20 Quirky Cleveland Landmarks and Destinations Only True Locals Know About

The Toynbee Tiles

East Third St. and Prospect Ave.., Cleveland

The Toynbee Tiles are mysterious messages etched into asphalt in about 30 cities in the United States and South America. The creator of the tiles is unknown. The first ones were discovered in the early 1980s and most contain similar cryptic messages to the one in Cleveland which reads’'TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOVIE 2001 RESSURECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER’. While there were once hundreds of the tiles, many have been paved over in recent years.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons/Erifnam

The Warner and Swasey Observatory

11000 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

Originally located on North Taylor in East Cleveland, the Warner and Swasey Observatory was built in 1919 and was once a scientific landmark. Due to rising light pollution of the city, the observatory was shut down in 1980 and moved from its original location to the Case Western Campus where the telescope is today.

Photo via Stu_Spivack/Flickr

The Greater Cleveland Slo-Pitch Softball Hall of Fame

605 East 222nd St., Euclid

Sharing the same building as the Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame is the Greater Cleveland Slo-Pitch Softball Hall of Fame. To some, Cleveland is known as the “Softball Capital of the World” so it makes sense we need our own hall of fame.

Photo via The Greater Cleveland Softball HOF/Facebook

The Sanctuary Museum (Formerly the Museum of Divine Statues)

12905 Madison Ave., Lakewood

Located in the decommissioned St. Hedwig Church in Lakewood, this museum was formerly known as the Museum of Divine Statues and is known for, well, a bunch of divine statues related to Catholicism. So bring your phone, scan all the items in the museum and learn the history of a bunch of statues.

Photo via The Sanctuary Museum/Facebook

The Percy Skuy Contraception Collection

103 West Lakeshore Dr., Cleveland

Located inside the Dittrich Museum of Medical History is the The Percy Skuy Collection and Gallery, which houses the Contraception Collection. The collection “includes a wide range of contraception items, prototypes, and manufacturing devices”.

Photo via Case Western Reserve University

The Chess Collection at the Cleveland Public Library

325 Superior Ave., Cleveland

The Cleveland Public Library has the largest library collection of chess sets in the world. Head to the third floor of the library and you’ll find The John G. White Collection of Chess and bring a partner, maybe they’ll let you play.

Photo via Scene Archives

Castle Noel

260 South Court St., Medina

Castle Noel is an indoor, year-round Christmas experience, but there’s no better time to visit than around Christmas. If you’re looking for everything Christmas in one place, like props from Christmas films, display windows from department stores, a Blizzard Vortex, Santa’s Chimney Squeeze, indoor snow, a 25 inch animated Christmas tree and much more, this is your place.

Photo via @CastleNoel/Instagram

Balto the Dog

1 Wade Oval Dr., Cleveland

The secluded star of Cleveland's palace of taxidermy was once the most famous dog in the country, even before he inspired a kids' movie. In 1925, Balto, a Siberian husky, led a team of sled dogs through the last stretch of a relay across Alaska, bringing an antitoxin to the town of Nome to stop a diphtheria outbreak. The dogs made national headlines, and the Iditarod sled race was founded in their honor. But two years later, a Cleveland businessman found Balto and his team in Los Angeles, neglected and miserable. He quickly raised $2,000 from Clevelanders to buy the dogs, who got a hero's welcome in a Public Square parade. After his death in 1933, Balto's body was sold to a taxidermist, and since then the stuffed Balto has resided at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Photo via Scene Archives

The Troll Hole

228 East Main St., Alliance

If you’re into trolls, well, we have the perfect spot for you. The Troll Hole in Alliance is a museum dedicated to Troll Dolls and in fact has the largest collection of Troll dolls in the world according to the Guiness Book of World Records.

Photo via The Troll Hole/Facebook

Judy’s Jungle

8665 Station St., Mentor

Out in Mentor you’ll find Judy’s Jungle, home to an awesome garden of fiberglass animals. What started more than 20 years ago at MT Heat Treat, a professional metal heating service, has turned into a full-fledged tourist attraction with a large assortment of animals.

Photo via Yooperann/Flickr