Hidden in a hotel parking lot is a strange historical plaque erected by an obscure fraternal society.

A grave dedicated to the pioneers who settled California.

"You don't need a rocket scientist to build a steam engine, but we've got one." -Museum docent on the credentials of a restoration volunteer.

This fully intact Neoclassical-Greek Revival style firehouse operated until 1938.

Once the largest town in eastern Yuba County now sits abandoned.

This settlement on the original Transcontinental Railroad began by harvesting timber, but transitioned to a forgotten 19th-century industry: harvesting ice.

Bits and pieces from the ill-fated Donner Party's winter cabins.

A statue commemorating the heroic life of a Viking postman who was the Godfather of California skiing.

The now-abandoned tunnels were built for the transcontinental railroad on the route where the first wagon train entered California.

An optical illusion found amid a logged redwood forest.

A crumbling wizard is one of the final reminders of a roadside Middle Earth.

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

This little museum has an exhibit devoted to the elusive forest denizens.

This 19th-century museum inside of a lighthouse is only accessible during low tide.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."

This futuristic airport terminal was abandoned for decades before reopening as a hotel—with a vintage plane of its own parked out back.

Commemorating the spot where the famous scientist fed his pigeons.

The 28-foot granite map plots the locations of 40 theaters in New York City.

Blighted Irish field and the ruins of a 19th-century cottage on the edge of urban Manhattan.

The remains of a 19th century spring, and the site of an infamous unsolved murder.

A dilapidated dock tells the story of Titanic’s missed arrival.

Avoid gangster interaction while window-shopping.

During the 19th century, you could pay for violence off a prix fixe menu on this Manhattan street.

On the Hudson resides one of the largest clocks in the world.