National Parks and Monuments
Canton: ★ First Ladies National Historic Site – the home of First Lady Ida Saxton-McKinley and an Education Center. Come learn about how the position of First Lady has evolved over time to include a public role.
Chillicothe: Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Indian monumental mounds
Cleveland: ★ Cuyahoga Valley National Park – lies along the Cuyahoga River between the Ohio cities of Cleveland and Akron. The Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail is a restored section of the canal’s original towpath. In the park’s north, the Canal Exploration Center details the 19th-century waterway’s history. Towering Brandywine Falls is one of several waterfalls. The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad runs through the park. The Ledges Trail.
Cincinnati: William Howard Taft National Historic Site – two-story Greek Revival house where William Howard Taft was born and grew up.
Dayton: Aviation Heritage National Historical Park – commemorates three important historical figures—Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright, and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar—and their work in the Miami Valley.
Mentor: James A. Garfield National Historic Site – The site preserves the Lawnfield estate and surrounding property of James Abram Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, and includes the first presidential library established in the United States.
Put-In-Bay: Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial – a Doric column, rising 352 feet over Lake Erie are situated 5 miles from the longest undefended border in the world commemorates the Battle of Lake Erie that took place near Ohio’s South Bass Island, in which Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry led a fleet to victory in one of the most decisive naval battles to occur in the War of 1812.
Xenia: Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument – commemorates the life of Charles Young, an escaped slave who rose to become a Buffalo Soldier in the United States Army and its first African-American colonel.
Covered Bridges
19 covered bridges of Ashtabula County
- Benetka Road Covered Bridge, Ashtabula
- Caine Road Covered Bridge, Jefferson,
- Creek Road Covered Bridge, Conneaut
- Doyle Road Covered Bridge, Jefferson
- Giddings Road Covered Bridge, Jefferson
- Graham Road Covered Bridge, Jefferson
- Harpersfield Covered Bridge, Geneva
- Mechanicsville Road Covered Bridge, Geneva
- Middle Road Covered Bridge, Conneaut
- Netcher Road Covered Bridge, Jefferson
- Olin Covered Bridge, Ashtabula
- Riverdale Road Covered Bridge, Rock Creek
- Riverview Covered Bridge, Ashtabula
- Root Road Covered Bridge, Conneaut
- Smolen-Gulf Covered Bridge, Ashtabula
- South Denmark Rd Covered Bridge, Jefferson
- State Road Covered Bridge, Kingsville
- The Covered Bridge Shoppe, Geneva
- West Liberty Street Covered Bridge, Geneva
- Windsor Mills Covered Bridge, Windsor
- Covered Bridge Pizza Parlor, North Kingsville
Fairfield County 17 Covered Bridges
State Parks, Natural Attractions, and Memorials
Garrettsville: ★ Nelson Kennedy Ledges State Park – breathtaking, adventurous nature hikes
Logan: ★ Hocking Hills State Park – Old Man’s Cave trail, it will make you feel like you’re temporarily living in a “Lord of the Rings” film. At approximately one mile in length. The Hemlock Bridge Trail is a 1.5-mile trail that leads to Whispering Cave, a 300 ft.-wide cavern many past visitors have yet to explore
Peebles: ★ Serpent Mound State Memorial – The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,330-foot-long, three-foot-high prehistoric effigy mound, the largest in the world. Also accompanied by a museum.
Perry: ★ Lake Erie Bluffs – This stunning beachfront metropark features 600 acres, including 40-foot-high beach bluffs, 9,000 feet of shoreline and perfectly picturesque beaches. You’ll also find a 50-ft. coastal observation tower that features breathtaking views of the lake and bluffs.
Rockbridge: ★ Rockbridge State Nature Preserve in the small town of Rockbridge features a natural bridge that stretches more than 100 ft. long
Offbeat Landmarks and Oddities
Ada: Wilson Football Factory Tour [RA]
- Camelot in Ohio [RA] – A downtown wall, facing a park, has been transformed into a castle and a King Arthur mural.
- Feline Historical Museum [RA] – the largest collection of cat memorabilia in America. See the silver medal and collar of the winner of America’s first cat show in 1895, a cat house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and a bank vault filled with cat dolls.
- Glamorgan Castle [RA] – Completed in 1904, modeled on a castle in Wales, built by a wealthy guy named Morgan. Looks impressive from the parking lot.
- Stone Age Pizza [RA] – Pizza joint with a dinosaurs and a Fred Flintsone-mobile outside, cavemen dummies inside.
- ★ The Troll Hole Worlds Largest Troll Collection [RA] – The collection of Sherry Groom; over 3,000 troll dolls and countless accessories, certified by Guinness as the world’s largest collection. Displayed in two buildings. Sherry sometimes dresses as “Sigrid, The Troll Queen” to give tours.
Amity: Paul Lynde’s Grave [RA] – Amity Cemetery, Paul Lynde was primarily known for his role as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched in the 1960s.
- Abe Lincoln Head [RA] – A home-made Lincoln head, probably from the time when this stretch of road was part of the Lincoln Highway. Visible through the window of a no-longer-operating gas station.
- Ashtabula Horror – Train Wreck Disaster [RA] – A town remembers its awful 1876 bridge collapse and train disaster.
- Longest Covered Bridge in U.S. [RA] – Covered bridge over the Ashtabula River is 613 feet long, with pedestrian walkways on both sides. Dedicated in 2008.
- Train Wreck Audio Memorial [RA] – Ashtabula County Medical Center, An audio memorial recreates Ashtabula’s horrible bridge collapse and train disaster of 1876.
- Train Wreck Grave Obelisk [RA] – Chestnut Grove Cemetery
- Tree Carving of World’s Oldest Traffic Light [RA] – in addition to the actual traffic light at the museum, an old dead tree at Community Park has been carved at the top with a likeness of the traffic light.
- World’s Oldest Traffic Light [RA] – Ohio’s Small Town Museum, The world’s oldest traffic light — which still works, and which looks like a streamlined silver football — is on display in the town museum.
Athens: Piece of Hitler’s Urinal [RA] – Cornelius Ryan Room of the Ohio University Archives, Taken from Hitler’s private bunker bathroom in East Prussia by war correspondent Walter Cronkite. Mounted on wood with a brass plaque: “Hitler Stood Here.”
Austinburg: Large Rocking Chair [RA] – 20 feet tall. Now owned by an adjacent hospice, advertised with a banner on the chair.
Ava: Shenandoah Airship Disaster [RA] – Shenandoah Airship Disaster Memorial
Bellaire: ★ Toy and Plastic Brick Museum [RA] – The world’s largest unofficial exhibition of LEGO art, architecture, and animatronics. It fills all three floors of a former school building
- Highest Point in Ohio [RA] – 1,549 feet above sea level, but only a few feet above the surrounding countryside. A small X marks the spot. Has its own parking lot.
- Oldest Concrete Street in America [RA] – Newfangled paving material was guaranteed for five years when it was poured in 1891. Only foot traffic is allowed now, so it should last for several more centuries.
- Shortest Street in America [RA] – Only 15 feet long, McKinley St. is marked by a sign on a pole so you won’t miss it.
- Seneca Caverns – “Caviest Cave in the USA” [RA] – Although it has an underground river, this cave is a fault cave. This means it was formed along cracks or faults in the bedrock. Long narrow irregular passages and none of the cave formations typically seen in caverns. Several levels to Seneca Caverns…the number of them open on a given day is dependent on the height of the water table/underground river.
- ☆ Diner in an Old Train [RA] – Buckeye Express Diner, An old train engine with a diner in the attached dining car and caboose. Makes for an unusual outdoor photo-op.
- Big To-Go Coffee Cup [RA] – huge to-go coffee cup
- World’s Largest Amish Buggy [RA] – 15-foot tall amish buggy is inside the Wendel August forge
Beverly: Pasture Carousel [RA] – In a farm pasture, on what looks like an old silo foundation, someone has arranged a circle of animals into a pseduo-carousel formation. Looks like it’s been there for a while.
Bidwell: ★ Bob Evans Farm Restaurant Museum [RA] – Sprawling complex where the Bob Evans brand started. Recreated pioneer town, an Indian burial mound, coal mine, museum with dummy Bob and Jewel Evans in their kitchen shooting a commercial, and — of course — a Bob Evans franchise restaurant.
- Human Fingers in a Jar [RA] -The Wood County Museum displays the fingers of murder victim Mary Bach and the knife used to sever them.
- National Construction Equipment Museum [RA] – The Historical Construction Equipment Association Museum is a collection of old equipment that has yet to be realized as a museum. Currently visitation is limited to 1 to 5 on weekdays.
- World’s Largest Bronze Falcon [RA] – Two ton mascot with a 24-foot-wide wingspan outside the sports arena at Bowling Green State University.
Bremen: Full Size and Mini Oil Derricks [RA] – To mark the discovery of oil and gas in the area in the early 1900s, Bremen erected a real oil derrick in its park in 1984.
- Soldier Covering His Ears [RA] – There is a military display in the center of town in Bridgeport. It features cannons, statues of soldiers, a statue of an eagle, and other patriotic items. The funniest statue is of a soldier who is standing next to a cannon. He has his hands covering his ears.
- Ten Commandments and Town Spirit Mural [RA] – A granite tablet of the Ten Commandments stands in a small corner lot/park. Beneath a large hand-painted “The Spirit of Bridgeport” are full-body portraits of a steelworker in an asbestos suit, a guy in jeans with a helmet and lamp on his head, and another guy in a suit handing a little girl a book labeled “Charles Dickens.” The centerpiece of the mural is a vignette of an olde-timey undertaker posing next to his horse-drawn “Wilson Furniture and Funeral” hearse. The mural is painted on the side of the Wilson Furniture building.
Brock: Annie Oakley’s Grave [RA] – Rumor has it that Annie — a famous Wild West sharpshooter — isn’t buried under her headstone, but in her husband Frank Butler’s coffin, which is one grave over.
Bryan: ★ Dum-Dums Lollipop Factory Tour [RA] – Spangler Candy
- ★ Liberty Remembers – 3D Mural [RA] – 3D outdoor wall mural painted by famous artist Eric Grohe of Seattle, WA. Mural depicts Lady Liberty cradling a soldier in her arms.
- Replica Old Gas Station [RA] – Replica 1930s Sinclair gas station is accessorized with vintage signs and old vehicles, including a Sinclair fuel truck and a police prowler.
Byesville: Coal Miner Statue [RA] – A life-size coal-black coal miner serves as a tribute to miners across the nation. He stands on the ground, encouraging photo-ops.
- Boss Bison Ranch [RA] – Snack on bison meat, then pile into a farm truck and be driven out to pasture to pet and feed the shaggy buffalo.
- Clark Gable Birthplace Museum [RA] – See the bedroom where “The King of Hollywood” was born in 1901, and several of his belongings, such as his boyhood sled and his grown-up Cadillac. Sign and monument out front.
- Rock City [RA] – Provate property. Large, private garden next to someone’s house made of hundreds of carved and natural rocks. An upturned rock in front is engraved, “Rock City, Rock On.”
Caldwell: First Oil Well in North America [RA] – a monument to the first oil well…though Titusville PA claims that honor.
- 1918 Brick Road [RA] – nce part of the National Road, America’s first multi-state highway. In 1918, to make it passable to trucks moving heavy equipment during World War I, this section of the National Road was paved with bricks by prisoners.
- Hopalong Cassidy Mural [RA] – A large, wall-size outdoor mural lets everyone know that Cambridge was Hopalong Cassidy’s hometown.
- ★ Tour a Glass Factory [RA] – Mosser Glass, Small, but you’re right out on the factory floor, watching blobs of white-hot molten glass.
Campbell: Miracle Virgin Mary Aglow [RA] – St. Joseph the Provider Church, Mary’s eyes and symbolic heart reportedly glow atop the bell tower
Carey: Shrine Of Our Lady Of Consolation [RA] – National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Consolation, In 1875, Our Lady of Consolation was the source of a rain-repelling miracle, when a procession of worshipers walked 7 miles with the statue of Mary in a downpour but was untouched by precipitation. Shrine Park features Stations of the Cross.
Carlisle: Futuro – Mating Flying Saucer House [RA] – Two identical silver saucer-shaped houses, joined by a big metal duct. The portable, prefabricated home design from 1968 is by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen.
- Big Bob Bass 31-Foot-Long Fish [RA] – Celina claims that Big Bob is the World’s Largest Handmade Bass. He’s 31 feet long and 14 feet high. And he’s on wheels, so he moves around.
- Giant Cow Turntable, Dairy Thrills [RA] – MVP Dairy , Watch from a balcony as 80 cows ride a milking turntable. You can also milk a cow in VR, brush up against a cow scratcher, and sample yogurt at the tasting bar.
- Quilted Rock [RA] – A tall boulder painted in bright-colored squares in an otherwise flat, green landscape.
Chesapeake: Spire of a Forgotten Bridge [RA] – The bridge connecting Ohio and West Virginia stood from 1926 to 1994. One old bridge spire was saved and now serves as the bridge’s memorial in a nearby park.
Chilo: Grave of Wagon Train Cholera Girl [RA] – Tiny monument with an overly wordy plaque marks the grave of teenaged Diana Whitney, supposedly the only person buried in Ohio who died on a westbound wagon train. She succumbed to cholera in 1823.
- Parking Lot Chocolate Box Lid [RA] – Esther-Price Candies painted a giant chocolate box lid in their store parking lot, and then roped it off to deter hopped up candy addicts from parking on top of it.
- Sun Dial Grave of Baseball’s Jesse Haines [RA] – Bethel Cemetery, Baseball player Jesse (Pop) Haines really liked the sun dial he received when he retired, so before he died he had it made into his tombstone topper.
Cleveland Heights: Harvey Pekar Memorial [RA] – Cleveland Heights-University Heights Library, A memorial to curmudgeonly underground cartoonist Harvey Pekar stands in his favorite library — the one closest to his home.
- Gold Star Mother and Father Statues [RA] – The Ohio Veterans’ Memorial Park is the home of a 125-foot-long free standing Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. There is also a POW/MIA pond and a recently dedicate Purple Heart Memorial.
Clyde: ★ Ice Cream Cone-Shaped Building [RA] – Eat ice cream purchased from a big waffle cone building topped by a dollop of soft-swirl vanilla.
College Corner: One School in Two States [RA] – Union High School has a state line dividing it: one half of the building is in Ohio, the other in Indiana.
Convoy: Giant Uncle Sam [RA] – Fiberglass Uncle Sam is a patriotic favorite often paired with seasonal fireworks stores. He wants you to stop just across the Indiana state line.
Coolville: Ohio’s Smallest Church [RA] – This 10 by 14 ft. Healing Chapel seats eight in its four pews and is open to travelers 24 hours a day.
Coshocton: ★ Ride a Horse-Pulled Canal Boat [RA] – Historic Roscoe Village, The Monticello III horse-drawn canal boat takes visitors up the canal and into town while a guide recounts tales of sleepy-paced canal boat life.
Defiance: ★ Tower of VW Bugs [RA] – A colorful stack of vintage Volkswagen Beetle cars (numbering five in 2015) entices passersby to visit the used car lot of a pawn shop.
Dexter City: Johnny Appleseed Memorial [RA] – A pile of rocks and a plaque
- Auman Museum of Radio and TV [RA] – Auman Museum of Radio and Television. It is open to the public only by appointment. One man’s collection of every model of television, from its birth through the 1950s.
- ★ Famous Endings [RA] – Toland-Herzig Funeral Home, Over 2,000 items of funeral memorabilia, including mourning vests worn at the funeral of President Garfield and the bill for the funeral of Elvis Presley’s mom.
- Grave of Quantrill’s Head [RA] – Fourth Street Cemetery, Infamous Confederate raider William Clarke Quantrill grew up in Dover.
- Tree Carved into Pliers [RA] – Carved in Nov. 2020 by the grandson of Ernest “Mooney” Warther, who was known for his pliers-carving prowess. Three interconnected pliers form a seat, and visitors can sit in the middle for photos.
- ★ Warther Carvings Museum and Button Collection [RA] – Ernest Warther’s impossibly perfect locomotive carvings make up the bulk of this well-mounted museum. Also here is his wife’s collection of over 70,000 buttons.
Dresden: House-Sized Wicker Basket [RA] – The old corporate headquarters for the Longaberger Company is a big wicker basket. The company had moved to bigger basket buildings, but the original — built in 1990 — still stands: 23 feet high and 48 feet long.
Duncan Falls: Sensitive, Pot-Wearing Johnny Appleseed [RA] – A nearly clean-shaven Johnny Appleseed is shown reading a book. You know it’s Johnny because he’s wearing a pot on his head. Sculpted by Gerry Westgerdes in 2003.
- Death Mask of Pretty Boy Floyd [RA] – East Liverpool Police Museum
- Point of Beginning [RA] – Cartographic landmark established at the convergence of the borders of OH, PA, and WV. The actual point is underwater in WV, but this is close.
Elmore: Tombstone Derby [RA] – Once a year the town hosts an event where people dress up as ghouls and zombies and drag race motorized caskets.
Enon: Adena Indian Burial Mound [RA] – It’s the second largest conical mound in Ohio. The Ohio Historical Society tends to 12 other Native American mounds.
Fayette: Hal’s Garage [RA] – Mechanic garage displays vintage signage and awnings made from old truck lids and car hoods.
- Bathtub of the USS Maine [RA] – Hancock Historical Museum
- ★ Giant Campbell’s Soup Can [RA] – Soup factory storage tank disguised as a giant can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup.
- Mural Rocket, Capitol, Liberty [RA] – Faded 2006 mural covers a multistory outdoor wall. Notable for the window placement in Lady Liberty’s torch, the Capitol dome, and the rocket warhead.
Fletcher: Devil’s Chair – Mourning Chair [RA] – Fletcher Cemetery, An upholstered 19th century mourning chair carved from stone, later branded as a cursed “Devil’s Chair” by scared local kids. Also look for an intricate log cabin and an apple grave marker.
Fort Recovery: Washington Monument One-Fifth Size [RA] – This towering obelisk, 101 feet, four inches high, may hold the record as the tallest tombstone in America, for beneath it lie the remains of those killed in the 1791 Battle of the Wabash (also known as St. Clair’s Defeat), and the 1794 Battle of Fort Recovery.
Fostoria: Fostoria Rail Park [RA] – complete with its own restrooms, parking lot, and shaded viewing platform. Fostoria, known as “The Iron Triangle,” has hundreds of trains passing through daily.
Franklin: Poland China Hog Monument [RA] – a monument to the Poland China pig that was first bred on a farm that was where the mall now is situated.
- ★ 16-Sided Barn [RA] – There are supposedly only three 16-sided barns in America. This one was built in 1924 and restored in 2008.
- Giant Skull at Haunted Hydro [RA] – Fremont has a Halloween attraction located at its former water treatment facility. It is known as Haunted Hydro, and there’s a large skull atop the wall surrounding it. Although the attraction is only open during October, the skull is visible year-round.
- Historic Sandusky Jail and Dungeon [RA] – Tours lead from the dungeon in the basement to the gallows exhibit on the third floor where the last public hanging in Sandusky County took place in 1883.
- Coffee in Bank Vault [RA] – The Coffee Vault, Drink coffee, eat sandwiches and pastries inside the walk-in vault of a 1906 former bank.
- ★ Giant Cottonwood Tree [RA] – The tree is located across from the turn in for the Sticky Fingers Ice Cream Shop. You can sort of see it from the road, but in order to stand next to it you’ll have to make a short trek into the woods.
Galion: Skeleton of a Stranded Motorist [RA] – Private property, Human skeleton sits in the driver’s seat of a rusty car that’s at least 80 years old. Parked on someone’s front lawn.
- Monument to High Water Levels [RA] – Stone column erected in 1932, marked with the crest heights of Gallipolis’ various floods.
- Silver Bridge Disaster Eye-Bar [RA] – The Silver Bridge collapsed in 1967, taking 46 lives, after structural supports like this large metal eyebar failed. The bridge collapse has been tied in with lore and historical sightings of Mothman.
- Yellow Fever Steamer Monument [RA] – An odd-looking old monument commemorates the boat that brought Yellow Fever to Gallipolis, killing 66.
Gambier: Angel Musicians [RA] – Kenyon College, Five Angel Musicians, installed in 2001, sculpted by Swedish artist Carl Emil Milles. The sculpture consists of unclad, anatomically complete angels perched upon five concrete poles.
- Original Coney Island Shooting Gallery [RA] – Built in 1928, in use until 1982. Now a backdrop for a restaurant bar, turned on every half-hour. You can shoot photos, not guns.
- Oldest Miniature Golf Course in the U.S. [RA] – Geneva-on-the-Lake has been a resort town since 1869, and a sign at this mini-golf course claims that it’s been in business since 1924, “the oldest miniature golf course in the United States in continuous play.” Not much to look at, but historic.
Geneva: World’s Shortest Covered Bridge [RA] – This is the world’s shortest and smallest covered bridge. It was designed by the same man who designed the USA’s longest covered bridge in nearby Ashtabula. The bridge crosses Cowles Creek and can be driven over by a car.
Genoa: America’s Most Honored Outhouse [RA] – Boarded up and you cannot go in. Built in 1870, used for 60 years, restored for the 1976 Bicentennial. Has four doors, two chimneys, and multiple windows. Its Romanesque Revival design qualified it for the National Historic Register, the only outhouse so honored.
- Giant Jesus Mural [RA] – A sad Jesus, 20 feet tall, hauls an even bigger cross up Mount Calvary. The mural fills the entire outer wall of a three story building. Welcome to Georgetown!
- U.S. Grant, Native Son [RA] – Future President Ulysses S. Grant wasn’t born in Georgetown, but he lived there for 16 years, longer than he lived anywhere else. The town cements that bond with two different statues of him, the second one unveiled in 2018.
Gettysburg: Foot Print Rock [RA] – A rock with a human footprint? And right on the side of the road, too. People who have placed a foot in the footprint have claimed to have traveled back in time!
Gilboa: ★ Giant Bull [RA] – 16 feet tall, in good shape, and in a nice, grassy spot for snapshots.
Glandorf: Shrine of Headstones [RA] – Elaborate pile of dozens of 19th-century tombstones, built in 1954, as a tribute to the town’s Roman Catholic pioneers. Their graves are underfoot, somewhere.
- ★ Annie Oakley Center – Garst Museum [RA] – The Garst Museum, Town museum features exhibits on Annie Oakley, Lowell Thomas, and the captain of the crashed USS Shenandoah airship.
- Annie Oakley Memorial Plaza [RA] – A larger-than-life bronze statue of the diminutive Wild West sharpshooter — who was born in Ohio.
- Loose Meat Drive-Thru and Gum Wall [RA] – The Maid-Rite Drive-In is as famous for its globs-of-gum-covered drive-up window wall as it is for its loose-meat sandwiches.
Greenwich: ★ World’s Largest Horse and Buggy Made of 2x4s [RA] – Beyond Measure Market, It’s in front of an Amish-style bulk/grocery store, Beyond Measure Market, that sells sandwiches and ice cream.
Hanoverton: Death Mask of Pretty Boy Floyd [RA] – Spread Eagle Tavern, The 1930s gangster died in Ohio in a hail of G-Man gunfire. A cast of his death mask has been displayed in a basement barroom for many years.
Haydenville: Round House [RA] – Private property, A little round house built of ceramic bricks — as were most other houses in this former brick company town.
Hayesville: Sinking VW Bug [RA] – Someone took an old, bright red VW Beetle and half-buried it as if sinking into or emerging from the ground.
- Crabbie World’s Largest Horseshoe Crab [RA] – This giant creature, 67 feet long,
- Mortar and Pestle [RA] – The Mortar and Pestle go all the way back to 1876, when they were brought here from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition by the owner of a Hillsboro drug store.
- Seaplane Lawn Ornament [RA] – A full-size seaplane, mounted on a pole, stands on someone’s front lawn next to their driveway.
- Buzzards Come Back to Hinckley [RA] – Every year on March 15 the buzzards return to a field outside of Hinckley, beating the more famous Swallows of Capistrano by a couple of days.
- Worden’s Ledges [RA] – Folk artist Noble Stuart carved 9 rock sculptures in the woods from 1944-48, including likenesses of Ty Cobb, George Washington, and Stuart’s father-in-law Hiram M. Worden.
Hopedale: Fallen Motorcyclist Memorial [RA] – This is a memorial to people who have died in motorcycle mishaps, made up of a long winding mural with stepping stones with friends names. It’s behind a VFW hall.
Hopewell: Flint Quarry [RA] – This farm is on Ohio’s Flint Ridge. You can park and hike back to a series of small “quarries” where you can dig for flint, sparkly minerals, and gemstones. You check in at the farmhouse, go dig, and come back to pay your entry fee and a set rate per pound of stone that you haul out with you. We found lots of nice flint pieces suitable for tools, and many sparkly stones.
Huntsville: 1964 World’s Fair “Peace Through Understanding” Arches [RA] – Two of the “Peace Through Understanding” arches from the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair now serve as signs for a rock quarry.
- Mural With Giant Fishing Rod [RA] – An outdoor mural depicts a fish being caught by a giant, real fishing rod bolted to the wall.
- Roadside Fatima Shrine [RA] – Built in the early 1950s by Fr. L.A. Phillips after he’d visited the original Fatima shrine in Portugal. He wanted his Shrine just off a highway so that people would stop and pray. Its 15 upright mosaics represent the 15 mysteries of the rosary.
Jackson Center: Airstream Factory Tours [RA] – Once-daily factory tour lets visitors see how each silver pleasure palace is custom-assembled.
- Apple Water Tower [RA] – Since 1937, Jackson has conducted an annual Apple Festival. The municipal water tower was modified to resemble an enormous red apple, complete with stem.
- Grand Canyon Guy’s Little Rock House [RA] – John Wesley Powell grew up in Jackson, became famous exploring the Grand Canyon, and was long dead when this little house was built in his memory out of odd, inscribed rocks.
Jasper: Pancake Cowboy [RA] – An out-of-place fiberglass cowboy, former mascot of the Western Pancake House chain, sits on a fence, frozen in the act of waving his hat at passing cars. Maybe 10 feet tall.
- President Wade One Vote Shy [RA] – Oakdale Cemetery, Gravesite of Benjamin F. Wade,. President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1868, put on trial in the Senate, and survived by a single vote. Had only one Senator switched, Johnson would have been out, and, since Johnson had no Vice President, the President Pro-tempore of the Senate would have been in. That was Benjamin F. Wade.
- Victorian Baby Carriage Museum [RA] –
Kelleys Island: Glacial Grooves [RA] – Glacial Grooves State Memorial is 3 1/2 acres of rock impressively gouged in long furrows by the movement of continental glaciers that melted 10,000 years ago.
Kenton: Home of the Gene Autry Repeating Cap Pistol [RA] – Kenton Hardware Company manufactured wildly popular Gene Autry repeating cap guns in the 1930s. The mural depicts the singing cowboy actor waving his hat as his horse rears up in front of the factory.
LaGrange: World’s Largest Eagle’s Nest Replica [RA] – A display about raptors features “The Great Nest,” the largest recorded eagle’s nest, observed near Vermillion, Ohio until destroyed in a storm in 1925. It was 12 ft. deep and weighed a ton. The replica at the Raptor Center is in a tree at ground level.
Lakeview: Indian and Eagle Totem [RA] – In the front yard of a house is a wood-carved sculpture of an eagle and two Indian chiefs. At first I thought it was an old tree that had been carved, but it appears to have been carved elsewhere and then placed in the yard.
Lebanon: Ohio’s Oldest Hotel – Owned by Senator, Haunted [RA] – The hotel and restaurant is owned by Ohio Senator Rob Portman and his family.
- ★ Kewpee Hamburgers [RA] – One of the last locations of an old-style burger chain born of a hotel chain with a Kewpee Doll as its mascot. The restaurant is decorated with naked Kewpee dolls, and in the dining room there’s a large, nude Kewpee to pose with.
- ★ Kewpee Hamburgers Art Deco [RA] – This Kewpee Hamburgers in downtown Lima has better architecture than Kewpee Hamburgers East, and a kewpee doll as part of its Art Deco exterior.
- Noah’s Ark, Dillinger’s Jail Cell, Things Swallowed [RA] – Allen County Museum, The mechanical miniature Noah’s Ark ,
- Safety City Mini Kewpee Burger [RA] – Pint-sized versions of landmark Lima buildings, including its Kewpee Burger, built to teach children pedestrian and bicycle safety. Usually fenced and locked, the buildings are still visible.
Lisbon: Farthest North by the South [RA] – In the summer of 1863 Gen. John Hunt Morgan, the “Thunderbolt of the Confederacy,” led over 2,500 Rebel troops on a raid through Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. By the time he surrendered on July 26, only 346 men remained, but he’d led those soldiers farther into Yankee territory than any other Confederate commander. For perspective, the monument that marks his surrender spot is farther north than the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor.
Lockington: Abandoned Canal Locks of Lockington [RA] – A series of five big stone locks, now dry and empty, cut through the center of a formerly bustling canal town.
- Mini-Bethlehem in a Window [RA] – Spread across seven sidewalk windows of an empty downtown store is a hand-made miniature of biblical Bethlehem.
- Pencil Sharpener Museum [RA] – Paul Johnson collected 3,479 pencil sharpeners (no duplicates) and displayed them in a one-room shed in his yard in Carbon Hill. He died July 2010; the shed and collection are now displayed in the Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center.
- ★ World’s Largest Washboard and Festival [RA] – Columbus Washboard Company., The Washboard hangs off of what may be the only washboard factory in the western hemisphere.
- Big Dragonfly [RA] – Big dragonfly perched on an equally big cattail reed. Both are made of welded metal, calling attention to an adjacent welding shop.
- Morgan County Dungeon [RA] – The dungeon is 11 feet high and 12 feet long, but only five feet wide. It was forgotten for over a hundred years, and only rediscovered in 1964 when the jail above it was torn down.
- ★ BibleWalk and Living Bible Museum [RA] – Open since 1987. It’s like walking through a wax Bible — populated by Hollywood star dummies in cameo roles.
- Elektro, Robot of Mansfield [RA] – Mansfield Memorial Museum, Elektro, the barrel-chested “Moto-Man,” was the star of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, and now a prized exhibit in the Mansfield Memorial Museum.
- Mansfield Reformatory Shawshank Redemption Prison [RA]
- Roman Equestrian Guards Strip Club [RA] – A Roman centurion with an upraised sword sits astride a white horse in front of a rural strip club, discouraging underage barbarians.
Marblehead: Handless Jacques [RA] – 20-foot-tall Jacques, with his pencil mustache and paper hat, used to have a tray of food. Somewhere along his storied career promoting roadside businesses, he lost his tray and both hands.
Maria Stein: ★ Shrine of the Holy Relics [RA] – Quietly tended by the Sisters of the Precious Blood, over 1,200 relics — often tiny slivers of Catholic Saint remains — are held in golden stands and lockets hung on chapel walls. Tiny Chapel in the Woods is a bonus.
- ★ Cawley and Peoples Mortuary Museum [RA] – There’s a variety of other funeral memorabilia, caskets, and preservative regalia on display, mostly from the early 1900s, including a variety of corpse clothing and a giant hair dryer that was once used by embalmers on their customers. Most of it is portable, because morticians used to stage funerals in people’s homes.
- Room Carved into Boulder [RA] – A roadside sandstone boulder has been carved into a primitive house, with a door, windows, 12×12 ft. room, and a smokestack. May have been a 19th century hoosegow.
- Grave of Gypsy Queen [RA] – In St. Mary’s Cemetery, in the non-Catholic section, is the grave of Ann Judge — better known as “Queen Cleo,” who died in 1905 during childbirth at age 30. She was part of a Brazilian gypsy group and became Queen after the death of her mother. She is rumored to be buried standing upright. Her marker (and wooden cross) are both covered with offerings that bring good luck to the giver, but curse anyone who steals them.
- Marion Cemetery
- Grave of a Warren Harding Mistress [RA] – Marion Cemetery, President Harding is said to have had multiple mistresses and countless one-night stands. But Caroline F. Phillips is the only one who reportedly blackmailed him into keeping her silence.
- Mysterious Moving Tombstone [RA] – A headstone topped by an orb rotates when no one is looking.
- ★ Home of Warren Harding [RA] – Warren G. Harding and his wife Florence lived in this house in Marion from 1891 to 1921, when he became 29th President of the United States and she became First Lady. The house has been operated as a museum since 1926.
- Kaufman’s Pyramid [RA] – The size of a small house, and very visible, built to hold the remains of businessman Martin Kaufman. Not ancient; built in Sep. 2019.
- Napoleon’s Horse World’s Longest Mane [RA] – Heritage Hall, Stuffed Horse with World’s Longest Mane
- National Lawn Mower Racing Hall of Fame [RA] – lawn mower racing has been an organized sport in the U.S. since 1992
- Roadside Grave Of A Man Killed By A Tree [RA] – John Grimm was clobbered on this spot in 1833, and someone decided it was a great spot to bury him.
- Stand in a Steam Shovel Bucket [RA] – We’ve stood in bigger buckets, but we like this one because it’s in its own dedicated park and set up to encourage people to pose in it for snapshots.
- Vietnam Helicopter [RA] – VFW Post 7201
- ★ Wyandot Popcorn Museum [RA] – The Wyandot Popcorn Museum, which opened in 1982, contains dozens of these fancy machines, meticulously restored and displayed indoors under a 14-foot-high circus tent. They are the showstoppers in what is the world’s largest collection of popcornabilia, although visitors will also find showcases of popcorn packaging and a Cracker Jack collection of merchandise, including 50 years worth of cheap plastic prizes.
McConnelsville: Big Muskie’s Bucket [RA] – “Big Muskie” was once the World’s Largest Earth Moving Machine. What remains today is a monstrous metal bucket, vaguely resembling a robot dog head.
- ★ Alien Vacation Mini Golf [RA] – Extraterrestrial-themed black light indoor mini golf created by the same guy who made Castle Noel.
- ★ Castle Noel [RA] – a big abandoned church that looked like a castle stuffed with Christmas artifacts. Covering half a city block, it is the largest indoor Christmas attraction in the USA.
Mesopotamia: Largest Amish Horse and Buggy [RA] – a large piece horse and buggy sculpture made of wooden 2x4s
Middlefield: ★ Car Hood Cow [RA] – A 15-foot-long black-and-white Holstein sits next to the road, built in the early 2000s out of recycled car hoods.
- Big Peach [RA] – Colorful roadside statue, professionally made, maybe eight feet high, lures travelers to a place that sells peaches.
- Cross Section of 513-Year-Old Tree [RA] – Keim Lumber Company, If you go into the Keim Lumber Co. store and immediately turn right toward the registers, you’ll see the giant slab is in the specialty woodworking area. Handy little paper flags mark the tree’s age during important historical events. Lots of other neat cross-sections on display, too.
- ★ History of Cheesemaking Mural [RA] – Heine’s Cheese Chalet, Heine’s Cheese Chalet is a required stop on any cheese country tour so you can see this indoor marvel, sixty feet long, painted by hand. It provides a unique perspective on the rise of Civilization. a 100-foot-long “viewing corridor” where you can watch cheesemaking in action behind glass. There are lots of Amish men with beard nets, stirring curds.
Minster: Dockside Mini-Liberty [RA] – Well-maintained miniature Lady Liberty with no crown spikes stands on a gravel jetty in a public park
- Bloody Hand Nailed to Cross [RA] – Large, white, bloody 2-D hand is nailed to a tilting cross in the front yard of a house.
- ★ Factory Ruins and Sculpture Park [RA] – Old glass factory selectively demolished and recast as an art park. Spiral stairs halfway up old smokestack, ruins, labyrinth
- ★ Fountain of Dogs [RA] – 18 different full-color cast aluminum dogs sit in a circle, staring up at a golden bone, spewing water from their mouths. Built in late 2019.
Napoleon: Giant Tomato Soup Can [RA] – At the Cambell’s Soup plant, a large cylinder with a familiar label. Visitor bonus: you’ll be surrounded by reassuring smells.
Nelsonville: World’s Largest Personal Cross [RA] – Long surpassed by other lofty crosses, this is still the world’s only large cross dedicated to a woman — the builder’s wife — as well as to an all-powerful deity.
New Bedford: Storage Tank Locomotive [RA] – One of those double-take moments — a novelty created by someone who had a storage tank and liked locomotives. Stop and snap.
New Bremen: America’s Oldest Bicycle – Bicycle Museum of America [RA]
New Carlisle: John Dillinger’s First Bank Robbery [RA] – It happened on June 10, 1933. The bank is no longer a bank, but there’s a plaque commemorating the robbery on an outside wall, above the old night deposit box.
New Concord: ★ Boyhood Home of Astro-Senator John Glenn [RA] – John and Annie Glenn Museum, grew up in this house, which is still furnished with many original pieces.
New Paris: Drive-Thru Elk Ranch [RA] – Quiet Harmony Elk Ranch, Also a walking tour and full-price “Elk Encounter,” where you feed elk from a golf cart. Because this is a ranch, you can also take home elk steaks for dinner.
New Philadelphia: John Glenn Billboard [RA] – Colorful, flat brush illustrated billboard outside the small airport where John Glenn learned to fly, features the future Right Stuff astronaut and his first American-to-orbit Mercury capsule.
New Richmond: Cardboard Boat Museum, Race [RA] – A race of handmade cardboard watercraft annually flounders down the Ohio River. Some of the best and strangest are exhibited.
New Rumley: Birthplace of General Custer [RA] – A bronze statue of a sword-carrying Custer stands next to the outline of his long-gone birth house.
- Cy Young Hometown Monument [RA] – Located on the grounds of Cy Young park, at a baseball field that he dedicated. The monument is designed to resemble a baseball diamond, with Cy’s memorial at the pitchers mound.
- Cy Young Hometown Museum [RA] – Olde Main Street Museum, Cy Young, often cited as the greatest baseball pitcher of all time, died in Newcomerstown. See his shoes, his rocking chair, the last hat he wore.
Newton Falls: Statue of Liberty Replica [RA] – The Statue of Liberty in Leavittsburg at Liberty Tax Service is no longer there. They just moved it here to Newton Falls.
North Jackson: ★ Big Mary on a Rock Tower [RA] – National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, Climb 64 steps up a 55-foot-high rock tower to get close to a 16-foot-tall granite Mary. Built in 1965. Named a “minor basilica” in 2014.
North Kingsville: Eat Pizza In a Covered Bridge [RA] – The bridge was built in 1862, then dismantled, moved, and turned into a pizza parlor in 1975.
Norwalk: Saint’s Prayer Cabin and Rosary Walk [RA] – First American male saint, John Neumann, performed Mass in this frontier log cabin, restored and maintained on the grounds of St. Alphonsus Church, along with a prayer garden and rosary walk.
Norwich: Robot Head on a Pole [RA] – Knowlton Industrial Steel Supply, Sign for a steel company features a large, robot head atop a high pole. Seems sad.
Oak Hill: ★ Yard of Giant Tires [RA] – H&H Industries, The storage lot of a company that restores and resells big tires. Not an official attraction, but perhaps they don’t mind if you pose with the ones nearest the highway.
Oceola: Grave of Warhorse Frank [RA] – His tombstone was paid for by fellow Civil War vets. Engraved boulder is weathered to the point of illegibility.
Ohio City: First Car Crash [RA] – Prolific inventor James Lambert took a buggy chassis, added a gasoline engine, and created his own automobile in 1890. It’s disputed whether it was the first automobile, but it was the first automobile to crash.
Ontario: Lonely Putt-Putt Giraffe [RA] – The most prominent remnant of a shuttered mini-golf course is a fiberglass giraffe on top of a fake rock arch.
Orient: Tin Man Mailbox [RA] – A rural home near Orient, Ohio, has a robot, or possibly a Wizard of Oz Tin Man, as its mailbox.
Orrville: Towering Cow [RA] -Smitty is located on top of the silo at Smith’s Dairy,
- Plowing Cairn of Peace [RA] – In 1957, Northern Ireland, Sweden, Germany, New Zealand, and many other countries came together in this small town for an international plowing contest and exhibition. A monument [with a replica 12th century plow] was erected in honor of the event.
- Serpent Mound [RA] – The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,330-foot-long, three-foot-high prehistoric effigy mound, the largest in the world. Also accompanied by a museum.
- ★ Ride Boat Pulled by Mule [RA] – Johnston Farm and Indian Agency, Experience the thrill of high-speed freight transportation circa 1830 on a restored section of the Miami and Erie Canal.
- Statue of the One Man Air Force [RA] – Hometown air ace Don Gentile helped shoot down 32 enemy planes for three different countries in WWII.
- Fierce Lake Erie Shark [RA] – A statue of a toothy maneater snarls with open jaws next to a highway off of Lake Erie, which has no sharks.
- Lighthouse Keeper and Dog [RA] – Bronze statue of a bearded guy in a hooded rain slicker holds a lantern; his dog looks on with stick in mouth. It’s in front of a restored Light Station on Lake Erie.
- Plastic-Eating Walleye [RA] – Specially shaped “deposit ports” enable the fish to swallow only plastic bottles into its see-thru belly.
- Statue of Sea Captain and Young Boy [RA] – A bronze bearded Old Salt and a wide-eyed young boy stand admiring an outdoor mural of sailing ships — the Lake Erie of Yore.
- Wylie Walleye at Walleye Capital of the World [RA] – This 18-ft. long fiberglass fish is the only one which descends from a crane on New Year’s Eve.
Port Washington Cy Young’s Tombstone [RA] – A heavenly winged baseball carving and accumulated tokens of appreciation make this a special site for fans of pitching legend Cy Young (1867-1955).
- World’s Most Massive Doric Column [RA] – Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial, 352-foot-high monument resembles a doric column and commemorates Commodore Perry’s War of 1812 victory at the battle of Lake Erie. Observation deck.
- Big Statue of Atlas [RA] – A very large statue of Atlas stands on someone’s lawn, carrying the Earth (as usual) on his shoulders.
- House That Was a Ship [RA] – The luxurious “shiphouse” of Henry Ford’s personal Great Lakes freighter was converted into a house on land.
- Perry’s Cave, War of 1812 Mini-Golf [RA] – The cave is a couple hundred feet long and features tourist cavern essentials such as stalactites, cave pearls, and an underground lake
- Stand Inside World’s Largest Geode [RA] – A literal “hidden gem” 40 feet beneath a winery — blueish celestite crystals cover chamber walls unearthed by winery well diggers in 1897.
- Taxidermy Free-for-All [RA] – Lake Erie Islands Nature and Wildlife Center, startling array of extraordinary taxidermy.
- World’s Third Longest Bar [RA] – Beer Barrel Saloon, 405 ft., 10 in.,
Ragersville: Skeleton of Jeff Davis in Hangtown [RA] – Ragersville Historical Society Museum, Jeff Davis was not Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy. Ragersville’s Jeff Davis was a drifter, thief, and assaulter of women who spent a lot of time in Ohio prisons.
Ray: Leo Petroglyphs [RA] – An open-air shelter built in the 1930s keeps rain and snow off about 40 figures carved into sandstone rock, likely by ancient Native Americans. Nobody’s sure what the symbols mean now.
Russells Point: Our Lady of Fatima at Yacht Club [RA] – 43-Foot-Tall., The marina where it stands was originally a Roman Catholic theme park.
Sabina: Eugene the Mummy [RA] – Eugene, an unclaimed dead guy, was embalmed and put on display in a local funeral home for many years. Now he has his own tombstone in the local cemetery. “Found Dead 1929, Buried 1964.”
- Boy and the Boot (indoor) [RA] – acquired in 1895, vandalized and moved indoors.
- Boy and the Boot (outdoors) [RA] – replica, 4-foot-tall hollow metal sculpting of a young boy standing, holding aloft a leaky boot that dribbles continuous streams of water.
- Cholera Cemetery Mass Grave [RA] – 357 victims of Sandusky’s 1849 cholera epidemic were buried in a pit, succumbing to diarrhea and dehydration brought on by the water-borne disease over a period of only 68 days.
- Ghostly Manor Thrill Center [RA] – A year-round spook house, for those who can’t wait until October for shrieking and pants-wetting thrills. Parking lot offers views of a castle, dragon, and big skull.
- Merry-Go-Round Museum [RA] – Examples of carved figures from classic merry-go-rounds. A free ride is included in the admission price.
- Moose Head on a Roof [RA] – Big, cartoony moose head was placed on the roof of a gas station mini-mart in August 2016
- Wacky Cemetery Animals [RA] – A mini-golf-style hippo, bear, and Sinclair dinosaur stand outside the entrance to one of Sandusky’s oldest cemeteries.
- ★ Giants – Seville Historical Society Museum [RA] – Seville Historical Society & Museum, “The Giants Of Seville” were a pair of married giants. They’re buried under a life-size statue of the wife, who was over eight feet tall. The local museum has a pair of giant-size dummies dressed in their clothes.
- ★ Grave of the Married Giants [RA] – Life-size statue of Anna Bates — who stood over eight feet tall — marks the final resting place of the world’s tallest married couple.
Sewellsville: Murder Spot Plaque [RA] – 13-year-old Louiza Fox was killed in 1869 by an infatuated man who then became the “first murderer hanged in county.” Still a lonely country spot.
Sharon: Shenandoah Crash Site #3 [RA] – The USS Shenandoah was America’s first zeppelin, and a big deal in its time, which was brief. On September 4, 1925, during an ill-advised publicity tour to drum up support for airships, the Shenandoah flew into a storm over Ohio and crashed. The spot where the Shenandoah’s bow landed is marked with a sign: “Wreckage Site Number 3.”
Shawnee: Coal Miner Statue [RA] – The bronze miner kneels on one foot, leaning slightly backward, wielding a pick. Early mine shafts were too small to stand upright.
Sidney: The Spot Presidential Pie [RA] – George W. Bush dropped in unexpectedly in 2004 for a pie and burger. You can do likewise in the same booth. There’s also an outdoor plaque next to the front door.
Sinking Spring: The Octagon Schoolhouse [RA] – One room, eight sides. Built in 1831. The only one like it in Ohio.
Smyrna: House Covered in Wash Tubs [RA] – A small outbuilding next to the highway is labeled “The Wash House” and is covered in old metal washtubs.
- 4-H Founder Statue [RA] – A.B. Graham, founder of 4-H, is immortalized in bronze in a statue group that also includes two farm kids and a big ear of corn.
- Birthplace of 4-H Monument [RA] – The Boys and Girls Agricultural Experiment Club, later called the 4-H Club, was created in 1902 in Springfield by school superintendent A. B. Graham. Flag poles, the big green clover symbol, and a historical plaque mark the spot.
- ★ Hartman Rock Garden [RA] – Ben Hartman’s 1930s backyard project of sculptures and found-stone buildings run amok. As of late Hartman Rock Garden has fallen into a bit of disrepair, but they are improving it.
- Madonna of the Trail [RA] – the first of 12 identical Madonnas to be donated by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
- Statue of the Wright Brothers Lawyer [RA] – The Wright Brothers might have been cheated out of their fame if it were not for their stubborn patent lawyer.
- Yawning Hippo [RA] – Home-built hippo stands beside the road, with an open mouth and weird, blood red zombie eyes.
St. Mary’s: Bloody Bridge [RA] – A small monument marks a murder site stemming from an odd-man-out from love triangle. Bill loved Minnie. Minnie chose Jack. Bill took matters into his own hands.
St. Paris: One Bathtub For Entire Hotel [RA] – Pony and Cart Museum, Local museum displays dresses made of chicken feed sacks, and the one bathtub that served all the residents of the town’s Cline Hotel.
- Majestic Dean Martin Mural [RA] – Hometown boy and entertainer Dean Martin is celebrated in an impressive mural on the local Kroger store.
- Ohio Valley Steelworker Statue [RA] – A metal statue of a hooded man pays tribute to Ohio Valley steelworkers.
- Pioneer Days Mural [RA] – 3-D mural
- Religious Beginnings Mural [RA] – large mural at the St. Peter’s Church parking lot
- Steam Laundry Mural [RA] – Longer than a boxcar and three stories tall, this mural shows the hardworking women of the Steubenville Steam Laundry and their less-hardworking male bosses.
- Steelworkers Mural [RA] – Former steelmaking city Steubenville’s “Steel Mill Memories” mural is 90 feet long, and features two sweaty, Goliath-size steelworkers catching some air.
Stockport: Tomb of Captain Hook [RA] – Large, above-ground tomb in an abandoned graveyard features a plaque outlining Captain Isaac Newton Hook’s odd beliefs.
- Age of Steam Roundhouse [RA] – Vintage roundhouse shelters locomotives and railroad cars. Tours are available during warm weather months.
- David Warther Carvings Tiny Ships [RA] – The grandson of Ernest Mooney Warther, who carved impossibly detailed little trains, now has his own museum of impossibly detailed little ships.
- Rocket Booster Memorial [RA] – “Sugarcreek’s most famous son,” at least according to this memorial, is Air Force General Donald L. Putt, who “worked to develop the world’s first segmented solid rocket engine.” The monument is a 55-inch tall granite replica, “one tenth the size of the actual boosters.”
- ★ World’s Largest Cuckoo Clock [RA] – Built in 1972, the clock has thus far surpassed all rivals to keep its World’s Largest title.
- ★ Giant, Strange Ronald McDonald [RA] – A giant Ronald McDonald in the lawn spreads his arms in a welcoming embrace, accompanied by McDonald food characters.
- Ohio Fallen Heroes Memorial [RA] – Hundreds of crosses memorialize every Ohio soldier who’s died in the line of duty in a War on Terror combat zone since September 11, 2001.
- Big Indian Maiden Head [RA] – Made of cement in the early 1980s, it sits next to a highway in the yard of the sculptor’s house.
- Utopia [RA] – Started as a communal colony that only lasted a couple years. Now there is only a small general store.
- Underground Church [RA] – A church buried in the ground is across the highway from the historical marker for the vanished 19th century social commune of Utopia. Can be peered into from ground level.
Valley City: Drive-Thru Barn [RA] – The developers of a housing subdivision decided to leave a 19th century barn where it was and just cut a road through it.
- Air Mail Pilot Sculpture [RA] – Darke County Airport. Metal air mail pilot donated to the airport by the Midmark Corporation in the late 1990s. They also gifted a golfer at the town golf course and a football player at the football field.
- French Statues of Versailles [RA] – Monet the Impressionist and three cherubs frolicking around a wine barrel bring a little bit of France to western Ohio.
- Mini Arc de Triomphe [RA] – Among this France-loving town’s many tributes is a replica of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The arch is just tall enough to walk beneath.
- ★ Armstrong Air and Space Museum [RA] – museum dedicated to the first man to walk on the moon. Displays a bonafide moon rock, Neil’s spacesuits, and even his survival machete.
- Neil Armstrong Happy Guy [RA] – Bronze statue of a smiling, waving Neil, wearing a business suit, as he looked riding in his hometown parade that passed this spot.
- ★ The Temple of Tolerance [RA] – Ordinary house with an extensive rock garden. Open daily; just walk up Jim’s driveway and into his back yard.
Washington Court House: Bullet Holes from the 1894 Riot [RA] – A lynch mob tried to storm the old Washington Court House courthouse in 1894. They reconsidered after a deadly volley of bullets from the Ohio state militia.
- Bull with a Hat [RA] – North of Waynesville there is a large fiberglass bull wearing a hat. It is attached to a trailer, so it is probably taken to local fairs or used in parades, and may not always be at this location. The bull has a red neckerchief below its head, and the horns are sticking out of the hat. It is easy to see along the road.
- Cowboy Boot on Hearse [RA] – The Silver Spur Western Store advertises its wares with a large red boot mounted on a hearse.
- Amish Horse and Buggy ATM [RA] – “Ye Olde Automatic Teller Machine” is a functioning bank ATM built to look like the classic Amish conveyance. Built in 1999, removed in 2015, rebuilt in 2020.
- Spirit of ’76 Museum [RA] – Archibald Willard was a wagon painter in Wellington, OH, and happened to see three guys walking down the road warming up their instruments. He drew a sketch of them and the rest is history. That is the basic summary of the museum. The museum boasts over 4,000 artifacts dating to the time (1876) of Willard, none of which are things that were actually his.
Wellsville: Boy and the Boot [RA] – One of several similar fountain statues of mysterious origin around the U.S. and elsewhere. Near the flood wall murals
West Alexandria: Dadsville Town Sign [RA] – Official green highway sign for the unincorporated burg of Dadsville. Named after an early settler in 1898.
- ★ Ice Cream Cone Building – The Cone [RA] – Family-operated ice cream stand in the shape of a giant soft swirl cone. Deploys smaller, mobile cone-mobiles.
- World’s Largest Indoor Train Display [RA] – EnterTrainment Junction, 25,000 square feet of itty bitty scenery, buildings, and trains. Two miles of track, equaling 45 miles in this mini-world.
West Lafayette: Unusual Junction – The Price is Right Sign [RA] – Restored 1895 train station with nostalgic memorabilia, store, restaurant, but the draw is “The Price is Right” sign, autographed by TV game show host Bob Barker.
- Mac-A-Cheek and Mac-O-Chee Castles [RA] – It is deteriorating but still offers an amazing display of workmanship you may never see again. Brothers Abram and Donn Piatt built gothic revival “castles” for themselves, only a mile apart, in the 1800s, and gave them easy-to-confuse names. Both are open for self-guided tours.
- Ohio Caverns [RA] – Over two miles of surveyed passages. The largest cave in Ohio. Motto: “Where nature carved a fairyland.” Features “Crystal King,” claimed to be one of the world’s most perfectly formed stalactites.
West Salem: Small Yard with Sculptures [RA] – A small house with a small yard displays a moai-like Tiki head, a half-buried large razor blade, and a half-human half-giraffe thing.
West Union: William Lafferty Memorial Funeral and Carriage Collection [RA] – By appointment only. Lafferty Funeral Home, One of the best hearse museums around, in the Number One state for hearse production.
Windsor: ★ World’s Tallest Our Lady of Guadalupe [RA] – Servants of Mary Center for Peace, A 50-foot-tall Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Winterset: Flower Pot House [RA] – Pot House Garden Center, Built circa 2005, it resembles a large upside-down flower pot with doors and windows. A male dummy sometimes sits on top, dangling his legs over the side.
Wooster: Purple Pumper [RA] – An operating oil pump jack has been labeled “Purple Pumper” and painted to resemble an insect with red light bulb eyes.
- Legend of Ha Ha Pizza [RA] – Outdoor mural features a Jackalope and a Gremlin, and in the background are a flying saucer and the Loch Ness Monster.
- ★ Young’s Jersey Dairy [RA] – Young’s Dairy Farm is famous for its ice cream and cheese curds. If you have young children it’s a great day out. They have activities for the kids, and animals you can feed and pet. You can stay later in the day to see the milking process.
- Amish Buggy Car Dealer [RA] – In Amish country, an Amish horse and buggy on a car dealership roof celebrates the universal appeal of horsepower and horse-trading.
- Cottrill’s Sidewalk of Sculptures [RA] – A variety of outdoor sculptures stand along the street leading to the Alan Cottrill Sculpture Studio. They are in parade formation for a whole city block.
- Front Yard Rhino [RA] – A concrete rhino of undetermined origin and purpose stands on someone’s front lawn. Appears to be home-made.
- John Glenn and Three Other Guys [RA] – Founder – Patriot – Writer – Astronaut. The bronze sculpture in Zane’s Landing Park presents four important men from eastern Ohio, each born roughly 50 years later than the next.
- Liquor Store Lady Liberty [RA] – A greenish Lady Liberty stands on the entrance roof of a combination tavern and drive-thru liquor store.
- Mudgett’s Monument to Ohio [RA] – Three large slabs, carved by a headstone artist, celebrate the marvel that is Ohio. Next to the artist’s flea market.
- Pile of War Dead Helmets [RA] – Muskingum County World War II Korean Memorial, Appreciative nod to 297 Muskingum County servicemen killed in World War II and the Korean War, represented by a pile of individually named helmets. The sculpture, including three soldier figures, was erected in 2010.
- Y Bridge [RA] – A bridge that has an interesectino in the middle.
- Zane Grey Display [RA] – Muddy Misers, Author Zane Grey, who wrote scores of popular novels about the wild west that were adapted into movies and TV shows, is the theme at a restaurant that includes photos and several of his fishing rods.
Akron Metro Area
- Akron Police Museum [RA] – Exhibits include a former police chief’s tombstone, and the bullet-tattered uniform of fallen officer Weatherholt, with an open pack of cigarettes still in the pocket. A letter written by the killer just before his execution is in the same display case.
- Akron Sound Museum [RA] – Tiny museum waxes nostalgic for the late 1970s when Akron was the Punk Capital of the Midwest. Exhibits honor bands such as Devo, the Rubber City Rebels, Tin Huey, Buzz Clic, the Waitresses, the Bizarros, Hammer Dammage, and more. This is a small museum, even by small museum standards: one little room and a couple of display cases next to an antique store named The Bomb Shelter.
- Birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous [RA] – Dr Bob’s House, The home of AA’s founders has been turned into a museum, with an inscribed memorial rock in the front lawn.
- Goodyear Airship Hangar [RA] – Massive dirigible hangar, built in the 1930s. Was the birthplace of America’s two largest airships, the Akron and Macon, before both crashed at sea. Exterior view only.
- Mechanical Barbie and the Band of Many Kens [RA] – Luigie’s Restaurant, Miniature mechanical musical machine that’s been in this Italian restaurant probably since it opened in 1947.
- ★ Stan Hywet Hall [RA] – Largest Tudor-Revival-style home in North America, the mansion of Akron’s one-time rubber baron. Tours; secret passages.
- Tribute to DEVO [RA] – Stand with your favorite Spud Boys in a life-size recreation of a photograph taken on April 10, 1978, just down the block. It’s black and white, like the original publicity photo, except for the band’s bright yellow radiation suits.
- Water Wheel Monument Oatmeal King [RA] – Big, half-submerged wheel pays tribute to a local canal, a local milling company, and F. Schumacher the Oatmeal King.
- World’s Most Infamous Soap Box Derby Car [RA] – All-American Soap Box Derby Hall of Fame and Museum at Derby Downs. 1973 Derby Car with secret magnet.
Cuyahoga Falls: Doodlebug Train Horror Monument [RA] – A real ugly mass transit disaster, remembered at the spot where it happened.
- Homemade Star Wars X-Wing Fighter [RA] – Mike’s Place restaurant in Kent, OH has a large (maybe life size?) replica of an X-wing fighter from Star Wars. It’s made from salvaged materials. The restaurant also has a very large menu, long beer list
- Kent State University
- ★ Site of the Kent State Massacre [RA] – See where the bullets were fired at Kent State’s students, and the parking spaces where four of them died. Spend time in the Visitor Center to try to make sense of it all.
- ★ Brain Sculpture [RA] – Sandstone gray matter on a pedestal by artist Brinsley Tyrrell, dedicated in 2000. A neat sculptured bench of books leads from the brain sculpture.
Streetsboro: Buried Truck [RA] – Someone buried an old, gray pickup truck to its windows in their front lawn, and created a pull-off so visitors can take photos.
- Boy and the Boot [RA] – the statue is a war memorial, honoring a Boy who carried water to wounded Civil War soldiers in his Boot, pouring it from a hole in the toe. Made from a copy of the Sandusky statue.
- Porthole Cover from the Maine [RA] – The U.S.S. Maine blew up in Havana Harbor in 1898, sparking the Spanish-American War. This porthole cover was enshrined to remind all to remember!
- World’s Largest Matchstick [RA] – Originally erected one week a year, with a flaming torch match head, as part of the town’s annual Blue Stick Match Festival, celebrating Wadsworth’s (former) top employer. Now permanent. 17 foot.
Canton-Massillon Metro Area
- Frankenstein’s Grave [RA] – West Lawn Cemetery,
- Goal Post Power Towers [RA] – 80-foot-tall transmission towers, designed to resemble a pair of giant yellow football goal posts. Losing Your Head Over TV [RA] – In a restored vacant lot, a semicircle of stacked, old televisions, painted gray, topped with human busts with damaged heads. It’s art.
- Robot Mr. and Mrs. McKinley [RA] – William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, When you enter, you’re greeted by motion-sensor-activated robots of the President and First Lady
- ★ Sea Monster Building [RA] – Sea Monster Building, Created in 2013 by artist Thomas Morgan, “Polypus” (Latin for octopus) bursts out of the top and sides of an old three-story downtown Canton building. Tentacles — made of foam and steel — jut out of the roof and upstairs windows, while other windows are filled with glimpses of the giant beast’s suckers and malevolent eyes
- Tomb of President McKinley [RA] – McKinley National Memorial, It resembles a giant beehive on top of a hill, and from its size — nearly ten stories to the top of its red, white, and blue skylight — you’d think that McKinley was one of the greatest Presidents ever.
- Willie The Whale [RA] – City Field Park, Willie is the last surviving attraction from a 1950s Mother Goose park.
Navarre: Top Half of John Glenn [RA] – An unusual statue of John Glenn — only his top half — in his Mercury “Right Stuff” spacesuit, reaching skyward toward stars with vapor trails. His other arm cradles the top half of his helmet.
- P-51 Mustang on a Pole [RA] – Canton-Akron Airport.
- Vacuum Cleaner Museum [RA] – Hoover Historical Center, Located in the home of ‘Boss’ Hoover, a display of early hand-operated cleaners, the first Hoover vacuum, and Hoover appliances through history.
- Wright Flyer Replica [RA] – entranceway near the McKinley Air terminal, Pose with a full-size replica of the world’s first airplane — only this one is made of durable metal.
Cleveland Metro Area
Amherst: 24-Hour Roadside Pet Wash [RA] – Alpha-Dog Pet Wash,
Avon: Duct Tape Capital of the World [RA] – Annual Duck Tape Festival is held over one weekend in June at Crushers Stadium.
- Shoe Tree [RA] – An abnormal shoe tree – a tree trunk with shoes nailed to it by generous passers-by. The local authorities hate it.
- The Cradle of Dentistry [RA] – Dr. John Harris Dental Museum, A tiny home museum is the place where all dental education began in America, led by a doctor who then skipped town and abandoned medicine.
Bath: Chief Logan Big Indian Head [RA] – A 7,000 pound, 20-foot-tall Indian head was carved in 2006 from a ten-ton red oak tree.
- Art and Soul of Buckeye Park [RA] – Sculpted giant musician by artist James Simon plays a trumpet and entrances a nearby sculpture dog.
- Baseball Heritage Museum [RA] – League Park, Baseball field now over 100 years old displays relics of its original stadium and provides a small museum devoted to the sport.
- Birthplace of Superman – Jerry Siegel’s House [RA] – Private residence, This was the spot in 1932 that 18-year-old Jerry Siegel invented the Man of Steel.
- Birthplace of Superman – Joe Shuster’s House [RA] – When Jerry concocted the idea of Superman in 1932, it was Joe who drew him. The apartment house where the Shuster family lived is now a vacant lot, but the fence around it has been hung with 2×3-foot metal panels that reproduce the cover and first 13 pages of Action Comics #1, the first Superman story, which was published on April 18, 1938. In 2011 a drunk driver crashed into the fence, damaging some of the pages. The survivors were rehung, but the missing panels make the story a little incoherent.
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Bombed Thinker [RA] – A bronze copy of Rodin’s “The Thinker” had its legs blown off by a pipe bomb in 1970, and has been kept in that shredded state ever since.
- Unhappy Turtles [RA] – An unclothed toddler dangles two turtles painfully while trampling several others underfoot. It’s public art from the early 1900s.
- ★ Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick [RA] – Wide variety of magick relics collected over many decades. Highlights include Aleister Crowleys wand, a witch’s broom, and a real demon in a sealed box.
- Cancer Survivors Plaza [RA] – One of several similar surreal plaza sculptures scattered in cities across the U.S.
- ★ Christmas Story House [RA] – $13 for a full blown tour of the house and museum and you can handle props, such as the BB Gun, Lifebuoy soap, the turkey in the kitchen, and more! This is a not-to-be-mussed stop on your travels! Great gift shop, too!
- ★ Grays Armory Museum [RA] – In a brick building that resembles a castle, the Cleveland Grays display war booty back to 1837.
- Cleveland Police Museum [RA] – Features a grisly exhibit on the Torso Murders, one of the earliest recognized serial killings in the United States.
- Cleveland Venus [RA] – Carl B. Stokes Federal Court House Building, A 37-foot-tall modern version of the headless Venus de Milo stands outside Cleveland’s Federal Court House.
- Cleveland’s Oldest Electric Street Lamp [RA] – Charles F. Brush debuted the first electric street lights across the street 1879. This fancy art nouveau lamp, a tribute to Brush, was switched on in 1890.
- Cocoa, Milk, Sugar [RA] – Malley’s Chocolates, Three odd, pink silos proudly announce their contents to passing motorists. Good for photo-ops that trigger cravings.
- Firefighters Memorial [RA] – Located between Cleveland Browns Stadium and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Giant monster claws of flame reach over two crouching firefighters in this cinematic memorial.
- Former Smallest Book in the World [RA] – Cleveland Public Library, The 1985 book was judged “the smallest printed book in the world” in 2002 by Guinness World Records. Part of John F. Puskas Miniature Books Collection.
- ★ Giant Lot Ball [RA] – Big polystyrene orb — officially titled both “Lot Ball” and “Perpetual Motion” — covered with asphalt and painted with parking lot lines and directional arrows.
- Giant Paddle Ball [RA] – 14 feet high, and meant to symbolize the neighborhood’s efforts to “bounce back.” Erected in September 2018. Paddle Ball was invented in Ohio.
- ★ History of Contraception Collection [RA] – Dittrick Museum of Medical History, This small museum is located on the third floor of the Allen Memorial Medical Library.
- Home of Superman Plaque [RA] – historical marker honoring the creators of Superman in a small park outside the neighborhood where they’d both lived.
- International Women’s Air and Space Museum [RA] – Small museum chronicles the often forgotten women pioneers of aviation and space flight.
- Judy’s Crawling Hand [RA] – Museum of Contemporary Art, a 25-foot-high version of the sculptor’s wife’s hand.
- Lake View Cemetery
- Grave of Harvey Pekar [RA] – Underground comix writer Harvey Pekar was famous for his autobiographical comic book series, “American Splendor,” which was later made into a movie. His grave is decorated with dozens of colorful pens left by fans.
- Grave of Eliot Ness [RA] – Lake View Cemetery, Famous as the 1930s lawman with the memorable name who led a group of lawmen with a similarly memorable nickname, the Untouchables.
- Jukebox Tombstone of Alan Freed [RA]
- Grave of Only Baseball Player Killed by a Baseball [RA] – Ray Chapman was hit in the head with a ball thrown by a Yankees pitcher on August 16, 1920. A sign in front of his modest headstone notes that “Baseball fans paid for his monument with nickels and dimes.
- President James Garfield Castle [RA] – Garfield, America’s second death-by-handgun President, is buried in a mini-castle that has a painting of the assassination on its interior wall.
- The Weeping Angel [RA] – Eerie bronze statue of an angel of death, wings spread, seated on a family marble monument
- Lincoln Gives Gun to Enslaved Man [RA] – Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Unique bronze relief sculpture of a grim-faced Lincoln standing over a kneeling enslaved man: in one hand Abe holds a set of broken shackles, in the other a big rifle, which he’s handing over.
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum [RA] – Inside a big pyramid. Displays important instruments, song lyrics, goofy outfits.
- RotaFlora – Bicycle Rim Flower [RA] – A 35-ft. tall sculptural dandelion puffball of sorts. Made of old bicycle wheel rims and lit by LEDS, the 2010 eye-catcher is by artist Jake Beckman.
- Smoky – World War II Hero Dog Monument [RA] – Rocky River Reservation,
- Statues of the Chinese Zodiac [RA] – Carved stone statues of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac line a brief stretch of street in Cleveland’s old Chinatown.
- Street Made of Wood [RA] – It’s more an alley than a street, but this city byway really is paved with blocks of wood. For thrillseekers no longer satisfied with roads of brick.
- Stuffed Balto the Wonder Dog [RA] – Media sled dog blizzard-busting hero of Alaska’s 1925 diptheria epidemic is stuffed and on display in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
- The Guardians of Transportation [RA] – The Guardians of Transportation are mythic figures carved into pylons on either end of a Cleveland bridge.
- The Politician A Toy [RA] – a weird kinetic sculpture created in 1995
- Tin Man [RA] – Reader Roofing, Modeled after the Wizard of Oz star. Stands on a rooftop.
- Tiny Library Patrons [RA] – Outside the main Cleveland Public Library are a group of miniature statues representing library patrons. Some are carrying books, some are reading, others are climbing a fence or carrying letters of the alphabet.
- USS Cod Submarine [RA] – 312-foot-long U.S. Navy fleet submarine that saw action in WWII. Unaltered since the 1940s, so visitors on the self-guided tour have to enter and exit using hatchways and ladders.
- World’s Largest Outdoor Chandelier [RA] – The historic Playhouse Square Theater district displays a 20 ft. tall chandelier made with 4,200 crystals, hanging 44 ft. above the street.
- World’s Largest Rubber Stamp [RA] – The Big Rubber Stamp with the word “FREE” on it is a creation of artist Claes Oldenburg, who sculpts giant versions of everyday objects that turn up in public parks and on city sidewalks.
- ★ Blessed Garden Hose Water [RA] – The National Shrine and Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, maintained by the Sisters of the Most Holy Trinity. Pilgrims from all over the world come here to collect water that runs out of a garden hose over the feet of a statue of the Blessed Virgin. Here you will find the world’s largest rosary . Built on a hill, you can see an abandoned, beat up house in the center of the rosary.
- Polka Hall of Fame and Museum [RA] – Cleveland style polka is a Slovenian type that differs from Chicago style (Polish) or Milwaukee (German). Local hero Frank Yankovic is prominently featured and deemed to be the most famous Cleveland style polka musician.
Lakewood: ★ Sanctuary Museum [RA] – Louis McClung’s collection of restored religious figures from closed Catholic churches in the area, displayed in one of those empty churches. Formerly known as the Museum of Divine Statues.
Lorain: ★ Big Easter Basket of David Shukait [RA] – Built of concrete
Mentor Judy’s Jungle [RA] – A couple-dozen fiberglass dinosaurs and African animals next to the parking lot of a steel-heat-treating plant. They’re the collection of owner Judy Matthews.
Middleburg Heights: Graveyard at a Movie Theater [RA] – A historic family cemetery was left untouched, but surrounded by the asphalt parking lot of a movie theater and shopping center.
North Olmstead: Big Wagon Ranch of the Daredevil Woman [RA] – Daredevil rider Adele Von Ohl Parker was stranded here during the Great Depression, stayed, and brought the Wild West to Ohio.
Novelty: Giant Geodesic Dome [RA] – ASM International, 274 feet across, 103 feet high. Still looks futuristic, even though it’s over 50 years old.
Painesville: Flintstone House [RA] – Private home made of spray-foam construction, built by college students.
Vermilion: Woollybear Festival [RA] – An October festival. A wooly bear is a brown and orange caterpillar possessing what some believe to be an uncanny ability to predict the severity of the upcoming winter in northern Ohio.
Cinncinnati Metro Area
Cincinnati
- 12-Foot-Tall Pinocchio [RA] – Cincinnati Art Museum, if you see a giant Pinocchio somewhere, it’s probably a Jim Dine creation. This one, a 12-foot-tall bronze, was sculpted in 2007 specifically to stand in front of Dine’s hometown art museum.
- ★ American Sign Museum [RA] – Tod Swormstedt, sign expert, displays hundreds of examples of everything from delicate gold-painted glass to humongous neon. Some signs displayed in the parking lot.
- Bearcat [RA] – Bearcat is the mascot of the University of Cincinnati. Unlike most college mascot statues, this one is off-campus, visible from a public street, and designed for general visitor posing.
- Charlie Taft, Robot Son of President Taft [RA] – William Howard Taft Childhood Home National Historic Site, Visitor Center was built in 1999, it included not a robot President Taft, but a robot Charlie.
- Cincinnati’s Winged Pigs [RA] – Cincinnati honors is porcine heritage with happy statues of winged pigs (dead pig angels?) around the city.
- Fountain of Big Rare Books [RA] – Cincinnati Public Library, Artfully piled giant ceramic tile books stream water in a fountain in front of the public library. Artist Michael Frasca, dedicated 1990. 2021: Removed during construction.
- Fred Baur, Buried In Pringles Can [RA] – Fredric Baur invented Pringles potato chips in 1966. When he died in 2008 his ashes were buried in a Pringles can. He has a simple, flat-on-the-ground gravestone, but visitors often bring cans of Pringles (original flavor) as photo props.
- Frisch’s Mainliner Big Boy Museum [RA] – Opened April 2018. A small display inside a busy restaurant provides a quick history of of Frisch’s Big Boy and its Big Boy logo. Retro-restored Mainliner signs tempt passing motorists.
- Giant Indian Sign [RA] – Outside Motor Time Auto Sales, Local landmark Chief Pontiac — the “Big Indian Sign at Paddock and Vine” — is a 42 ft. tall metal cutout whose arm was once motorized to wave “How!” to travelers.
- Greater Cincinnati Police Museum [RA]
- Handsome, Stuffed Hero Police Dog [RA] –
- ★ Jungle Jim’s Eastgate [RA] – Nutty supermarket
- Large Cougar Statue [RA] – A snarling 12-foot-tall cougar sits upright on the rooftop of a used car dealer.
- Lincoln Statue Loved by Teddy [RA] – Lytle Park, Abe stands, beardless and rumpled, with large articulated hands and big Lincoln size 14 feet. It was Teddy Roosevelt’s favorite statue of Lincoln.
- Lucky Cat Museum [RA] – A collection of over 700 Japanese waving cats, including original Lucky Cat pieces from artists around the world.
- Martha – Passenger Pigeon Memorial Hut [RA] – Cincinnati Zoo, place where the last one died.
- Metrobot [RA] – A 27-foot-tall robot-shaped 3-D multi-sign that was the cutting edge of technology in 1988. Restored and upgraded in 2014 by Tom Strohmaier, one of its original artists.
- Mr. Dynamite James Brown Mural [RA] – Mural of the Godfather of Soul as he leans into an old-fashioned stage microphone, illuminated in colorful painted spotlights by artist Jenny Ustick in Summer 2015. James Brown recorded for King Records in Cincinnati.
- Mural George Washington in Drag [RA] – The mural is painted on the side of the old Camp Washington market — a weird presentation of a “Campy Washington.”
- Mushroom-Beehive House [RA] – Private property, Interesting private domicile that resembles a fantasy log burl mushroom or rustic beehive.
- Neon Sign Eatery [RA] – Turf club, A burger restaurant where neon junkies go to get their fix. Lots of small neon signs inside. Former owner had big neon signs outside, but he took those signs with him.
- ★ Pancakes and Pigs Sculpture of Goodness [RA] – Sugar n’ Spice Restaurant, The pancake pigs sculpture is in front of the restaurant; the entrance is in back.
- Psychedelic Mural Neil Armstrong and E.T. [RA] – A huge mural, covering over 7,600 square feet, painted in August 2016. Neil has a harlequin-pattern spacesuit with a rainbow of rays — pink, purple, red, yellow — spewing from his black-and-white video moon-cam. At the end of one ray is the Earth, silhouetting Elliot and his floating bike from E.T. Both Neil and Steven Spielberg were born in Ohio.
- Psychedelic Rosemary Clooney Mural [RA] – Strobing in jagged patterned colors, Clooney was a Cincinnati native known for her hit, “Come On-A My House,” and her role in the film “White Christmas.”
- Sit with Redlegs [RA] – only outdoors April-Sept., Redlegs is a big baseball head on a human body, with bulging eyes and a walrus mustache. A fun photo stop, sitting on a bench with the Cincinnati Reds baseball mascot, Redlegs, in front of the Reds’ stadium.
- Sliding Pete Rose Statue [RA] – Wonderful bronze of “Charlie Hustle” himself, In front of the Reds baseball stadium.
- SpongeBob SquarePants Tombstones [RA] – Spring Grove Cemetery, In 2013, the family of Kimberly Walker erected two big SpongeBob SquarePants tombstones on her grave.
- Stone Dollhouse Grave [RA] – New St. Joseph Cemetery, The untimely deaths of three children (1867-1876) in the family of stone mason John Keating was commemorated at their grave site with the 2-story dollhouse he created.
- Toys Mural [RA] – Large, slickly rendered mural celebrates Cincinnati’s role in the toy industry. Includes Potato Head and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
- Triceracopter [RA] – Langsam Library, sculpture
- Union Terminal – Comic Book Hall Of Justice [RA] – The architecture of the Cincinnati Union Terminal inspired the look for the 1970s cartoon version of the Hall of Justice. The Hall of Justice is the headquarters for the Superfriends in DC comics. Union Terminal houses several museums.
- Woolly Mammoths of Cincinnati [RA] Four wooly mammoths now stand in front of the Geier Collections and Research Center, which is the storage facility for all of Cincinnati’s natural history museum specimens.
- ★ Jungle Jim’s International Market [RA] – wacky grocery store with alot of animatronics.
- Sea Monster [RA] – Fiberglass sea monster,
Glendale: ★ Black Squirrel Town [RA] – Since the 1940s, Glendale has had a population of black squirrels. It paints fire trucks black, features fiberglass squirrel statues, and there’s a dead stuffed black squirrel official greeter at the Village Office.
- Hollow Earth Monument [RA] – Local resident John Symmes thought that the earth was hollow, and he convinced a lot of other people that it was hollow, too. The monument resembles a big pitted olive on a pedestal.
- James Ruppert Mass Murder House [RA] – On Easter 1975, James Ruppert wiped out his entire 11-member family in less than five minutes. Awful things can happen in otherwise unremarkable houses. No plaque or marker.
- Statue of George W. Bush No Child Left Behind [RA] – George W. Bush signed “No Child Left Behind” into law at Hamilton High School. Nine life-size bronze statues stand outside the school entrance, preserving the moment for posterity.
Harrison: Hike Quickly Over Uranium Nuke Plant Waste [RA] – Super-secret former Fernald Feed Materials Production Center is rehabilitated and open since 2008 as a nature preserve, with “Cold War Garden,” “Weapons to Wetlands” trails, interpretive signs, radiation monitors, visitor center and museum.
- ★ Chateau Laroche, Loveland Castle [RA] – Harry Andrews was a bachelor and recluse who spent over 50 years building a medieval-style castle in Ohio for his “boy knights.”
- ★ Memento Mori Shop of Weirdness [RA] – Small shop filled with mummified creatures, mortician tools, freak show relics, straitjackets, quack medical devices, Masonic regalia, etc.
Miamiville: Dead Man’s Hand Grave [RA] – Evergreen Cemetery, The grave of the man who dealt Wild Bill Hickok his “Dead Man’s Hand” has the cards engraved on one side of his tombstone and the death scene on the other.
- Anatomically-Correct Horses and Too Many Giraffes [RA] – Trader’s World Flea Market displays rearing stallion statues, which is why their anatomy is noticeable. Also watch for an overabundance of giraffes and other animals.
- Cowboy Muffler Man [RA] – In the middle of a field at Traders World Flea Market, a fiberglass man with a curiously short lower body raises one arm in a friendly wave.
- Giant Hug Me Jesus [RA] – 52-foot-tall Hug Me Jesus replaced Touchdown Jesus
North Bend: Tomb of President William Henry Harrison and First Lady Sara Harrison [RA] – William Henry Harrison and his wife were entombed in a vault in the family burial ground, but the place gradually became so deserted that their last surviving child’s body was stolen and sold to a Cincinnati medical school. In 1922 the state cleaned up the place and erected a towering monolith over the crypt. It looks like a futuristic fascist watchtower, and scares away grave robbers.
- Mastodon Statue [RA] – Sharon Woods Park, A fiberglass mastodon stands in a wooded section of a park, reminding visitors that mastodon bones have been unearthed there.
- Trammel Fossil Park [RA] – A rocky hillside in an unlikely industrial area holds fossils galore, and you can keep what you find. All fossil hunting should be this convenient. Bring rock hammers, sifters, water for rinsing.
Columbus Metro Area
- 3D Pumpkin Show Mural [RA] – There is a large mural in downtown Circleville that is painted in the trompe l’oeil (deceive the eye) style, making it appear three dimensional and very realistic. It depicts townspeople getting ready for the city’s annual Pumpkin Show, which is a large festival held every October. “Pumpkin Man” on rollerblades on the right side of the arch.
- Hitler Graves on Hitler Road [RA] – The Hitlers were respectable Ohio farmers, not fanatical German dictators.
- Octagon House [RA] – eight-sided house in 1855, but today it’s an oddity. Though not a great oddity, since there are 33 more in Ohio alone…
- Pumpkin Water Tower [RA] – Shaped and painted like a giant pumpkin. Promotes Circleville’s annual Pumpkin Show festival.
- Ted Lewis Museum [RA] – A popular crooner from the 1920s
Columbus
- (F) A-R-T Sculpture [RA] – If you stand in just the right spot, a streetlamp completes the word.
- ★ 94th Aero Squadron Restaurant [RA] – WWI aero squadron headquarters-themed restaurant, next to the airport. Less bomb-pocked than others in the chain. Old WWII fighter plane parked out front.
- ★ Animatronic Smokey Bear [RA] – Smokey Bear is in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources area of the Ohio State Fairgrounds/Exposition Center.
- As We Are The Ultimate Selfie Machine [RA]
- Beer Keg Burglar [RA] – A bar with an odd outdoor display: a lifelike man dummy who appears to be yanking a beer keg out of the wall of the building’s upper story.
- ★ Big Art Ant [RA] – the ant is made of colorful recycled material and stands in a vacant lot.
- ★ Big Boy with Tattoos [RA] – A bar and restaurant has repainted a vintage Big Boy statue to reflect its illustrated clientele.
- Brown Pet Cemetery Sgt. Fleabite Smith, et al [RA] – A burial ground for pets since at least the mid-1920s. Also the final resting place of several animal veterans, including Sgt “Fleabite” Smith.
- Cancer Survivors Plaza [RA] – one of many in the US. you have to park a quarter mile away and walk to it.
- Cardinal Statue [RA] – Ohio’s official state bird is the cardinal, and its state fairgrounds have displayed a 12-foot-tall statue since 1957. The current incarnation of the cardinal has been there since 1986.
- Central Ohio Fire Museum [RA] – Housed in a 1908 firehouse that used horse-drawn equipment until the 1920s. Notable for its custom dummies of old-tyme firemen — and firehorses.
- ★ Clown Cone [RA] – Nestled in a nondescript strip mall on the east side of Columbus is Clown Cone and Confections, a mom-and-pop ice cream shop operating for over 30 years. The shop sells all the usual flavors, along with all sorts of candy and random toys. Its claim to fame is hundreds of clowns and all kinds of clown paraphernalia filling the shop.
- ★ Colorful Buddhist Temple [RA] – Dragons and ornate gold trim and accents highlight the Lao Buddhist Temple’s technicolor approach to religion.
- ★ Deer on a Bridge [RA] – Three life-size bronze deer are positioned like humans, one enjoying the river view. Part of a pedestrian walkway. By Santa Fe artist Terry Allen.
- Disturbing Scrap Metal Horse [RA] – Animal Science Building at OSU, A sculpture of a rearing horse made of mechanical metal parts in such a way that it looks as if its flesh is missing. Skillful but unnerving.
- Doorway Arch Faces [RA] – Cristo Rey Columbus High School, In the late 19th century, the Ohio School For the Deaf thought it was perfectly fine to surround its entrance doorway with large, sculpted, gargoyle-like heads
- Dragonbrush [RA] – At a dental center a sculpture of a dragon and a toothbrush have joined forces and are known as “Dragonbrush!” Destroyer of decay!
- Green Lawn Cemetary
- Fisherman Grave [RA] – Green Lawn Cemetery, Emil Ambos loved to fish, so when he died in 1898 he commissioned a grave statue of himself fishing.
- Wolf Departed Denizens [RA] – Green Lawn Cemetery, Bronze wolf on a rock marks the mass grave of the city’s pioneers, moved here when development overran their family cemeteries. They’re “without marker or name” and anonymous, just like Columbus’s long-dead wolves.
- Gambrinus, King of Beer [RA] – 12 feet tall, the colorful King Gambrinus stands just off the sidewalk, hoisting a sudsy goblet skyward.
- Garden of Constants [RA] – A small sculpture garden of large numbers and mathematical formulae, on the campus of Ohio State University.
- Giant Boot [RA] – The LL Bean store advertises its hearty hiking footwear with a giant outdoor boot.
- ★ Giant Buckeye, Chocolate Factory Tour [RA] – Anthony-Thomas chocolate factory gives tours, and sells the World’s Largest Buckeye — made of chocolate and peanut butter — in its gift shop.
- Giant Praying Mantis [RA] – A large green praying mantis, friend to Man, is poised on Ohio State University’s west campus.
- Guide Dog and Handler [RA] – Titled “The Team,” the 2019 bronze statue features a guide dog, handler, and two inquisitive puppies.
- Half-Buried Phoenix [RA] – Aspirational statue on the grounds of a casino that pledged to revitalize an economically depressed community. The Phoenix is made of shiny metal and is half-buried in the ground.
- Indian Chief Gravestone [RA] – Green Lawn Cemetery, Samuel Gabriel was a Columbus businessman. Everyone called him “Chief,” so when he died in 1980, this granite one was placed atop his grave.
- Jeff the Giant Sloth, Carnivorous Fish [RA] – “Jeff,” a 7-foot tall fossil skeleton of a giant ground sloth (Megalonyx Jeffersoni), is the centerpiece in this cool little geological museum, located in Orton Hall, the oldest building (1893) on the Ohio State University campus.
- ★ Krema Nut Company – PB & J Sandwiches [RA] – 1898 peanut butter company makes it the old fashioned way, sells gourmet PB and J sandwiches and nut-related products., nuts are roasted on Mondays, ground on Tuesdays, so if you want to watch a certain process, plan accordingly.
- Lighthouse of God Prayer Tower [RA] – Replica lighthouse bolted to a church roof.
- Live Long and Prosper Mural [RA] – A computer repair shop has covered an exterior wall with a mural of Mr Spock (1960s Star Trek original series version) and his famous catchphrase.
- McKinley Loves Ida Statue [RA] – Future-President William McKinley would wave from the street to his wife every day before he went to work as Ohio’s governor. This statue stands on that exact spot.
- Monument to Ohio Teachers [RA] – Life-size statues of multicultural teachers and kids are posed amid oversized numbers, letters of the alphabet, and musical notation.
- ★ Mythical Creature Statues [RA] – Along its walkways, Battelle Riverfront Park displays a number of small sculpted versions of creatures from myth.
- Newsboy Statue [RA] – Unveiled in 2018, the life-size statue depicts an early-20th-century paperboy wearing in an oversized cap and heavy sweater, with a newspaper held above his head.
- Ohio Historical Society’s Two-Headed Calf [RA] – Ohio History Center,
- Pit of Hell [RA] – Also known as the Gates to Hell and the Blood Bowl. The Pit is a large drainage culvert located behind the Tim Horton’s near the corner of North High St. and Arcadia Ave in Clintonville Park.
- Rusty Cigarettes [RA] – Someone painted five upright barrier pipes in a parking lot to resemble just-stubbed out filter-tipped cigarettes.
- Rusty Steel Horses [RA] – A herd of horses made of rusty pieces of steel junk stands in a field, just off the highway. Don’t get lockjaw; look but don’t touch.
- Site of the First Wendy’s Restaurant [RA] – A historical marker stands outside the building, which has been given a complete makeover and converted into the headquarters of a Catholic foundation.
- Space Age Parking Lot Booth [RA] – was actually created in 2015. A mix of mid-century modern and Googie architecture, with porthole windows.
- Statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger [RA] – An 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture of the musclebound bodybuilder-actor-politician, erected in 2012, commemorates his 1970 Mr. World title at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. The Auditorium was bulldozed in 2014; statue moved downtown.
- Statue of the Flying Housewife [RA] – Port Columbus International Airport. The statue is on the same floor as ticketing check-in, across from the Delta Airlines ticket counter. Dubbed “The Flying Housewife,” Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock did what Amelia Earhart couldn’t: she flew around the world and lived to tell about it. And she did it from Columbus, Ohio flying an 11-year old single-engine Cessna.
- Sword in the Stone [RA] – A time-rusted sword stuck in a stone sits on the front lawn of a dental office
- The Peanut Shoppe [RA] – The shoppe is filled with vintage Mr. Peanut memorabilia and artifacts including a bizarre-looking 7.5-foot-high peanut roasting machine.
- Topiary French People [RA] – Topiary Park – Old Deaf School Park
- ★ Tour a Whistle Factory [RA] – American Whistle Corp., It’s a small factory, but you don’t need a large building to make whistles. One-hour tour takes you through every step; you may even operate the sonic bonding machine.
- Unknown Boy Scout Plaque [RA] – The “Unknown Boy Scout” was an English Scout patrolling the streets of London, who anonymously helped an American visitor. The visitor was so impressed that when he returned to the USA he founded the Boy Scouts of America.
- World’s Largest Gavel [RA] – Large public sculpture adjacent to a judiciary building.
- World’s Largest Ping Pong Paddle [RA] – 11.5 feet long, the paddle hangs on a wall next to ping pong tables in a combination arcade/bar.
- Gas Station Birthplace of Rutherford B. Hayes [RA] – A granite block and bronze plaque at a gas station marked the spot where President Hayes was born. Unveiled in 1926, the same year that the birthplace home was demolished
- Olentangy Indian Caverns [RA] – Commercial cave features a formation said to resemble Ohio’s Chief Leatherlips. Opened in 1935, descends over 100 feet below ground.
- Rutherford B. Hayes Statue [RA]
- ★ Smiling Face Barn [RA] – The Smiling Face Barn is on the property of a rural sausage business operating since 1959.
- ★ Chief Leatherlips Monument [RA] – A sculpture made out of native limestone slabs, visitors can easily stand on the head of the great Wyandot Indian chief.
- ★ Dave Thomas Statue, Wendy’s Memorabilia [RA] – This isn’t the first Wendy’s restaurant, as the sign over the door might lead you to believe, but it is their flagship store, chock full of memorabilia and historic artifacts.
- ★ Field of Giant Corn Cobs [RA] – A weird field of 109 six-foot-tall tall ears of concrete corn, in a suburb of Columbus. Some call it “Cornhenge.”
- Frog Jump Monument [RA] – Dublin’s Frog Jump began in 1967. A large, green, grinning frog on a pedestal was unveiled 35 years later to commemorate the annual event.
- ★ Giant Dancing Rabbits [RA] – Large sculptures of a trio of rabbits cavort on the lawn of a hill above a fountain.
- Watch House and Circle Mound [RA] – Artist Todd Slaughter created this domed house on the edge of a 200 ft. diameter circle in 1999. The copper, bronze and stucco structure is lit by windows and cutouts in the dome in the shape of household furniture and items.
- Car Wash Art Gallery and Plant Library [RA] – An old self-serve car wash has been converted into a “plant library” and a mural gallery.
- Moosesonian – Moose Lodge Museum [RA] – Robes, helmets, pins, ribbons, swords, and the heavy brass bells used in Loyal Order of Moose lodge rituals
Galloway: Trap History Museum Animal Traps [RA] – Over 4,000 animal traps — the personal collection of Tom Parr — are packed into this small museum, including an entire room devoted to mouse traps.
Granville: Victoria Woodhull Clock [RA] – America’s only memorial to America’s first woman Presidential candidate (1872). A lot of people didn’t like her, but now she pops out of her clock every hour.
- Cowboy Statue [RA] – Columbus Auto Resale, Maybe twice life-size, sitting on a fence rail and waving his hat, neighborly-like.
- Cowboy Statue 2 [RA] – Ari’s Diner, A large friendly cowboy seated on a rail fence waves his hat in greeting.
Groveport: Statue of the Horse Whisperer [RA] – John S. Rarey (1827-66) was the world’s first “horse whisperer.” Bronze statue shows Rarey — who looks like a circus ringmaster — pleading with a vicious horse named Cruiser.
Heath: Giant Golf Ball and Tee [RA]
Hilliard: Early Television Museum [RA] – The decor is sparse, but there’s nowhere else on earth with so many ancient working TVs. “Visitors can see their friends as they would have appeared on mechanical television in 1930.”
- Fairfield County Infirmary [RA] – Appt only. Tour an abandoned, supposedly haunted, 1828 infirmary. Also on the property: the “Twisty” buses from American Horror Story: Freak Show.
- Flight of the Hawk Sculpture Park [RA] – Steel sculpture of a red-tailed hawk landing on a “nest” 40 ft. in the air.
- ★ Ohio Glass Museum [RA] – Scientific glass, automotive glass, industrial glass — as well as every type of Holy Hand glass ashtray. Bonus: glass tomahawks.
- President’s Half Acre – Stonewall Cemetery [RA] – In Stonewall Cemetery Lancaster, Ohio, the land was deeded to whoever the sitting President is. So every President since James Monroe has owned it.
- Richard Outcault Inventor of the Comic Strip [RA] – A comic-strip-style mural celebrates hometown hero Richard Outcault, who created The Yellow Kid in 1895 and Buster Brown in 1902.
New Albany: Globe in Hands Headstone [RA] – Maplewood Cemetery, The Earth. Two giant hands. An unusual tombstone. The globe looks like the battered surface of the moon — or a planet before refinement by an immense artistic being. Four or five rows west of the globe there is a headstone that looks like a chair. It is not attached to anything else and has the unusual inscription: “Accidentally Killed.” 15-20 rows south of the globe, near the main road, is a headstone with a very colorful beach scene; it looks like a giant TV screen picture. There are also two graves engraved with semi trucks, plus another with a man fishing, one shaped like a heart, and one shaped like a big “O” (obviously an Ohio State University fan).
- ★ Amelia Earhart and Happy Animals [RA] – OSU-Newark., Sit-with-me sculptures on benches include Amelia Earhart and the Wright Brothers. Meanwhile, animals hold paws/flippers and dance in a circle, with a space for you to join them.
- Flood-Repelling Totem Pole [RA] – Over 25 feet tall. Erected in 1962 to repel any floods that might threaten the town. Thus far, it’s done its job.
- Statue of America’s Youngest Soldier [RA] – In Newark, Ohio, a six-foot-tall bronze statue of Clem from his drumming days stands on a boulder, dedicated to Licking County’s war veterans. John Clem was only nine years old when he ran away from his Newark home and unofficially joined the Union Army. At first no regiment would accept him because of his age, but he eventually found a spot as a mascot of sorts. Two years later, after numerous battles, he was finally allowed to enlist. Clem fought, and killed, with a tiny gun, was wounded twice in battle, and was eventually captured by the Rebs.
- ★ World’s Largest Basket [RA] – seven-story-tall basket building.
Pickerington: Steeplechase Woman at a Bank [RA]
Powell: Columbus Zoo Sniff a Bear [RA] – At the official Sniff Port, press your nose against a perforated hole in a wall, and maybe you’ll get a good whiff of bear; the bear can sure smell you.
Whitehall: Lustron House of the Future [RA] – Lustron homes were the futurist answer to the post-World War II housing shortage. Despite its name, it does not look futurist.
Dayton Metro
Beavercreek: 9/11 Memorial – WTC Beams [RA] – 25 ft. tall twisted steel beams from the World Trade Center are the focus of this memorial, dedicated ten years after the terror attacks of 2001.
Brookville: Andy D-Day and the 2-Headed Calf [RA] – Samuel Spitler House Community Museum, In the basement of a local museum is the head of the ultimate freak bull, Andy D-Day, and his sidekick the 2-headed calf.
Centerville: Tall Stack of Books [RA] – 1996 sculpture by artist Michael Frasca, named “The Record,” is 22 ft. tall and made of 12 one-ton books made of terracotta.
- 1905 Wright Flyer III Sculpture [RA] – 2001 Sculpture by Larry Godwin of the “world’s first practical airplane,” flown by Wilbur Wright. Orville stands on the ground watching.
- ★ Big Apple Made of Flatware [RA] – Standing outside a foodbank is an eight-foot-tall apple made by artist Chad Johnson from thousands of knives, forks, and spoons.
- ★ Carousel of Inventions, Wright Bros. 1905 Airplane [RA] – Carillon Historical Park, Over-the-top historical theme park includes a carousel of rideable Dayton inventions, the Wright Bros. 1905 airplane, an entire building devoted to the city’s 1913 flood, and much more.
- Crypt of Agnes Moorehead [RA] – Dayton Memorial Park, Memorial Abbey. Eternal resting spot of Agnes Moorehead, best known as “Endora” the campy mother witch character on the TV series Bewitched.
- Kennedy’s Eternal Flame [RA] – University of Dayton, Kennedy Memorial Union. Despite its title, there is no flame at Kennedy’s Eternal Flame — although this outdoor sculpture does suggest that JFK was the Human Torch.
- Largest Collection of Cash Registers [RA] – Heritage Center of Dayton Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship, Dayton was the headquarters for the National Cash Register Company. Inside the Heritage Center of Dayton Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship in Carillon Historical Park, you will find over 250 NCR cash registers under one roof.
- Rooftop Robots [RA] – Can only be seen the southbound lane on 75. Two large robots overlooking the highway.
- Sad Dog and Other Graves [RA] – Woodland Cemetery, Johnny Morehouse’s faithful dog refused to leave his grave until he died, too. Their tombstone features them both. Johnny Morehouse, 5 years old, fell into the canal while playing. His dog pulled him out, but too late! Johnny had drowned. The grieving dog is said to have taken up station at the grave, “morning, noon, and night.”
- ★ SunWatch Indian Village Dog Skeletons [RA] – 800-year-old Indian village, built as a giant sun calendar. See the skeletons of sacrificed dogs that were buried in a ceremonial house. SunWatch Indian Village/Archaeological Park is reconstructed on the archaeological site of an 800 year old village. You can go inside the Indian houses, watch a video, and see displays in the museum.
- ★ Tree Tower [RA] – Cox Arboretum MetroPark, The stairway up the Tree Tower winds around three 45-foot-tall Douglas Fir trunks to a covered observation deck, offering a treetop view of the Ruth Cummings Mead Woodland.
- Wright Brothers Flyover [RA] – Stainless steel sculpture abstractly represents the Wright Brothers’ plane arching in its first powered flight. Sometimes mistaken for a dino skeleton. “Flyover” was created in 1996 by David Evans Black.
- Foy’s Halloween Stores [RA] – Cluster of Halloween stores ramp up each October for the costume and prop-hungry public
- ★ Secret Chamber Store of Freaks [RA] – Secret Chamber House of Oddities and Artwork, A store with strange taxidermy, dragon skeletons, a two-headed calf, a Feejee Mermaid, teeth in bottles.
Kettering: Frankenstein’s Tower [RA] – Medieval-style hilltop tower built in the 1940s and permanently sealed since 1967. Haunted by a ghost, of course.
- Indian with Dripping Hand [RA] – A low-flow fountain of a bronze Indian kneeling at the (imagined) Miami River. Water drips from his fingers when it isn’t winter.
- ★ Miamisburg Burial Mound [RA] – 65 ft. tall prehistoric Indian burial mound is a state park, with stairs to the top for a scenic view.
- Ride in a 1910 Airplane [RA] – Wright B Flyer, A near-exact replica of the Wright Bros 1910 airplane, built to modern standards.
- First Bar Code Ever Scanned [RA] – Needlers Fresh Market, A 67-cent pack of gum was UPC bar code-scanned in Marsh supermarket in June 1974. A framed mayoral proclamation, near the checkout, commemorates the event.
- Mayor Pete Welcomes You [RA] – Bronze life-size statue of “Mayor Pete” Jenkins, who ran Troy from 1992 to 2003, one had raised in a friendly hello. The plaque on the statue base reads, “Be kind.” Unveiled July 2021.
- Outdoor Musical Contraption [RA] – There is a musical pagoda in Troy. It has xylophones, cymbals, and a large bell. It is a very interesting looking structure.
- Unity of Man – Eyeball Fountain [RA] – Hobart Institute of Welding Technology, An assortment of abstract metal sculpture can be found near the Hobart Bros. welding school, but a stack of metal orbs in a fountain reminds at least one person of weeping cartoonish eyeballs.
- Frankenstein’s Monster [RA] – A home-built horror beside a rural road, maybe 15 feet tall, with claw-like fingers, a flat-top haircut, and asymmetrical eyeballs.
- Large Adirondack Chair [RA] – Downsize yourself by climbing into the seat of 12-foot-tall yellow outdoor Adirondack chair, the effect only partially ruined by the furniture store logo.
- National Museum of the United States Air Force [RA] – The coolest jets, the biggest bombs, Ham the Astrochimp’s underwear, and the leather bomber jacket of Jackie Coogan (TV’s Uncle Fester).
- Kennedy Assassination Air Force One [RA] – National Museum of the United States Air Force, You can walk inside JFK’s Air Force One (a Boeing VC-137C SAM 26000) — reconfigured to a single narrow aisle between plexiglass walls — and stand on the exact spot where LBJ stood as he was sworn in, and see where Jackie sat next to JFK’s casket on the flight back from Dallas.
Toledo Metro Area
East Toledo: Greetings from Toledo Mural [RA] – An outdoor mural that resembles a colorful old-style postcard. Stand in front of it and let everyone know that you were in Toledo.
Millbury: Truckers Chapel [RA] – This spiritual respite from the highway is a converted trailer that sits behind a gas station convenience store, a truck trailer with doors, three outdoor crosses, and “Truckers Chapel” on its side.
Rossford: Robert Wadlow’s Shoe [RA] – Rossford Public Library, A wayward size 37AA shoe left behind by the world’s tallest man, Robert Wadlow, displayed for years in a now closed department store, is an important artifact at the town library.
- Bridge Lit with LED Rainbow [RA] – Toledo Skyway Bridge is an 8,800 ft. long cable-stayed bridge with a 196 ft. tall main pylon LED display that lights up in any combination of colors, including a rainbow-like spectrum, patriotic, etc.
- Decommissioned Army Rocket [RA] – Next to the University of Toledo football stadium stands an old Nike-Ajax missile theoretically targeted in to knock out the Toledo Rocket’s chief rival.
- MLK Heads on a Chrome Orb [RA] – Four different MLK heads protrude from a mirrored sphere. Titled “Radiance,” created by Constancia Gafeney and Wil Clay in 1989. One of the more unusual (and criticized) tributes to Martin Luther King, Jr., and it’s in a spot that’s not easy to get to.
- Toledo Police Museum Old Sparky [RA] – The Police Museum takes care to honor the 30 policemen and one dog killed in the line of duty . The exploits of colorfully nicknamed Toledo criminals are chronicled in the museum,.
- Tony Packo’s Cafe – Hot Dog Bun Museum [RA] – Actually a restaurant where the walls are covered with more than 1,500 fake hot dog buns signed by famous people.
- ★ Tour Former World’s Largest Freighter [RA] – National Museum of the Great Lakes, The 617-foot-long Col. James M. Schoonmaker was once the largest freighter in the world. Visitors can roam all over the ship, or just marvel at its size from a park-like viewing area. self-guided walking tour.
Youngstown Metro Area
Leavittsburg: Center of the World [RA] – a tiny crossroads town with an official green highway sign and not much else.
- 20-Foot-Tall Steelworker Made of Junk [RA] – Niles Iron and Metal, Built in 1993 by Sidney Rackoff, who used metal scraps he found in the junkyard where the statue stands.
- Fake Birthplace Home of William McKinley [RA] – a replica McKinley Birthplace was built on the site
- McKinley Memorial Statue and Museum [RA] – The temple-like memorial features an open colonnade with a 12-foot-tall, 35-ton marble statue of McKinley
- David Grohl Alley, World’s Largest Drumsticks [RA] – David Grohl, founder of the Foo Fighters and former drummer of Nirvana, was born in Warren. The town named an alley for him, turned it into an outdoor David Grohl gallery, and later added the World’s Largest Drumsticks.
- ★ Giant Chair of 9/11 [RA] – This is an iimpressive wooden chair, maybe 20 feet tall.
- Neil Armstrong’s First Flight [RA] – The spot where the first man on the moon took his first airplane ride as a five-year-old. Now marked with a replica Apollo Lunar Lander and fake moon prints in cement!
Youngstown
- Cinderella Bridge [RA] – 1895 suspension bridge in a wooded park was deliberately designed to look like something out of a fairy tale. You can still drive across it.
- Urban Assault Vehicle Slingshot Pinto [RA] – Rumble-ready, camouflage-painted Ford Pinto equipped with a big slingshot bolted to the roof.