North Carolina
Find North Carolina travel tips, stories, maps, videos and news for unusual tourist attractions and sights.
Top Rated Attractions
Belhaven Memorial Museum
Belhaven, North Carolina
The collection of Mrs. Eva Blount Way: junk, freaks in jars, and fleas in formal dress.
World's Largest Chest of Drawers
High Point, North Carolina
Town landmark first built in 1926, now 38 feet tall, accessorized with two giant socks hanging from one drawer.
Wheels Through Time
Maggie Valley, North Carolina
Puttering parade of motorcycle history as seen through the unusual collection of Dale Walksler.
Andy Griffith Museum
Mount Airy, North Carolina
See Andy's sheriff shirt and badge, Goober's beanie (bronzed) -- and a lot of Andy Griffith relics that have nothing to do with Mayberry. He was a Hollywood actor, not a small town sheriff.
World's Largest Ten Commandments
Murphy, North Carolina
In the Fields Of The Wood, which features Christian attractions built for a God's-eye view.
World's Largest Duncan Phyfe Chair
Thomasville, North Carolina
Stylish 30-ft. tall Duncan Phyfe is a landmark for a furniture-proud town.
Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park
Wilson, North Carolina
Public park features 30 giant restored whirligigs, folk art of the late Vollis Simpson, who built them in nearby Lucama. Some are 60 feet high.
Marvin Johnson's Gourd Collection
Angier, North Carolina
Personal collection of all things gourd by the world's greatest gourd-lover. On display in town since his death.
The Bostic Lincoln
Bostic, North Carolina
Was Abraham Lincoln really the illegitimate child of a North Carolina servant girl? This attraction says, "Yes!"
Billy Graham Library: Talking Robot Cow
Charlotte, North Carolina
Airlock doors and omnipresent guides offer opportunities to be saved. Also: a talking robot cow and a $5 check from Richard Nixon.
Pose with Indians - and Bill the Buffalo
Cherokee, North Carolina
Wouldn't it be great if you could dress up, stand beside the road, and have people pay you to stop to take your picture? The Indians of Cherokee have been doing it for decades.
Cherokee: Tourists and Indians
Cherokee, North Carolina
Pose for snapshots with real Indians and enjoy other vintage thrills in the time-warp town of Cherokee.
Ruby City Museum
Franklin, North Carolina
Exhibits include the World's Largest Sapphire (385 pounds), plus human skulls and a shrunken head from somewhere.
Giant Legs of Ricky Pearce
Henderson, North Carolina
Ladies' legs, 40 feet long, spread suggestively. Made of concrete. You get up close by walking under an arch titled "Reminiscing."
World's Largest Highboy
Jamestown, North Carolina
85 feet tall, built in 1998 by the same man who rebuilt High Point's giant chest of drawers. Makes us want to buy furniture.
Goon with a Top Hat
Kenly, North Carolina
Small mutant statue, identified as an orphaned Tastee Freez elf, that ended up nude and on the roof of an auto repair shop. Beloved icon now sports a body paint tuxedo.
Trunkations
Roadside America's blog, offering news, rants and ruminations on the state of North Carolina
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Offbeat Landmarks and Oddities
Choice field reports and tips. Or check out: Complete list of North Carolina attractions.
- Angier: Marvin Johnson's Gourd Collection
- Angier: Backyard School Bell Collection [tips]
- Asheville: Chief Willy: Golden Muffler Man [tips]
- Asheville: Biltmore: World's Largest House [tips]
- Asheville: Metal Man Riding a Pig-Dog [tips]
- Bailey: Country Doctor Museum [tips]
- Beaufort: Statue of Blackbeard the Pirate [tips]
- Beech Mountain: Land of Oz [tips]
- Belhaven: Belhaven Memorial Museum
- Blowing Rock: Mystery Hill [tips]
- Blowing Rock: Tweetsie Railroad [tips]
- Bolton: Uniroyal Gals at Grahamland [tips]
- Bostic: The Bostic Lincoln
- Brevard: ATOM: Aluminum Tree and Ornament Museum [tips]
- Brevard: White Squirrel Festival
- Bryson City: Warrior Motel: Big Indian Sign
- Bryson City: Clingmans Dome
- Bunnlevel: Hattadare Indian Nation
- Burlington: Auto Parts Sculpture [tips]
- Buxton: America's Tallest Lighthouse - Climb It [tips]
- Charlotte: Hilton Sisters Siamese Twins Grave [tips]
- Charlotte: Billy Graham Library: Talking Robot Cow
- Charlotte: Metalmorphosis: Giant Head [tips]
- Charlotte: Old Man Traffic: Hugh McManaway
- Cherokee: Santa's Land Theme Park [tips]
- Cherokee: 25-Foot Tall Indian - Muffler Man [tips]
- Cherokee: Pose with Indians - and Bill the Buffalo
- Cherokee: Cherokee: Tourists and Indians
- Chimney Rock: Chimney Rock [tips]
- Collettsville: House of Mugs [tips]
- Deals Gap: Tail of the Dragon [tips]
- Durham: Old Brontosaurus, New Dino Trail [tips]
- Edneyville: Indian Muffler Man [tips]
- Edneyville: Bunyan Muffler Man [tips]
- Edneyville: Puncheon Camp Creek Ranch [tips]
- Fayetteville: Special Forces K9 Dog Memorial [tips]
- Fayetteville: Airborne and Special Operations Museum
- Franklin: Ruby City Museum
- Garner: White Deer, Famous Albino [tips]
- Garysburg: Q. J. Stephenson's Occoneechee Trapper's Lodge [tips]
- Greensboro: Elsewhere Museum [tips]
- Greensboro: Burger Robot With Plasma Cannon [tips]
- Greenville: Cemetery In Mall Parking Lot [tips]
- Henderson: Giant Legs of Ricky Pearce
- Hendersonville: Heaviest Twins Largest Granite Tombstone [tips]
- Hendersonville: Harry's Grill and Piggy's Ice [tips]
- Hiddenite: Only Emerald Mine Open to Public
- High Point: World's Largest Chest of Drawers
- Jamestown: World's Largest Highboy
- Kenly: Goon with a Top Hat
- Kill Devil Hills: Backyard Pirate Giant [tips]
- Kinston: Confederate Ironclads: Neuse and Neuse II [tips]
- Linville: Mile-High Swinging Bridge [tips]
- Maggie Valley: Wheels Through Time
- Maggie Valley: Indian Death Tiki of Awesomeness
- Marion: Linville Caverns
- Midland: Reed Gold Mine [tips]
- Morehead City: King Neptune [tips]
- Mount Airy: Andy Griffith Museum
- Mount Airy: Andy Griffith TV Town of Mayberry [tips]
- Mount Airy: Wally's Service Station and Mayberry Courthouse
- Mount Airy: Chang and Eng, Famous Siamese Twins
- Murfreesboro: Jefcoat Museum of Americana [tips]
- Murphy: World's Largest Ten Commandments
- Murphy: The Moon-Eyed People
- New Bern: Stuffed Head of Firehorse Fred
- Newton Grove: Tombstone in the Middle of a Cotton Field [tips]
- Oak City: Church Dood Close Due To Rarture [tips]
- Old Fort: Andrews Geyser [tips]
- Pikeville: Dinosaur Skeleton Sculptures [tips]
- Plymouth: Civil War Ironclad - CSS Albemarle [tips]
- Prospect Hill: Shangri-La Stone Village
- Raleigh: Self-Kicking Booth
- Raleigh: Muffler Man: Giant Decorator Man [tips]
- Raleigh: Statue of Andy and Opie [tips]
- Raleigh: The Daily Planet: Giant Earth Lookalike
- Rocky Mount: Bunyan Muffler Man [tips]
- Rocky Mount: Uniroyal Gal [tips]
- Slate Mountain: Hillside of Concrete Statues
- Sneads Ferry: Giant Shark [tips]
- Southern Pines: Taxidermy Hall of Fame of North Carolina Creation Museum [tips]
- Spencer: NC Transportation Museum [tips]
- Supply: Mary's Gone Wild
- Surf City: Souvenir Shop Gator [tips]
- Sylva: American Museum of the House Cat
- Thomasville: World's Largest Duncan Phyfe Chair
- Waxhaw: Museum of the Waxhaws and Andrew Jackson
- West Jefferson: Big Milk Tank Cows [tips]
- White Plains: Chang and Eng's Grave
- Whiteville: Grave of Siamese Twins Mille Christine McCoy [tips]
- Wilmington: Battleship North Carolina
- Wilson: Muffler Man - White's Tire #2 [tips]
- Wilson: Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park
- Winston-Salem: Seashell Gas Station
