Where in Baltimore did the most decorated female spy in American history go to school? Why are Dorothy Parker’s ashes sitting in a memorial garden at the old NAACP headquarters? And which notorious gangster planted cherry trees in Charm City that are still in bloom today? You’ll find answers to the questions you didn’t even know you had in Secret Baltimore: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. Learn about the connection between the Frank Zappa statue in front of the Enoch Pratt and free-thinkers in Lithuania or about the blind soccer team in Baltimore with a national championship title. From Lamar Jackson’s favorite dessert spot to where Edgar Allan Poe took his last steps and from the childhood home of the nation’s first African-American Supreme Court Justice to a burlesque bar that inspired a Paul Newman movie, you’ll find no shortage of weird, wonderful, and obscure in Maryland’s largest city. Local writer and professor Evan Balkan provides your expert introduction to the poets, gangsters, abolitionists, domestic terrorists, singers, assassins, athletes, and everyone in between who have called his city home. With his book as your guide, you’ll get to know an entirely new side of Charm City.

Did you know ...that a hidden room exists behind Abraham Lincoln s head on Mt. Rushmore? ...that North Carolina was almost accidentally destroyed in a nuclear holocaust? ...that the Mason-Dixon Line had nothing to do with dividing north from south? ...that Major League Baseball once hosted a single game between three different teams? ...that there is a designated state highway in Michigan where cars are not allowed? ...that 21 people were once killed by a 15-foot wave of molasses that devasted a Boston neighborhood? ...that the National Security Agency has a gift shop with logoed merchandise? Whether you want to visit the New York grave where Uncle Sam is buried, stop by the future hometown of Star Trek's Captain Kirk in Iowa or see the room in California where the Internet was created, Secret America: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure is your ticket to some of the nation's least-known but most interesting spots. It is here where you can explore a historical marker dedicated to Barack and Michelle Obama's first kiss, find out how to acquire logoed merchandise at the National Security Agency's gift shop or examine why Case Western Reserve University has such an unusual name. Secret America is a look at the United States as you've never seen it before a tourist guide that gives you answers to the questions no tourist ever never knew they were supposed to ask. If you are tired of trying to enliven dull family roadtrips searching backroads for the World's Largest Ball of Twine, this is a handbook for truly interesting sites that can transform any cross-country adventure into a tour of the unique spots that make America the odd but fascinating nation that it is.

Where can you see a spider as big as a school bus? How did the world’s largest flying dinosaur land in Austin? Where is the college dorm room where a struggling student started Dell computers? And why are there thousands and thousands of bats in Austin? Find the answers to these questions and many more in Secret Austin: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. Learn about the lost-cause oil rig that became a gusher and funded higher education for generations. Follow in the footsteps of famous Austinites like Janis Joplin, Farrah Fawcett, and Matthew McConaughey. With life long journalists and Austin fans Cheryl and Les Thomas as your guides, you’re bound to find more than a few surprises about Austin—even if you’ve lived there forever. Whether you’re a slacker, an entrepreneur, a poet, or just a bluebonnet admirer, you’ll find Austin’s most fascinating hidden gems, strange history, and obscure trivia in this guide to the “City of the Violet Crown.”

Around the world, Washington, DC, is known for its powerful government, majestic monuments, and world-renowned museums. Secret Washington, DC: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure reminds us that the fabric of the city isn’t solely embedded in its callous political parties, exhausting lawmaking policies, and rampant tourism. Rather, it’s woven through its rich and complex history, mysterious relics, underground societies, forgotten and abandoned buildings, and controversial scandals. From the assassinations of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and James Garfield and Francis Scott Key’s son, to crimes of passion and rage at the US Capitol, Secret Washington, DC uncovers many of the dark and untold truths of how our nation emerged. At the same time, it shines a bright light on the capital’s numerous signs of creativity and innovation through the exploration of quirky art installations like Foamhenge and Barbie Pond on Avenue Q, to oddly shaped and decorated homes like the Mushroom House and the Vanadu Art House. Local author and educator JoAnn Hill will introduce you to the other side of Washington, DC: a treasure trove of mystique, peculiarities, and hidden history just waiting to be explored.

History and hermits. Museums and murals. Graveyards and churches and plenty of cheesesteak. These are the secrets of Philadelphia. They reveal a city of curious contradiction, one with a rich history dating back to 1682 but also with an eye on the future. Come for the Liberty Bell­, but stay for the secrets uncovered in Secret Philadelphia: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscure. Journey to the places you've never heard of and back to those old haunts you thought you knew, but never like this. Discover where you can . . . Enter through a gate full of artistic hands, Peruse art between arrivals and departures, Throw a penny on a Founding Father's grave (and learn why you should), Sample a sandwich on both sides of the street, Learn how 19th-century surgeries were performed, Explore the cell where Al Capone paid his debt to society, Discover the cave of the first doomsday cult, Come face to face with the bird that inspired two famous authors, Follow the footsteps of famous boxers both real and fictional, Encounter the real heroes of the Revolution, Greet neighbors in the oldest neighborhood in the country, Roam through dinosaurs and walk away with a butterfly, See slides of Einstein's brain... From the festive fantasy of the Mummers to the disturbing reality of the Mütter, Philadelphia is a city with stories to tell. Uncover your own favorites in the pages of Secret Philadelphia.

Where in the landlocked state of Indiana can you sunbathe on a beach in the shadow of hulking steel mills, surf by an oil refinery, or scuba-dive to see old shipwrecks? A blend of Indiana and neighboring Chicago, Northwest Indiana is a one-of-a-kind place filled with wonders, like Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes and a hike USA Today described as one of the country’s most scenic. And behind its unique “coastal” setting lie some equally intriguing hidden gems and untold stories. Secret Northwest Indiana: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure leads a whirlwind tour of the Calumet Region that extends from Chicago’s far South Side, through the south suburbs and Northwest Indiana, and into Southwest Michigan. Read about a submarine inventor who sailed under Lake Michigan and the free-spirited Diana of the Dunes, who inspired preservation efforts that led to the Indiana Dunes National Park. Explore hidden Nike missile silos, bygone ski jumps, secret spots to photograph the jets taking off for the Chicago Air and Water Show, and the infamous Marriage Mill, where celebrities flocked to get hitched. Prepare for singing porta-potties, tree graveyards, and other strangeness. Local author and journalist Joseph S. Pete gives you a look behind the curtain in a region you might think you already know well. With his stories and tips, you’ll find no shortage of new secret places to explore in Northwest Indiana.

Where in St. Louis can you… …picnic at a radioactive waste dump? …learn what West County Center’s famous dove really represents? …visit the grave of the man who burned Atlanta? …join a nudist resort? …view a cube comprised of a million dollar bills? …see a piece from New York’s Twin Towers? …find out exactly what a Billiken is? Whether you are piloting a simulated barge on the Mississippi River, exploring the hidden history of Abraham Lincoln’s bizarre swordfight in St. Charles County or eating a ten-pound apple-pie in Kimmswick inspired by the Great Flood of 1993, it is hard to get bored with a copy of Secret St. Louis: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. By turns wistful and whimsical, this is a book which answers the questions you never knew you had about St. Louis while taking readers on a whirlwind tour through 97 unique but often little-known spaces and places that can’t be found anywhere else. A tourist handbook for people who thought they never needed one, “Secret St. Louis” provides a scavenger hunt of hidden gems traversing the somber, strange, surprising and silly locales which define the culture and history that make St. Louis such a diverse and amazing place to call home. From Weldon Spring to Wildwood, from Overland to O’Fallon, from Bellefontaine to Bridgeton, this is an exploration of St. Louis’s odds and ends like no other.

Take a tour of Route 66 unlike any other, discovering the secrets, memorable characters, and little known stories behind many of the route’s enduring icons. Find the answer to the question, “Who was Ella Jones?” and pay a visit to a secluded cemetery that few road warriors even know exists. Learn why Hooker, Missouri, disappeared, and who murdered Billie Grayson in Chandler, Oklahoma. Did you know that a strongbox full of gold still lies buried near the Colorado River, or that tragedy hounds a tiny place in Arizona named after a cartoon? Is it true that ghosts and monsters lurk along the highway’s reaches? Do you know what a Walldog is, or whether nuclear weapons were once used to blast a path for the route? Get the answers in Secret Route 66: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. Two of the historic highway’s most recognized authorities, Jim Ross and Shellee Graham, chronicle these and dozens of other tales as they peel away the layers of history to expose the weird, wonderful, and obscure of America’s Mother Road.

Which scientific landmark moonlights as a mausoleum? Where can you find sacred street food? When was there nearly a Civil War battle in San Jose? What civil rights icon got started in San Jose? What’s the real story behind Sarah Winchester’s mysterious house? Find the answers to these and other questions you didn’t know you had. From player pianos to disappearing lakes, from ghost towns to buried limbs, this unconventional guidebook will take you through bizarre and fascinating stories that define San Jose’s history and shaped this one-of-a-kind city. Whether you are a life-long San Jose resident, a new transplant, or a first-time visitor, local writer Cassie Kifer will introduce you to quirky and beautiful places and share stories about the city that never get told. Part tour and part scavenger hunt, this guide will take you to some of the weirdest and most wonderful places in Northern California’s biggest and most misunderstood city.

Where in New Orleans can you can bathe in Napoleon’s bathtub, step through a time machine, or eat dinner with a ghost? What religion is even stranger than Voodoo? Why take your laundry to the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll? What is the one (delicious!) drink that makes every bartender cringe? There is no denying that New Orleans is more than just another city . . . she is truly an enigma. New Orleans is a place where struggle gives way to decadence and revelry, moss-dripped southern oaks whisper tales of dueling and murder, and long-held traditions baffle—and even appall—outsiders. With this guide, readers can seek out Calas at Elizabeth’s Restaurant and learn how this simple sweet enabled enslaved women to buy their freedom, see how Hurricane Katrina ravaged a typical home at the Flooded House Museum, and discover how Josie Arlington, the city’s most famous madam, mocked her dissenters even in death while basking in the beauty of her ornate tomb in Metairie Cemetery. Secret New Orleans is an intriguing collection of obscure people, artifacts, places, and menu items that lifts the hazy veil of The Big Easy and unmasks some of its most amazingly true stories, proving to be valuable reading for visitors and locals alike!