8 Quirky Historical Monuments in Nevada

You know that feeling when you’re driving through Nevada, hungry for something real, and all you see are endless skies and gas stations selling stale jerky? That’s when you stumble on a monument so weird, so strangely charming, you actually forget about your phone for a second.

Nevada’s got these gems everywhere; reminders of people who decided normal was boring and left their mark with a wink and a dash of rebellion. Ready for a road trip that’s as odd as your group chat history? Grab your keys, bring your best friend who never says no to an adventure, and let’s get lost on purpose.

1. Clown Motel

You’re not really living until you’ve checked into a room, dropped your bag, and realized 2,000 clowns are silently judging your snack choices. The Clown Motel in Tonopah doesn’t do subtle. Each room comes with a collection of clown dolls, their painted smiles lingering just a little longer than you’d like.

The kicker? It sits right next to the historic Tonopah Cemetery. So, if you hear any late-night giggles (or ghostly whispers), just blame your imagination; or the management’s love for the dramatic. You have to respect a place that leans so hard into its theme, it almost dares you to have a nightmare.

Open since the 1980s, the Clown Motel has become a rite of passage for those who appreciate the line between kitsch and creepy. You’ll leave with a new tolerance for porcelain faces, and probably a great story for your therapist. Go ahead and take that selfie with the world’s friendliest nightmares. It’s weird, it’s wonderful, and oddly, it feels a little like home; if your home had a circus in the attic.

2. International Car Forest of the Last Church

Ever wanted to see what happens when Mad Max meets Burning Man at a scrapyard art party? That’s the International Car Forest of the Last Church for you. It’s a place where over 40 vehicles stand upright or tipped at bizarre angles, graffiti-splashed and defiant against the Goldfield desert sun.

Here, nobody cares if your art degree is gathering dust. Bring a can of spray paint, leave your mark, or just wander and wonder about the stories these cars could tell. Rumor has it, even the tumbleweeds pause to pose for photos.

Created by artists Chad Sorg and Mark Rippie, this open-air installation is both gallery and playground. There’s no entrance fee or velvet rope; just a call to embrace the chaos. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a local performing impromptu music, or maybe you’ll just stand in awe, feeling like you landed in a parallel universe where rust is a virtue. This is Nevada at its most unfiltered and unapologetically odd.

3. Goldwell Open Air Museum

You know those days when you question if you’re dreaming? The Goldwell Open Air Museum throws you straight into that headspace. Picture massive, ghost-like figures rising out of the Mojave Desert, with nothing but tumbleweeds for company and a sky so big your worries shrink.

Its most haunting piece: a life-sized, shrouded take on Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, sculpted by Albert Szukalski in 1984. The group is frozen mid-meal, cloaked in fiberglass, equal parts sacred and sci-fi. Ghost town Rhyolite looms nearby, as if daring you to find any sense of normal here.

Other sculptures are just as wild: think giant mosaic sofas or a naked pink lady cycling toward eternity. There’s no ticket booth, no fancy lighting, just art and open air, which honestly makes everything better. It’s impossible to leave without a photo and a sense that maybe life should be more experimental, less ordinary. Highly recommended for anyone allergic to beige.

4. Tom Kelly Bottle House

Honestly, who needs bricks when you have 50,000 empty bottles and way too much free time? Tom Kelly, a saloon owner with a stubborn streak, built his house in Rhyolite in 1906 using every bottle he could find; mostly beer, because what else do you expect in Nevada?

The result is a shimmering patchwork cottage that sparkles in the desert sun. Every wall glows like stained glass, and you can almost hear the old miners toasting to ingenuity. There’s a wild kind of resourcefulness here; no one’s ever accused Nevada of being practical.

Tourists have been gawking at the Bottle House for over a century. It survived the boom, the bust, and a few too many wild parties, becoming a quirky icon of the ghost town era. It’s the kind of place that makes you wonder if today’s recycling efforts are even trying. If you love a good upcycling project, this is your spiritual home.

5. Thunder Mountain Monument

Some people build model trains. Frank Van Zant built Thunder Mountain Monument: a fever dream of outsider art just off Interstate 80. He started it in 1969, turning scrap metal, broken glass, and concrete into more than 200 sculptures, all telling stories about Native American history and survival.

Standing among the totems, you feel like you’re trespassing in someone’s most personal daydream. Surprises hide in every corner: twisted railroad ties, vintage dolls staring from windows, messages carved into stone. It’s part folk tale, part warning, all guts.

Thunder Mountain is on the National Register of Historic Places, which is bureaucratic speak for “this is officially weird and important.” Bring your curiosity, and maybe a snack, because the nearest town is basically a rumor. If you ever wanted to walk through someone’s creative subconscious, this is your shot. Just don’t expect tidy explanations.

6. Stokes Castle

Imagine building a summer home just because you saw a cool tower in Italy. That’s peak main-character energy. Anson Phelps Stokes (mining mogul, not Instagram influencer) built Stokes Castle in 1897, out of hand-hewn granite blocks stacked with real ambition.

The three-story tower sits alone outside Austin, Nevada, a little ostentatious, a little lonely. Stokes and his family only stayed a few months before moving on, which seems about right for a place this extra. Panoramic mountain views? Check. Running water and fireplaces? Also check, in 19th-century Nevada, no less.

Now it stands as an unlikely symbol of both wealth and wanderlust. You’ll find it open for visits during daylight, with the sunset putting everything in perspective. If you’ve ever dreamed of having a castle (and immediately getting bored of it) Stokes beat you to it.

7. Middlegate Shoe Tree

You can’t miss it: one cottonwood tree, highway stretching in both directions, and shoes for days. Welcome to the Middlegate Shoe Tree, where romance, road trips, and questionable decisions all hang in the breeze. Legend says it started when a couple in a fight tossed their shoes up, and came back years later, still together.

Now, each dangling pair tells a story. Some are muddy sneakers from a cross-country trek; others, boots that saw more than their share of bad dates. The tree’s survived drama, vandalism, and even being chopped down once; locals just started over with another tree, because tradition doesn’t quit.

If you ever needed proof that Nevada’s roadside culture is both practical and poetic, here it is. The Shoe Tree isn’t just a pit stop; it’s a growing, swinging scrapbook of everyone who passed through and dared to leave a little piece behind.

8. Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign

Sometimes you just need a sign that says you’ve arrived; and in Vegas, it’s spelled out in glittering neon. The “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign isn’t just a photo op. Designed by Betty Willis in 1959, it’s become the city’s unofficial ambassador, flashing hope and possibility to everyone rolling in with dreams (or hangovers).

You can’t fake the energy at this spot. Tourists line up at all hours for that signature shot, while the city’s wildest stories begin or end right here. The sign sits on a traffic median, and parking is surprisingly easy; miracles do happen in Vegas.

It doesn’t promise luck, but it delivers nostalgia, optimism, and a sense of being part of something bigger than your own drama. Whether you’re coming for the wedding chapels or just to people-watch, this sign is the city’s way of saying, “You belong here, even if just for tonight.”