Dr. Charles Bressler-Pettis conceive the idea for the Monument of States in the dark days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bressler-Pettis wrote to governors and asked them to send stones for a monument; they obliged. The 40-foot-tall monument is topped by a 562-pound bald eagle made of concrete and was built using stones from all 48 states (at the time of its completion). Bressler-Petti also included stones he and his wife collected from other places. The structure, dedicated in March 1943 and located at the corner of Monument Avenue and Johnston Street, contains 1,500 rocks from all 50 states and 22 countries. A number of parties, including tourists, governors, a prime minister and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, also donated stones to the cause. While it can’t be confirmed, a human skull is also alleged to be included in the mix. Interestingly some of Bressler-Petti’s ashes are said to be buried in the monument.
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Sculptor David Adickes placed giant busts of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Sam Houston, and Stephen Austin along Interstate 10. If nothing else, the sculptures – adorned with “A Tribute to American Statesmanship” across their base — provide commuters a distraction during their rush hour drives. The park is officially named American Statesmanship Park.
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The Olentangy Indian Caverns, located in Delaware, Ohio, north of Columbus, are a series of natural underground caves formed millions of years ago by an underground river that cut through the limestone rock. The cave’s passages and rooms occupying three different levels. According to the caverns’ webpage, Wyandots used the caverns over the years as a place of refuge from both their enemies (the Delaware Indians) and the weather.
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In Wellington, New Zealand, Queens Wharf is home to a monument to a dog who took on a larger-than-life personality. During his life, Paddy the Wanderer, an Airedale Terrier, befriended cabbies, workers and seamen. The Wellington Harbour Board adopted Paddy and bestowed him the title of the assistant night watchman. Paddy was tasked with keeping guard against “pirates, smugglers and rodents.” After he died on July 17, 1939, at Harbour Shed no. 1, the locals honored Paddy with a parade. In 1945, Paddy’s friends built a memorial to the pooch with stones from London’s Waterloo Bridge, bombed during World War II. It includes a bronze likeness, a drinking fountain and drinking bowls below for dogs.
One of the most interesting sights in San Francisco is Pier 39, known for its famous sea lions. The sea lions first appeared in the area after the earthquake that hit the Bay Area in October 1989. By January 1990, there were already 500 sea lions on Pier 39. After a thorough debate, discussion, and research, experts from The Marine Mammal Center recommended that the sea lions be allowed to stay permanently. As a result, visitors now have a unique place to visit, which they might not have expected to see next to the city’s iconic cable cars and winding streets.
Located in downtown McRae, Ga., is a replica of the Statue of Liberty. The 35-foot-tall McRae version was built by the Lion’s Club of McRae at one-twelfth the size of the original. The statue was built using various materials, including Styrofoam, an electrician lineman’s glove and a stump from a nearby swamp. The Lady Liberty doppelgänger is located in Liberty Square, which is also home to a marble memorial honoring Telfair County residents who died in military service and a replica of the Liberty Bell, which is apparently the the town’s old fire bell was taken down (with a crack in it, of course).
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Athens, Ga., was once home to Navy Corps Supply School, which was located in the city’s Normaltown neighborhood from Jan. 15, 1954, until 2011. In 1990, as a tribute to the school, the Athens community placed a 4,000 pound, haze gray anchor in the median of Broad Street. The anchor for a destroyer ship was apparently donated because its bent shaft left it unusable for naval purposes.
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Located at the intersection of Finley and Dearing streets in Athens, Ga., The Tree that Owns Itself is an oak tree that has been willed to itself. As the story goes, in about 1890, UGA Professor William H. Jackson willed the oak tree and the land that surrounds it to the tree to protect it in perpetuity. While the original tree fell during a windstorm on Oct. 9, 1942, the oak that today stands at Finley and Dearing streets is actually an offspring of the original and is known as the Son of The Tree that Owns Itself. It was planted on Oct. 9, 1946, by the Junior Ladies Garden Club in the exact same spot.
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The Brooks Catsup Bottle Water Tower, best known as The World’s Largest Catsup Bottle, is the quintessential roadside attraction. Located south of Collinsville, Illinois, the roughly 70-foot-tall former water tower was built in 1949 by the W.E. Caldwell Co. Over the years, there have apparently been numerous offers to donate the landmark, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, to the city. They didn’t pan out, and in 2015, the owner of an O’Fallon, Ill., purchased the large bottle.
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The World’s Largest Chair was first built in the early 1920s when the city was know known as “The Chair Town.” That was in large part to the Thomasville Chair Co. The original chair, a 30-foot-tall replica of a Duncan Phyfe armchair, was erected in 1922. The chair — made of lumber and Swiss steer hide — was scrapped in 1936, less than two decades after it originally appeared. However, circa 1950, local organizations built a new chair out of concrete. The city apparently covered the cost of the base while contributions covered the cost to construct the chair. The chair was refurbished in 1993 and re-dedicated in 2001. Over the years, the chair has been considered the world’s largest, a title that could be disputed.
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