A giant Tyrannosaurus Rex stands alongside the Interstate outside of Cave City, Kentucky, letting visitors and passersby know that Dinosaur World is not far. An outdoor museum of prehistoric animals, Dinosaur World Kentucky helped this spot along I-65 earn the title of “best exit” by Southern Living magazine.

Tourists walk along a trail that winds its way through the forest and watch for various life-sized dinosaurs that are scattered throughout the park. More than 100 dinosaurs, each with an explanatory sign, can be found here. The designers of Dinosaur World Kentucky – this is just one of three such parks in the United States, with others in Glen Rose, Texas, and Plant City, Florida – have also filled the grounds with faux dinosaur eggs and raptor claws.

The park also has a playground and a fossil dig for kids. Parents and older children can relax in a covered picnic area while the youngest ones dig for authentic fossils. There’s also a gift shop that offers a selection of eggs, fossils, educational materials, toys, books, and more.

This park, and the two others like it, is the brainchild of Swedish businessman Christer Svensson, who moved to the United States in the early ’90s with his family and purchased a former alligator farm in Florida to create the first Dinosaur World. Svensson has been in the entertainment business for more than 30 years and he knew a winning idea as soon as he had it. All of the dinosaurs models are made on-site by employees of the parks and measure up to eight feet long. They’re constructed using Fiberglas, steel, and concrete.

Know Before You Go

To get to Dinosaur World in Cave City, take Interstate 65 south from Louisville to exit 53 at Cave City.