Tips, leads, stories from travelers, plus Roadsideamerica.com Team reports on quirky museums, ironic monuments, and must-see oddities! Trip planning caution: Some tips may not be verified. Over time, attractions change, move, burn down. What's a vacation without a little risk? Submit your own tip.
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Bridgeport, Connecticut - Barnum Museum - Merman Replica I wanted to let you know that the Barnum Museum does NOT have the original Feejee mermaid. The mermaid on display there is an artist's reconstruction of a Feejee mermaid. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the museum so I couldn't take any, but I think I wrote down what the plaque on the case said. [Chuckman, 01/24/1998][RA: The Fejee mermaid replica was created by artist Stanton Kip Miller for an HBO TV special on P.T. Barnum, based on original drawings and written descriptions. Here's a photo... and the museum also has a real Egyptian mummy and a preserved elephant!]Barnum Museum - Merman Replica:
Address: 820 Main St., Bridgeport, CT [Show Map]
Directions: Exit 27 off I-95. Take Lafayette Blvd. Right onto State St. then right onto Main St. From I-95 heading South: Take Exit 27 (Lafayette Boulevard) turn right at the end of the ramp. At the 3rd stop light, turn right onto State Street. Continue to 2nd light (Main Street), turn right on to Main. Museum is one block down on the left.
Phone: 203-331-1104
Bridgeport, Connecticut - Vatican Gardens Knockoff I used to live a few blocks away. St.
Margaret's is a mixture of statues, gardens, ponds, and streams and can be beautiful although slightly creepy.
Mass is still held at the tiny Catholic Church on site. There was a tiny nativity building that burned down --
every Christmas season the Nativity play was performed.There are old stairways that lead to nowhere and some pathways are
treacherous. Some buildings are locked or boarded up but look interesting and creepy. People light Novena
candles still. Every summer the Italian American community holds the gigantic Feast of St. Anthony there. The
most mysterious building is a large one with a plaza built on top. Some say there is a priest buried under
there in the locked doors. [Tim Foley, 02/09/2002][RA: Update - photo added June 2004.]Vatican Gardens Knockoff:
Address: 2539 Park Ave., Bridgeport, CT [Show Map]
Directions: St. Margaret's Shrine. Merrit Parkway - Exit 47 - left on Park Ave., go 3 miles south, church on your right. Or just two blocks north of Capitol Avenue on the left.- Bridgeport, Connecticut - Vatican Gardens Knockoff St. Margaret's Shrine - Bridgeport's own version of the Vatican gardens...built in the 1940's as a peace monument, the Shrine contains copies of statues in grottos containing mosaics, and replicas of famous pieces like Michaelangelos' Pieta. Actually it is kitschy and beautiful at the same time! [Mary Witkowski, 09/23/2000]Vatican Gardens Knockoff:
Address: 2539 Park Ave., Bridgeport, CT [Show Map]
Directions: St. Margaret's Shrine. Merrit Parkway - Exit 47 - left on Park Ave., go 3 miles south, church on your right. Or just two blocks north of Capitol Avenue on the left. - Bridgeport, Connecticut - Tom Thumb Grave
Where they buried the little fellow. Roadsideamerica.com Report...
Tom Thumb Grave:
Address: 2675 North Avenue, Bridgeport, CT [Show Map]
Directions: I-95 Exit 25, take Rt 1 north, corner of North Avenue and Dewey St. Mountain Grove Cemetery on the left. - Bridgeport, Connecticut - Barnum's Baby Elephant On display at the Barnum Museum can be seen the mounted hide of the famous baby elephant "Bridgeport." On February 2,1882 at the winter quarters of the Barnum, Bailey, and Hutchison Circus in Bridgeport, the elephant Queen -- one of of Barnum's 22 elephants -- had only the second recorded elephant birth in America. It was a famous event -- over 60 scientists from around the world came to witness it. P.T Barnum arrived by sleigh 20 minutes after the birth to see for himself the baby elephant reportly no bigger then a Newfoundland dog. Bridgeport died April 12,1886, at the very spot he was born. Like Jumbo, Barnum had Bridgeport's hide mounted, where it can be viewed today at the museum. [Kenton Cornish, 08/01/2004][RA: Another one for the Elephant Burial Ground.]Barnum's Baby Elephant:
Address: Bridgeport, CT
Directions: Barnum Museum, 820 Main St.
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