12 visitusa.org.uk Bizarre, weird and fanciful they may be, but these attentiongrabbing oddities are definitely worth a stop to see and experience. Only in America! TOILET SEAT ART MUSEUM, TEXAS No need to spend a penny when visiting this unusual museum in northern Dallas suburb The Colony – it’s free. Showcasing a collection of 1,400 pieces of art created out of toilet seats by San Antonio plumber and artist Barney Smith during his lifetime, it opened at the Truck Yard bar in 2019 just before he turned 98. Sadly, the King of the Commode, as he was known, died a week after the opening. But his odd art lives on. SALT AND PEPPER SHAKER MUSEUM Spice up a Great Smoky Mountain National Park road trip with a stop at this museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, gateway to the park. Not to be sneezed at, it contains 20,000 sets of salt and pepper shakers from around the world as well as 1,500 pepper mills, the result of 35 years of collecting by founders and owners Rolf and Andrea Ludden. THE PAPER HOUSE Built a century ago by mechanical engineer Elis Stenman as his summer home at Pigeon Cove in Rockport, Massachusetts, not only is the building made entirely out of newspaper but so is all the furniture inside. Among the pieces, all made from varnished newspapers, are a piano, a longcase clock and several desks, one of which has accounts of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s historic solo transatlantic flight in 1927. The museum is open from spring to autumn. LARGEST CHEST OF DRAWERS How else would the city fathers of the 'Furniture Capital of the World' celebrate that designation than by building the world’s largest chest of drawers? That was in 1926 in High Point, North Carolina, where the 40-foot-tall Victorianstyle, four-drawer dresser – the size of a large house – became known as the “Bureau of Information”. Now a popular downtown selfie spot, a giant brightly-coloured pair of odd socks hangs from one of its slightly-open drawers. OFFBEAT AMERICANA Lucy the Elephant is a National Historic Landmark that stands six storeys tall overlooking the beach in Margate City, New Jersey WEIRD BUT WONDERFUL When it comes to odd but fascinating attractions few do it better than the U.S.A. TRAVEL SOUTH DAKOTA VISIT NC
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