The Gem Hunt
America decides what makes the map.
Every state has a spot the algorithms miss — the one locals send strangers to. Name it. Vote on the finalists. The winners get built into Roamward, the scenic road-trip app that proves you actually went. No download required to play.
Nominate
What does Alabama do better than anywhere?
One hidden gem — a place a chatbot would never know. The most-named spots become finalists, and the crowd votes the winner into Roamward.
Vote
Alabama gems, most-loved first
- 1Ave Maria GrottoA four-acre garden of 125 tiny stone replicas of the world's great churches and shrines, hand-built by a Benedictine monk over 50 years, on the abbey grounds in Cullman off I-65.
- 2Dismals CanyonA privately owned sandstone gorge near Phil Campbell where, on summer nights, the canyon walls glow blue-green with "dismalites" — rare glowworms found almost nowhere else in North America.
- 3Rattlesnake SaloonA full restaurant and watering hole tucked inside a giant natural rock shelter near Tuscumbia, reached by a "saloon taxi" truck ride down into the hollow past a small waterfall.
- 4Cathedral Caverns State ParkA walk-in cave near Woodville with one of the widest cave entrances in the world and a forest of massive stalagmites, on an easy 90-minute guided tour in the Tennessee Valley foothills.
- 5Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge7,000 acres of undeveloped Gulf beach, dunes, and wetlands at the tip of the Fort Morgan peninsula — a quiet alternative to the Gulf Shores crowds and a key stop for migrating monarchs and birds.
- 6BamahengeA full-scale fiberglass replica of Stonehenge standing in a field in Elberta, with life-size dinosaur sculptures lurking in the nearby woods — a delightfully weird free stop near the Gulf Coast.
- 7Museum of Wonder Drive-ThruArtist Butch Anthony's stacked shipping containers in Seale let you cruise past windows of folk art, freak taxidermy, and oddities without leaving your car, open 24/7 — the world's first drive-thru art gallery.
- 8Little River Canyon National PreserveAtop Lookout Mountain near Fort Payne, a 22-mile rim drive strings together overlooks of one of the deepest canyons east of the Mississippi, plus Little River Falls.
- 9Cheaha State ParkAlabama's highest point crowned by a 1930s stone observation tower with valley views stretching for miles across the Talladega forest — stand at the literal top of the state.
- 10Unclaimed BaggageA sprawling Scottsboro store that sells the contents of lost airline luggage, now with a small museum of the strangest finds unpacked over 50 years — a one-of-a-kind treasure hunt in northeast Alabama.
Not your state’s turn yet?
Want Roamward to map Alabama next?
Add your vote — the loudest state gets mapped first.
How it works
Nominate
Drop the most underrated spot in your state — the gem an itinerary generator would never surface.
The crowd ranks it
Name a place someone already nominated and it rises. The most-loved gems become the state’s finalists.
Vote the winner in
Finalists go to a public vote. Winners get built into Roamward — credited to the people who found them.
Go verify it
Drive it, GPS-verify the stop, earn the badge, and share the map that proves you were first.
Don’t miss the winners
Be the first to find what the crowd picks.
Join early access and we’ll tell you when your state’s gem wins — and when Roamward opens for iOS testing.
Get early access