Although this wasn't sculpted by a Kansan, it has a great Kansas story. You see, after a lifetime of feeling snubbed by his wife's family, old John Milburn Davis chose to have an incredibly ornate gravesite built, insuring that there wouldn't be any money left for them to inherit! It's a story told in fine Italian marble, a pictorial history of Davis and his wife at various stages in their marriage, culminating in the sad, mysterious Vacant Chair.

The eighth wonder of the world is in Iowa. At least, that's what the advertisements say, and who am I to argue with them? Rising out of the small town of West Bend (pop. 862), a part of Iowa where the landscape is seldom disturbed by anything larger than a grain silo, lies the Grotto of the Redemption. Grottos are a phenomenon we've seen a lot of over the years, but this one is King of the Hill.

Since 1935, Miss Deeble created miniature "postal card" scenes of the places she had visited or read about in books. Some of these included Mount Rushmore, Estes Park Conference Camp, and the Tetons. Florence worked the last 10 years of her life creating tributes to the Lucas City Band, founding fathers, a monument to her father and another to her brother, Burl, who served in WWII. She enjoyed visitors to her garden and carefully kept a guest book listing everyone who visited.

Erika Nelson is a visionary artist, educator and one of America’s foremost experts and speakers on the World’s Largest Things. She is a national researcher and speaker on Grassroots Art environments, Roadside Attractions and Architecture, and the World’s Largest Things. Nelson is also the founder and curator of a unique and innovative traveling roadside attraction and museum called “The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things.”

Mary Nohl’s lakeside cottage and yard are replete with sculptures, paintings, and decorative elements. Inspired by her life on the shore of Lake Michigan, Nohl used every imaginable material to construct a colorful and whimsical world. The yard features fifty-nine concrete sculptures, many figural and life-size. Inside the house, almost every surface is adorned; she hand made stained glass, painted her furniture and walls using carpet swatches as brushes, and displayed her paintings and ceramics.

This jaw-dropper is the oldest complete folk art environment in the United States, creating a creative epicenter in this rural Kansas town. OK, it's not exactly the exact Garden in the Bible, but Samuel P. Dinsmoor began pouring forth his vision in 1907 when, at the age of 64, he completed his Log Cabin Home, built from native limestone. Then, using the newest building compound of its day -- concrete -- he spent the next 18 years surrounding his house with a narrative sculpture garden.