Unusual Texas Roadside Attractions
Cruise long enough through Texas’ backroads and numbered highways and you may happen upon the unexpected. We’re not talking about discovering your new favorite hole-in-the-wall diner. We’re talking about truly offbeat roadside attractions, such as a giant dinosaur made of rubber tires, a weird museum full of toilet seat art, or the world’s largest teapot.
The eighth wonder of the world is roadside Americana like this, and Texas has no shortage of peculiar roadside sites and stops. Here are some of our favorites that can only be found off the beaten path and have to be seen to be believed.
Devil’s Rope Museum, McLean
Did you know there are thousands of varieties of barbed wire? You can learn about all of them when you visit a museum on Old Route 66 outside McLean that’s dedicated to the sharp stuff. Even if you’re not so interested in the museum’s retelling of how ranchers used barbed wire to “tame the West,” there’s plenty of other exhibits that are sure to snag your attention: The curator twists his own barbed wire art into life-sized Texan critters, such as jackrabbits, rattlesnakes, and armadillos. Look, but don’t touch.
Easter Island Heads, Victoria
Much like the Polynesian Moai statues on the real Easter Island, the monoliths in Victoria, Texas, have been shrouded in mystery for years — how they got there and what they mean have puzzled Victorians and historians alike. Most likely, these 7-ton, 13-foot-tall noggins are the vestiges of an art project at a boat storage company in the 1990s. Other sources suggest these may only be replicas, and how three of them suddenly ended up along a Victoria roadway around 2020, seemingly overnight, is anyone’s guess. Puzzle it out for yourself on the service road of Victoria’s Loop 463/Zac Lentz Parkway.
Ms. Pearl, Giant Squirrel, Cedar Creek
To Big Tex, Ms. Pearl is just a regular-sized squirrel. But at 14 feet tall, she’s more than twice our size and might even be the world’s tallest squirrel. (The giant pecan in her paws, however, is not the world’s largest pecan — keep reading to find out where that is in Texas.) An estimated 30–100 people take photos with Ms. Pearl daily before strolling over for some candy nuts or pecan pie at Berdoll Pecan Candy & Gift Company. Check her out on Highway 71, about 20 miles southeast of Austin.
Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Art Museum, The Colony
Master plumber Barney Smith spent 70 years and 1,400 toilet seats constructing a porcelain palace in his garage in San Antonio. But at age 97, Barney wanted his latrinal legacy to outlive him and moved his massive collection of toilet seats (ranging from downright hilarious to oddly moving) to Truck Yard, a restaurant outside of Dallas, in 2019. Now, the enormous exhibit is open for free to the public, featuring famous potty seats galore: Some in the style of Renaissance paintings, others embellished with genuine pieces of rocket ships, and one that’s supposedly paper-mâchéd with $1 million worth of shredded cash.
World’s Largest …
Some roadside sites claim special fame as the world’s largest … whatever. And since everything’s bigger in Texas, there’s plenty of claims to be found here. Here are our favorites and where to find them.
- World’s Largest Caterpillar: Catch a glimpse of Bruco, the “very busy caterpillar,” off I-35 in Italy, Texas, before it becomes the world’s largest butterfly.
- World’s Largest Teapot: It’s neither short nor stout. It’s on the northside of I-90 outside Navasota in Grimes County.
- World’s Largest Spur: Weighing in at 10,000 pounds and 35 feet tall, this giant Texan accessory is on the south side of Lampasas.
- World’s Largest Man-Made Illuminated Star: A niche category, but El Paso wins it at 459 feet tall. It’s visible after dark just north of I-10.
And we’d be remiss without giving a special shoutout to Seguin, which is not only home to the world’s largest pecan (meaning a 1,000-pound pecan statue), but also the world’s “oldest largest” pecan (whatever that means) and the world’s second-largest mobile pecan (which means exactly what it sounds like). No one tell Ms. Pearl.
Keep the weird Texas road trip going by cruising through Texas’ “European” cities.
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