Built in 1869, this now-retired structure looks more like a medieval fortress than a county lock-up.

A strange rock in Chicago marks the spot where a tree once stood in honor of the 18th President.

Today this bizarre rooftop phone booth seems like a piece of kitsch but it was once used to spot disastrous storms.

Take a break from all the boring business of death at this funeral home mini-golf course.

A shining sculpture made of 3,115 lights, the number of visible stars in the Northern Hemisphere.

At Chicago's revered Field Museum, visitors are invited to learn about and literally explore DNA.

Internationally known record store and purveyor of "dusties."

A hollow cement depiction of time's inexorable effect on the human body.

A once-booming Mississippi River town with a history of racial violence is now eerie and mostly abandoned.

A Bibliophile's Dream.

An old town theater converted into a celebration of the hobo legacy.

For just a few bucks, this Iowa funicular will let you feel like an 1800s fat cat.

A half-mile long and three stories high, this bridge over the Des Moines River Valley mimics a descent into a mine shaft.

The highest point in Iowa, while not that impressive to mountain states, has earned its own monuments.

The “American Gothic" artist's largest works hang in an Iowa State University library.