Blue Whale

Catoosa, Oklahoma

Hugh Davis had a job as a director of a Tulsa zoo, and he and his wife Zelta ran an alligator farm just off of Route 66. In 1972 Hugh surprised Zelta on their 34th wedding anniversary by unveiling an 80-foot-long sperm whale that he had built out of pipe and concrete in a little pond on their property. He originally built it for the use of just the Davis kids, with a diving platform on its tail and a slide coming out of its head.

By the mid-1970s, however, the happy whale with the toothy smile had become the centerpiece of Hugh and Zelta's new attraction, Nature's Acres, which also featured Animal Reptile Kingdom ("ARK" -- housed in a replica of Noah's Ark) and a Trading Post run by Hugh's Indian brother-in-law. The spring-fed pond had been enlarged by Hugh into a commercial swimming hole, and the Blue Whale became a Route 66 icon.

Hugh and Zelta eventually got old, and they closed the attraction in 1988. The pond got scummy. The Noah's Ark was abandoned and, although still standing, is now beyond repair. That sad fate could have befallen the Blue Whale as well, which for decades fell into disrepair. But it was too visible and too beloved, and in 2020 the town of Catoosa bought the whale, patched its concrete, and gave it a fresh coat of paint.

A cluster of picnic benches sit on the shore near the Blue Whale's open mouth, and the town has plans for a walking trail around the pond and a deck for fishing. But because the pond has accumulated years of debris, there's no more swimming, and no more sliding or diving off of the Blue Whale.