“Keep Louisville Weird” is a marketing slogan, yes, but it also holds true. This city has quirks and many of those quirks come in the form of strange places that are definitely worth a visit. From Rose Island Abandoned Theme Park to Lottie the Triceratops, Louisville never stops being a place with as many roadside attractions inside the metro area as can be found on the road outside the city.
Weve compiled a list of the most offbeat “attractions” to visit in Louisville.
Have you been to any of these? Know of any more that need to be on the list? Let us know at leo@leoweekly.com. Photos welcome!
Burks Family Cemetery
994 Breckenridge Lane
The Burks Family Cemetery, while old, is fairly nondescript. But what makes it, well, weird, is that it’s located in the parking lot of a shopping mall. What looks like a decorative hedge is actually a border around the cemetery. Through its gate, you’ll find five gravestones, each marking the final resting place of a member of a family that owned a plantation on the property in the 1800s.
Photo courtesy of Jeffrey EldersGravely Caverns
Gravely Brewing Co., 514 Baxter Ave.
Most people go to Gravely Brewing Co. for their locally brewed beer and food from The Mayan Cafe food truck, but its sprawling patio is also host to a surprising sight: ancient looking caverns. These creepy caves are actually old lagering caverns where beer was once fermented. They’re not in use now, but they’ll make your mandatory stop at Gravely feel a bit more mysterious.
Photo via Facebook.com/gravelybrewingWorld’s Largest (Vampire) Bat
Caufield’s Novelty, 1006 W. Main St.
On Main Street you’ll find the world’s largest bat — baseball bat, that is — at the Louisville Slugger Museum. A couple blocks away, you’ll see the world’s largest (vampire) bat, hung by the Caufield’s Novelty costume shop in 2000 as a foil to his steely neighbor.
Photo via Facebook.com/caufieldsnoveltyShrine of Saints Magnus and Bonosa
St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, 639 S. Shelby St.
This Catholic Church doesn’t just have the body of Christ, it has the skeletons of two saints, Magnus and Bonosa, martyred in 207 A.D. by Emperor Diocletian. How did they end up in Louisville? They were originally on display at the Cardinal-Custodian of Holy Relics near Rome, but the Italian government took over the monastery and forced the resident nuns to leave. A monseigneur at St. Martin of Tours successfully petitioned Pope Leo XIII to ship the bones to Louisville in 1901, where they’ve lain in rest, and on display, since.
Photo: Creative CommonsBrown-Forman Water Tower
Brown-Forman Corp., 850 Dixie Highway
Louisville is known for its bourbon, and its 62-and-a-half-foot water tower shaped like a bottle of bourbon. Built by the Caldwell Tank Co. in 1936, this oversized helping of Old Forester sits atop Brown-Forman’s headquarters. It was once the fourth-tallest structure in Kentucky.
Photo via Twitter.com/brownformanMary Todd Lincoln’s Asylum Papers
Frazier History Museum, 829 W. Main St.
Mary Todd Lincoln had always been the subject of whispers about her mental health, and 10 years after the death of her husband, Abraham Lincoln, she was temporarily committed to an asylum in Illinois. In its permanent collection, the Frazier History Museum holds Mary Todd Lincoln’s commitment papers, as well as an arrest warrant and court proceedings.
Photo by Wayne HsiehThe Witches’ Tree
Park Avenue and South Sixth Street
Visitors place trinkets at this gnarled tree in the historic Old Louisville neighborhood. Legend has it that a coven of witches used to conduct rituals at the spot, where a straight maple tree once stood. When the city allegedly cut down the tree to make way for a May Pole in 1889, the witches cursed the city. Legend says on March 27, 1890, a tornado ripped through Louisville and a bolt of lightning electrified the old tree’s stump — and the Witches’ Tree grew out of it.
Photo courtesy of David DomineEastern Cemetery
641 Baxter Ave.
Next to the esteemed Cave Hill Cemetery is a graveyard that has a seedy past. Eastern Cemetery has been called the most overcrowded graveyard in America. As early as the 1800s, its owners started reusing lots, resulting in an estimated 100,000 people buried in the cemetery’s 30,000 graves. In the ‘80s, the graveyard’s owners were exposed for reusing graves and were accused of digging up remains and disposing of them in unceremonious ways, including in a garbage can. Now, charities tend to one of Louisville’s oldest cemeteries.
Photo by Danielle GradyForest Giants
Bernheim Arboretum & Research Forest, 2075 Clermont Road, Clermont, Kentucky
South of Louisville is where the Bernheim giants reside. These hulking wooden sculptures, Mama Loumari and her children Little Nis and Little Elina, were created by artist Tom Danbo and are scattered throughout the forested grounds of Bernheim. Kids climb on them, adults stare in awe. Bernheim is also home to the Spirit Nest, a whimsical tree house created by artist Jayson Fann.
Photo via LEO archivesThe Frito-Lay Magician’s Grave
Cave Hill Cemetery, 701 Baxter Ave.
The statue of Harry Leon Collins beckons at his grave site, inviting you to witness one last trick. Collins was the official magician for the Frito-Lay Corporation back in the ‘70s and ‘80s. At the feet of his graveside visage, you’ll find a stone with a rhyming epitaph, “Never again will we see the twinkle of his eye the sleight of his hand that drew the children of the land.” Visitors throw coins on the stone in memory of the famous magician.
Photo via history_in_headstones/InstagramGnadinger Park
1220 Reutlinger Ave.
Gndainger Park in Germantown is the smallest public park in Louisville — only 0.03 acres! If you don’t know about it, it’s because it’s incredibly easy to miss, only containing two trees, two benches, a trash can and a couple signs. There are several bigger parks not far away — Tyler Park and Cherokee, to name a couple. But Gnadinger Park is special in its own way.
Photo via Louisville Images: Creative CommonsWaverly Hills Sanatorium
4400 Paralee Drive
Waverly Hills used to be a tuberculosis hospital. When you went in, there was no guarantee you’d make it out. This gloomy history, and the aging building’s old “body chute,” where the dead were wheeled out, make for one of the most chilling sites in Louisville. It’s also reportedly the haunt of several ghosts, including a nurse who died by suicide, a little boy who plays with a rubber ball and tuberculosis patients. To explore the Sanatorium, you only have to book a tour: There are options for ghost hunters, those who love history and the brave few who want to spend the night.
Photo via Facebook.com/thewaverlyhillsPope Lick Trestle
3000-3098 Pope Lick Road
Louisville legend states that underneath the Pope Lick Trestle is the home of the infamous Goatman, also known as the Pope Lick Monster: a half-man, half-goat monstrosity. The lure of the creature has resulted in actual deaths: People seeking a glimpse of the Goatman have fallen from the trestle, which is still an active railway.
Photo via Facebook.com/theparklandsoffloydsforkCol. Sanders Grave
Cave Hill Cemetery, 701 Baxter Ave.
Visit the final resting place of the creator of Kentucky Fried Chicken, who didn’t start franchising his recipe until his 60s. The bust of Col. Sanders was designed by his daughter, and the rest of the monument is “suggestive of the KFC headquarters building,” according to Cave Hill. Many onlookers take a bucket of KFC to enjoy with the colonel.
Photo via vibrantellie/InstagramRose Island Abandoned Theme Park
Charlestown State Park, 12500 Highway 62, Charlestown, Indiana
Buried in the woods of Charlestown State Park are the remnants of a theme park called Rose Island that was abandoned after the 1937 Ohio River flood. Hikers can explore the ruins, which contain metal archways, a swimming pool and an old fountain.
Photo via Facebook.com/charlestownspFork in the Road
West Market Street, New Albany, Indiana
This Fork in the Road statue, created by artist David Thrasher, used to literally be stuck in a median in the middle of Market Street in New Albany. During a redesign of the street, it was moved to the sidewalk, where it’s even more delightfully nonsensical.
Photo via Google Street ViewLouisville Mega Cavern
1841 Taylor Ave.
The manmade Louisville Mega Cavern, covering 100 acres under the city, is one of the largest caverns in the country. It began as a limestone quarry, and in the ‘60s, Kentucky officials made plans to house 50,000 people in its halls in the event of nuclear attack. Now, it’s a place for entertainment: zip lining, a ropes course, tours and — around the holidays — the site of a winter lights show.
Photo via Facebook.com/louisvillemegacavernLouie The Troll
The Troll Pub Under the Bridge, 150 W. Washington St.
Louie is the troll mascot for The Troll Pub Under the Bridge’s underground bar, located down an alleyway next to Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center. Come say hi before a game or concert.
Photo via Trollpubunderthebridge/FacebookHogan’s Fountain
Cherokee Park
Atop Hogan’s Fountain you’ll find the sprightly Greek god, Pan. Legend has it that on full moon nights, he springs from his perch to roam the park, wrecking havoc on his one night off. Even if you don’t buy into the tale, the fountain is still an interesting piece of art, created by the great female sculptor Enid Yandell in 1905.
Photo via Facebook.com/olmstedparksHeigold House Facade
332-402 Frankfort Ave.
The Heigold House’s door is a door to nowhere, or to the rest of the city, if you think about it. The facade of this grand home stands without the rest of its building on Frankfort Avenue near River Road. It’s there as decoration, salvaged from the original home along Marion Street when the property was bought by the city to absorb into the town dump. The Heigold House to which the facade belonged was built in the 1850s by a German immigrant named Christian Heigold.
Photo via Google Street ViewWax Col. Sanders
Louisville Visitor Center, 301 S. Fourth St.
You can’t take a picture with the real Col. Sanders anymore, but you can still still pose with a wax figure of the founder of KFC and a bucket of his famous chicken at the Louisville Visitor Center. Just don’t eat any.
Photo via Louisville Tourism‘Opportunity Portal’ Sculpture
Nia Center, 2900 W. Broadway
To get to the front door of the city’s Nia Center, you must walk under a 15-foot tall sculpture of clasping hands. It’s called “Opportunity Portal,” and it was carved from Indiana limestone by sculptors Don Lawler and Meg White.
Photo via Louisville Metro Resilience and Community ServicesThe Grotto and Gardens of Our Lady of Lourdes
Presidents Boulevard and James Pirtle Court
Nestled between Lourdes Hall and the University Park Apartments off of Eastern Parkway, the nearly 100-year-old, half-domed grotto and the garden inside is a hidden gem that are great spots to let go of the day’s stress. As you stroll down the path around the grotto you’ll see throughout the gardens painted stones memorializing its original caretakers (a group of neighborhood residents known as the Grotto Grannies and Grandpa’s) as well as paintings of the 14 stations of the cross along the walls.
Photo and description by Kathryn HarringtonLouisville’s Own Triceratops, Lottie
727 W Main St.
Lottie, Louisville’s Own Triceratops, was once on display at the 1964 World’s Fair, a fiberglass and steel statue commissioned by Sinclair Oil. She first came to Louisville via a road tour in 1968. Then, the Louisville Zoo inherited her. From there, she was shuttled to the Kentucky Science Center, then to a factory parking lot where she was fixed up, and moved back to the Kentucky Science Center where she got a new spot on a pedestal easily spotted from 1-64.
Photo via Louisville Triceratops
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