"Shape" Sign, The Cypress Knee Museum. US 27, Palmdale, Florida

The Tom Gaskins Cypress Knee Museum, now closed, was a roadside attraction along US 27. A once-popular tourist route, the highway ran through Palmdale, Florida, an unincorporated community in the swampy wetlands of southern Florida. Gaskins created a museum and outdoor arcade filled with sculptures he created from the “knees” of cypress trees, which he carved and polished from the gnarled roots. To advertise his venture, he crafted signs, such as the one pictured here, from dead trees, and placed them along the highway for several miles leading up to the site.