15 Instagram Feeds That Help Make the World More Wondrous
Atlas Obscura readers (and staff!) praise the Instagrammers who are truly blowing them away in 2019.
Atlas Obscura is no stranger to Instagram, but recently AO Community member allisonkc asked fellow readers in our travel forum to recommend Instagram accounts that could add a little more “wonder and inspiration” to her feed (besides, of course, Atlas Obscura’s!). Thanks to the responses to allisonkc’s query, we were introduced to dozens of wonderful accounts that, frankly, we wish we’d thought of first.
There’s the account that collects intricately patterned floors from around the globe, and one particularly creative Instagrammer who’s chronicling the forgotten boot-cleaning stations of Dublin, just to name two. Travel-focused feeds on Instagram might be a hot (and controversial) trend right now, but these Instagrammers truly provide a unique window to the world.
Check out some of our favorite suggestions in the collection below, and if you have a favorite Atlas Obscura-esque Instagram account that you’d like to share, head over to our forums and tell us about it!
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Accidentally Wes Anderson
“I love that their photos aren’t just incredible but they also post really detailed explanations about each place they feature.” — Maren
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Retro Roadside Photo
“Old neon, mid-mod and roadside signs from around the U.S.” — Emilyhajduk
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mixterdm
“[F]or a local’s eye on New Orleans’ beauty.” — Unibarbcorn
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AsDetroitsOwn
“[A] taste of the grittier, but charming Detroit.” — Unibarbcorn
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Bootscrapers of Dublin
“Literally just pictures of bootscrapers as features built into the exteriors of Dublin buildings. I love the idea that someone is walking eagle-eyed through Dublin on the lookout for these things. Its bio is ‘Looking out for the Overlooked.’ Could that not be more perfect?” — Allisonkc
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Laura Zurowski
“[It] is dedicated to Pittsburgh’s city steps. There are 739 public staircases in town, there’s a book chronicling them, and Laura’s project is to visit each and write a piece on each one. She’s an awesome writer and breaks my heart regularly.” — Anodyne33
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abandoned jewish memories
“The manager of this account visits the remnants of Eastern European Jewish communities. It’s clearly a passion project, and the captions to each picture are highly informative and thoroughly researched.” — Allisonkc
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I Have This Thing With Floors
“Lots of great pics of beautiful floors.” — Shatomica
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Vintage Las Vegas
“Old photos and stories from Las Vegas.” — Emilyhajduk
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Airstream Dreams
“Renovated airstreams!” — Shatomica
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Sam Marshall
“Various pics of breezeblocks.” — Shatomica
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Obituary Euphemisms for Died
“Chronicling various euphemisms for death from obituaries.” — Shatomica
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Our Type
“[I]nteresting pics of Ireland’s storefronts/signs/typography. I only discovered the account because AO did a story on it!” — Kerry Wolfe
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Peter Orosz
“He’s currently walking across Shikoku, Japan, in the winter, and his photos and write-ups are great.” — Samanthachong
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saguarosally
“Posts cool road/business signs from around the USA.” — Emilyhajduk
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