Pencil-Headed Head of Andrew Jackson

Scottsboro, Alabama

Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, was a human string bean -- but the bust of him on the Jackson County Courthouse lawn takes it too literally. Sculpted by an unknown artist during America's 1976 bicentennial, the bust has a head no wider than its neck -- which isn't wide at all -- and truncated arms that look like shark fins. It doesn't help that the bust, which appears to have been carved from soft limestone or marble, has eroded to the point where Jackson's face is an unrecognizable blob.

Jackson has had the dubious distinction of being honored by some of the strangest-looking public art in the Presidential pantheon. And this particular head isn't even here because Jackson was President. It's here because Jackson County was named for him in 1819, over in Huntsville, which is where he happened to be when the Alabama legislature was in session.