Places defriesen Wants to Go

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

This bridge was constructed from the remains of the first Ferris wheel.

With over 5,000 champions, the Hall of Fame continues to draw amateur eaters.

The museum moved on, but the diorama remain.

Michigan’s most famous shoe tree.

A collection of more than 10,000 racist objects that teaches the atrocities of social injustice and intolerance in American history.

The oldest purpose-built cinema still in operation also houses a museum of movie memorabilia.

The only remaining Cold War–era Minuteman II missile control center in Missouri.

Abraham Lincoln's likeness rests at the top of this giant totem pole.

The site of a 19th century "dream city" that almost rivaled Chicago before being swallowed by the Indiana sand dunes.

When you visit his grave, be sure to rub the Great Emancipator's nose for good luck.

This historic cliffside mansion uses a natural cave for air conditioning.

An enormous roadside pan tells the story of a battle for pie glory.

Former self-sufficient mental institution now a planned community.

A subterranean world of tunnels links several buildings of this rare 19th-century asylum.

Today this bizarre rooftop phone booth seems like a piece of kitsch but it was once used to spot disastrous storms.

A cannon designed to fire an atomic warhead.

This little barrel-shaped cottage by Lake Superior was once a cartoonist's summer retreat.

It's big, it's a ball, and it's made of twine—the world's largest of its kind.

What's left of the ruins of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, or World's Fair, also known as the White City.

What do a giraffe, an elephant, and reasonably priced steaks have in common? This roadside restaurant filled with exotic taxidermy.

The quirky collection includes treasures like Elvis' underwear, Bob Barker's toothbrush, and hundreds of sock monkeys.

A hollow cement depiction of time's inexorable effect on the human body.

An actual 1957 Cadillac De Ville, encased in 15 cubic yards of concrete.