Places Edited by Rachel James

A surrealist timepiece by the artist of melting clocks.

A grand New York post office that is home to mailman Santas, scraps of postal history, and a pneumatic mail system.

A tree full of wishes and footwear.

An extraordinary natural landscape of mountains, waterfalls, and rocky cliffs riddled with tunnels.

This lavish estate recalls the opulent history of Calcutta.

This simple apartment may have inspired some of the most important theories in the history of science.

Nondescript elevator doors open to reveal a stunning, surreal world.

The US Navy's only submarine museum is also home to the world's first nuclear submarine.

Peru's (not so) mysterious carved stones.

This historic railway museum may have lost its passengers but not its love for trains.

A small, but award-winning beach known for its literally spotless reputation.

Where religious effigies, magic soaps, and occult candles are brought to customers at wholesale prices.

Julia Morgan's Moorish-Gothic labyrinth of fountains, trees, natural light and Oakland's notable dead.

The final resting place to 300 Victorian-era pets hides inside the city park.

Giant busts of 42 U.S. presidents sit, crumbling in a field in Virginia.

The first archaeological site discovered by aerial photography.

Read between the lines of the subway map to find the hidden abandoned Civil War fort.

Even France's favorite aquatic son Jacques Cousteau, couldn't get to the bottom of it.

A gallery specifically dedicated to the botanical illustrations of a remarkable traveling lady.

A lonely house representing railroad history tells the stories of those who rode the rails.

A museum designed by and dedicated to P.T. Barnum in the town where he is buried.

Former farm staffed by mental patients is now a public park.

This Arabesque Italian castle was built with a primitive, if ingenious, air-conditioning system.

This inanimate goat created by the "welding nun" has been helping to clean up the city of Spokane for more than 40 years.