This blog post was updated on September 6, 2018.
The great American road trip usually features the zaniest of roadside of attractions. In America’s South, especially, the attractions only seem to get more and more wacky with each passing state.
Whether you’re cashing in on cheap flights to Georgia or just passing through Tennessee on a 1,000 mile road trip, don’t miss some of these colossal and unique attractions.
World’s Tallest Chest of Drawers, High Point, North Carolina: With socks dangling from an open drawer, measuring 6 feet long, High Point, North Carolina is home to the debatable “World’s Tallest Chest of Drawers.” Measuring 38 feet tall, this wacky and whopping attraction stands appropriately in the Home-Furnishing Capital of the World.
For the best shot of pretending to reach for the 6 feet long socks, position on the other side of the street. The large piece of furniture is actually used as a façade of a building.
Unclaimed Baggage Center, Scottsboro, Alabama: If you have ever wondered where your lost suitcase or that iPod you left in the seat pocket in front of you went to die, head to the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. Not only is it a colossal store, but it also boasts of being where the majority of unclaimed bags in the US end up for sale along with their contents.
The Parthenon, Nashville, Tennessee: Made to look just like the 438 B.C Parthenon in Athens, Nashville’s version might be younger, but nonetheless wiser. Right in the midst of the clamor of country music heaven, the Parthenon stands in Centennial Park. It was built originally for the state’s 1897 Centennial Exposition. Lit up at night, just for a mere moment, you might have to do a double take. You’re certainly not in Kansas anymore and not Ancient Greece either.
The Mickey Coffee Pot, Winston-Salem, North Carolina: In the Old Salem section of Winston-Salem, coffee fiends will find a site usually only seen in dream-like states when the alarm goes off each morning. The Mickey Coffee Pot measure 12 feet tall, perched just at the end of Old Salem. Constructed by Samuel and Julius Mickey, the coffee pot was placed in front of their tin shop in hopes of luring in lovers of oversized attractions and probably coffee too. Now that’s a cup of coffee.
World’s Largest Spinach Can, Alma, Arkansas: When you are the “Spinach Capital of the World”, you certainly have your work cut out for you in terms of attracting non-spinach fans. You might hate the stuff, but a trip to Alma, Arkansas will give you the accolade of seeing the World’s Largest Spinach Can, really a water tower depicting a giant can of Popeye’s Spinach. If you get hungry just looking at the World’s Largest Spinach Can, try to stick around for the Spinach Festival held each year.
What are your favorite weird, wacky, and whopping attractions in the US?
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CC Flickr photo credit: Winston Hearn
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