The scene in American Gods that takes place there is a meeting, under truce, between two groups of warring gods. They deliberately chose it because it wasn’t a holy place. Fits in with the novel’s theme that America isn’t a good place for gods.
When I visited Salem, I had expected it to be a quaint New England village, a la Marblehead or Gloucester. I was surprised to find it was a small but vibrant city. Very nice, but didn’t match the picture in my head at all.
Oh, I thought it was a village, or at least a small town. I obviously missed most of it!
Bethlehem?
That’s not entirely fair. Much of the city centre was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944 and its other great cultural attraction, the frescos of the Camposanto, were wrecked. But its fame as a tourist destination was already so well-established that tourists continued to visit, unaware that it was no longer quite what had previously been so celebrated.
Forks, Washington. Just a small town on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. No one ever went there on purpose till it was the “setting” for the Twilight movies. The movies were actually filmed in Oregon, the only scene filmed in Washington was a restaurant in Port Angeles. It was enough of an attraction to see a couple new hotels built. Been through there a few times, it seems the Twilight fascination is started to fade.
Yeah, came here to say, “And boy, are they surprised when they find they’re in the wrong province!”
Maybe Palmyra, New York.
According to Mormons, God appeared to Joseph Smith (which is interesting). He became famous. There is a best selling book, The Book of Mormon.
And people (mainly Mormons) visit from around the world.
And does Mecca fit the criteria?
I figure Luckenbach, Texas wouldn’t be popular without Waylon (and maybe Willie). Jackson Browne mentioned a particular corner in Winslow Arizona that seems well known now.
Also, I actually stopped to visit Benson Arizona because of the song in John Carpenter’s movie. Nothing but trailer parks, but I took a picture anyway.
There’s a small unmarked grave in Yeadon, PA that contains the body of Devil in the White City serial killer H. H. Holmes. They’ve had to move the body several times due to people trying to dig him up.
I’m wondering if Glastonbury would count- I mean, it claims that it was a centre for pilgrimages and whatnot for centuries, but there’s very little evidence for it actually being all that well known outside the area until the nearby festival named for it started. Now it’s heaving with tourists in a normal summer.
Although the tor is a visible obvious attraction- it really does stand out in the landscape- it’s a nice landmark, but not something worth visiting from any distance. I’m pretty sure most of the stories attached to it are of recent invention by people whose mystical revelation of same was courtesy of LSD at the festival. Many of them then decided to stay in the area, turning it into the entertaining place it is today.
To US eyes I’m sure the all the historical stuff would seem like it should have been a draw, but you can barely go for a walk anywhere in the area without tripping over a bronze-age settlement.
Oh I don’t know - I don’t think most of the woo crazies who live and visit Glastonbury on a day out go there because of the music festival (which isn’t actually in Glastonbury). I think they go there to find Merlin.
Yeah, but I think they only go to that town because the people who took LSD at the festival 40 years ago said they saw Merlin there, and stayed… Prior to the festival, it seems to have been pretty much just another twee little town, with a funky hill and some nice ruins.
I mean, the little village I lived in up North had an ancient church and loads of weird local legends, but no-one outside the area cares- my theory is that Glastonbury only got its local legends spread wider due to the mass of people taking psychodelics at the festival of the same name.
It’s now great fun to visit- I recommend playing spot-the-wizard on the high street, and the parish magazine is simply joyous, but would the assorted crazies-in-residence have picked that spot to be weird in if it wasn’t for the festival? I doubt it.
A more clear-cut example of the same effect is Nimbin, in Australia; they had one festival, in 1973, and a bunch of hippies basically came to that and got so stoned they didn’t bother going home. Now the place is a tourist attraction, holds events, and is also an interesting place to visit, but it certainly wouldn’t have been like that if it wasn’t for the Aquarius festival, even if that was a one-off, and most of the current residents arrived long after.
Yup. “By the rude bridge that arched the flood” and all that.
And as later noted, Concord also has Walden Pond where Thoreau hung out a couple of years.
But I think there’s even more tourism due to Louisa May Alcott’s home/the setting of “Little Women.”
Does having SEVERAL independent claims for tourist attraction disqualify by your rules?
The small town of Pepin, WI gets some tourism because Laura Ingalls Wilder was born just a few miles from there. The original cabin is gone, but a replica was built. I only know this because we camped at the RV park in Pepin for several weeks.
Manassas, VA draws Civil War buffs because of the two Battles of Bull Run. My great grandfather was captured at the second battle, but at least wasn’t one of the 15,000 men killed there.
Thought of another. Wallace, Idaho. People stop to look at a manhole cover.
Once every year or two we visit the nearby small town of Smicksburg, PA. It is a tourist attraction because of the Amish living there. Non-Amish folks run restaurants, stores, etc featuring Amish things like shoo-fly pie. We always have an enjoyable day there.
Maybe Loch Ness?
(I don’t really know if there are other reasons to go there besides looking for a sea monster)
A few years ago I received a postcard from Winslow, sent by a friend who had cancer and chose to travel instead of fighting his disease. After the postcard I received a souvenir spoon from Graceland, then a short time later a note from his wife that their journey was over.
Sort of like a certain house on Long Island getting an exterior remodel in an attempt to not attract so many tourists.
It’s actually a huge and glorious sea water lake, so very popular with tourers, campers and water sports enthusiasts.