The "first cat," "first dog," and even a presidential pygmy hippo all get their due in this museum.

Inspired by a foil-wrapped potato, (seriously) the Markel Building has been deemed one of the 10 ugliest buildings in the world.

This museum devoted to the gothic author holds such interesting ephemera as his socks and walking stick.

The final resting place of two (or three) presidents, one vampire, and 18,000 Confederate soldiers.

This 29-ton granite ball spins around at the slightest touch thanks to a scientific phenomenon.

Heron, whitewater rapids, and urban industrialism all add to the beauty of this concrete nature walk.

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

A rapidly disappearing authentic bit of the old south.

All that's left of the quintessential "cabin in the woods."

For two weeks every June, fireflies in the Smoky Mountains perform an astonishing light show.

These eerie outliers of the lightning bug family glow a mysterious blue color.

Mysterious ancient boulder carved with petroglyphs in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Who needs fancy modern water slides when this giant North Carolina rock works just as well?

Railroad came. People came. Railroad left. Town died.

This bridge is haunted by the ghost of a distraught mother.

North Carolina's finest examples of Native American pictographs have survived for 5,000 years.

An art instillation for the sake of "raising vibrations."