The first public library in the Americas has more than 45,000 books dating back to the 15th century.

This 8th-century Bavarian monastery is home to an exquisite Baroque-era library.

In the middle of a remote desert town is a surprisingly opulent hotel.

Despite sitting firmly in the global cradle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this Hare Krishna temple is host to one of the largest color festivals outside India.

This concert pavilion on the shore of the Great Salt Lake has been destroyed by fire, water, and disinterest but keeps coming back.

Pyramid home to an obscure religious group that practices modern mummification.

A hidden garden of stones engraved with scriptures, a Joseph Smith Sphinx, all carved by one man.

This granite monument at the site of an ill-conceived tourist attraction is built from the same stone as the Mormon Temple.

An enormous image of Utah's salt flats made entirely from tape.

Visitors to this library are in for a real-world education in modernist architecture.

See just what life was like in a 19th-century prospecting town.

A former gold rush boomtown has managed to stay in business for over 100 ramshackle years.

Despite his legacy of work in Spain, Cuba, and Florida, the larger-than-life writer's grave is a simple affair tucked in an Idaho cemetery.

Sweet Willy, at 30 feet tall, is the world's biggest beagle.

This massive store is home to an eccentric collection of vintage, retro, and peculiar goods.

The beauty of urban decay, hiding some dark secrets.

Established in 1853, this crumbling cemetery sits forgotten on the corner of Church and Chapel in Gold Country.

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

This fully intact Neoclassical-Greek Revival style firehouse operated until 1938.

California's oldest existing theater building hosted an impressive cast of celebrities, including hosting Mark Twain's first lecture.

The beauty and the beast of hydraulic mining is on full display at this California Historic State Park.

A watering hole where the options for seating include a bar, patio, or subterranean cave.

A whimsical antique shop with a strong air of mystery, filled with items from ages, and what feels like worlds, past.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.