Roadside America, Atlas Obscura say these are top offbeat destinations in Palm Beach County

Florida long has been singled out for the unusual. But don’t just take our word for it: Two outfits that celebrate the offbeat, Atlas Obscura and Roadside America, both love the state, home to nearly 400 entries in the first guide and more than 600 in the other.

Palm Beach County carries its fair share of the noteworthy — the dinosaur that was moved from a nuclear power plant and the grave of Addison Mizner's monkey, among them.

Maybe you've heard of some of these quirky draws, or maybe all of them have been tucked somewhere in the deep folds of your memory, where you go to fetch the valued answers on Trivia night at your local bar. But there's something about seeing them curated in published lists. This is Florida, after all, in all its weird and fascinating glory.

“Florida is jam packed with weird and unusual attractions,” Roadside America co-founder Doug Kirby said in March from California. “Hardly any states can rival the quality and the quantity.”

Roadside America was founded in the mid-1990s and covers more than 15,000 places in the United States and Canada. Its web page features maps covered in distinctive red push pins. The Roadside folks warn that listed places can close or change, so people should check before they go. In fact, we spotted one and alerted Kirby.

Atlas Obscura launched in 2009. The web page — the Obscura folks didn’t get back to us — features more than 28,300 places around the globe, about 11,000 of them in the U.S.

To save you the work, we have combined the finds from both sources into one guide.

We present to you these Palm Beach County sites that made one or both lists (AO: Atlas Obscura; RA: Roadside America):

Fogelman Sports History Museum, Boca Raton (RA)

At Florida Atlantic University, Avron Fogelman, former Kansas City Royals owner and longtime Boca Raton-area resident, donated his private sports memorabilia collection. The museum, which opened in 2020, includes uniforms worn by Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, and Hank Aaron, as well as one of the Royals’ 1985 World Series Trophies.

FAU, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton; fau.edu/artsandletters

Man and Monkey statue, Boca Raton (RA)

The 11-foot, ton-and-a-half statue, installed in 2005 on a tower at the south entrance to Royal Palm Place, shows Addison Mizner, godfather of Boca Raton, holding his beloved monkey, Johnnie Brown. Mizner, a California-born and trained architect, came to Palm Beach County in 1918 and made his first inroads in Palm Beach, introducing "Mediterranean style architecture" to the Everglades Club, according to the Boca Raton Historical Society.

As his local business endeavors took off, Mizner built a hotel on the west bank of Lake Boca Raton, opening in 1926 as the Ritz-Carlton Cloister Inn. He also mapped out miles of streets, administration buildings and plans for many homes. At one point, Mizner headed a group that owned two miles of oceanfront in the city and up to 1,600 acres in all with the intention of transforming Boca Raton into "the world's most architecturally beautiful playground," the society reports.

The monkey became almost as well-known as the man, earning mentions on current tours of Palm Beach and in written history kept by the likes of The Colony Hotel and others.

Royal Palm Place, 201-299 Via De Palmas, Boca Raton

Meter Men, Delray Beach (RA)

Three dancing stick figures with parking meter heads were installed in the early 1990s in Banker's Row Park, just north of Old School Square, to “guard” a meter-free parking lot. According to Palm Beach Post archives, the meters were commissioned by the city and crafted by former resident David Gochenour for $4,500.

Though they could bring a smile to anyone's face, they also proved to be wobbly and unsafe, due either to poor construction or faulty installation, depending on who was pointing the finger, the city or the artist. When some stick figure arms snapped in 1993, the installation was removed and sent to an auto repair shop in Boca Raton to be rewelded and galvanized, the Post reported. The Meter Men returned to their post in 1994 and, today, are just one many public and private art installations that can be seen on a walk through downtown Delray Beach.

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens near Delray Beach (AO)

You likely have heard how Japanese immigrant George Morikami lost most of his assets in World War II. He later attained 200 acres and, late in life, donated it to the county “because America has been so good to me.” The museum and gardens has become one of the county’s most popular attractions.

4000 Morikami Park Road, Delray Beach; morikami.org, 561-495-0233

Witch's Wall in Palm Beach (AO)

The southwest corner of the Palm Beach Country Club is a tall mound of rock and coquina. A small window carved into the south face and covered with a gate is said to be the Witch's Wall.

According to Atlas Obscura: "The road is fascinating enough from a geological standpoint: different layers and patterns are easily visible. But what makes this stretch a local legend known as the Witch’s Wall has to do with the small window carved into the south face and covered with a metal gate." The atlas then repeats what it calls local legend about an evil witch who lives nearby in a home on top of the mound, or, alternately, a woman who was imprisoned in a basement by her son. The town says it’s a water pump station.

736 N. Lake Way, Palm Beach

Flagler Museum, Palm Beach (AO, RS)

Whitehall, the former home of the man who put Palm Beach County on the modern map (that would be Henry Flagler) is an institution that speaks for itself. Roadside America mentions a gold telegram Flagler once received.

1 Whitehall Way, Palm Beach; flaglermuseum.us

Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, Palm Beach (AO)

The first church in Palm Beach County, and the first Protestant church in South Florida, was founded in 1889 in two smaller buildings. Those buildings predate even the town of Palm Beach by more than 20 years. For the current structure’s first service, on Christmas Day in 1926, many came on horseback and by boat.

The church is modeled after the León Cathedral in Spain. Its cornerstone bears both the year of its groundbreaking and the year Ponce de Leon first landed on Florida's coast, 1513. The sun rises and sets though the story of Christianity depicted in dozens of its stained glass windows.

141 S County Road, Palm Beach; bbts.org

Johnnie Brown's grave, Palm Beach (RS, AO)

Consensus is the town of Palm Beach has only two graves: Laddie, a dog owned by a neighbor of architect Addison Mizner, and Mizner’s spider monkey, Johnnie Brown, whose marker sits off Worth Avenue in a courtyard of Pizza Al Fresco.

Mizner lived in an apartment of his own design on Worth Avenue, in a building that nestles within Via Mizner, a courtyard filled with restaurants, shops and residences. According to Atlas Obscura, Johnnie brown was one of Mizner's many unusual pets, and one that would ride along with Mizner as he made his rounds of Gilded Age society events. The monkey not only hobnobbed with the wealthy, but also reportedly ran for town mayor — by some accounts losing by only four votes. The grave marker indicates that Johnnie Brown died in April 1927.

14 Via Mizner, Palm Beach

Kennedy bunker, Peanut Island (AO, RS)

John F. Kennedy’s family had a winter estate in Palm Beach from 1933 to 1995. When he became president in 1961, the government dug a bunker on Peanut Island, a manmade island in the middle of the Palm Beach Inlet, with the idea that he could run the country from it in the case of a nuclear attack.

The bunker was not yet finished when Kennedy was assassinated. It stood empty for decades, then was restored in the 1990s. The Palm Beach Maritime Museum maintained it, and ran guided tours, until 2017.  In January 2022, Palm Beach County agreed to take over the bunker, renovate it, and run it as a county park. The parks department said in early March that it anticipates opening in the second half of 2026.

Peanut Island; currently closed for renovations

Nuclear dinosaur, West Palm Beach (RA)

The T-rex statue nicknamed Rosie took post outside Turkey Point about a year after the facility opened south of Miami in 1967, according to the South Dade News Leader. The several-stories-tall, toothy beast withstood Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and changes to the plant in subsequent years.

In 2019, Rosie moved to West Palm Beach in front of the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium, now the Cox Science Center and Aquarium.

4801 Dreher Trail N., West Palm Beach; www.coxsciencecenter.org

Lost city of Mangonia, West Palm Beach (AO)

Kansas minister, educator and horticulturist Elbridge Gale came to South Florida in 1884; he is believed to be the first on the mainland to build a cabin. It's believed some or all of the original cabin is in the existing structure of the Gale house, at 401 29th St. in West Palm Beach.

At the site, Gale developed what is likely the nation's first fruit-bearing, grafted West Indian mango tree. "Today, about 80 percent of the world's commercial mangoes (even in China and India) trace their roots back to the original variety developed here in Northwood," wrote Carl Flick, an urban planner who was advocating for a marker to the town in 2018.

Gale died in 1907. His 16-year-old daughter Hattie would become teacher at South Florida’s first schoolhouse, now located in a park in Palm Beach.  A town of Mangonia later was platted, but most of it became the Northwood neighborhood. A separate town of Mangonia Park, about two miles to the northwest, incorporated in 1947.

1928 hurricane mass grave, West Palm Beach (AO)

The great 1928 Okeechobee hurricane, which killed at least 2,500, has been called Palm Beach County’s most profound event and the most under-reported disaster in American history. Nearly 700 black victims were dumped in a mass grave that was unmarked for decades.

25th Street and Tamarind Avenue, West Palm Beach

Bulk Candy Store Museum, near West Palm Beach (AO)

The family-run store runs guided tours of the six-room gallery, which shows the history of sweets as well as candy-themed art and memorabilia. These include including vintage wrappers, giant Pez dispensers, and a golden ticket and Everlasting Gobstopper from "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," signed by the cast of the 1971 film, owner Ken Shenkman said.

235 N. Jog Road, West Palm Beach; reservations required; 561-540-1600. bulkcandystore.com

1,000 Mermaids, off Palm Beach (AO)

In 2019, Palm Beach County dropped 100 tons of donated concrete and 18 mermaid and reef sculptures to create an artificial reef in 45 feet of water off the coast of north Palm Beach.

The concrete came from the former Riviera Beach Marina and the old Flagler Bridge. The sculptures were made and donated by Boynton-Beach artist Chris O'Hare. Each sculpture, depicting mermaids and abstract coral reefs, is 8 feet tall and weighs 2 tons. Some carry poetry, and one was intended as a diver selfie-station. Certain pieces were sprayed with calcium carbonate, creating a good base for corals and marine life.

Atlantic Ocean, about a mile southeast of the Lake Worth Inlet

Big Sea Captain at the Wheel, Riviera Beach (RA)

The 14-foot, 2,500-pound white statue of a grizzled skipper was created in 1978 for Mariner Bank in Lake Park. The bank later closed, and the statue was moved in 1983 to Phil Foster Park.

900 Blue Heron Blvd., Riviera Beach; discover.pbcgov.org

Manatee Lagoon, West Palm Beach (RA)

In 2016, Florida Power & Light Co. created the manatee refuge where the threatened animals gather during cooler weather in the warm-water outflows of its gas-powered plant along the Intracoastal Waterway.

6000 N. Flagler Dr., West Palm Beach; visitmanateelagoon.com

Shark Attack, Palm Beach Gardens (RA)

Davie-based Nova Southeastern University's northern satellite campus features an 18-foot mako shark — the school's mascot — breaking out through pavers. Its head rears up more than 4 feet above the ground; but don't worry, it's harmless, a 2012 bronze-and-stone creation of wildlife sculptor Kent Ullberg.

11501 N. Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens

World Trade Center steel beam, Palm Beach Gardens (RA)

A 12-ton, 36-foot piece of history, the heat-warped steel beam number C-89 from between the 12^th and 15^th floors at the Trade Center's south tower was installed in 2010 outside Palm Beach Gardens Fire Station 3 on Northlake Boulevard. It’s flanked by eight, 8-foot glass panels, with the names of the some-3,000 victims etched in half-inch letters.

5161 Northlake Blvd., Palm Beach Gardens

Lion Country Safari, Loxahatchee (RA)

Back in 1967, when this part of the county was the hinterlands, entrepreneurs built a wild kingdom where visitors were confined to their cars and animals ran wild. Now celebrating more than a half century, the 320-acre attraction offers the drive-through safari and a 55-acre adventure park. The park is a regular on USA TODAY's annual 10 Best Safari Parks in the U.S. and also earned a nod in 2023 from U.S. News & World Report.

2003 Lion Country Safari Road, Loxahatchee; lioncountrysafari.com.

Unit 11, Everglades, west of West Palm Beach (AO)

In the 1970s, developers eyed some 1,770 acres off the Beeline Highway in northwestern Palm Beach County. More than 900 individuals bought lots, and more than 53 miles of roads, ditches and canals were dug before the developers decided they were no match for the poor drainage. The county acquired the “Unit 11” property over a decade and worked to restore the original wetlands. It's now part of Hungryland Slough Natural Area.

12385 Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, West Palm Beach; discover.pbcgov.org/erm/NaturalAreas/Hungryland-Slough

Panther Ridge Conservation Center, Loxahatchee (RA)

The center, along Okeechobee Boulevard, is home to some two dozen wild cats representing more than nine feline species from around the world. It offers educational tours and also takes part in breeding programs aimed at preserving genetic pools of  endangered species.

 2143 D Road, Loxahatchee; pantherridge.org

Eliot Kleinberg retired in late 2020 after 33-1/2 years as a staff writer at the Palm Beach Post. He authored the longtime history columns Post Time and Florida Time. His nine books include "Historical Traveler’s Guide to Florida" and "Weird Florida I" and "Weird Florida II."

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County Florida must-see attractions, things to do mapped