Vacant Beaux-Arts buildings that serve as reminders of a beach town’s glory days.

Memorial to the 137 lives lost on a ship fire, the whole hulk of which washed up on the Asbury Park shore.

These unassuming lighthouses have seen the first reading of the Pledge of Allegiance, the first wireless transmission, and more than one mystery.

The shared home of a utopian commune that practiced "free love" a century before the hippies.

Surprisingly aquamarine waters fill deep lakes formed at the end of the last ice age.

A mummy and sarcophagus are part of the many wonders in this library's collection.

A commemorative plaque hides a door that leads down to the New York Public Library's underground book bunker.

This subterranean oyster house has been the pearl of Grand Central Station since 1913.

A Frankenstein blend of science and art allows one tree to produce 40 different types of stone fruit.

The library of every book lover's dreams.

This collection started by a Cornell professor once held more than 600 human brain specimens, including the one that belonged to its founder.

This water tower has been a staple of the Rochester skyline since 1931.

This bronze sculpture on a former squash court marks the secret origins of the Atomic Age.

A crumbling hospital from the 1850s on Roosevelt Island.

This unmarked and unloved Manhattan subway grate created one of the most iconic images in American cinema.

These expertly crafted, scientifically accurate glass sea creatures were once an international phenomenon.

Pluto is still considered a planet in Ithaca, New York.

Yo, Adrian!

Once at the center of U.S. finance, the historic Trading Room was meticulously recreated piece by piece and rebuilt in the Art Institute.

A century-old hotspot for jazz, frequented by everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Al Capone.

The palatial McDonald's that inspired Wesley Willis.

One-time largest man-made structure in the world will be a park in 30 years.

Dedicated to the art and science of glass in equal measure, this space is as much laboratory as museum.

A hot dog stand where the heads are just as hot as the dogs.