New York
Find New York travel tips, stories, maps, videos and news for unusual tourist attractions and sights.
New Reports
Wolf's Museum of Gods and Monsters
Friendship, New York
Wolfgang and Ali Von Mertz's 2023 sequel to their lost Museum of Mystery in Florida. Dark supernatural artifacts, housed in a purple 1855 church.
Sights for Oddball Excursions
Secret Caverns
Cobleskill, New York
The Secret Caverns Experience starts miles from the cave, when travelers encounter the first of its garish, psychedelic billboards.
Shark Girl
Buffalo, New York
An Alice-in-Wonderland-style little girl blessed with a Great White Shark head. Shark Girl wants you to be her friend!
Scary Lucy, Lovely Lucy
Celoron, New York
One town, two Lucille Ball statues. Vitameatavegamin Scary Lucy horrified the entire world; Lovely Lucy healed it, apparently.
Lucy Desi Museum and Desilu Studios
Jamestown, New York
America's favorite 1950s TV couple are remembered in Lucy's hometown.
House of Frankenstein Wax Museum
Lake George, New York
With more torture tableaus than you can shake a stick studded with impaled heads at.
Motorcyclepedia
Newburgh, New York
Collection includes the motorcycle Charles Lindbergh traded for his first airplane, a police bike from JFK's assassination motorcade, and three "Wall of Death" thrill show motordromes.
Niagara Wax Museum of History: Lincoln's Haircut Chair
Niagara Falls, New York
The Niagara Wax Museum of History, specializing in exhibits significant to the region, recreated the Lincoln barber shop scene, featuring the actual chair.
Second Coming House of Prophet Isaiah
Niagara Falls, New York
Prophet Isaiah Henry Robertson was directed by God to decorate his house in advance of the Second Coming.
Santa's Workshop
North Pole, New York
The world's first theme park still celebrates Christmas all summer. Holiday-themed kiddie rides, costumed characters, and a perpetually frozen Pole.
Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome
Red Hook, New York
Campy World War I melodrama with dogfighting biplanes and an exploding lingerie shop. Offers rides over the countryside in an open-air cockpit.
Star Trek Original Series Set Tour
Ticonderoga, New York
Elvis impersonator James Cawley spent over 20 years building perfect replicas of starship USS Enterprise sets from the 1960s series Star Trek.
The Leather Guy
Amsterdam, New York
Vaguely weird, one-of-a-kind, giant leather-clad man has stood in front of various businesses for 45 years. Moved to this location in Nov. 2016.
Shrine of the North American Martyrs
Auriesville, New York
Contemplative hilltop of religious statuary and shrines commemorating slaughtered Catholic missionaries.
Steve Heller's Spaceships and Robots
Boiceville, New York
A man who, among other projects, builds spaceships out of cars. Sculptures next to the road.
New York Transit Museum
Brooklyn, New York
Housed below ground in a decommissioned subway station, the city's transit history is told with signs, artifacts, and walk-thru subway cars dating back to 1903.
Coney Island - Sideshows by the Seashore
Brooklyn, New York
Historical playland of the world, with some revitalized cheese and midway romance.
Green-Wood Cemetery
Brooklyn, New York
Huge, ornate cemetery with many prominent dead people. Tours, night walks, art and music events make this a tourist attraction, not just a graveyard.
Brain Museum
Buffalo, New York
Officially known as the Museum of Neuroanatomy, this display of pickled head meat is the largest human brain collection open to the public in the USA.
The Big Duck
Flanders, New York
Built in 1931, the Big Duck originally sold ducks, now sells duck souvenirs to summertime city weekenders.
West Point Museum: War Booty
Highland Falls, New York
The permanent repository of America's war trophies, which include Adolf Hitler's pistol, Custer's last message, and the safety plug pulled on the atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
Big Chief: Interstate Muffler Man
Irving, New York
Fiberglass statue of an Indian Chief, arm raised in greeting, along the Thruway on the Seneca Nation Reservation at the Big Indian Smoke Shop.
National Comedy Center
Jamestown, New York
Part museum -- it has Seinfeld's puffy shirt -- but also part interactive experience: you can perform stand-up. Has at least one bench with a secret built-in whoopee cushion.
Grave of Chester A. Arthur
Menands, New York
The bronze Angel of Sorrow lays a Swiffer Duster-like palm frond atop Arthur's sarcophagus.
Herkimer Diamond Mines
Middleville, New York
Two adjacent diamond (quartz) mines vie for gem crazed tourists. The most fun you'll ever have sitting in a pit with a hammer smashing rocks.
Key-Crazy Locksmith Building
New York, New York
Locksmith and metal artist Phil Mortillaro has covered most of the exterior and interior surfaces of his small shop with a swirling assemblage of thousands of keys.
Trunkations
Roadside America's blog, offering news, rants and ruminations on the state of New York
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Offbeat Landmarks and Oddities
Choice field reports and tips. Or check out: Complete list of New York attractions.
- Amsterdam: The Leather Guy
- Auriesville: Shrine of the North American Martyrs
- Bethel: Hippie Muffler Man
- Blue Mountain Lake: Cabin of a Hermit [tips]
- Boiceville: Steve Heller's Spaceships and Robots
- Brooklyn: Topsy the Elephant
- Brooklyn: New York Transit Museum
- Brooklyn: Coney Island - Sideshows by the Seashore
- Brooklyn: Green-Wood Cemetery
- Brooklyn: Mom's Murals: Laser Beams and Cloud Men [tips]
- Brooklyn: Tribute to New York City's Sewer Alligator [tips]
- Brooklyn: House of Wax: Victorian Medical Models [tips]
- Buffalo: Tesla Clutches Golden Lightning Bolt
- Buffalo: The Gun That Killed President McKinley [tips]
- Buffalo: Brain Museum
- Buffalo: Deathbed Scene in Marble [tips]
- Buffalo: Shark Girl
- Buffalo: Karma: Tower of Stacked Humans [tips]
- Carmel: Largest Indoor Buddha in the Western Hemisphere [tips]
- Celoron: Scary Lucy, Lovely Lucy
- Cherry Valley: The Tepee
- Chester: Dumpster Divers [tips]
- Cobleskill: Secret Caverns
- Cortland: Smoke-Breathing Dragon
- Dunkirk: Dolly Dimples Waitress Statue [tips]
- East Bethany: Big Metal Dragon [tips]
- East Durham: Giant Steampunk Robot [tips]
- East Meadow: Front Lawn Robots
- Eden: Kazoo Museum and Factory [tips]
- Elizabethtown: Skull and Noose of Last Man Hanged in Essex County [tips]
- Elmsford: Muffler Man - Paul Bunyan [tips]
- Flanders: The Big Duck
- Friendship: Wolf's Museum of Gods and Monsters
- Garden City: Cradle of Aviation Museum [tips]
- Highland Falls: West Point Museum: War Booty
- Hoosick: Big Moose Country Store [tips]
- Howes Cave: Howe Caverns
- Howes Cave: S.C. Billboard: You'll Flip
- Hyde Park: FDR Birthplace, Homes, and Grave
- Irondequoit: Oldest Mini-Golf in the USA [tips]
- Irving: Big Chief: Smoke Shop Muffler Man [tips]
- Irving: Big Chief: Interstate Muffler Man
- Jamestown: Lucy Desi Museum and Desilu Studios
- Jamestown: National Comedy Center
- Kerhonkson: Gnome Chomsky: World's Third Largest Garden Gnome [tips]
- Lake George: House of Frankenstein Wax Museum
- Lake George: World's Fair Muffler Man
- Lake Vanare: Bunyan Muffler Man: One Arm
- Lockport: Lockport Locks: Flight of Five [tips]
- Lyndonville: Sneaker Tree: Multiple Shoe Trees [tips]
- Massapequa: Big Chief Lewis [tips]
- Menands: Grave of Chester A. Arthur
- Middleville: Herkimer Diamond Mines
- Middleville: Ace of Diamonds Mine [tips]
- Millbrook: Wing's Castle [tips]
- Montauk: Big Tiki Photo-Op [tips]
- Mount McGregor: U.S. Grant's Death House and "Last View" Marker [tips]
- Mountainville: Giant Three-Legged Thing on Big Human Head
- New York: Wall Street Bull - Good Luck Burnishing [tips]
- New York: Mummified Mother Cabrini [tips]
- New York: Ralph Kramden Statue
- New York: Metronome: World's Most Confusing Clock
- New York: Tribute to NYC's Sewer Alligator
- New York: President Arthur Inaugurated and Died Here
- New York: Chief: Firehouse Dog Hero [tips]
- New York: Key-Crazy Locksmith Building
- New York: Monument to the Maine
- New York: Walk Upon Famine-Ravished Ireland
- New York: Mmuseumm: Smallest Museum in NYC
- New York: Man Stares at Skyscrapers - Think Big [tips]
- New York: Human Bones, Stuffed Dog, Buddy Holly Love Spot
- New York: Spyscape
- New York: Giant Dog and Taxi Cab
- New York: The Cube [tips]
- Newburgh: Motorcyclepedia
- Niagara Falls: Niagara Wax Museum of History: Lincoln's Haircut Chair
- Niagara Falls: Tesla Statue: American Side
- Niagara Falls: Maid of the Mist
- Niagara Falls: Second Coming House of Prophet Isaiah
- Niagara Falls: Haunted House of Wax
- Niagara Falls: Cave Of The Winds [tips]
- North Pole: Santa's Workshop
- North River: Barton Garnet Mine [tips]
- Old Forge: Enchanted Forest
- Old Forge: Enchanted Forest Paul Bunyan [tips]
- Oneida: World's Smallest Church
- Orchard Park: World Record Eternal Flame [tips]
- Ossining: Sing Sing Prison Museum
- Oyster Bay: Teddy Roosevelt Home and Museum [tips]
- Palmyra: Angel Was Here, Birthed Mormonism
- Phelps: Two-Story Outhouse [tips]
- Pine Island: World's Largest Cat
- Port Washington: Sandminers Monument [tips]
- Prattsville: Pratt Rock
- Queens: World's Fair - The Unisphere
- Queens: Time Capsules from the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs
- Queens: Restored World's Fair Rockets
- Queens: Large Supersonic Jet Sculpture
- Queens: New York City Panorama: World's Largest Scale Model [tips]
- Queens: Museum of the Moving Image [tips]
- Queens: 1964-65 New York World's Fair Attractions
- Red Hook: Fork in the Road, Prozac Capsule [tips]
- Red Hook: Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome
- Riverhead: Muffler Man: Chief Running Fair [tips]
- Rome: 10-Foot-Tall Neanderthal Soldier [tips]
- Romulus: Ghost Deer and Atom Bombs
- Rosendale: Widow Jane Mine and Museum [tips]
- Saranac Lake: Tessie: Recycled Sea Serpent
- Saratoga Springs: X-Files Museum [tips]
- Saratoga Springs: Saratoga Springs History Museum [tips]
- Saugerties: Opus 40: Environmental Sculpture
- Schoharie: S.C. Billboard: Got Cave?
- Somers: Old Bet the Elephant
- Southampton: Mr. Millenium - Giant Snowman [tips]
- Staten Island: Museum of Lenny Prince, Muffler Artist
- Stony Brook: Figurehead of Hercules
- Stony Point: Muffler Man - Boy Scout Camp Mascot [tips]
- Ticonderoga: Star Trek Original Series Set Tour
- Troy: Hometown of Uncle Sam
- Troy: Uncle Sam's Chamber Pot
- Trumansburg: The Taughannock Giant [tips]
- Waterloo: Scythe Stump
- Watkins Glen: World's Smallest Diner [tips]
- Watkins Glen: Winery Dinosaurs [tips]
- Westfield: Lincoln Meets Grow-a-Beard Girl
- Westhampton: Musketeers and Castle [tips]
- Whitehall: Chainsaw Bigfoot, Sasquatch Sightings Area [tips]
- Whitehall: Golfing Bigfoot [tips]
- Williamsville: Patriots and Heroes Park