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 Mississippi 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
Mississippi gems, most-loved first
- 1The Apron MuseumA one-of-a-kind collection of thousands of hand-sewn aprons — Civil War calicos to Star Wars novelties — tucked in tiny Iuka in the far northeast corner, open by appointment.
- 2Dunn's FallsA 65-foot waterfall an Irish immigrant built by hand in the 1850s, paired with a relocated 1857 grist mill in the piney woods near Enterprise, southeast of Meridian.
- 3Windsor RuinsTwenty-three lonely Corinthian columns are all that's left of Mississippi's grandest antebellum mansion, which burned after a careless cigar in 1890, rising from the woods near Port Gibson.
- 4Mammy's CupboardA roadside diner serving homemade sandwiches and stacked meringue pies from inside a giant 1940s brick figure on Highway 61 south of Natchez — lunch only, Tuesday through Saturday.
- 5Mississippi Petrified ForestThe only petrified forest in the eastern U.S., where a 36-million-year-old logjam turned to stone along a short nature trail in Flora, just north of Jackson.
- 6Tishomingo State ParkTucked in the far northeast corner, the state's only true rock canyon, with sandstone bluffs, fern-choked crevices, and a swaying 1939 suspension bridge over Bear Creek — Mississippi's Appalachian foothills.
- 7Birthplace of Kermit the FrogIn tiny Leland, deep in the Delta, a free little exhibit honors local boy Jim Henson and the Deer Creek that inspired Kermit, packed wall-to-wall with Muppet memorabilia — a joyful Highway 82 stop.
- 8Causeyville General StoreEast of Meridian, this 1895 store and working gristmill still grinds cornmeal and houses a back-room museum of antique nickelodeons and mechanical music machines — gloriously stuck in time.
- 9Red BluffLocals call this eroding gash near Foxworth the Little Grand Canyon, a 400-foot drop of vivid orange and red earth carved by the Pearl River — a short, dramatic hike best in the cooler months.
- 10Palestine GardensOn a quiet rural road outside Lucedale, a 40-acre miniature Holy Land lays out tiny replicas of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth at one yard to the mile, with a guided walking tour.
Not your state’s turn yet?
Want Roamward to map Mississippi 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