Places valadelrio Wants to Go

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

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

A piece of outsider public art accompanied by a strange urban legend.

Garden dedicated to native carnivorous plants and site of huge flytrap heist.

A curious collection of oddities including a lock of Alexander Hamilton's hair and Harry Houdini's ouija board.

The enormous 250-room Vanderbilt mansion conceals hidden doors and secret passageways.

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

Gnarled canopies of pink and purple wildflowers arch over the trail to the summit.

This bridge is haunted by the ghost of a distraught mother.

A sculptor's dream castle turned fantastical ruin.

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

These eerie outliers of the lightning bug family glow a mysterious blue color.

The house where Robert E. Lee planned the Battle of Antietam is said to be haunted by the ghost of a Civil War soldier.

A small cave with a larger-than-life legend.

Every Friday night, Appalachian string-bands turn this country store and soda fountain into a raucous jamboree.

Zipline through the deepest canyon in the eastern United States.

This restaurant is devoted to celebrating Appalachia's cuisine.

The last vestige of a once substantial orchard and farm in the suburbs of Northern Virginia.

This environmental engineering marvel keeps salt water from the Elizabeth River.

The local community brought back this land to transform it into a nature preserve.

The branches of this sprawling cedar tree are laden with wishes big and small.

This "castle" is actually a limestone and quartz formation hidden along a trail.

Erosion has transformed this sandstone boulder into a massive dune-filled cavern.

The grave of a champion Thoroughbred hides within the former presidential estate.