In 1906, Thomas Alva Edison invented a mold and construction system for use in building all-concrete houses. Though the technique didn’t catch on extensively, an enclave of Edison’s concept houses remains in Gary, Indiana.

St. Anne’s Chapel at St. Mary-of-the-Woods is an intriguing artistic novelty. From the outside, the tiny chapel belies the spectacle within: nearly every surface of the chapel is covered in shells –- thousands and thousands of them.

On the list of must-see places, no matter what your religious affiliation, you should add Our Lady of Mount Carmel Monastery in Munster. The grounds are full of shrines, but the feature that causes jaws to drop is Memorial Chapel, an underground shrine whose black light mural depicts the end of the world.

Locals call them the Cadillacs of covered bridges. Painted white, with brackets at the roofline and decorative scrollwork near the entry, the clapboard spans built by the Kennedy family in the late 1800s and early 1900s offer sturdy paths across waterways and picturesque hallmarks of Rush County.

With its roof curved like hands folded in prayer, St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church cuts a striking silhouette in Gary’s Tolleston neighborhood. This Modern landmark was the first “home of their own” for the African-American congregation of St. Augustine’s, who were not welcome in the established Episcopal church in Gary.

If you’re intrigued by industrial landmarks, you must visit Kokomo Opalescent Glass, a company that has been making colored sheet glass since 1888, in the same place and pretty much the same way today as it did in the beginning.

The N.K. Hurst Company has been manufacturing beans for nearly three-quarters of a century from its historic surrounds on Indianapolis’s near south side.

Now home to the Koch Family Children’s Museum, Evansville’s Central Library is a great example of adaptive reuse.

Lighthouses? In Indiana? Yes, weather can get wild on our sliver of Lake Michigan in the northwest corner of the state, and in pre-radar days, ships needed the lighthouse for guidance. Michigan City boasts Indiana’s oldest lighthouse, built in 1858.