This Illinois Tower Was Built Exclusively for Swiss Goats

On a farm in central Illinois, a retired schoolteacher named Marcia Johnson helped build what would become the world's largest goat tower—entirely by accident. According to Atlas Obscura, it started in the late nineteen nineties when her husband Dave saw a photograph of a goat tower at a South African winery. They had leftover bricks from their own house project, and Dave was inspired. Working backward from the magazine photo, Dave and a master bricklayer improvised the design. But they miscalculated the scale. The tower ended up nearly a foot wider than intended, and when the proportions didn't work, they had to add an extra spiral, creating a structure thirty one feet tall—accidentally the world's largest goat tower. The Swiss Saanen goats that live there are natural climbers, and the winding ramp is perfect for them. What started as a way to use spare bricks has become a tourist attraction, with visitors amazed by the whimsical structure just outside Marcia's kitchen window.

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