Enchanted Highway, North Dakota

The Enchanted Highway, North Dakota
...while his son goofs off.

Enchanted Highway, North Dakota
A farmer working...

The highest population density of huge roadside statues might well be North Dakota's Enchanted Highway, a 32-mile stretch of two-lane blacktop that runs between the towns of Gladstone and Regent in Hettinger County, North Dakota.

The statues are the handiwork of one Gary Greff, a self-taught sculptor and onetime schoolteacher and principal who feared that Regent would become a ghost town if its economy did not diversify beyond agriculture.

So what was Greff's solution to the problem? You've got it -- a colony of enormous sculptures on the side of the road.

Birds along the Enchanted Highway in North Dakota.
Giant birds welcome those who take the road less traveled.

Greff went to work in the early 1990s and is still at it today. At the time of this writing, the Enchanted Highway was home to six of Greff's installations -- Tin Family (1991), Roosevelt Rides Again (1993), Pheasants on the Prairie (1996), Grasshoppers in the Field (1999), Geese in Flight (2001), and Deer Crossing (2002).

Greff also runs the Enchanted Highway Gift Shop in Regent and plans to build several more oversize attractions before he hangs up his welding torch.

Tires and turtles -- a logical combination. Find out about them on the next page.

Want to discover more family vacation destinations? See:

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