Designed by Alfred Caldwel, this landscape showcases his vision of a native garden.

A mini Wrigley Field for mini baseball players.

This lush 12-acre site was once named the finest Japanese garden in North America.

This national park dedicated to the tallgrass prairie ecosystem still displays its military past.

This historic Illinois "Muffler Man" has been converted from axe-touting lumberjack to rocket-wielding space ace.

It was originally part of a "terrible lizards" collection at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

A 400-foot-tall tall map of Chicago makes this once-ignored building stand out.

The world's third-largest scale model of the planets.

This tiny historic jail along Route 66 is the perfect fit for exactly one criminal and their partner-in-crime.

The hometown of Popeye's creator is littered with a growing collection of granite cartoon characters.

A historic and oft-filmed prison stands in a Chicago suburb.

This memorial plaque remembers a strangely shallow maritime disaster known as "Chicago's Titanic."

Illegal drag racing two stories beneath Chicago’s streets.

A sprawling outdoor museum filled with larger-than-life works of art.

Arguably the best example of an authentic Dutch windmill in the United States, rivaling its counterparts in the Netherlands.

This awkward aquarium sculpture is one of the strangest statues in Chicago.

A small abandoned and abused cemetery that has become a magnet for ghost hunters.

You have to love a museum with a truly dedicated focus. A focus on Superman, for example.

In the Shawnee National Forest, amazing rock formations peer through the treeline.

Oversized statues are just the tip of this nostalgic Americana roadside attraction.

Even with only two residents and one building, this tiny Illinois town is famous for its burgers.

The mysterious white squirrels of this Illinois city are treated like sacred cows.

The final resting place of the world's first nuclear reactor.

What was once the second largest steel mill in the US is now a sprawling complex of modern ruins.