CINCINNATI

This may be a stretch for Cincinnati, but within the State of Ohio, within five hours driving time from Cincinnati is the tallest and largest statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the world.  It stands in Ashtabula County which is east of Cleveland on Lake Erie.  

It stands there and it stands tall.  It is about 50 foot tall.  The Heinz family (no, not the ketchup people) built the Servants of Mary Center on their 50 acre farm.  Their young son said he had a vision of the Virgin who told him his family should do that.  They hired a non-catholic artisan from Texas to build the statue.  It took him two years to cast it in pieces with reinforced concrete, lift it into place and paint it.  He built it for just the price of materials.  

It must be quite a sight.