The site where Charles Dickens gave his first public reading of "A Christmas Carol" in the US.

These whimsical works of art tell the story of the city's past and present.

This massive tea kettle was once a promotional stunt for the Oriental Teashop.

Mrs. Mallard and her brood are a beloved fixture in Boston Public Garden.

Ice cream stand, snack bar, and time capsule of milk conveyance.

The massive machine creates cracking displays of indoor lightning.

Dim sum, served in a grand old theater.

The oldest Italian café in Boston, this spot also serves as a veritable museum of vintage coffee ephemera.

This upscale streetwear store is hidden behind a fake Snapple machine in the back of a deli.

A museum dedicated to "science, history and the arts" little changed since 1915.

Come for the gun-toting hillbilly madman, stay for the ice-cream loving basketball bears.

This small museum is an eccentric shrine to boyhood in the 1960s.

The largest arcade museum in the world chronicles the golden age of video games which ended promptly in 1987.

This psychedelic tromp l'oeil seems to be beckoning drivers to crash into a wall.

An exotic reptile facility showcasing some of the rarest, most venomous snakes in the world.

From golden eagles to peregrine falcons, this rehabilitation and education center is a haven for birds of prey.

An annual celebration of the region's successful elk reintroduction program.

Divinely-inspired village houses 6,000 dolls, plus strange and lovely outsider art.

A folk art mecca famous among outsider art fans.

Perhaps the oldest vine in North America, this sprawling plant helps make a sweet wine.

A six-foot pair of socks hangs from a drawer of the world's largest bureau.

This Transylvania County city is home to a rare white squirrel population that is descended from an escaped carnival animal.

Art museum based around the collections accumulated over 58 years by one eccentric thrift store owner.

This North Carolina store preserves a historic moment in America's movement for racial equality.