25 Weird Ohio Roadside Attractions to Visit, From the World's Largest Basket of Apples to "Hug Me Jesus"

World’s Largest Cuckoo Clock

100 N. Broadway St., Sugarcreek
In 2010, this 24-foot cuckoo clock was moved from its old home, Wilmot, to Sugarcreek, a Swiss-themed tourist town. Sugarcreek’s about 200 miles from Cincinnati, so what are you waiting for? The clock is ticking (get it?).

“Hug Me Jesus”

903 Union Road, Monroe
After a lightning fire destroyed a giant Jesus statue known as "Touchdown Jesus" that brought national attention to the Solid Rock Church in Monroe in 2010, the church couldn’t go without and replaced the monument in 2012. The giant Lux Mundi statue designed by Tom Tsuchiya, affectionately nicknamed "Hug Me Jesus," is visible from I-75.

Giant Dancing Hares

6350 Woerner Temple Road, Dublin
In the Columbus suburb of Dublin, you’ll find the Ballantrae Giant Dancing Hares, which were made by English artist Sophie Ryder in 2001. The trio of rabbits is 24 feet tall.

Dave Grohl Alley, World’s Largest Drumsticks

Warren
Dave Grohl, drummer of Nirvana and frontman of the Foo Fighters, was born in Warren before moving to Virginia at a young age. In 2007, Warren resident Joe O’Grady convinced the city council to dedicate a dilapidated alley to the rocker, which now features murals of Grohl, along with the world’s largest drumsticks, carved by Warren-based artist Joel Eggert.

Hartman Rock Garden

1905 Russell Ave., Springfield
Head to Springfield, just north of Dayton, and visit this really awesome rock garden. Built in 1932 during the Great Depression, this outdoor folk art installation contains mini-replicas of Philadelphia's Independence Hall, the White House, Mount Vernon and a large castle built with 20,000 stones.

The World’s Largest Basket

1500 E. Main St., Newark
This giant basket housed the Longaberger Company until 2014 when the company moved out and eventually shut down its business, which had been around for close to 100 years. Fear not, the basket is still there in Newark – between Columbus and Zanesville. The basket building was sold for $1.2 million to a developer at the end of 2017 and will be used for something soon.

World’s Largest Basket of Apples

5563 Raiders Road, Frazeysburg
Close to the World’s Largest Basket, but much lesser known, stands the World’s Largest Basket of Apples. Also once owned by the basket company Longaberger, the basket stands close to 20 feet tall.

Tower of VW Bugs

1938 East Second St., Defiance
Travel on I-80 to Defiance to see this stack of ‘60s Volkswagen Beetles. Five bugs are stacked on top of each other in the parking lot of Pack Rat’s Pawn Shop.

Faux Ghost Town

10630 Hancock County Road 40, Findlay
This replica town was created to resemble a ghost town of the Old West. At least this place helps Findlay be known for something besides Ben Roethlisberger.

World’s Largest Amish Buggy

7007 County Road 672, Berlin
Standing 10 feet tall and almost 14 feet wide and weighing 1,200 pounds, this buggy sits inside Wendell August Forge, a gift and souvenir store in the Amish tourist town of Berlin. Berlin is about 30 miles southwest of Canton.

The Temple of Tolerance

203 S. Wood St., Wapakoneta
This small town south of Lima, known as the birthplace of Neil Armstrong, is an unlikely place to find a hippie/artistic enclave reminiscent of Taos, New Mexico, or Sedona, Arizona. But that’s exactly what you’ll find at this rock sculpture temple that took 18 years to build.

Pumpkin Water Tower

Logan Street, Circleville
Circleville, about 30 miles south of Columbus, is known for its annual Pumpkin Festival, which they bill as the “best free festival on Earth.” What better way to promote the biggest thing in town than painting the town water tower to look like a pumpkin?

World's Largest Horseshoe Crab

7964 State Route 124, Hillsboro
This massive 67-foot-long crab was created in 1997 for The Columbus Center in Baltimore and now sits on the property of a sportsmen's lodge along SR-124 in Hillsboro. According to Roadside America, "The big crab was originally intended for a Baltimore nautical museum that went bankrupt. Crabby was then bought by the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Kentucky, but it proved to be too big even for their oversized sense of theater. By luck or mysterious-ways intervention, Pastor Jim was giving a talk at the museum, learned about the crab, and accepted it as a donation to (Freedom Worship Baptist Church in Blanchester)." The crab was sold in 2015 and moved to Hillsboro to become a massive ancient arthropod roadside attraction.

Serpent Mound

3850 State Route 73, Peebles
Serpent Mound is a National Historic Landmark and is located at the end of I-71, just north of the Kentucky border. It is an effigy mound in the shape of a snake and was built by Native Americans, somewhere between 500 and 1,000 years ago.

The FUTURO House

9961 Central Ave., Carlisle
Finnish architect Matti Suuronen designed around 100 houses shaped like spaceships during the ‘60s and ‘70s. The houses can be found all over the world, but this one is in Carlisle, Ohio, where I-75 meets I-71, just north of Cincinnati.

The Troll Hole

228 East Main St., Alliance
If you’re into trolls, well, we have the perfect spot for you. The Troll Hole in Alliance is a museum dedicated to Troll Dolls and in fact has the largest collection of Troll dolls in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Giant Ronald McDonald

7806 E. State Route, 37, Sunbury
One of the creepier attractions on our list, and frankly, in the country, no one is quite sure why this Ronald McDonald exists. But, it’s there, it’s weird and so, go see it if you like oddities like this. Otherwise, when else would you visit Sunbury?

Field of Giant Corn Cobs

4995 Rings Road, Dublin
Dublin, a suburb of Columbus, is home to this giant field of corn, also known as ‘Cornhenge.’ The project was a publicly funded art installation featuring 109 ears of corn weighing approximately 1,500 pounds each and is set up in rows reminiscent of Arlington National Cemetery.

Giant Tomato Soup Can

12772 State Route 110, Napoleon
What could be better than a warm bowl of tomato soup? How about a massive can of tomato soup outside Campbell’s production facility near Toledo?

World’s Tallest Our Lady of Guadalupe Statue

6601 Ireland Road, Windsor
Located in Windsor, around 50 miles east of downtown Cleveland, just before you get to Pennsylvania, stands this religious statue, measuring 33 feet tall.