Interesting Road Side Attractions

Road side attractions/distractions should need no introduction. Ever since America has had a love affair with the open road, these often strange and larger than life sites have been an odd yet endearing part of experiencing the country. Most people just pass by them while driving through interstates, while simply dismissing road signs suggesting attractions like, “See The World’s Longest Growing Toe Nail at the NextExit” with a chuckle or even a sneer. Nevertheless, they have been around for so long that a lot of people fail to consider how the highways would be quite a boring stretch without them.

While some may not be worth a simple photo opportunity, there are those rare gems scattered throughout the country that you would wish you’d taken the time to sneak a peek or even marvel at, or even worth flying to then taking a car.

Carhenge: Alliance, NE
If you don’t have enough money to fly to England to see those enigmatic piles of boulders, then it’s best to just drive to New England instead. Sure these old cars haven’t been around for thousands of years, and their purpose is pretty much clear-cut towards luring in motorists, but at least it holds a resemblance to the real thing in one way or another.

Paper House: Pigeon Cove, MA
Back in 1922 a Swedish immigrant named Ellis Stenman decided that wood, or any common material wasn’t quite up to his standards when it came to building a house. Instead he looked to old newspapers, and thus became one of the unknowing founders of recycling. The house is a two room cottage and is made entirely of newspapers (100,000 to be exact), and so are all the furniture inside. Stenman even used his own homemade glue, made from water and apple peels, to piece together this masterpiece.

Lucy the Elephant: Margate City, NJ
James Lafferty was so good at zoomorphic architecture that the U.S. government gave him a patent which granted him exclusive rights to make buildings with animal shapes for seventeen years. The behemoth he is mostly known for is a six story elephant named Lucy. Made from almost a million pieces of wood, she is 60 feet long and 18 feet wide, making her the largest elephant in the world and a National Historic Landmark.

Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast: Fall River, MA
For those brave souls looking for a bit of the macabre, a rather homely house with a troubled past should be worth looking into. The year was 1892, and during a doomed August evening a couple by the name of Andrew and Abby Borden would never have suspected their own daughter Lizzie to cleave their skulls with a hatchet and leave them dead for the neighbors to find. As the story goes, 32 year old Lizzie was later tried but acquitted, leaving her to haunt Fall River, maybe even in the afterlife.

Christ of the Ozarks: Eureka Springs, AK
Looking for a good spot to take your Bible study group for a field trip? If you happen to pass by Arkansas, then you guys should definitely pay homage to the one of the biggest representations of the Lord and Savior, maybe even say a little prayer or two. There’s nothing more serene than seeing a towering statue of the son of the Almighty spreading his arms and giving the world a big hug.