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People from all over the planet pine to see some of America’s most iconic landmarks, like the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge, or the marvelous Mount Rushmore.
However, for others, that stuff is a little boring.
For those who snooze at the thought of the Statue of Liberty or find the idea of visiting Mount Rushmore too mainstream, we took to TikTok to compile a list of some of the best American landmarks that fly under the radar.
TikTok has become a gold mine for travelers looking for what the U.S. has to offer beyond your typical tourist traps. The video-sharing app provides helpful short-form content for travel inspo and insights into the country’s unsung monuments, landmarks, and in this case, oddities.
From the funny to the weird and the downright absurd, the U.S. has something unique for travelers of all types to check out. Read on to learn more about the quirkiest U.S. landmarks here.
The Most Popular Outlandish Landmarks, According to TikTok
Images are sourced from Wikipedia (CC by 2.0 & CC by SA 4.0)
TikTok’s most-viewed national oddity, located in Tonopah, Nevada, is sure to be a hit if you’re looking for something strange to see.
Unless you’re afraid of clowns.
Tonopah’s Clown Motel, also known as “America’s Scariest Motel,” has amassed over 113 million views on TikTok, making it the most popular unusual landmark on the map. The Clown Motel prides itself on being the creepiest choice for lodging in the country, mentioning on its website that the establishment has been featured on an episode of Ghost Adventures and was the location for horror films Clown Motel and Clown Motel: Spirits Arise.
The second-most-popular peculiar landmark in the country is a little more gross than scary. Seattle’s Gum Wall sits in second place with just over 64 million views on TikTok, and it’s exactly what you would expect it to be: a wall covered in chewing gum.
Situated in an ordinary alleyway in Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market is a hidden piece of art known only as the Gum Wall. The Gum Wall traces its origins back to the 1990s when local performers and patrons would stick their gum onto the wall. Since then, the Gum Wall continues to grow piece by piece to this day, expanding down to Post Alley.
Located a little further down the list of TikTok’s top ten curious national landmarks is The Spam Museum, located in Austin.
No, not that Austin – Austin, Minnesota.
As its name suggests, the Spam Museum is an exhibit dedicated to one of America’s culinary delights. Spam (often stylized in all caps as SPAM) was invented in Austin, Minnesota, to fill a need for inexpensive sustenance during the Great Depression, and this museum is a testament to its enduring legacy and rising popularity in America’s food scene.
The Spam Museum offers guided, self-guided, and virtual tours for those interested in learning more about how the salty canned meat helped our nation emerge from one of its darkest hours. Plus, you can find out how many Spam cans tall you are.
Now, let’s say you really want to visit the Statue of Liberty, but taking a trip to Ellis Island isn’t in the budget this year. Or maybe you’d like to visit a lesser-known version of the symbol of all of America’s collective hopes and dreams.
Thanks to a little lady in Des Moines, Iowa, that dream is now a possibility.
That little lady is none other than the 10th most-popular national oddity in the country, the Mini Statue of Liberty. Standing comfortably on the east side of the Iowa State Capitol, little Lady Liberty has accumulated a cool 4.7 million views on TikTok– an impressive feat when you ignore the over 500 million views her big sister has.
This miniature Statue of Liberty, and many others like it, came to be as a result of the Boy Scouts’ fortieth anniversary when they donated approximately 200 replica statues to states across the country. While many of these statues have been lost or destroyed, their contribution to the city of Des Moines still stands tall (or short) today.
Closing Thoughts
America is an assortment of not just breathtaking natural wonders and historical monuments, but also an array of peculiar and outlandish landmarks. This spectrum ranges from the eerie like Tonopah’s Clown Motel to the kind-of-gross like Seattle’s Gum Wall. The growing popularity of these unconventional landmarks, as evidenced by the millions of views they amass on TikTok, underscores our collective desire to break from the ordinary.
So why not consider adding a visit to the Clown Motel or the Spam Museum to your itinerary the next time you plan a trip?
Many of these unusual landmarks fall along popular road trip routes, providing a fun break from the more traditional tourist hotspots. Planning your travel through Wanderu will help you reach these quirky attractions with little stress and a lot of anticipation. Not only can you witness the weirdest of what American culture has to offer, you’ll create unique memories beyond the typical vacation photo album.
Next time you’re feeling adventurous, opt for the road less traveled and let Wanderu guide you to the strange, humorous, and even bizarre parts of the American landscape. Because who knows? You might find that the Mini Statue of Liberty is just as awe-inspiring as her taller sister. Happy wandering!
Methodology
To identify the most popular peculiar landmarks in the U.S., we first compiled a list of over 100 popular landmarks across the nation, according to sites like Buzzfeed, The Daily Meal, and Moneywise. From there, we turned to TikTok to identify the associated hashtag with each landmark and recorded the number of total views for videos attached to that hashtag. We compared each individual landmark’s views to gather our final ranking.
