Byway Atlas
Places worth the detour
Every kind of place the atlas can name, and every one of them traced to a record we can show you.
WaterfallsFalling water, mapped to the roads that reach it. Some run all year; some only after a storm, and the record says which.8,480 publishedHot springsGeothermal water at the surface. Only springs recorded as hot are listed here — a spring is not a hot spring unless the record says so.439 publishedLighthousesThe towers at the edge of the road. Many carry a build date and a place on the National Register, and where they do it is on the page.306 publishedCovered bridgesRoofed timber crossings still carrying a road. They are short detours by nature — the bridge is the destination and the drive to it.68 publishedBeachesWhere the road meets the water. Only named beaches are listed — most of what OpenStreetMap maps as sand has no name, and an unnamed shore is not a destination.5,183 publishedHistoric sitesMonuments, forts, ruins and memorials standing where they were built. What the record knows is what the page says.46,598 publishedPeaksMountains, buttes and volcanoes the map knows by name, with the recorded elevation where the survey has one.98,799 publishedRest areasSigned stops along the through road — somewhere legal to pause, stretch, and read the map. Named what the road record names them.1,374 publishedGhost townsSettlements abandoned and left standing, from mining camps to rail stops. What the public record says about each is what the page says.2,686 publishedMuseumsCollections with a door and posted hours, from county history to aviation and rail. What the record knows about each is what the page says.16,189 publishedAttractionsThe signed sights of the road — landmarks, curiosities and roadside stops mapped as destinations in their own right. Named what the record names them.17,884 publishedParksGreen ground with a name and a boundary — city commons, county grounds and state parks alike. The ones with a record behind them are the ones we point you to.135,968 publishedNature reservesLand set aside and kept that way — refuges, game lands and wilderness, each held by somebody who says so on the record.35,888 publishedArtworksSculpture, murals and the outsized roadside piece you slow down for. Public work, standing where anyone can see it without paying to.24,052 publishedSpringsWhere water comes out of the ground cold. The hot ones have their own page; these are the wells, seeps and sources people have named for centuries.14,543 publishedGardensPlanted ground meant to be walked through — botanical collections, arboretums, community plots and the sculpture garden behind the museum.8,762 publishedCliffsThe abrupt edge — sea cliff, escarpment, canyon wall. Named rock faces, mapped against the roads that run under and over them.7,640 publishedPicnic sitesA table, some shade and a reason to stop for twenty minutes. Modest by definition, and worth knowing about before the next long stretch.3,846 publishedNatural archesRock the weather cut a hole through. Rare enough that people drive a long way for one, and mapped here against the road that gets closest.334 publishedDark sky placesParks, reserves and sanctuaries certified for their night skies — a designation carried by places, each traced to its Wikidata record.
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