Great Wall of Sandwich

Sandwich, New Hampshire

Isaac Adams grew up in Sandwich and wanted to seek his fortune in Boston. However, no one in town would loan him money to get there. He vowed revenge, and when he did eventually return -- as a rich man -- he bought as much of the land in town as he could, knocked down all of his former neighbors' houses, and hired 100 laborers to build, not a spite fence, but a mile-long wall out of native granite. At its highest point -- 18 feet high -- he placed a zinc statue of Niobe, who in Greek mythology was punished by god-king Apollo for her pride. The message was clear: Isaac Adams was Apollo, and the citizens of Sandwich were being punished.

Adams' wall was completed in 1875. Niobe sat atop it until 1941, when she was toppled and shattered by a freak hurricane. The pieces were later found under a pile of manure in a horse barn and, in a gesture of let-bygones-be-bygones, Niobe was reassembled and placed back on the wall in 2012 in time for Sandwich's 250th anniversary.