Places Exploration Appalachian Wants to Go

A 120-year-old legend concerning an empty circular patch in the North Carolina woods.

Who needs fancy modern water slides when this giant North Carolina rock works just as well?

This road in the Great Smoky Mountains was supposed to assuage a displaced community, but ended up a $52 million dead end.

A sculptor's dream castle turned fantastical ruin.

An abandoned village that doubled as "The Hunger Games"' post-apocalyptic wasteland is up for grabs.

Mysterious ancient boulder carved with petroglyphs in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

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

The tragic reality of a village riddled with rumors of haunts, chemical spills, and serial killers.

At the center of this cemetery stands a 2,000-year-old burial mound of the Adena culture.

Rows of 19th-century brick ovens used to process coal into coke form the center of a wooded park.

One of the last few period-correct, hand-operated canal locks in the country.

The overgrown remains of an old rail bridge rise above the valley like ancient Greek ruins.

A gregarious Ohio resident has been building his whimsical temple to peace for decades.

This abandoned bridge to nowhere stands secluded in the woods of a Cleveland suburb.

The ruins of the suspension bridge hang over Kingsbury Run as a ghost of racial prejudice.

Landmark dedicated to the plight of the American Indian in the 21st century.

These beautiful wineries were at the center of Lake Erie's "grape belt" back when the Midwest dominated American wine production.

The only presidential monument to display a late POTUS's actual casket.

Faces carved into the cliffs create an otherworldly walking trail.

Ghost stories surrounded this “castle,” the only structure from a huge mansion that was never built.

The largest ancient burial mound in Ohio.

Small, privately owned island divided between Michigan and Ohio with abandoned vacation homes and a derelict lighthouse.

This lovely university observatory continues to sit abandoned since its potential savior was sent to jail for fraud.

This pair of eccentric Ohio castles were built by a pair of brothers who wanted to bring a bit of class to the Ohio wilderness.