New York
Find New York travel tips, stories, maps, videos and news for unusual tourist attractions and sights.
New Reports
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.
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.
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.
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.
Shrine of the North American Martyrs
Auriesville, New York
Contemplative hilltop of religious statuary and shrines commemorating slaughtered Catholic missionaries.
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.
Cardiff Giant
Cooperstown, New York
A famous 19th century flim-flam, a biblical "giant" that became "America's Greatest Hoax."
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.
Lucy Desi Museum and Desilu Studios
Jamestown, New York
America's favorite 1950s TV couple are remembered in Lucy's hometown.
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.
Mmuseumm: Smallest Museum in NYC
New York, New York
Former elevator shaft converted into museum. Itty-bitty, but so satisfying that Mmuseumm 2 opened in the shaft next door.
Spyscape
New York, New York
Opened in Feb. 2018, this "immersive" spy attraction promises to help visitors "discover their inner spy" by subjecting them to interrogation techniques and a Special Ops laser tunnel.
Giant Dog and Taxi Cab
New York, New York
Spot is a 38-foot-tall Dalmatian puppy balancing a real NYC yellow taxi on her nose.
KGB Espionage Museum
New York, New York
Claims to have the world's largest collection of Soviet secret agent gadgets. See the "Deadly Kiss" lipstick gun, then get strapped into the interrogation chair.
Trunkations
Roadside America's blog, offering news, rants and ruminations on the state of New York
Previous: New Mexico | Next: North Carolina
Offbeat Landmarks and Oddities
Choice field reports and tips. Or check out: Complete list of New York attractions.
- Angola: Two Story Political Outhouse [tips]
- Auriesville: Shrine of the North American Martyrs
- Bethel: Hippie Muffler Man
- Blue Mountain Lake: Cabin of a Hermit [tips]
- Boiceville: Steve Heller's Auto Art Studio [tips]
- Brooklyn: Topsy the Elephant
- Brooklyn: New York Transit Museum
- Brooklyn: Coney Island - Sideshows by the Seashore
- Brooklyn: Green-Wood Cemetery
- Brooklyn: Chunk of Plymouth Rock
- 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: The Gun That Killed President McKinley [tips]
- Buffalo: Brain Museum
- Buffalo: Deathbed Scene in Marble [tips]
- Buffalo: Shark Girl [tips]
- 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
- Cooperstown: Cardiff Giant
- Cortland: Smoke-Breathing Dragon
- East Bethany: Big Metal Dragon [tips]
- East Durham: Giant Steampunk Robot [tips]
- 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
- 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
- Liverpool: Muffler Man [tips]
- Lockport: Cave Tour and Underground Boat Ride [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: Houdini Museum [tips]
- New York: Spyscape
- New York: Giant Dog and Taxi Cab
- New York: Vessel
- New York: KGB Espionage Museum
- 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 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]
- 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: 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]
- Rosendale: Widow Jane Mine and Museum [tips]
- Saratoga Springs: Saratoga Springs History Museum [tips]
- Schoharie: S.C. Billboard: Got Cave?
- Silver Creek: Dolly Dimples Waitress Statue [tips]
- 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
- Vail Mills: The Leather Guy
- Waterloo: Scythe Tree
- 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