Places ashleymlawrence Wants to Go

Built in 1869, this now-retired structure looks more like a medieval fortress than a county lock-up.

The world's largest covered wagon is piloted by a giant Lincoln lawyer.

The famous Beatle secretly visited this Illinois town several times to visit his sister.

At the largest railway museum in the United States, you can see everything from an early steam engine to a functioning Thomas the Tank Engine.

A taxidermy “mermaid,” vampire-killing kits, and hundreds of other bizarre objects are housed at this quirky museum.

Known as the "Cross At The Crossroads," this massive metal cross is just short enough to avoid the FAA.

An exhibit of items from the mental institution where Mary Todd Lincoln lived after her son conspired to have her committed.

Though it's thrived abroad, this forgotten Dunkin' rival has just one store left in the States.

The original vault that held the president's remains still stands, empty, not far from where he was finally buried.

Where a brain, a beauty, a jock, a rebel, and a recluse met one Saturday and changed their lives forever.

A collection of 11 million buttons illustrates the human toll of the Holocaust.

The original Garfield station is the oldest station facility on the "L", with the station house dating from 1892.

This historic lavatory leftover features two levels of defecation stations completely without context.

A spectacular remnant of an Adler and Sullivan masterpiece that was destroyed in 1972.

The clothes-washing king doubles as a community center with some unusual features, including an aviary filled with finches.

This lagomorph-obsessed Route 66 emporium is home to a giant jackrabbit that sits in a bunny graveyard.

The famous author's birthplace is preserved in a town that he once described as narrow-minded.

The hometown of Popeye's creator is littered with a growing collection of granite cartoon characters.

This life-size bronze statue remembers the tallest recorded human in his Illinois hometown.

This deceivingly ordinary warehouse hides an enormous collection of pop culture treasures.

While he no longer has an eatery to give him context, this off-brand Paul Bunyan still holds his giant hot dog with pride.

A journey begins with a single step, and for many, the road-trip of a lifetime started at this Chicago intersection.

This urban drawbridge gained eternal pop culture fame when the Blues Brothers jumped it while it was raised.

The legacy of an unsolved, gruesome murder rests beneath the spans of this historic bridge.