Abita Springs, Louisiana

At 22275 Highway 36 in Abita Springs, Louisiana, a vintage gas station opens onto one of the South's great folk-art rabbit holes: the Abita Mystery House, opened by artist and inventor John Preble in 2000 and known until 2007 as the UCM Museum (pronounced 'you-see-em'). Inside are thousands of handmade miniatures, animated dioramas, found-object inventions, a 90-year-old Creole cottage, and the bottle-and-tile-covered House of Shards. Star attractions are Preble's invented swamp creatures: Darrel the Dogigator (half dog, half alligator), Buford the Bassigator (half bass, half alligator), and Edmond the Allisapien. Preble, a trained painter, turned to outsider art after visiting Ross Ward's Tinkertown Museum in New Mexico. It is gloriously homemade, self-guided, and unlike anything else on the I-10 northshore.