Places dmjournalist Wants to Go

This two-room shotgun shack in Tupelo is the birthplace of a King.

This grave marks the final resting place of pioneer John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed.

The humble gravesite of the man who failed to cash in on his Pepsi-cola goldmine.

These banned cigarette vending machines now sell little pieces of pocket-sized art.

This metal disk commemorates the birth of a historic American holiday.

A monument to the “unrecognized dead” of the tragic 1876 train crash.

One of Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest—and favorite—architectural masterpieces was almost lost.

A quirky collection of outsider art made from automobile parts.

Visit Morris, the Horse, the symbol of the small town of Tryon since 1928!

An elephant is carved onto the gravestone of a man who was crushed by one.

Chef Ashleigh Shanti serves up a classic Appalachian fish fry.

This family-run joint has been going whole hog for nearly 100 years.

Sculptor Vadim Bora's bronze felines pay playful homage to architectural features no longer extant along Asheville's Wall Street.

Visit the secret grave of a legendary privateer who faked his own death.

This hollow steel globe is the second-largest in the world.

The North Carolina grounds are leased in perpetuity to the British Commonwealth for as long as the WWII sailors are buried there.

This sweet Southern elixir comes from what may be the oldest grape vine in North America.

Carrying on the legacy of a short-lived experimental school tucked away in the mountains of North Carolina.

Down the road from where the Wright brothers lifted off is another flight tribute practically hidden from sight in the woods.

The only pachinko parlor in the United States.

This giant iron playfully pays tribute to an early 20th-century architectural trend.

Don't be surprised if you see a long-necked dinosaur peeking out from among the trees in Northgate Park.

Practice your Dirty Dancing lifts in the manmade lake where Johnny Castle himself did.

Andy Griffith's hometown has made itself up to look like the fictional town of Mayberry.