Weird day trips from Philadelphia
The strangest Philadelphia finds are often a short drive out. These 9 day trips — Fonthill Castle, Mahoning Drive-In Theater, Pennhurst Asylum and more — are each hand-vetted and sourced: ghost towns, hot-spring soaks, roadside oddities, and odd small-town museums worth the gas. A weird day trip is its own kind of date.
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Fonthill Castle
Archaeologist and tile-maker Henry Mercer hand-poured this 44-room concrete castle himself between 1908 and 1…
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Mahoning Drive-In Theater
Opened in 1949 and down to as few as 10 cars a night by 2014, this drive-in survived by going the opposite di…
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Pennhurst Asylum
This is not a themed set — it's the actual campus of the Pennhurst State School, shut down in 1987 after the…
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Grounds For Sculpture
A 42-acre park built on the old Trenton Speedway/state fairgrounds, holding over 270 sculptures - including S…
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Staley Mine
Discovered and opened in 1832, the Staley Mine was one of the earliest iron ore sources supplying the histori…
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Friendship Historic Ruins
Deep in the Wharton State Forest of the New Jersey Pine Barrens lie the quiet remains of Friendship, a ghost…
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Scott's Mill Bridge ruins
Located within the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area, this site preserves the remnants of a bustlin…
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Ruins of Lincoln Blacksmith Shop
Dating back to the early 1700s, this sandstone ruin was once a blacksmith shop and iron forge operated by Abr…
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Burnt Mills Grist Mill Ruins
Located within the Burnt Mills Floodplain Preserve, these stone foundations are the remains of a post-Civil W…