Ashtyn Asay New Jersey is home to plenty of the usual attractions. The Garden State is home to great beaches, cute towns, and scenic outdoor escapes, but some of its best destinations are a little harder to explain. From a giant elephant you can actually walk inside to an underground mine with a rainbow fluorescent tunnel, there are plenty of weird, wonderful, and downright unexpected places hiding around the state. These spots are worth adding to your list the next time you’re looking for something a little different. Keep reading for some of the weirdest places to visit in New Jersey.
Batsto Village | 31 Batsto Road, Hammonton
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Deep in the Pine Barrens, Batsto Village feels like a town frozen in time. The former iron-making community dates back to the 18th century and now includes a mansion, general store, church, gristmill, sawmill, blacksmith shop, iron furnace, and other historic buildings. It’s open regularly and makes for an unusual day trip for anyone who likes local history with a side of spooky.
Burlington County Prison Museum | 128 High Street, Mount Holly
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This National Historic Landmark, designed by architect Robert Mills, was completed in 1811 and remained in operation as a county prison until 1965, making it the oldest continuously used jail in the country at its time of closure. Today, visitors can explore the old jail and learn about its history, including the conditions prisoners experienced inside the building. The museum also leans into its paranormal reputation, with Friday and Saturday night investigation rentals available for groups.
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Ellis Island Hospital | Ellis Island, Jersey City
The abandoned hospital complex on the south side of Ellis Island contains 29 unrestored buildings that once treated immigrants arriving in the United States. Previously closed to the public for over 60 years, the area can now be accessed through guided tours operated by Save Ellis Island. The unrestored halls, examination rooms, staircases, and medical spaces offer a very different look at Ellis Island, giving visitors a deeper understanding of the healthcare, hardship, and uncertainty many immigrants experienced upon arrival.
Grounds For Sculpture | 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton
Grounds For Sculpture is technically a world-class art museum and sculpture park, but there’s something delightfully strange about wandering through a garden and suddenly encountering a giant bronze human casually sitting on a bench. The 42-acre park features more than 300 contemporary sculptures tucked throughout landscaped gardens, so you never know what you’ll find around the next corner. Between the gardens, peacocks, hidden paths, and larger-than-life sculptures, it feels more like entering another world than visiting a traditional museum. Just be sure to reserve a timed ticket before going.
Insectropolis | 1761 Route 9, Toms River
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Yes, New Jersey has a museum dedicated entirely to bugs. Insectropolis, also known as the Bugseum of New Jersey, features live insects and arthropods, specimens from around the world, interactive exhibits, and the opportunity to get up close and personal with creatures like tarantulas, millipedes, and hissing cockroaches. The museum is designed around a bug-themed city, complete with exhibits that let visitors crawl through a simulated termite tunnel, watch bees at work, and come away with a few new interesting bug facts.
Lucy the Elephant | 9200 Atlantic Avenue, Margate
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It’s impossible to make a list of unique New Jersey attractions that doesn’t include Lucy the Elephant. This six-story, elephant-shaped structure has been standing in Margate since 1881, making it one of the state’s most recognizable examples of novelty architecture. Visitors can actually go inside Lucy, climb through the building, and look out through her eyes. She’s quirky, historic, unmistakably Jersey Shore, and begs the question: why aren’t more buildings shaped like enormous elephants?
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Luna Parc | Sandyston Township
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Tucked away in the woods of Sussex County is a home that looks straight out of a fairy tale. Luna Parc is the longtime home, studio, and art project of artist Ricky Boscarino, who has spent decades transforming the property with colorful mosaics, stained glass, sculptures, and unconventional architectural details. Luna Parc is private property and isn’t regularly open to the public, but Ricky occasionally hosts open house days throughout the year.
Sterling Hill Mining Museum | 30 Plant Street, Ogdensburg
At Sterling Hill Mining Museum, visitors can descend into a former zinc mine and take a guided walking tour. Inside, you’ll find mine galleries dating to the 1830s, along with historic mining equipment, as well as the “Rainbow Tunnel,” a fluorescent display of minerals that glow under ultraviolet light. Back aboveground, the museum also offers mineral collecting and sluicing, so you can make the trip part science experiment, part treasure hunt.
Sybil’s Cave | Frank Sinatra Drive, Hoboken
Hidden along the waterfront is the oldest manmade structure in Hoboken. Sybil’s Cave was originally created in 1832 by the Stevens family as a decorative grotto around a natural spring and eventually became a popular recreational destination with a nearby restaurant. The cave was rediscovered and cleared by the City of Hoboken in 2007, but it was fenced off. Still, it’s a wonderfully weird little piece of Hoboken history to look out for next time you’re walking along Frank Sinatra Drive.
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