The city of Rockford, Illinois is symbolically protected by a quartet of fittingly stony sentinels.

Museum dedicated to the art of cutting and polishing stones.

A river with some unusual, and occasionally dangerous, habits.

This overgrown Illinois water park offers a whole new type of adventure.

Eclectic collection of rare and beautiful stones in a historic home.

Cold War missile launch site which has been converted to a public park.

Beloved bar home to musicians of all eras and reputations.

A display of magnificent stained glass windows is the first exhibit of its kind.

One of the first historical sites of an alternative universe was installed in the town of Paris, Illinois—which is now home to an annual spelling bee of Kcymaerxthaereal words.

All of Chicago's wood-paved streets are long gone but two alleys remain.

Each of these gorgeous, intricately decorated rooms is painstakingly crafted to the scale of 1 inch: 1 foot.

This unauthorized stone mermaid was secretly carved out of public stone before being permanently preserved.

A little-known subterranean street runs under some of the best-known buildings in Chicago's River North.

This sprawling mini-golf empire is an impressive testament to a disappearing attraction.

These pretty kitties killed and ate as many as 135 railway workers.

World's second largest particle accelerator, where nature reveals its secrets.

A replica viking ship from the Chicago World's Fair is still in dry dock in an Illinois park.

The face of a woman pushes its way through the earth.

A European-style bath house in Chicago.

The world's only known button museum.

A lush green oasis in the middle of Chicago.

What was once one of the country's largest confectionary plants is now an abandoned ruin, but is still pretty sweet.

What's left of the ruins of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, or World's Fair, also known as the White City.

An abandoned meat mecca now serves as an excellent locale for urban exploration.