Best of 2009 Interview: Five Weirdest Washington Landmarks

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AS A SENIOR EDITOR at Roadside America, a travel Web site specializing in bizarre attractions, Ken Smith is a rare authority on strange landmarks. We asked him for his five D.C. favorites. (You can find locations at Roadsideamerica.com.)

» Obscure Monument to Lobsterdom: This statue of a man kneeling over a lobster was constructed in Maine for the 1939 World's Fair. After the fair, it moved from city to city for decades before it ended up in Washington (on Maine Avenue), donated by the Camp Fire Girls of Cundys Harbor, Maine, in 1981.

» Franklin Roosevelt Memorial Block: Although there is now a massive memorial to FDR, "he stipulated that when he died all he wanted was this block of granite the size of his desk," says Smith. It still sits, with his name engraved on it, outside the National Archives.

» The American Acropolis: The National Capitol Columns — originally part of the U.S Capitol — at the National Arboretum are "pretty offbeat," he says.

» The Last Temperance Fountain: "The Temperance Association was building these fountains all over the country to encourage water-drinking, and you've got the last surviving one in Washington," Smith says.

» The Sonny Bono Memorial Park: It's "one of our favorite places because it's tiny — it's really tiny," Smith says. (It's simply a triangle of land with a little plaque — seen at right — in the ground.) "We like Sonny Bono tributes wherever they are."

» Best Weird Landmark: The Awakening

» Explore a full list of the year's winners at the Best of 2009 index.

Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post