One of the last remaining French Colonial style churches, this centuries-old building was constructed using upright logs and no nails.

Fragments of a massive unfinished sculpture sit near the main quad of the University of Illinois.

This small-town opera house has appeared much more in national culture and history than its charming setting might suggest.

A historic 1929 art-house cinema that features independent, classic, cult, and foreign films in an atmospheric setting.

How did a 2,000-year-old Roman column find its way to a Chicago park?

A taxidermy “mermaid,” vampire-killing kits, and hundreds of other bizarre objects are housed at this quirky museum.

This abstract sculpture is rumored to cast a hammer-and-sickle shadow once a year.

These chunky stone towers out in Lake Michigan are the key to Chicago’s drinking water.

A spectacular remnant of an Adler and Sullivan masterpiece that was destroyed in 1972.

A goddess-topped water fountain in Chicago was created thanks to the dreams of a thirsty newsboy.

A hot dog stand where the heads are just as hot as the dogs.

Behind a modern brick exterior lies the oldest continuously-operating lunch-car diner in the United States.

This 200-year-old cabin was the home of some of the first Wisconsin “badgers” and the site of the broken promises that led to their arrival.

Do you think your job stinks? Welcome to the only Limburger cheese plant in America.

This was once the largest four-sided clock in the world (yes, even bigger than Big Ben).

One of the oldest and tallest lighthouses still in service on Lake Michigan.

Explore a real 19th-century lead and zinc mine at this immersive series of exhibits.

The building was originally a gas station built to resemble a Japanese tea house.

The Bong-area park police have asked visitors to please, stop stealing the signs.

One of the last surviving C-97s sits in a field in front of a Wisconsin inn.

The birthplace of a titan of American cinema.

A bypass decorated with large wooden troll carvings.

A former barn converted into a massive train diorama.

Giant six-pack could provide one person a six-pack a day for 3,351 years.