By Gail Marsh
You want to arrive at your reserved campground before dark, but sometimes the drive gets long and even monotonous. That’s when you should take a break to enjoy these roadside attractions.
Lizzie Borden House – Fall River, MA
Leave the highway for a tour of the home where Lizzie Borden is said to have murdered her father and stepmother with an ax. This unsolved murder remains a mystery to this day. However, it’s not a mystery why folks find this house so interesting. If you dare, you can spend the night because the home is now a bed and breakfast. Or, you can choose between a house tour, or stay into the night with a ghost tour or ghost hunt.
While in Fall River, also plan to visit Lizzie Borden Murder Memorabilia housed at the Fall River Historical Society. Find more information here.
Snake Alley – Burlington, IA
Park the RV for this stopover. You do not want to drive down this snake-like street with a big rig! Tucked within a residential area of town, Snake Alley is much less crowded than San Francisco’s Lombard Street but proves just as challenging. It features five half-curves, two quarter-curves, and descends 58 feet over a 275-foot distance. It’s worth a stop—even if you just park at the bottom of the street to take a picture out your RV’s window. Read more about the area here.
Showmen’s Rest Cemetery – Hugo, OK
Hugo is known as “Circus City, U.S.A.” so it should not surprise visitors to discover a unique section within the town’s cemetery. Surrounded by four granite pillars bearing giant elephant statues lie the remains of circus performers from the past. Unique gravestones feature various designs of high-wire acts, clowns, circus tents, and other circus-related symbols. An inscription at the entrance of this special cemetery section reads, “A Tribute To All Showmen Under God’s Big Top.” Besides Showmen’s Rest, the town of Hugo honors everything about the circus and is worth a stopover. Learn more about the cemetery and other attractions here.
General store and Post Office – Luckenbach, TX
Country Western music legend Waylon Jennings put this tiny town on the map. His fans will undoubtedly recognize the name of this stopover in central Texas. Though everything is purported to be big in the Lone Star State, Luckenbach boasts a population of a mere three residents. You can find Luckenbach just off Texas Route 1376, southeast of Fredericksburg. Learn more here.
Do you have a favorite roadside attraction? Tell us about it in the comments below and we may write about it in a future article.
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If you like Lukenback, and who doesn’t? Try Albert, TX. Down the road a bit and le$$ trendy
Albert Dance Hall & Ice House reminds me a little of that German cultural institution – the Biergarten. Adults find a place to sip their cold brew, most of the dogs love a pet, and the kids have fun running around the huge shady Live Oaks. And hey, live music just might happen. As stated, only 10-15 minutes from Luckenbach.
Hate to tell ya… Lukenbach no longer has an active Post Office. The “town” was purchased a few years ago by a big corporation that ruined the quaintness and turned it into a giant souvenir shop. Nothing there but high priced junk, high priced drinks and cheap music now!
The Nimitz/WWII Pacific Theater Museum in nearby Fredericksburg is a much more worthwhile “roadside attraction”. Luckenbach is like the Four Corners Monument on US 160, a tourist trap for the unsuspecting or gullible.
I will also applaud the Museum – plan on a full day and expect to see quotes from early 20th century speeches that scarily sound a lot like today’s politicians’.
As for Luckenbach… If you want to treat it as a tourist trap, fine. But nobody drags you through the retail shops. Sometimes it is hard to find space on the benches at the outside tables to set down your beer – yet the music can be heard throughout the ‘town’.
We have wintered in Texas Hill Country for 7 seasons now, not all that far from Lukenbach. Yes, it has evolved some. We were last there this past spring. It hasn’t been an active Post Office for several decades. Yes there are plenty of souvenirs and the General Store / Dance Hall are not the only buildings. The drinks are not that expensive. And if by “cheap” music you mean inexpensive – that still exists. Other than top billed acts, there is no admission fee. The music is literally ‘pass the hat’ (or tip jar). And many of the musicians make their living FT – quite a few are members of a top band or studio musicians. And yes, often they are fine tuning an upcoming road tour.
There is another Showmens Rest in Tampa Fl. The whole cemetery is strictly those in the carnival/circus world and while there head south on Hwy 41 to Riverview Dr and take in the Showmens museum at the International Independent Showmens Assc.
Another unique, weird “roadside attraction” is Bishop Castle, just off I-25 in Rye, Colorado. Decades of work by one man–Jim Bishop–building a fantasy castle, complete with turrets, bridges, and a Viking dragon’s head.
Thank you, Gail! 🙂 No, sorry, haven’t any. Have a great week, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂