage!
  • ★ World’s Largest Baseball Bat [RA]– Knoebels Amusement Resort, There are rivals to the Bat title, but this is the only one displayed next to a haunted house. Other sights like working steam tractors and other “lumber wonders” (including lots of chainsaw carvings) are found nearby.

Ephrata: Ephrata Cloister Tour [RA] – The Ephrata Cloister is one of America’s earliest religious communities. It was founded in 1732 by German settlers looking to broaden their views on religion.

Erie: 

  • ★  Schaefer’s Auto Art – VW Bug Spider [RA] – Some familiar recycled art themes in the private yard of Dick Schaefer — well done giant insects made from cars, a missile/rocket and more.
  • Erie County History Center [RA]
    • Mad Anthony Wayne’s Kettle of Death[RA] – the post-Revolutionary War hero who died here after fighting Indians in Ohio and his undecomposed! was boiled to remove the flesh so they could be sent.
  • Fruits of Labor: Horse-Drawn Earth [RA] – “Fruits of Labor,” meant to represent the transition from farm to industry, is a sculpture of a large globe being pulled by a big horse made of metal junk.
  • ★ Statue of Liberfrog [RA] – An artistic spoof of Lady Liberty as a frog, spawned during Erie’s 2004 Leap Frog community art project.
  • Where Mad Anthony Wayne Died [RA] – Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, Mad Anthony Wayne was a successful Revolutionary War general, and he was equally successful at killing Indians in Ohio after the war.  Drive to the large, main building and ask the security guard for directions and the key to the Blockhouse.

Evans City:

  • Night of the Living Dead Cemetery [RA] – remote and isolated as it was when Romero filmed it in 1967.
  • Night of the Living Dead Marker [RA] – A set of markers state that Evans City is “Home to Night of the Living Dead,” and describe the movie, which was filmed in and around the city in 1968, as “historic and influential.”

Everett:

  • Giant Quarter [RA] – Large metal statue of a George Washington head quarter. Part of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor’s Roadside Giants project, designed and constructed by students.
  • ★ Ice Cream Sundae-Shaped Building [RA] – Igloo Soft Freeze, Building with a domed roof painted to look like a giant ice cream sundae. With a large cherry on top!

Export: Two-Way Volkswagen on a Pole [RA] – The front ends of two vintage Volkswagen Beetles have been attached back-to-back and placed atop a sign pole.

Forksville: Red Grange Museum [RA] – In a restaurant in Forksville, there is a room set aside as a museum to football legend Red Grange.

Frackville: Pioneer Mom with Scary Child [RA] – The 15-foot-tall masculine Pioneer Mom, The girl child clutching the woman’s dress is even more peculiar, with the face of a 40-year old man, dragging a decapitated doll across the statue platform.

Franklin: ★  DeBence Antique Music World [RA] – Over 100 calliopes, carousels, and other mechanical hooters.

Fredericktown: Welder Man [RA] – Robo-humanoid, built in 2016, stands 20 feet tall and substitutes a welding mask for a head. He promotes the “robotic welding” of the machine shop behind him.

Freeland: ★ Restored Miners’ Village [RA] – Eckley Miner’s Village and Coal Museum, A deserted town surrounded by coal piles, with a fake gallows. Part has been restored as a museum and tourist attraction.

Gettysburg: 

  • Time Warp: Abe Lincoln Meets Perry Como [RA] – “Return Visit” is a 1991 sculpture by Seward Johnson. a lifelike Abraham Lincoln gesturing with his stovepipe hat toward the second floor window of the house where he finished writing his famous Gettysburg Address. The guy standing next to Abe is not from the 19th century. He is, according to Johnson, “the common man” — Johnson’s way of showing that the Gettysburg Address was as relevant in 1991 as it was in 1863.
  • Lincoln Train Museum [RA] – centerpiece is the Lincoln Funeral Train, a virtual reality ride from the 1960s. It was built by Ken Rohrbaugh to display his collection of model trains. Lincoln, Gettysburg, and trains have a connection, as the Gettysburg Address was delivered by Lincoln in 1863 after he rode a train into town
  • Jennie Wade House and Museum – See the Bullet Hole [RA] = Jennie Wade was the only civilian killed during the Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg. 
  • Civil War Tails at the Homestead Diorama Museum [RA] – battle of Gettysburg recreated with tiny cats
  • ★  Gettysburg Museum of History
  • ★  The Gettysburg Cyclorama [RA] – The Cyclorama — a 19th century version of the 4-D theater — still wows Civil War buffs in Gettysburg
  • ★  West Gettysburg: Land of Little Horses Farm Park [RA] – more like a glorified petting zoo.
  • Gettysburg National Military Park
    • Dinosaur bridge [RA] – a small stone arched bridge on which the rocks contain many fossils.
    • Gettysburg – Sit with Abe Lincoln [RA] – A bronze Abraham Lincoln sits on a bench you can share outside of the visitors center at the Gettysburg battlefield.
    • Lucky Nose of Col. O’Rorke [RA] – Col. O’Rorke was killed at Gettysburg, honored at the spot with a big bronze head, and people rub his nose for luck.
  • Dobbin House Tavern: Slavery Museum [RA] – Small exhibit in a historic restaurant that also displays the secret chamber where escaped enslaved people were hidden.
  • Friend to Friend Monument [RA] – Gettysburg National Cemetery Annex. Depicts Confederate Gen. Lewis Armistead, wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, placing his pocket watch in the hand of a Union Captain, asking him to deliver it to his friend, Union Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock.
  • Ike at the Office [RA] – Gettysburg College. A life-size bronze of the retired President Eisenhower casually leans against a wall outside his office, his hat in his hand.
  • Last Survivor Monument [RA] – the last surviving member of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)
  • Soldier’s Orphanage Dungeon Tour [RA] – Please note that while the Soldier’s National Museum is closed, the night time tours into the Haunted Orphanage Cellar are still going on.
  • Statue of the Pregnant Gravedigger [RA] – Elizabeth Thorn buried as many as 100 soldiers who died at Gettysburg. The bronze 2002 statue depicts her leaning on her spade and holding her pregnant belly as she wipes her brow.

Goldsboro: Giant Doughnut [RA] – A giant doughnut tops the Maple Donuts shop, and a large one by the street doubles as a mailbox.

Grantville: Fireworks Museum [RA] – Fireworks store features a section behind glass devoted to rare, historical fireworks: traditional Asian rockets, Atomic era favorites, and nostalgic finger vaporizers from the 1960s and ’70s.

Greencastle: Giant Firecracker [RA] – Keystone Fireworks,

Greensburg

  • Headless Muffler Man: Football Player [RA] – A towering fiberglass man outfitted as a Pittsburgh Steeler football player. Missing his head since 2009.
  • Optimus Prime Metal Sculpture [RA] – Stone and Company, Appears to be one-of-a-kind, intricate but small for a giant robot.

Greentown:★  Ice Cream Cone and Cow [RA] – A giant pistachio ice cream cone juts out of a picnic table next to a restaurant named Greentown Grill. Beside it a life-size Holstein cow stands on the bed of an old Ford crank car. A unique side-of-the-road find!

Greenville: Greenville Railroad Park [RA]– A big old steam engine — claimed to be the largest of its kind — and some railroad cars, parked right beside the road, showcase the history of Greenville railroading.

Grove City: 

  • Large Fish on a Hook [RA] – A large, colorful, and snagged fish sits on the edge of a parking lot. Georgia Junior Republic youth fabricated the sculpture in 2014.
  • ★ Art works created by students at a local reform school
    • Tools For Change – NW corner Blair & Broad
    • Gearing Towards The Future – NW corner Blair & S. Center
    • Sea of Possibilities – 130 S. Center at Jackson
    • Time To Dine – SE corner College & S. Center
    • Grow – 125 W. Main (SR 58) next to the library
    • In Full Bloom – 301 S. Broad at College in front of College View Towers
    • An Evening Out – Guthrie Theatre 232 S. Broad
    • Drop A Line – SE corner of E. Pine & Grace across from post office.

Hamburg: ★ Cabela’s: High Temple of Taxidermy [RA] – large taxidermy display

Haverford: Black Squirrels [RA] – Haverford College, The squirrels are not in town, just on campus.

Halifax: Lake Tobias Wildlife Park to see exotic animals from all around the world

Hallam: ★ Haines Shoe House [RA] – Haines (1875-1962) was the over-the-top owner of a chain of shoe stores in Pennsylvania and Maryland. He called himself “The Shoe Wizard” and knew the value of self-promotion. 

Hanover:

  • ★  Hanover Heritage and Conference Center, The Electric Map [RA] – Formerly at the Gettysburg National Park Service Visitor Center. Dumped and trashed in 2008; moved, restored and reopened by fans in 2016.
  • Potato Chip Tour, Neon Sign [RA]
  • ★  Utz Potato Chip Plant

Harborcreek: Dinosaur Family and Other Figures [RA] – Someone hand-built a T-rex mom and baby, a triceratops, a woolly mammoth, and other creatures, and placed them on a grassy lawn.

Harrisburg: National Civil War Museum [RA]

Hermitage:

  • Avenue of Flags – 444 Banners of Freedom [RA] – Hillcrest Memorial Park, Iran Hostage Crisis, One flag for each day that Americans were held hostage in Iran in 1979-81.
  • Bigfoot Sculpture [RA] – Life-size Bigfoot in front of a gardening center, carved from an old tree stump. New Bigfoot replaced previous version in 2020.

Hershey: 

  • ★  Hershey Park – Amusement Park
  • ★  Hershey’s Chocolate Factory Tour [RA]
  • ★  AACA Museum and Museum of Bus Transportation [RA]
  • Boy and the Boot [RA] – Hershey Gardens,
  • Building Under Glass [RA] – Built in 1732, the Session House was sealed inside a glass outer-house in 1929 by chocolate millionaire M.S. Hershey.  the building once served as the local post office.
  • ★ The Hershey Story [RA] – The Hershey Story is a $23.5 million reworking of Hershey, Pennsylvania’s old Hershey Museum.

Hellertown: Lost River Caverns [RA] – Tour 170 feet beneath the earth in “Nature’s Underground Wonderland.” Cave opened for tours in 1930 and has hosted subterranean weddings and square dances. No one knows where its underground river begins or ends.

Hickory: Firehouse Farmer and Calf [RA] – Honoring local farmers, a bronze statue of a man holding a calf stands next to the local firehouse.

Homer City: Tallest Smokestack in the U.S. [RA] – 1,217 feet tall. Fortunately, it’s so big that you can take pictures of it from far away; the power plant that it belongs to gets nervous if you get too close.

Hopwood: 

  • Laurel Caverns – Kavernputt, Cave Mini Golf [RA] – a 10,000-square-foot, 18-hole miniature golf course inside a fake cave. Inside the real cave, there is a light show, rock climbing, spelunking.
  • 60-Foot-Tall Steel Cross [RA]

Hummelstown: Indian Echo Caverns[RA] – regular commercial cave

Hunlock Creek: Beached Boat, Big Shrimp [RA] – Closed and overgrown seafood restaurant had a dine-in boat, and a big shrimp on a pole.

Imler: Lost Children of the Alleghenies [RA] – Two young brothers, lost in the woods in 1856. A monument marks the spot where their bodies were found because of a stranger’s mysterious dream.

Indiana: 

  • Jimmy Stewart Museum [RA] – occupies the third floor of the town’s library. Jimmy himself picked out most of the items to be placed on display.
  • Jimmy Stewart Statue [RA] – Bronze Jimmy stands in front of the Indiana County Court House atop a concrete pedestal.

Intercourse:

  • Most Stolen Town Signs [RA]
  • ★  Main Street, tourists can take a buggy ride and visit People’s Place to learn about the history, traditions, and folk crafts of local cultures, including the Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites.
  • ★  American Military Edged Weaponry Museum, which has an impressive collection of knives, swords, bayonets, and similar weapons.
  • ★  Leaman Place covered bridge that spans Pequea Creek.
    • Lancaster County Covered Bridges

Irwin: Corvette Burial [RA] – Brush Creek Cemetery, George Swanson loved his Corvette so much that he was buried in it.

Jennerstown: Bicycle Built for Two Sculpture [RA] – Large steel sculpture created in 2009 by students for the Lincoln Highway Roadside Giants project.

Jim Thorpe:

  • Old Jail Museum [RA] – See gallows, nooses, and the cell with the hand print of the hanged man that cannot be removed! “Executions” Historical marker out front.
  • Jim Thorpe’s Tourist Attraction Grave [RA] – The Olympic champion buried in Jim Thorpe never lived there, but the town thought his bones would make a good tourist attraction.
  • ★  Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway
  • ★  Harry Packer Mansion – became the inspiration for Walt Disney World’s “Haunted Mansion!”

Johnstown: 

  • Grandview Cemetery,
    • Grave of USA’s First WWII Air Ace [RA] – Grandview Cemetery, The tall tombstone of Boyd D. Wagner announces that he was “First American Ace World War II.”
    • Mass Grave of Johnstown’s Unknown Dead [RA]– Over 800 identical plots and a monument
  • Morley’s Dog [RA] – A replica has stood in Morley’s place since 2004. After years of expensive hi-tech restoration work, the original Morley’s Dog is now back in Johnstown, displayed indoors at the town’s Heritage Discovery Center.
  • ★ World’s Steepest Railway for Cars [RA] – Steepest incline for a railway that can carry vehicles, built between Johnstown and a flood-resistant ridge. Tourists enjoy the near-vertical ride with their cars. The ticket station at the top has a well-stocked gift shop, and also a restaurant where you can enjoy a panoramic view of the city as you dine. The ride alone is well worth the $4 (or less) round-trip fare!

Kecksburg: Space Acorn – 1965 UFO[RA] – a replica of the UFO that crash-landed in 1965 and was hauled away by the Air Force. Looks like an acorn.

King of Prussia: The Big Chicken [RA]– A seven-foot-tall aluminum rooster stands outside a local farm, ice cream shop, and gardening center. He is a 2015 replacement for a fiberglass rooster created by International Fiberglass and erected in 1971.

Kirkwood:★  Gnome Countryside [RA] – Rich “The Gnomeman” Humphreys, who resembles actor Wilford Brimley, leads two-hour tours of his rural property populated with gnomes. Among the stops are the “Gnomery,” “Gnome Gniagra,” and the super-sad “Valley of the Shadows of Litter.”

Kittanning: ★ Muffler Man Holding a Hamburger [RA] – Cadet Restaurant, “Sam” has stood here since 1962, making him one of the oldest original Muffler Men.

Kutztown: Crystal Cave [RA] – Pennsylvania’s first commercial cave. Free museum next door shares space with an Indian trading post and features the history of the cave, region, a 1922 ice cream parlor, and a turn-of-century stagecoach used to transport visitors to the cave from town.

Lakeville: ★  Chainsaw Ice Sculpture Factory and Ice Harvest Museum [RA] – need reservations weeks ahead of time, call for schedule

Lancaster

  • Dutch Wonderland [RA] – Theme park with its own vintage monorail, a tiny church, and a fiberglass cow that gives milk.
  • Huge Jake and Finn [RA]– A dramatically elongated Jake and tank-like Finn, from “Adventure Time,” greet visitors outside the Cartoon Network Hotel.
  • Lincoln Stump Chainsaw Bust [RA] – In front of a private home, this 2016 chainsaw carving of a tree stump is a bust of President Abraham Lincoln.
  • Replica Ark Of The Covenant [RA] – The Mennonite Information Center was an interesting experience. Two short videos on the life of the Amish and the Mennonites are playing on regular loop at the Center. They also have an interesting recreation of the Biblical Tabernacle, which housed the Ark of the Covenant. The Biblical Tabernacle is pretty neat, well worth the time if you’re interested in biblical history. Even has an animatronic Priest Aaron.

Lansford: ★  No. 9 Mine and Museum [RA] – World’s oldest continuously operated anthracite coal mine. Closed in 1972, opened as an attraction in 2002. Ride in a coal car 1,600 feet beneath the surface.

Latrobe:

  • Banana Split Birthplace [RA] – Where the drug store soda fountain once stood is a state historical marker honoring the inventor, a park bench honoring a longtime owner of the business, and a giant banana split monument.
  • Fred Rogers Exhibit – “Mr. Rogers” – Designed for adults and for children accompanied by adults, the Exhibit includes wall panels with narratives and photos, cases displaying special artifacts from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, video screens with clips of programs and interviews featuring and about Fred Rogers, and a “Speedy Delivery” letter-writing station for visitors.
  • Mr Rogers Bench, Downtown Park [RA] – Bronze Mr. Rogers, wearing his cardigan sweater and tennis shoes, sits next to an open spot on a park bench. Unveiled Dec. 2016. Latrobe was Fred Rogers’ hometown.
  • 25-Foot-Tall Gas Pump [RA]
  • ★  Lincoln Highway Experience – Discover 100+ years of Lincoln Highway history at the largest museum in America dedicated to sharing the story of the first coast-to-coast highway.

Lattimer: Lattimer Miners Massacre Memorial [RA] – On Sept. 10, 1897, immigrant miners marching in protest over conditions and wages at the Lattimer mine were intercepted by a posse of county sheriff deputies. When the gun smoke cleared, 19 miners were dead and 38 were wounded. It’s a grim landmark in labor history.

Lebanon: Milk Can Cow [RA] – The body is a painted oil tank. Only the head is made from a milk can — but it’s a funny head.

Lehighton: 

  • Stinson the Dinosaur [RA] – A bright red skeletal T-rex, Stinson stands nine feet tall right off the highway
  • ★ World’s Largest General Store [RA] – Country Junction – Outhouse humor, a Bigfoot statue, and hale bale Minions in the parking lot. Shoppertainment on a world’s largest scale.

Levittown: Scrap Metal Dinosaurs [RA] – An adult and child dinosaur stands in a veterinarian’s parking lot. The child is made of horseshoes.

Lewisberry: Gravity Hill – Ghost Children [RA] – Park near the train tracks, and the ghost children from a doomed school bus may push you away! Locals insist the bus tragedy never happened. Illusion or baffling anomaly — you decide.

Lewistown: Stone from Lincoln’s Tomb [RA] – According to local lore, this is the only stone ever removed from Lincoln’s Tomb. Its origin is engraved in big letters, and set into the base of a towering monument in the heart of town

Ligonier:

  • Joe’s Bar – Taxidermy Galore [RA] – A bar well regarded for its profusion of stuffed and stiff mammals on the walls.
  • Story Book Forest [RA] – Idlewild Park, theme park for children, expensive

Lilly: KKK Kicked Out Monument [RA] – Bronze plaque on a brick pedestal shows 15 hooded Klansmen armed with torches, while two joined hands block their advance. Commemorates the day in 1924 that the people of Lilly kicked out the Klan.

Linesville: ★  Spillway with a horde of carp [RA] – so thick that birds walk on them

Lititz:

  • Clock Made of 50,000 Pieces of Wood [RA] – Inside the Lititz Historical Foundation Museum is a clock made of 50,000 individual pieces of wood.
  • ☆ Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery [RA] – Interactive tours of a 19th-century pretzel bakery & a snack/souvenir shop in a historic stone home.
  • Wolf Sanctuary of PA [RA] – Pennsylvania hasn’t had wild wolves in over a century, but 40 live in this sanctuary. 

Lock Haven: Piper Cub Airplane Museum [RA] – The displays include lots of typewritten and handmade charts, exhibits on experimental designs, contributions to the war effort, and cool ads of their planes for businessmen and housewives. There is a hangar on the first floor with a dozen or so examples of their most popular models. It includes a well-worn demonstrator cabin used to sell a business model aircraft (roped off so you can’t climb in it anymore). You can, for an extra five bucks, climb into a Tomahawk trainer rigged as a simulator. 

Lopez: Town Park Military Display [RA] – Visitors to Lopez are greeted by 5 bombs that spell “Lopez,” a military drone on a pole, an American flag, and a bench where you can sit and take it all in.

Lower Askam: Concrete City – A housing development of concrete homes, abandoned since 1924 but still standing. [RA]

Lower Gwynedd: Stoogeum: Three Stooges Museum [RA] – open very limited hours

Loganton: Monument to Mythical Massacre [RA]

Mahanoy City: Statue of Hooded Man on Gallows [RA] – Molly Maguire Historic Park, Sculpture of an anonymous Molly Maguire coal miner terrorist about to be hanged.

Manns Choice:

  • Last 1940s Motor Court on Lincoln Highway [RA] – the last remaining motor court on the Lincoln Highway.
  • The Fifties Place and Mini Museum [RA] – Hundreds of old radios, TVs, and other vintage tech restored to working order. Outside is a recreated 1950s gas station with original gas pumps and other petroliana.

Mars: Flying Saucer in Town Named Mars [RA] – The replica space ship is the town’s nod to its unusual name. Cruise around to check out businesses with names such Mars Laundromat, Planet Pizza, and Chuck Kennedy’s Cars from Mars.

Martins Creek: Gas Station Space Capsule [RA] – Imitation Mercury space capsule may have been built as a 1960s U.S. Air Force recruiting prop

McKeesport: World’s Oldest JFK Statue [RA] -first full-body JFK, was unveiled on February 9, 1965, the same day the Kennedy half-dollar was released into circulation.

McVeytown: The McVeytown Knight [RA] – Looks ancient, but arrived circa 2013. The bearded warrior sits astride a warhorse, with a shield, open-face helmet, and upraised sword.

Meadville: ★  PennDot Road Sign Sculpture Garden [RA] – 1/4-mile Large murals and colorful sculptures made from official Pennsylvania road signs by Allegheny college students 

Mechanicsburg: Grave of Mary Reeser’s Leg [RA] – Mary Reeser is perhaps the world’s best-known victim of (possible) spontaneous human combustion. All that remained of her was a foot and lower leg, part of her spine, and a badly shrunken skull, so they must be what’s buried here.

Mercer:

  • Large Bull Statue [RA] – Fiberglass statue of a bull advertises a livestock auction.
  • Little Big Bull [RA] – Small version of a large bull that stands elsewhere in town. Its eyes stare intently at the passing traffic.

Meshoppen: ★ Covered Wagon Replicas, Western Mini Golf [RA] – Roadside BBQ joint overlooks active railroad, offers western-themed “Trapped-in-a-Mine” mini-golf, funny signs, and a semi-circle of a pioneer covered wagon replicas. Streetside fake Wild West town and teepee.

Middletown: Three Mile Island [RA] – Rural road offers pleasant views of the notorious nuke plant and its post-accident containment building. A historical marker recounts the events of March 1979.

Milan: Dinosaur Tree [RA] – The stump of a still-rooted tree has been carved to resemble several dinosaurs.

Mildred: MGM-13 Mace Missile [RA] – Retired and defanged surface-to-surface missile decorates the lawn of the American Legion Post.

Milford: The Columns Museum – Bloody Lincoln Flag [RA] – The flag was shoved under Lincoln’s bleeding head as he lay mortally wounded, and eventually ended up here. Also, the noose used in the only public hanging in Milford.

Mill Creek: Swigart Antique Car Museum [RA]

Mill Run: ★  Fallingwater – Frank Lloyd Wright house

Millersburg: ★ Paddle Wheel Ferry Boats [RA] – Millersburg Ferry. A ferry in Millersburg has been crossing the Susquehanna since 1817. Two all-wooden double paddle stern wheel ferry boats still operate.

Millvale: Church Gorilla [RA] – A gorilla statue and peace symbol flag mark the entrance of the former St. Luke’s church, which is now a party supply business.

Milton: Statue of Chef Boyardee [RA] – Wearing his signature chef’s hat, life-size Hector Boiardi stands outside the food factory that has canned his pasta products since 1938.

Monroeville:

  • Bust of George Romero [RA] – Monroeville Mall, The bust was reverently placed atop a pedestal in one of the Mall’s enclosed anchor store courts, and unveiled on June 8, 2018.
  • The Living Dead Museum [RA] – A museum mostly about zombies, at the mall where Dawn of the Dead was filmed. Features artifacts, a zombie timeline, and a “Maul of Fame.” Moved here from Evans City (where Night of the Living Dead was filmed) in July 2021.

Montrose: Penny Rock [RA] – Salt Springs State Park. Pound a penny into Penny Rock (you can use other nearby rocks as a hammer) for good luck.

Mount Jewett: ★  The Kinzua Viaduct [RA] – Built in 1882, it was the longest, tallest railroad bridge in the country — until a tornado destroyed it in 2003. Its impressive wreckage, viewed from a platform, has made it even more of a tourist attraction!

Mount Joy: ★ Dinner in a Beer Dungeon [RA] – Bube’s Brewery, Dine among giant wooden barrels, in a 19th century vaulted rock bunker 43 feet below ground. 

Mount Pleasant: Giant Slide in the Woods [RA] – Mammoth Park, has a giant playground slide.

Mount Washington:  Stare Down: Washington and Indian Scout [RA] – a bronze statue of a giant-size George Washington crouches face to face with Seneca leader Guyasuta, overlooking Pittsburgh below. 

Muncy: Hadany Arch – Twisted Steel [RA] – Lycoming Mall entrance 

Murrysville: Trees Spell Town Name [RA] – 850 spruce trees planted by Boy Scouts in 1933 are arranged to spell MURRYSVILLE, visible overlooking the town on a hillside. Requires annual pruning and maintenance; reported less legible in 2013.

Nazareth: Martin Guitar Factory Tour [RA] – Tour the factory, visit the museum. Free guitar holes handed out as souvenirs at the end of the tour!

Nescopeck: Big Rooster [RA] – Fiberglass rooster statue is outside a Nescopeck laundromat.

Neshaminy: Windows of History [RA]– Neshaminy Mall, America’s heroic colonial history, told in miniature dioramas set into the wall of a shopping mall.

New Alexandria:

  • Cigar Box Guitar Museum [RA] – Speal’s Tavern, Tavern walls display eclectic guitars made from old cigar boxes, and occasional concerts of guitar box virtuosos can be heard at this live music venue.
  • Rural Space Shuttle [RA] – A small replica of the Space Shuttle stands in the middle of nowhere.

New Bethlehem: Iwo Jima Flag Raising Carving [RA] – The sculpture is in front of the VFW hall.

New Hope:

  • Boomer the Dino-Dog [RA] – Boomer is a hybrid of a dinosaur and a dog
  • ★ The Creeper Gallery [RA] – Artist-owned curiosity shop with weird art, a human skeleton, possessed toys, and Ralphie the haunted taxidermied dog. Great town to stroll around. Lots of shops, history and art.

New Oxford: ★  Krampus, Yule Cat, Christmas Witch [RA] – Artist Jeff Asper has populated his front yard with eerie holiday sculptures made of machinery parts: Krampus the Christmas Devil, Frau Perchta the Christmas Witch, and a giant Icelandic Yule Cat.

New Paris: Gravity Hill [RA]

New Ringgold: Iron Man, 1963 Version [RA] – Welded out of stainless steel, based on the 1963 comics. Stands six feet tall outside a junkyard.

Newry: Giant Work Boot [RA] – Walk under a giant boot to enter a boot store, if you don’t mind the symbolism.

Newtown Square: Band of Brothers: Wild Bill on One Leg [RA] – Delaware County Veterans Memorial

Newtown: 9/11 Memorial Garden Of Reflection [RA] – Dedicated to Bucks County residents killed in the WTC or in the crashed planes. Dedicated in 2006, it includes a twisted steel beam from the twin towers.

Nicholson: ★  Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct  [RA] – Longest Concrete Railroad Bridge

North Braddock: Joe Magarac – Steel Bending Worker [RA] – Tall tale hero of steelworkers since the 1930s, Joe was believed to have been born in an ore mountain, his body composed of steel. At the old US Steel works, a large statue depicts the brawny folk hero bending a steel beam, his shirt open to show his US Steel medallion.

Nottingham: ★  Herr’s Potato Chip Factory Tour [RA]

Northampton: Atlas Cement Company Museum [RA] – Displays include old signs, bags of Atlas Cement Company cement (one with a good-luck swastika), a replica of a cement-hauling horse, and bottles of Atlas Beer from Panama, brewed by Atlas workers who poured the cement for the Panama Canal. Open 2nd and 4th Su 1-4 pm.

Oakes:

  • ★  American Treasure Tour [RA] – a huge warehouse of stored collections.
  • Happy Halfwit Muffler Man [RA] – stands at a complex with an expo center and the family fun center.

Orefield:

  • Oldest Drive-In Movie Theater [RA] – America’s oldest still-operating drive-in movie theater first flickered onto its outdoor screen on April 15, 1934. For sound, the old car window speakers have been retired in favor of FM radio transmission.
  • Silo Lighthouse [RA] – A family farm grain silo has been modified to resemble a lighthouse.

Orrtanna: ★  Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum [RA] – Happy Ed Gotwalt, former peanut dealer, exhibits his 10,000+ elephant item collection.. Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum is worth a brief stop. Kids will love the extensive old-time candy display. There are many kitschy outdoor yard art photo ops.

Ortanna: Pine Box Coffin Mailbox [RA] – Next to a dangerous intersection, a homeowner with a dark sense of humor has placed a mailbox fashioned out of a pine box coffin.

Pen Argyl: Jayne Mansfield’s Grave [RA] – Fairview Cemetery, Heart-shaped headstone for the bombshell starlet and former rival to Marilyn Monroe.

Perryopolis:

  • Layton Bridge-Tunnel [RA] – On the way to the “Silence of the Lambs” house, travelers pass through this 19th century one-lane tunnel and bridge.
  • Silence of the Lambs House [RA] – Private residence used for exteriors and rooms

Phoenixville: Movie Theater From The Blob [RA] – Location for a memorable scene-of-terror from a 1950s sci-fi movie.

Pithole: A Town Named Pithole [RA] –

Pittston: JFK Loves Pittston Statue [RA] – the statue of JFK where he was mobbed

Pittston: Quality Tomato Capital of the World Statue [RA] – A big, bright red sculpted tribute to the Quality Tomato Capital of the World. The town holds an annual festival, featuring a tomato pageant and a tomato fight.

Pleasant Gap: Transmission Woman [RA]– A quirky metal woman, made from auto parts, 6-7 ft. tall, with a transmission for a body. Stands in an American Legion parking lot.

Pleasantville: First Oil Pipeline [RA] – Built in 1865, dug up years ago, but the historical marker notes: “Trench is visible here.”

Portersville: ★ Snowman-Shaped Ice Cream Stand [RA] – Compact ice cream and slushie stand in the belly of a grinning, snow cone-holding snowman.

Pottsville: 

  • Giant Monument to Loser Henry Clay [RA] – Monument dedicated to his work in pushing through protectionist tariffs on foreign coal and iron, which made Pottsville’s coal and iron more valuable. Henry Clay lost presidential elections to John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and James K. Polk.
  • Gargoyle Fountain for Horses [RA] – The wrought iron fence bounding the local Y.W.C.A. includes an old gothic fountain with a basin and gargoyle head spout, originally used by thirsty horses.
  • Indian Head Rock [RA] – Natural rock formation in the steep hillside that resembles an Indian chief head with war bonnet. The effect is clarified with red and white paint and regular brush clearing.
  • ★ Oldest Brewery in America: Free Beer [RA] – D.G. Yuengling Brewery, A fun, old-style tour, right on the brewery floor; you may even get to meet the big boss. Museum and gift shop.

Punxsutawney: 

  • ★  Weather Discovery Center and National Meteorologist Hall of Fame [RA]
  • ★  Punxsutawney Memorial Library, Phil’s Burrow: Home of Punxsutawney Phil [RA]
  • Gobbler’s Knob [RA] – See the Groundhog Day ceremonial grounds, and the groundhog’s ceremonial stump. A quiet place 364 days a year.
  • Phil’s Burrow: Home of Punxsutawney Phil [RA] – Punxsutawney Memorial Library
  • Plywood Groundhog [RA] – Towering 2-D portrait of Phil the groundhog, wearing a top hat.
  • Weather Capital of the World [RA]

Quakertown:

  • Mysterious Rosicrucian Pyramid [RA] – On the grounds of a Rosicrucian retreat are a Parthenon-style Greco-Roman temple fronted by white columns, and a stone pyramid over 30 feet tall. If you peer into its dark interior you can glimpse an All-Seeing Eye. The pyramid is surrounded by a rose garden that serves as a Rosicrucian cemetery; their ashes are planted under rose bushes, not tombstones.
  • ★ Sculpture Grounds of Steve Tobin [RA] – A field of abstract sculptures by artist Steve Tobin fills the lawn around his warehouse studio. Many steel “roots.” Look for the crucifixions with various animal and vegetable heads.

Rankin: ★ Carrie Blast Furnaces Tour [RA] – At the Old Carrie Blast Furnace, now abandoned, you can explore by guided tour. Huge and very cool. Includes a giant deer head made out of junk left on the site.

Reading: 

  • ★ The Pagoda [RA] – 87 steps to its observatory.
  • Anchor from the U.S.S. Maine [RA] – It’s still controversial, that explosion that sent the U.S.S. Maine to the bottom of Havana harbor in Cuba on the night of Feb. 15, 1898. It triggered the Spanish-American War.
  • Der Distelfink Statue [RA] – Stylized Pennsylvania Dutch bird, a familiar regional icon. The 11-ft. long statue in front of the Heritage Center

Reedsville:13-Foot-Tall Cow [RA] – Repainted and moved from a demolished milk and ice cream store in St. Mary’s.

Rockwood: Muffler Man [RA] – Wears a comically-large Uncle Sam stovepipe hat. He holds a sign: “Welcome Campers.”

Ronks: 

  • Dutch Haven – Shoo-Fly Pies [RA] – Deep in Amish country, Dutch Haven is known for its cartoony Dutch windmill and its bakery and cafe serving its delish Shoo-Fly Pie.
  • Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania [RA] – Vintage, restored locomotives and rolling stock in a sprawling facility. Impressive even if you’re not usually into trains. Many trains visible out al, ong the roadside.

Rouseville: Oldest Producing Oil Well [RA] – It’s been pumping oil since Aug. 16, 1861, and has become so famous that it has its own little park and parking lot.

Saxonburg: Brooklyn Bridge Replica [RA] – Roebling Parka monument to the designer of Brooklyn Bridge.

Scottdale: Vanished Pilot James Hill Memorial [RA] – Hometown almost-hero James Hill (AKA “The Mad Boy of Scottdale”) tried to fly from Maine to Rome in 1927. His body was never found. The monument with flight attire likeness was unveiled in 1970.

Scranton:

  • ★ Harry Houdini Museum [RA] – Claims to be the only museum in the world wholly devoted to the master magician. Open since 1989. Admission price includes a live magic show. Colorful exterior building art makes it clear you’re at a Houdini Museum.
  • ★ Cooper’s Seafood House – Pirate Ship and TV Show Memorabilia [RA] – Seafood restaurant’s parking lot is more notable for its lighthouse and pirate statues. Inside the restaurant: strange little dioramas of 1960s TV shows.
  • ★ Lackawanna Coal Mine Tours[RA]
  • Bust And Ashes Of The Exorcist Priest [RA] – Statue of actor Jason Miller (Father Karras from The Exorcist) was sculpted by actor Paul Sorvino.-
  • Joe Biden’s Childhood Home [RA] – The 46th President lived in this small three-story Colonial until he was ten, when his family moved to Delaware. No historical marker yet.
  • Joe Biden’s Favorite Sandwich Shop [RA] – Until he became President and surrounded by Secret Service agents, Joe Biden would stop by this tiny shop just for its Italian hoagies, then schmooze and reminisce.
  • Paper Company Tower from The Office [RA] – The 46th President lived in this small three-story Colonial until he was ten, when his family moved to Delaware. No historical marker yet.
  • Poor Richard’s Pub From The Office [RA] – Bowling alley watering hole that was often featured on TV comedy series “The Office” (2005-2013).
  • Scranton Iron Furnaces [RA] – Four massive outdoor stone blast furnaces are the remnants of a one-time extensive plant, operated at this spot from 1840 to 1902.
  • Scranton Welcomes You Sign from The Office [RA] – Although the city’s official outdoor sign has since been replaced, you can still visit the earlier incarnation that appears in the opening credits of the TV comedy series “The Office” (2005-2013)
  • Statue of First American Woman Killed in Vietnam [RA] – 2nd Lt. Carol Ann Drazba died February 18, 1966, when her helicopter flew into power lines. Her statue stands outside the former Scranton State General Hospital, where she had trained to be a nurse. Eight U.S. servicewomen were killed in Vietnam.

Sellersville: Giant Barbell [RA] – giant barbells in the parking lot

Seven Valleys: Bicycle Parts Horse and Rider [RA] -A horse and rider created from old bicycle parts permanently rest next to a rail trail open to horseback riders.

Sewickley: Tuskegee Airmen Memorial [RA] – Although people associate the Tuskegee Airmen with Alabama, almost 100 of them came from western Pennsylvania, including eight from Sewickley. One is buried next this memorial

Shanksville:

  • 9/11 North Tower Steel Cross [RA] – A steel cross made from the North Tower of The World Trade Center, dedicated to the passengers of Flight 93, who “saw their untimely fate before them and chose to defeat evil to ensure America’s freedom.”
  • Flight 93 Seedpod Memorial [RA] – a 7.5-foot-tall cluster of metal seedpods-on-stalks that have human hands bulging out of them. The memorial was meant to honor all of the students and adults at Shanksville-Stoneycreek School who pitched in and helped in the aftermath of the crash, which happened just a mile away.

Sharon:

  • America’s Only Free Golf Course [RA] – Promoted as “America’s only free golf course,” it has no membership, clubhouse, greens, or cart fees. Nine holes, the final three designed by Arnold Palmer.
  • ★ Daffin’s Chocolate Kingdom [RA] – Candy store with an exhibit: a 400-pound chocolate turtle, a frog, a deer, and other oversized confectionery creatures and castles.

Shillington: Giant Pretzel [RA] – Tom Sturgis Pretzels Big pretzel advertises a modern pretzel bakery that touts its old fashioned techniques.

Shippensburg: 

  • ★ Tiny World [RA} – dollhouses scattered about the yard
  • Giant Paint Can [RA] – An old storage tank meant to advertise a new paint store.
  • Tractor Trailer Sign [RA] – An elevated 18-wheel tractor trailer advertises a business along the highway.

Shoemakersville: Scrap Metal Ice Cream Cone [RA] – Large (not giant) roadside ice cream cone made of appliances and vehicle parts. Looks top-heavy; it may be outdoors only during ice cream season.

Sidman: Morris Tavern: Taxidermy Decor [RA] – Stuffed dead animals — including a buffalo and crocodiles — whet the appetites of diners in a tavern and restaurant.

Slatington: Fireman’s Drinking Fountain [RA] – A full color statue of an old-fashioned fireman, erected in 1910, still stands at the north end of town, which keeps the statue in good repair. The fireman stands atop a drinking fountain for horses and dogs.

Smethport: Allegheny Arms and Armor Museum [RA] – Small public collection of military hardware — tank, planes, a helicopter — in a weedy field behind a gas station.

Somerset:

  • Elephant Statue – Breeding Ranch Tribute [RA] – Gray elephant statue displayed in celebration of the county’s elephant breeding ranch.
  • Globe Tower [RA] – Slowly rotating full-color earth atop a tall tower is also a billboard for a local dry cleaning establishment.
  • Quecreek Mine Rescue Memorial [RA] – The rescued and the rescuers are remembered with the Quecreek Miner statue. Indoor exhibits feature the rescue capsule that saved everyone.

South Fork:★  Johnstown Flood National Memorial Visitor Center [RA] – Where the deadly flood that destroyed Johnstown began. Multimedia displays (circa 1989), some artifacts, very somber film.

Spring City: Pennhurst Haunted Asylum [RA] – The old Pennhurst State School and Hospital, notorious for barbaric treatment of patients and closed since 1986, reopened in 2010 as a seasonal haunted facility and gore-fest Halloween attraction. Includes the Tunnel of Terror and the Dungeon of Lost Souls.

St. Marys:

  • Decker Chapel – Tiny Church [RA] – One of the smallest churches in the U.S., measuring 12 feet by 18 feet. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The chapel features a steeple with an open belfry capped with a white cross,
  • ★ Straub Brewery’s Eternal Tap [RA] – Since the early 1900s, the small Straub Brewery has been dispensing free samples out of what it calls The Eternal Tap.

St. Thomas: St. Thomas Missile [RA] – A Nike-style surface-to-air missile on a tilted launcher defends the St. Thomas American Legion

Stoystown:

  • ★ Castle Restaurant [RA] – Built in 1970, the castle-shaped eatery has a large mounted cow head in the main dining room.
  • Tank, Chopper, Covered Bridge [RA] – The Post 257 Vets Memorial features a Huey helicopter and M-60 tank. Nearby covered bridge.

Strasburg: 

  • National Toy Train Museum – focused on creating an interactive display of toy trains. Its collection dates from the early 1800s through current production
  • Big Amos, Barefoot Amish Giant [RA] – muffler man
  • Red Caboose Motel: World’s Largest [RA] – Largest motel of its kind: 38 cabooses plus a dining car restaurant where the staff dresses like train conductors and engineers. Open since 1970.
  • ★ Strasburg Rail Road, which offers 45-minute scenic journeys
  • ★ Barefoot Boy Eats with Pigs [RA] – A unique, Amish-kooky statue advertising a local ice cream stand (formerly the Freeze And Frizz).
  • Choo Choo Barn [RA] – It’s basically a model of Lancaster County, PA, including Dutch Wonderland and a night portion every half hour or so. It’s great fun, but, alas, it is widely publicized in videos and brochures in the area, and so gets very crowded.
  • Fulton Steamboat Inn [RA] – A hotel built in the shape of a Mark Twain-era Mississippi river boat, in landlocked southeastern Pennsylvania.

Strongtown: Dane Castle [RA] – A modern recreation of a 12th-century castle. It formerly hosted events.

Swissvale: ★ Trundle Manor – House of Oddities[RA]

Tionesta: Lighthouse in Unexpected Spot [RA] – Sherman Memorial Lighthouse, Built on an island in the relatively narrow Alleghenycabooses. River, where a lighthouse wouldn’t seem to be helpful to maritime traffic. Nice view, though. Open for tours only three days a year.

Titusville: 

  • Drake Well Museum[RA] – replica well, site of first oil well
  • ★ Sleep in a Caboose [RA] – 21 They are set in two long lines on parallel tracks next to Titusville’s old Perry Street Station. There are red cabooses, teal cabooses, white cabooses, yellow cabooses, cabooses with cupolas and cabooses with bay windows. The rooms have been refurbished with modern bathrooms, beds, air conditioners, coffee makers, etc. Each caboose is provided with a deck and deck chairs so that you can enjoy the view — of the other cabooses.
  • ★ Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad — Historic train offers a 2 1/2 hour tour on June-October weekends of “Oil Heritage Country.”

Townville: World of Mazes [RA] – World of Mazes currently has three mazes: Circus Maze (which becomes Dracula’s Castle in October); Spider’s Web; and Land of Oz, which has a yellow brick road leading to it. There’s also a putt-putt course, carnival games, a dinosaur room, and a toy store where Charles sells his own books of mazes.

Troy: Big Old Gas Pump [RA] – Outside a modernized gas station stands an old-fashioned glass bowl gas pump, maybe 20 feet tall.

Tunkhannock:

  • ★ Auto Mechanic Papa Burger [RA] – 1960s A&W Papa Burger statue modified into an auto mechanic, hoisting a blowtorch-mug and a tiny tow truck.
  • Cow Heads at Pancake House [RA] – Two very large cow heads are mounted on an otherwise empty sign, high up on poles, incongruously outside a Perkins Pancake House Restaurant.

Union City: ★ Pink Floyd Yard Art [RA] – Classic Pink Floyd album covers have been remixed as folk art

Uniontown:

  • Muffler Man [RA] – A mighty lumberjack fiberglass statue, restored in 2007. Notable for his bright red lips.
  • Birthplace of the Big Mac [RA] – only a sign

University Park:

  • Penn State All-Sports Museum
    • Stuffed Original Nittany Lion [RA] – Penn State All-Sports Museum. Penn State’s mascot, the Nittany Lion, was once a real lion. Dead over 150 years, it has been preserved for your enlightenment.
  • Skeleton of Old Coaly the Mule [RA] – HUB-Robeson Center, Beloved Penn State mule of the 19th century has his skeleton displayed in a glass case in the 21st century. In the student union, near the fast food mini-outlets.

Valley Forge: Freedoms Foundation – Founding Fathers in Prayer [RA] – Statues on the grounds of the Freedoms Foundation.

Vanderbilt: Dinosaur in Yard [RA] – A junior-size Brachiosaurus stands on a cement pad in someone’s yard. It appears to be a refugee from a dinosaur park.

Wampum: Gray Elephant [RA] – A small gray elephant stands next to the small parking lot of a small used car dealership.

Warminster: The Human Centrifuge [RA] – t’s in an industrial park on a former secret Navy base in suburban Philadelphia. A tour of the centrifuge building includes the “Blue Shoe” water tank, the Contour Couches, and other creepy inventions that allowed human projectiles to travel at amazing speeds.

Warren: Miniature St. Louis Arch [RA] – 80 percent of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was built here, in Warren. A miniature version stands in front of the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry.

Washington Crossing: Statue of Washington Crossing the Delaware [RA] – A larger-than-life limestone replica of the historically fanciful 1851 painting by Emanuel Leutze.

Washington

  • Washington County Historical Society Museum
    • Ashes of First Cremated American [RA] – Washington County Historical Society, Baron de Palm became the first American to be officially cremated in 1876. The town where he was burned has a museum in the LeMoyne House, and it shows off the Baron’s ashes in a bottle.
    • George Washington’s Thumb [RA] – a terra cotta thumb from a Washington statue that stood atop the Washington County Courthouse until 1927.
  • Whiskey Rebellion Statue [RA] – The Whiskey Rebellion was the USA’s closest brush with a domestic war until the Civil War. It’s statue features three angry men with beards, a jug of whiskey, and a big gun.

West Middlesex: Toth Wooden Indian Head [RA] – This one was dedicated in 1973 to the Seneca Nation.

West Mifflin: Kennywood Park from Adventureland [RA] – Classic amusement park with many old rides used as the atmospheric setting for the movie “Adventureland” (2009).

West View: Grass Head [RA] – A mound of dirt in someone’s yard started growing grass, so it was turned into a large, goofy-looking human head. There for years.

West Chester: 

  • QVC Studio Tour [RA] – guided walking tour of studio
  • American Helicopter Museum [RA] – Home to America’s largest collection of helicopters. Some ‘copters displayed on the front lawn.

Wyoming: Queen Esther’s Bloody Rock [RA] – This prized rock, almost invisible within the steel cage built around it, marks the site where Indian Queen Esther, angered by the death of her son, used a maul to smash the skulls of a dozen-plus soldiers

West Wyomissing: Strange FDR Sculpture on a Fireplace [RA] – A sculptural tribute to President Franklin Roosevelt, with foggy origins, stands among the weedy overgrowth along a railroad right of way through a neighborhood.

Wilkes Barre

  • Three-O-Nina the Giant Cow [RA] – Large fiberglass cow named “Three-O-Nina” has stood along Hwy 309 since 1967. Formerly multicolored, now back to dignified brown-and-white.
  • Birthplace of HBO [RA] – Plaque on public square.
  • Decrepit Giant Coffee Mug [RA] – In 2009 it was going to be a drive-thru espresso cafe in the shape of an enormous mug of Joe. Vaguely mug-like, boarded up ruin.
  • Tree Stump Sandwich Eater [RA] – High Street Deli, Nine-foot-tall stump carved March 2018 into a cartoony likeness of deli owner Michael Drozdowski, with a pot belly, big nose, popped out eyes, and a fluttering tongue as he prepares to devour a giant sandwich.

Williamsport:

  • Chief Woapalanne Statue [RA] – Peter “Wolf” Toth’s Whispering Giant — Chief Woapalanne — restored and moved to city bus terminal, with explanatory sign. The 24-ft. tall carving stood at Brandon Park since 1990, damaged by rot, removed in 2015, restored 2019.
  • First Little League Game Statue [RA] – Where the first game was played in 1939 — marked by a 50th anniversary statue depicting three stubby fielders trying to catch a pop fly.

Windber:

  • Haunted Hotel: World’s Largest Ouija Board [RA] – Grand Midway Hotel, Built in the 1880s. Decor includes animal heads and ghost portraits. The entire hotel is haunted, and the most haunted part is the Canopy Room, where few guests have made it through the night. The Ouija Board was painted on the roof in 2019.
  • Trolley Graveyard [RA] – Dozens of abandoned trolley cars are slowly decaying in the woods outside the town of Windber.

Wynnewood: Big Pope Cross at S1N City [RA] – great big cross that welcomed the visiting Pope John Paul II in Logan Circle in 1979. A happy accident of signage and placement put the current location of the giant cross at an intersection labeled S1N City.

Wysox: Giant Pencil [RA] – For reasons unknown, a utility pole was carved and painted to resemble a giant upright pencil. A bit battered; it’s been here a while.

Yardley: Shipping Container House [RA] – 16 shipping containers were assembled in a unique architectural design, as a private home.

York Haven: Sleep Surrounded By 87,000 Beer Cans [RA] – Brewhouse Mountain Eco Inn, World’s largest collection of beer cans. Owner Jeff Lebo, who began his collection in the 1970s, built a vacation retreat where each room is lined with thousands of cans, arranged by theme. Rent one room or the whole place.

York: USA Weightlifting Hall Of Fame [RA] – A 7.5-foot-tall bronze statue of Bob Hoffman, “The Father of World Weightlifting” stands in front of the Y-shaped Hall Of Fame, which stands next to York Barbell’s factory. There’s not much that’s fun here.

Youngstown: Trump House [RA] – Donald Trump supporter Leslie Rossi painted her house red, white, and blue, and erected a 14-foot-tall Trump stand-up in her yard.

Philadelphia Metro Area

Philadelphia: 

Pittsburgh Metro Area

Pittsburgh:

  • Fredosaurus Rex: Mr. Rogers Dinosaur [RA] – A smiling T-rex clad in an iconic Fred Rogers cardigan. 
  • 20-Foot-Tall Steelworkers of Iron [RA] – a sculpture of two 20-foot-tall metal men and a big steel mill ladle.
  • Bicycle Heaven Museum [RA] – Over 3,000 bicycles, from early wooden models to Space Age racers. Peewee Herman bike, and groovy day-glo sprocket room.
  • Keeping Tabs Holocaust Sculpture [RA] – Walk-through Star of David-shaped sculpture made of 960 glass blocks filled with six million soda pop tabs — one for every life lost in the Holocaust.
  • ★  Andy Warhol Museum
  • ★  St. Anthony’s Chapel – 5,000 Relics [RA]
  • ★  Center for PostNatural History [RA] – museum dedicated to genetically modified plants sand animals
  • ★  Randyland [RA] – Building decorated
  • ★  U.S.S. Requin, Cold War Sub [RA]
  • ★  Carnegie Science Center
    • Roboworld [RA]
    • Miniature Railroad and Village
    • Itty-Bitty Western Pennsylvania [RA]
  • ★  Carnegie Museum of Natural History
    • Dippy the Dinosaur [RA] – Its scientific name is “Diplodocus Carnegii,” but the creature is nicknamed Dippy. Full scale fiberglass version erected in 1999 of dinosaur discovered in 1899 in Wyoming by museum paleontologists.
  • ★  Bayernhof Museum: Music Machines [RA] – Multi-millionaire “Chuck” Brown lived in a crazy mansion with secret passages and hundreds of automatic music machines. Opened to the public in 2004.

North Huntingdon: ★  Big Mac Museum Restaurant [RA] – This is a working McDonald’s restaurant. Pondering the exhibits in the walnut display cases can be a little awkward, as you often have to lean over tables of chewing customers.

Tarentum: ★ Tour-Ed Coal Mine and Museum [RA] – Educational mine tour 160 feet below ground guided by veteran miners. Bonus: above-ground strip mine.

Sources