Places behindthegossip Wants to Go

A folk art mecca famous among outsider art fans.

A 17th-century bezoar, dirt from an infamous site, and other curios decorate this unusual bar.

The scant remains of this flooded historic village can be explored in one of the most remote areas of the Great Smokies.

Trace the history of writing at this unusual North Carolina destination.

This research center for rare prosimians is studying how they sleep to help prolong human life.

Art museum based around the collections accumulated over 58 years by one eccentric thrift store owner.

A retired tobacco farmer's pet project turned into a sturdy miniature city.

Garden dedicated to native carnivorous plants and site of huge flytrap heist.

The remains of the iconic train crash from the movie 'The Fugitive' can still be found rusting along the Great Smoky Railroad.

This bright yellow relic is the final survivor of a short burst of seashell-shaped petrol pumps.

A former Oz-themed attraction that has fallen into disrepair, but still holds some of the original magic.

A curious collection of oddities including a lock of Alexander Hamilton's hair and Harry Houdini's ouija board.

Bigfoot prints, Feejee mermaids, and haunted dolls on display in a tiny North Carolina town.

The oldest liquor store in the country is a model of resilience and mischief.

Where school buses go to die and be reborn as whimsical works of art.

A wonderland of folk art including the World’s Largest Grit. 

A historic gristmill that still produces flour and grits the old-fashioned way.

A pink and gray pair of pachyderms advertise a fireworks shop.

The imprints of astronaut Charles Duke’s moon boots live on at Myrtle Beach’s official South Carolina Hall of Fame.

Take a stroll through this centuries-old tunnel of enormous moss-hung evergreens, nestled among the grounds of America’s first public sculpture garden.

This small museum dedicated to the painful memory of segregation is essentially a time capsule.

One of few remaining marionette theatres in the United States that still conducts regular shows.

A unique museum dedicated to the Gullah-Geechee people, housed within an old oyster cannery.

"X" marks the spot of an echo chamber in the middle of a plaza.