Table of contents for TIME 100 Must-See US Landmarks in TIME Magazine

There are currently over 2,600 designated National Historic Landmarks (NHL) in the United States. The list includes landmark districts, buildings, sites, structures, and even objects that contributed to the history, architecture, archeology, technology, and culture of the nation. Some are iconic American places, like the Alamo and Washington’s Headquarters at Valley Forge, but others are lesser known but no less influential, such as Sequoyah’s Cabin in Oklahoma, where Sequoyah developed a written language for the Cherokee, and Rowan Oak in Mississippi, the home of celebrated Southern author William Faulkner. HOW NHLS ARE SELECTED The process can take between two and five years. The first step is submitting a written letter of inquiry to the National Park Service, where NHL staff vets the property. To be considered, the property must…

Mount Washington Hotel was the largest hotel in the White Mountains when it opened in 1902, and it is one of the last surviving “grand” hotels in the area. It was the location of a historic meeting that had an impact on the way the world does business. The hotel was built in the Spanish-Renaissance style by Joseph Stickney, a wealthy coal broker and New Hampshire native. Stickney spared no expense—the latest design and construction methods were used, including intricate heating and plumbing systems. Stickney employed over 250 Italian artisans to help build it. It was a luxurious place that catered to wealthy guests from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, and countless celebrities and three U.S. presidents stayed there. Stickney died just a year after the hotel was dedicated,…

The Breakers was a summer retreat built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The 1895 home was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt in the Renaissance Revival style. The property covers nearly 13 acres, and the house has 70 rooms and 27 fireplaces. All the finest materials were used, including Baccarat crystal chandeliers and platinum leaf embellishments. The house had electricity, which was cutting-edge technology in the day. The gardens are also magnificent. In 1948, Vanderbilt’s daughter leased the estate to The Preservation Society of Newport County for $1 a year, and they later purchased it. The third floor is still occupied by the Vanderbilt family, but most of the rest of the estate is open for tours. READY, SET, GO! newportmansions.org Good For: Architecture Lovers Price: $$$ Airport: Rhode Island…

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is the only museum designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, completed in 1959. The building is considered an architectural masterpiece for its unique design. Born into a wealthy American mining family, Guggenheim started collecting Old Masters artwork in the 1890s. In 1926, Guggenheim met German-born contemporary artist Baroness Hilla von Rebay, who influenced Guggenheim to change his collection’s focus to a more modern aesthetic, specifically non-objective art. In 1943, they commissioned architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design the Museum of Non-Objective Painting to house Guggenheim’s expanding collection. Wright’s design was not completed until 1959. Personal rifts, multiple redesigns, property acquisitions, rising costs of materials, Wright’s stubbornness, and Guggenheim’s death in 1949 all played a role in stalling the project. The original estimate was around…

Philadelphia City Hall is the world’s largest free-standing masonry building and the largest municipal building in the United States. City Hall was built between 1871 and 1901 in the Second Empire style, which is characterized by a mixture of different elements and decorative arts. When its tower was completed in 1894, it became the world’s tallest occupied building and the first secular structure to earn that status. It remained the tallest building in Philadelphia for over 100 years. It is also the world’s highest masonry load-bearing structure, consisting of 88 million bricks with walls up to 22 feet thick. It was designed by architects John McArthur Jr. and Thomas Ustick Walter and built on one of the five city center squares dedicated by William Penn. The original design called…

Lightship Overfalls, Commissioned in 1938, is the only small-hulled, third-generation lightship ever constructed and the last one built using riveted hull construction. It was also the last lightship commissioned by the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Overfalls is now a museum ship. It was built for the U.S. Lighthouse Service (USLHS), commissioned as LV-118. In 1939, the USLHS merged with the U.S. Coast Guard, and the ship was renamed WAL 539, so it was a Coast Guard ship for the majority of its service. The ship required a crew of 7-10 working on it at any given time. A total of 14 crew members worked a two-weeks-on/one-week-off rotation. Overfalls served at three stations off the New England coast. From 1938-1957, it patrolled Cornfield Point on the east end of Long Island…

Shakertown is the site of a former Shaker religious community that was active in Kentucky from 1805-1910. By the time the Shakers settled in Kentucky in 1805, there were already several Shaker communities established in New York and New England. Kentucky was a prime place to recruit converts because the revival movement had a stronghold—the frontier people there lived a relatively isolated existence and were hungry for community. Shaker leader Mother Ann Lee sent three missionaries to the area, and they quickly found their first members, one of whom was a local farmer named Elisha Thomas, who opened his 140-acre farm to the Shakers. By December 1806, the group had 44 members. Two years later, they moved to a nearby hilltop they named Pleasant Hill. At their height, the…

USS North Carolina is one of two North Carolina-class fast battleships that were commissioned in the spring of 1941, shortly before the United States entered World War II. North Carolina participated in every major World War II naval offensive in the Pacific Theater. In 1942, during the Guadalcanal campaign, it was struck by a Japanese torpedo. Five men were killed and 23 were wounded, but there was no major damage to the ship. It went on to serve in the Pacific and Operation Magic Carpet. North Carolina was then used for training operations. When it was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and set to be scrapped in 1960, supporters raised more than $330,000 to acquire it and open the ship museum in Wilmington. READY, SET, GO! battleshipnc.com Good…

Bathhouse Row is a collection of bathhouses, associated buildings, and gardens located in Hot Springs National Park. It is the largest grouping of bathhouses in the United States. During the 19th and 20th centuries, bathing in hot springs was thought to be a remedy for a host of maladies, including arthritis and polio. Spa tourists flocked to Hot Springs for its abundant thermal springs that lacked sulfur odors usually associated with such waters. But modern medicine debunked many of the health claims, and the bathhouse industry declined by the mid-20th century. Hot Springs’ Bathhouse Row consists of eight independent bathhouses that competed for business during the thermal spa heyday: Hale (1893), Maurice (1911), Buckstaff (1912), Fordyce (1915), Superior (1916), Ozark (1922), Quapaw (1922), and Lamar (1923). They are lined…

Fort Morgan is a military fort that is located at the tip of Mobile Point in Mobile Bay. The second fort to be constructed there, it was completed in 1834. Fort Morgan was active during four wars, but it made its mark in history during the Civil War’s Battle of Mobile Bay. In August 1864, Union naval forces were able to get past the fort and into Mobile Bay. The Union fleet, under the command of Admiral David G. Farragut, captured two Confederate ships and beached and burned another before capturing Fort Gaines. Union land forces then bombarded Fort Morgan for two weeks until the Confederates surrendered. READY, SET, GO! ahc.alabama.gov Good For: Military Enthusiasts, History Lovers Price: $ Airport: Pensacola International Airport Where to Stay: The Lodge at…

Oakland Plantation, which is now part of Cane River Creole National Historical Park, is one of America’s best and most intact examples of a French Creole cotton plantation. The founder of Oakland Plantation, Jean Pierre Emanuel Prud’homme, received a Spanish land grant in 1789. He and his wife, Marie, constructed the main plantation house in 1821. According to Prud’homme family history, they were the first family west of the Mississippi to grow cotton on a large scale. As demand for cotton increased, so did the plantation’s use of enslaved persons to perform agricultural work and other essential duties to support the farm and the family. The Prud’hommes also operated a general store and the local post office on the plantation. Eight generations of the Prud’homme family lived and worked…

Ernest Hemingway house was the home of writer Ernest Hemingway from 1931 to 1940. Hemingway was the winner of both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. While living at the house, Hemingway wrote Green Hills of Africa in 1935, the short stories “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” in 1936, and To Have and Have Not in 1937. The home was built in 1851 by wealthy shipwreck salvager Asa Tift. It is located across the street from Key West Lighthouse. After Hemingway and his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, moved to the island, Pauline convinced her uncle to purchase the then dilapidated home for them as a wedding gift. The couple restored the property to…

USS Silversides is a Gato-Class submarine that was built in 1941 and decommissioned in 1946. It is currently a museum ship in Muskegon, Michigan. Silversides got its name from the silverside fish that has silver stripes across its body. Silversides was one of the most successful U.S. submarines in the Pacific Theater of WWII with 23 confirmed sinkings—it sank over 90,000 tons of Japanese cargo. The submarine received 12 battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation for its service. Submarine forces were critical in WWII because sinking merchant vessels disrupted Japan’s commerce. The submarine war created a blockade that denied Japan the oil, iron ore, food, and other raw materials it needed to continue to fight against the Allies. Although the number of submariners were small in comparison to…

New Harmony, which spans an area of 20,000 acres, is the site of two separate attempts to create a utopia in America. In 1814, Lutheran separatists, known as the Harmony Society, settled there, became entirely self-sufficient, and built over 180 structures over a 10-year span. Some are still standing today. In 1825, the Harmonists sold the land to Scottish industrialist Robert Owen and geologist William Maclure. The pair then attempted to create a model community where education and social equality would blossom. Although they succeeded in attracting many scholars and intellectuals, including some early feminists, the experiment only lasted two years. Stop in the Atheneum Visitors Center to start your journey through New Harmony’s historic structures. There, you can explore the exhibits, obtain a map, and sign up for…

Fort Snelling was a military fortification on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. Construction of the fort was completed in 1825. The Dakota people considered the confluence area a sacred place of creation. Fort Snelling was the center for U.S. forces during the 1862 Dakota War and was the encampment site where Indigenous people awaited transport when they were expelled from Minnesota after that war. It was also a recruiting station during the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and both World Wars. Today the fort houses a visitor center where you can learn about its rich history. Guests can also walk the grounds to see the existing buildings. READY, SET, GO! mnhs.org/fortsnelling Good For: History & Military Enthusiasts Price: $$ Airport: Minneapolis-Saint Paul International…

The Amana Colonies are seven villages in east-central Iowa that were founded in 1855 by German Radical Pietists called the Community of True Inspiration. They maintained an almost self-sufficient economy until 1932. The group mastered farming techniques and enterprises that served every need in the community—Amana craftspeople took pride in their work as they saw it as a reflection of their faith and community spirit. Although there were strict rules in place for every aspect of their everyday lives, the Amana people were known for their hospitality. Today you can download the Amana Colonies app, take a digital guided drive though the colonies, and stop at quaint restaurants, antique and craft shops, and amazing bakeries along the way. READY, SET, GO! amanacolonies.com Good For: History Lovers Price: $ Airport:…

The Shawnee Methodist Mission, which was also known as the Shawnee Indian Manual Labor School, was a boarding school for boys and girls from the Shawnee, Delaware, and other Indian nations that operated from 1839 to 1862. It was built and managed by Rev. Thomas Johnson, a Virginia-born slave owner whose goal was to assimilate the students to white culture after the Shawnee and other eastern tribes were forcibly relocated to the Kansas Territory in the 1820s and 1830s. At its height, the Shawnee Mission covered more than 2,000 acres, had 16 buildings, and enrolled children from 22 different tribes. The children learned basic academics, English, manual arts, and agriculture. The school is testament to the painful cultural clashes ignited by Westward expansion. The school briefly served as the…

Sequoyah’s cabin museum is a monument to Sequoyah, who developed the Cherokee writing system, and it honors the unification of the Cherokee that resulted from having their own written language. The syllabary (a set of characters, each used to represent a syllable) Sequoyah developed made reading and writing in Cherokee possible, giving the people of the nation more effective ways to communicate. The Cherokee syllabary also encouraged others to create written versions of their spoken languages across the world. Sequoyah, who was born around 1778, worked as a silversmith, blacksmith, and artist, but was illiterate himself until he developed his own written language. Although the syllabary was complete by 1821, it was not widely accepted by the Cherokee until 1825. But by 1830, 90% of Cherokees were literate—the first…

San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church is a well-preserved Spanish Colonial-style adobe structure built between 1772 and 1816 at the center of the main plaza in Rancho de Taos. The unique structure is a favorite subject for artists—Ansel Adams photographed it, and Georgia O’Keefe painted abstract perspectives of it. It is still an active Catholic church today. The church is one of the few surviving adobe structures in town, and the community works to keep it in good condition. A major renovation was completed in 1967, and they resurface the adobe exterior every few years. The building is a blend of Spanish and native influences, inside and out. Massive beehive buttresses support the structure, and dramatic twin bell towers flank the arched entrance. Visitors are welcome to tour the…

Fort Douglas, originally called Camp Douglas, was established in the Utah Territory in 1862 to protect the overland mail route. It played an important role in Utah’s history and economy, and it contributed to the nation’s defense. During the Civil War, troops who usually guarded the mail route were called to fight for the Union, leaving the route open to attacks from aggressive Indigenous tribes. So Col. Patrick Connor and a volunteer regiment were called to set up a garrison, which they named after Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, who had died the previous year. The post’s location was strategic, both for protecting the route and for Connor to keep watch on the Mormons, who were eyed with suspicion at the time. During those early years, the volunteer soldiers began…

The Grand Canyon Railway Depot is the last operating railroad depot in the United States that used logs as its primary structural material. In the late 1800s, the Grand Canyon area was still considered far-off land, accessed only by gritty adventurers who were willing to brave the punishing terrain in exchange for a chance to strike gold. Then Buckey O’Neill, a Williams-area sheriff and businessman who would later become one of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, recognized the natural beauty of the area and lobbied for a Williams-South Rim railway so tourists could observe the gorgeous, unspoiled scenery. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway completed the 65-mile track in 1901, and Grand Canyon Railway tourism was born. The depot is located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon…

A Buffalo Jump is a cliff formation Indigenous people used as a method for hunting and killing bison in large quantities. Hunters herded the animals and drove them over the cliff. The fall would break bisons’ legs, rendering them helpless. Other hunters waited below the cliff with spears and arrows to kill the animals. The Blackfoot people called these jumps pishkun, which loosely translates to “deep blood kettle.” As brutal as it may seem today, Indigenous people relied on bison to survive; they used every part of the animal for food, shelter, clothing, tools, and weapons. Native peoples used the jump for at least a thousand years before explorers expanded west. The cliff is nearly a mile long, making it one of the largest buffalo jumps in the world,…

From its inception in the early 1880s, the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG) was promoted as a scenic route for tourists, but it was also intended to haul gold and silver from the San Juan Mountains. The rails were constructed with narrow gauges to better navigate curves on the rocky mountain terrain. The 45-mile line from Durango to Silverton has run continuously since 1882, and D&SNG is one of the few railroads that has continuously used coal and steam to power locomotives. D&SNG steam locomotives are restored vintage 1923 to 1925 models that are maintained in top condition. The track passes along the same route that miners, cowboys, and early Old West settlers traveled well over a century ago. Learn about the railroad’s history and see exhibits…

Columbia was a Lightship Stationed at the mouth of the Columbia River from 1951 to 1979. These lightships helped maritime crews safely navigate the treacherous conditions in the area. Unpredictable storms, thick fog, rip tides, shifting sandbars, and rocky reefs and shorelines had wrecked thousands of ships attempting to pass through. Columbia was the last of four lightships to patrol the Columbia River Bar, aka The Graveyard of the Pacific, before it was replaced by an automated buoy. Because Columbia was such an important vessel, the U.S. Coast Guard provided an 18-person crew who worked 2- to 4-week rotations, 10 of whom were on duty at any given time. Since the ship anchored 5 miles out to sea, they treated it like a tiny floating city: All supplies for…

Iolani Palace is where the Hawaiian royal family lived from 1845 to 1893 before the monarchy was overthrown. The palace was used as the government headquarters until 1969, then it was restored and opened to the public in 1978. Iolani Palace is the only royal residence in the United States. Construction was completed in 1882 at a hefty cost of over $340,000—about $10 million in 2023 dollars. It was outfitted with state-of-the-art amenities: electric lights, indoor plumbing, and a telephone. The architecture, called American Florentine, was inspired by King Kalakaua’s travels in Europe—he wanted a grand palace on par with his European counterparts. After the king’s death, his sister Liliʻuokalani took the throne; she was later overthrown and imprisoned for nearly 8 months in a small room in the…

Shelburne Farms is a 1,400-acre working farm and nonprofit education center on the shores of Lake Champlain. The property is considered a well-preserved example of a Gilded Age ornamental farm. Shortly after Europeans arrived in Vermont in the 17th century, they started clearing land for their own farms. The town of Shelburne was charted in 1763, and it is recorded that by 1780, farmers raised over 17,000 sheep in the area in addition to growing fruit and grain. In 1886, William Seward and Lila Vanderbilt Webb (heiress to the Vanderbilt fortune), began buying up these farms and eventually amassed a 3,800-acre estate to raise crops and horses. They hired Frederick Law Olmstead, the landscape architect for New York’s Central Park, to design the grounds. New York architect Robert Henderson…

The Wayside was home to authors Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, George Parsons Lathrop, and Harriet Lothrop. It is located on the grounds of Minute Man National Historical Park. The first record of the property having a house on it was in 1717. It had a succession of owners, including merchant and Concord minuteman Samuel Whitney from 1769 to 1778, and scientist and Harvard professor John Winthrop from 1775 to 1776. The Alcott family, who called the home “Hillside,” moved there in 1845, when Louisa and her sisters were young girls. Louisa’s 1868 book, Little Women, is set in the house and is loosely based on the experiences she and her sisters had while growing up there. The house was also a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Alcotts…

Old Barracks is the only remaining Colonial barracks in New Jersey and is one of the only tangible surviving elements of the 1776 Battle of Trenton. The barracks were built in 1758 during the French and Indian Wars in response to area citizens’ complaints about having to house British soldiers in their own homes. At the time Old Barracks was built, it was the second largest building in New Jersey; Nassau Hall in Princeton was the largest. The barracks could house up to 300 soldiers at a time. It was used as a barracks until 1776. During the Revolutionary War, the building served many purposes for the Continental Army and the British, depending on who controlled Trenton at the time. British prisoners of war were housed in the officers…

Washington’s Headquarters is the home used by Gen. George Washington and his household during the encampment of the Continental Army at Valley Forge. In December 1777, the Continental Army arrived at Valley Forge in need of rest and preparation for their next campaign. From this site, Washington could keep track of British dealings in Philadelphia and train his troops. Fortifications, trenches, and log huts to shelter soldiers were built almost immediately. Washington, however, needed a more secure site to solidify plans for his next campaign, so he sublet a home that belonged to local grist mill owner Isaac Potts. The Potts family used the house mostly as a summer home until that time. The two-story house was built sometime between the late 1750s and 1770s. Washington moved in with…

The U.S. Naval Academy was founded in 1845 and has played a pivotal role in U.S. military affairs for over 175 years. The campus, known as the Yard, contains many historic buildings and monuments. In 1899, the U.S. Navy commissioned New York architect Ernest Flagg to design the academic complex, which resulted in one of the country’s finest expressions of Beaux-Arts architecture. The entire campus is characterized by balance and order, and the buildings arranged in hierarchy of importance. Bancroft Hall, named for George Bancroft, the Secretary of the Navy who founded the academy, is the largest academic dormitory in the United States. Located on the campus quadrangle, it houses all 4,000 midshipmen. The Rotunda in the center of the hall has a dramatic staircase that leads to Memorial…

The Smithsonian Institution Building, also known as the Castle, was the first structure built in the Smithsonian complex, which is the largest group of museums and education and research centers in the world. It was constructed in 1855 in the Norman Revival style using Seneca red sandstone. The Smithsonian was founded in 1846 and named after its founding donor, British scientist James Smithson. Smithson, whose birth name was Jacques-Louis Macie, was the illegitimate son of Hugh (formerly Smithson) Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, and aristocrat Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie. James Smithson changed his name after his mother’s death when he inherited her family’s wealth. Smithson was educated and naturalized in England. He became a scientist and traveled through Europe studying geology and a vast array of other subjects. He…

The Old Salem Historic District is the site where members of the Moravian Brethren settled in the Salem area in 1766, forming the economic and trade hub for their planned religious community. The community’s land, buildings, and industries were owned and operated by the Moravian Church; its citizens had to be church members and were expelled if they disobeyed the rules. The Moravians were meticulous record-keepers, and the information gleaned from their documents is invaluable for those involved in the district’s restoration efforts. One restored building is the 1794 Salem Tavern, where George Washington spent two nights during a presidential tour in 1791. In Colonial America, taverns were the social and business centers of town where travelers could find food and lodging. Church members were divided into groups based…

USS Yorktown is an Essex-Class Aircraft carrier that served from WWII through the Vietnam War. It earned 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation for its service in World War II and five more battle stars for its work in Vietnam. Yorktown was commissioned in April of 1943. It was originally supposed to be called Bonhomme Richard, but the name was changed to honor Yorktown CV-5 that sunk in the Battle of Midway. It served in World War II for over two years, inflicting damage on the Japanese and helping to sink Yamato, the largest battleship ever built. Yorktown was converted for jet use in 1955, and it served as an anti-submarine carrier in Vietnam. The ship was nicknamed “Fighting Lady.” In 1968, Yorktown was one of the…

The Fox Theatre is a performing arts venue that is the hub of the Fox Theatre Historic District in Atlanta. The theater was originally planned to be the headquarters for the Atlanta Shriners—its design was inspired by the ancient temples of the Far East. Mosque-style domes, archways, and minarets make up its exterior; the grand interior contains elements from Islamic and Egyptian styles. The huge undertaking soon exceeded the Shriners’ budget, so they leased the auditorium to William Fox, a “movie palace” developer, who finished the 250,000-square-foot auditorium and installed the largest Möller theater organ in the world. The glamorous Fox Theatre opened on Christmas Day 1929 to a sold-out crowd and premiered Disney’s “Steamboat Willie,” the first cartoon starring Mickey Mouse. The Shriners opened their part of the…

Jackson Square has been the center of New Orleans since the first city plan was drawn up in 1720. Here, in 1803, the American flag was raised for the first time following the Louisiana Purchase. The square is located in the French Quarter in front of St. Louis Cathedral. In the early French Colonial days, it was called Place d’Armes, and under Spanish control, it was called Plaza de Armes, both terms meaning “weapons square,” as it was originally used as a military parade ground. In 1851, the square was renamed after Andrew Jackson in recognition of his 1815 victory over the British in the Battle of New Orleans. A dramatic 1856 equestrian statue of Jackson, by sculptor Clark Mills, stands in the square’s center. The Pontalba Buildings, Parisian-style…

Wright Flyer III was the third powered aircraft that was designed, built, and flown by Wilbur and Orville Wright. It was with this plane that they accomplished their goal of being able to fly for extended periods while the pilot maintained complete control. It is the only airplane designated a National Historic Landmark. Wright Flyer III first took flight on June 23, 1905, at Huffman Prairie, about 8 miles east of Dayton, Ohio. The brothers made significant design improvements over the 1905 season, and on October 5, 1905, Wilbur made a circling, 24.2-mile flight that lasted 39 minutes and 23 seconds, the longest on record. The Wrights improved the design further and tested the plane again at Kitty Hawk in 1908. In October of that year, Wilbur took the…

The University of Wisconsin Armory and Gymnasium, also called “the Red Gym,” is a building on the campus of University of Wisconsin-Madison that was completed in 1894. It served as a gymnasium for the students and as a local armory. At the time of the Red Gym’s construction, labor riots were erupting across the country, and many cities were building their own armories to help quell the uprisings. So when the Wisconsin legislature was funding the university’s new gymnasium, they decided to make it dual-purpose: armory and gym. The Red Gym was built in the Romanesque Revival style and resembles a red brick castle. It is located on the shores of Lake Mendota next to Memorial Union and overlooks the Library Mall. The first floor was home to military…

Starved Rock, a 135-foot sandstone butte, is part of Starved Rock State Park, an area in central Illinois along the Illinois River that was formed by melting glacier floods over 14,000 years ago. The geology, including caverns and beautiful outcrops of sandstone, is unique in the Central Plains area. Because of its desirable defensive location, Starved Rock, called Le Rocher by French settlers, was the site where French explorers built Fort St. Louis in 1682. They used it as a refuge from Iroquois attacks during the French and Indian Wars; the Iroquois drove the French out in 1691. The location may have also been used by the French between 1714 and 1718. Fur trappers and traders also used site through the 18th century. None of the physical structures remain.…

The Washburn A-Mill was the largest flour mill in the world at the time it opened on the banks of the Mississippi in 1874. In 1878, an explosion at the mill killed 18 and destroyed the mill. A new mill with more safety systems was rebuilt on the same site; it was destroyed by fire in 1991. Its ruins are the only surviving structures from the original Washburn complex. Today, the eight-story Mill City Museum operates within the mill ruins. Its hands-on exhibits recount the days when Minneapolis was the flour milling capital of the world. Tours of what remains of the historic mill complex are free with admission. READY, SET, GO! mnhs.org/millcity Good For: Industry & History Enthusiasts, Architecture Lovers Price: $$ Airport: Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport Where…

Anheuser-Busch is the largest brewing company in the world. The year 1852 marked the beginnings of the now massive enterprise, when German-born Eberhard Anheuser bought a failing brewery with a business partner. In early 1860, a German wholesaler named Adolphus Busch married Anheuser’s daughter, started to work for him, and eventually bought out Anheuser’s partner. They renamed the brewery Anheuser-Busch. It was the first brewery to use pasteurization, mechanical refrigeration, and refrigerated railroad cars. They started a company to make the specialized rail cars, and they purchased a railroad to aid in distribution. As a result of these innovations, Anheuser-Busch became the first nationally distributed beer brand in the U.S. Visitors can tour the St. Louis campus, learn the history of the company, and sample beer (of course). READY,…

Deadwood is an old west town that was founded during the Black Hills Gold Rush of the late 1800s. Miners flocked there in search of quick riches, and along with them came all likes of shady entrepreneurs, saloonkeepers, gamblers, criminals, and prostitutes. Deadwood soon gained its reputation as the lawlessness capital of the West. The first white prospectors were there illegally—it was located on Lakota land. Disputes erupted, but the Black Hills Gold Rush was not to be stopped. And a wave of Chinese immigrants established a Chinese quarter on Main Street. Some sources say that as many as 25,000 people were living in Deadwood at its height in 1877. After gold panning was replaced with deep mining, many petty miners and roughnecks left the area, and Deadwood began…

Council Grove was a stop on the Santa Fe Trail that ran through Osage Nation lands. For a time, it was the last opportunity for travelers to stock up on supplies before continuing on the Santa Fe wagon train. The area had abundant water and lumber, so it was a natural stopping place for wagons headed west to gather supplies for the journey. Council Grove was founded in the late 1840s after the Osage agreed to allow settlers traveling along the Santa Fe Trail safe passage through their territory. The negotiating parties met under a large oak tree, so the area was called Council Grove. The tree was called Council Oak, and the stump still stands. The main street in Council Grove is the old Santa Fe Trail. You…

The Alamo is the site of a bloody battle that occurred during the Texas Revolution. Mexico won the battle, but the Alamo became a symbol of Texan resistance. The current Alamo building was constructed as the chapel for the Spanish Mission San Antonio de Valero in 1744, after a 1724 hurricane destroyed the original structure. By 1800, the mission was abandoned. In the early 1800s, the building was used as a garrison for Spanish troops. During the Mexican Revolution (1810-1820), Mexico and Spain fought for control of the fort; Mexico controlled it from 1821 to December 1835, when Texans organized a rebellion and took it over. The Alamo was occupied by around 200 Texans on February 23, 1836, when an army of between 1,800 and 6,000 Mexican soldiers attacked…

Tombstone was one of the last mining boomtowns on the frontier, famous for conflicts between outlaws and lawmen. Tombstone was founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin after he discovered silver in the area. The town took its name after Schieffelin’s first mining claim, which he called Tombstone. Legend holds that the claim earned its moniker after Schieffelin announced his plans to prospect for silver in the notoriously dangerous area; a friend warned that all he would find there was his tombstone. By 1881, Tombstone’s population was 6,000, and by its height around 1885, it was the largest town in the territory (estimates say around 10,000). After a fire in 1886 destroyed expensive mining equipment, the population dwindled. The bawdy center of town was located on Allen Street, where nearly…

South Pass is the low point between the central and southern Rocky Mountains on the route across the Continental Divide. The first European Americans traversed South Pass in 1812 on their way back to St. Louis—fur traders, led by Robert Stuart, were looking for a safer and shorter route than they took on their way to Oregon. Although the pass was well known to the Indigenous people, the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806) did not use it because they were looking for a water route to cross the Divide, not a land pass. The first family of settlers heading to Oregon crossed South Pass in 1840, and the first wagon train, the Bartleson-Bidwell Party, crossed in 1841. The route was the main path for travelers on the Oregon, California,…

Bent’s Old Fort is a reconstructed 1840s fur trading post located on the mountain branch of the Santa Fe Trail near the Arkansas River. A diverse group of fur traders and trappers, travelers, and members of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes did peaceful business there for 16 years. The original fort was constructed by brothers Charles and William Bent and their partner, Ceran St. Vrain. At the time of its construction, it was the only major settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements that wasn’t controlled by Indigenous tribes or Mexican traders, and it was the largest structure on American soil between St. Louis and the Pacific Ocean. The trading post helped bring global economy to the region and brought long-term social, political, and…

In the early 1900S, celebrated writer, activist, and adventurer Jack London and his second wife, Charmian, designed and built the Sonoma County Beauty Ranch as a place to settle between travels and as an economic enterprise. The business failed monetarily, but the innovations the Londons employed on the land are noteworthy. Jack lived and worked on the ranch until his death in 1916 at age 40, and Charmian remained there until her death in 1955. The couple is buried together in a simple grave on the property. In addition to his writing success, London was a pioneer in sustainable farming. The self-sufficient methods he used were ahead of their time—he is considered one of the first organic farmers in the United States, saying he wanted to “leave the land…

Winslow Homer Studio was the home and workplace of American artist and illustrator Winslow Homer from 1884 until his death in 1910. Homer is considered one of the foremost American painters of the 19th century. He was born in Boston in 1836 and spent his early years in Cambridge. Homer’s mother was a talented watercolorist, and she taught him to paint at an early age. Homer’s first job was as an apprentice illustrator in Boston, where he designed commercial art for two years. He then opened his first studio in Boston and worked as an illustrator for the next two decades. In 1859, he opened a studio in New York City and attended the National Academy of Design, where he learned how to paint in oils. For work, he…

Rockingham meeting house is a rare, well-preserved second period Colonial-style meetinghouse. It was constructed between 1787 and 1801 as a place for both civic and religious gatherings. The building, graveyard, hearse house, town tomb, and fence are all part of the National Historic Landmark designation. The second-period meetinghouse is one of the oldest church buildings in Vermont. Its stern, barnlike appearance evokes medieval and Puritan design, but it also has some more ornate Georgian influences. The Rockingham Meeting House is the most intact 18th-century public building in Vermont, and it’s a distinctive survivor of the Colonial era when public funds were used to build meeting places that served both government and secular purposes. The building still appears very much as it did when it was constructed. An elevated pulpit…

Fleur-de-Lys studios is a key architectural monument to the American Arts & Crafts movement. Arts & Crafts artists believed that industrialization and mechanization was debasing decorative design and called for better, handcrafted techniques and construction. The Fleur-de-Lys building was constructed in 1885, when the Arts & Crafts movement was starting to spread from England through America. The studio’s design was a collaboration between architect Edmund R. Willson and painter Sydney R. Burleigh. Willson was a graduate of Harvard University and studied in France under the direction of esteemed architect Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer. Burleigh was a leading member of the Providence art community. The iconic building is still used as an artists’ studio today. READY, SET, GO! providenceartclub.org Good For: Art Lovers, Architecture Enthusiasts Price: $ Airport: Rhode Island…

The Mark Twain home was the residence of writer and humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain, from 1874-1891. The Clemens family commissioned architect Edward Tuckerman Potter to design it in the American High Gothic style. Clemens wrote some of his best works while living in the home, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The three-floor, 25-room dwelling is 11,000 square feet, and it was outfitted with the latest innovations for the times. Building it cost Clemens over $40,000, which is the equivalent of over $1 million today. The author would later recall the years he spent in this home were the happiest and most productive of his life. Unfortunately, Clemens fell on hard times and moved to Europe in 1891, never to return…

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER FLAG HOUSE, built in 1793, was the home of Mary Young Pickersgill where she made the mammoth flag that would inspire the writing of our national anthem. In the summer of 1813, Baltimore was preparing for a British attack. The commander at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry felt that they were ready for battle, but they lacked a flag. So he commissioned Pickersgill to make two flags, one measuring 30 feet x 42 feet and a second smaller version for $575. Pickersgill enlisted help from many others, including an indentured servant, Grace Wisher. They completed the job in six weeks. The larger flag weighed 50 pounds and was made from 400 yards of fabric. Each stripe was 2 feet wide, and each star measured about 2 feet in…

Tredegar Iron works supplied the cannon that fired the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter and the iron plating for the Confederate Army’s first ironclad ship, USS Virginia. At the start of the Civil War, Tredegar was the largest producer of iron works in the South. It got its start in 1837 in response to the railroad boom. The company produced rails, spikes, and axles for the burgeoning industry. In the 1840s, Tredegar began securing government contracts to make cannons. It added locomotives to its product line in the 1850s. By 1860, 250 workers toiled there, some of whom were enslaved people. After Tredegar started producing iron goods for the Confederacy during the Civil War, it grew to employ over 1,500. After the war, the company…

Biltmore Estate is the largest privately owned house in the United States. The Gilded Age mansion was built between 1889 and 1895 by George Washington Vanderbilt II. The home has four acres of floor space and 250 rooms, including 35 family and guest bedrooms. The Banquet Room is over 3,000 square feet; the table seats 64. It was designed by acclaimed architect Richard Morris Hunt. During the construction, Vanderbilt traveled abroad to purchase thousands of furnishings dating from the 15th century to the late 19th century. During WWII, the National Gallery of Art secretly sent 62 paintings and 17 sculptures to Biltmore for safekeeping. READY, SET, GO! biltmore.com Good For: Architecture Lovers Price: $$$ Airport: Asheville Regional Airport Where to Stay: The Inn on Biltmore Estate While You’re in…

Fort Loudoun is one of the earliest British fortifications on the Western frontier, and it was a major site of action during the Anglo-Indian War. The fort was named for Gen. John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun, who was Commander-in-Chief, North America, at the time. Fort Loudoun was constructed between 1756 and 1757 by the British to encourage Cherokee support of the British and weaken any alliances the tribe was developing with the French. It was only used by the British for four years. At first, British dealings with the Cherokee went well, but ongoing hostilities between settlers and the Cherokee caused tensions to rise. In 1760, the Cherokee attacked the fort. The British held out for a few months, but eventually surrendered to the Cherokee. More Cherokee attacked…

USS Alabama is a retired navy battleship, the fourth and final built of the South Dakota class of fast battleships. Alabama was commissioned in August of 1942. After a brief assignment to help protect the British Home Fleet, it was sent to the South Pacific to escort and protect the Fast Carrier Task Force. It was retrofitted in 1945, then served in the Battle of Okinawa. Alabama received nine battle stars for its service. After the war, it participated in Operation Magic Carpet, carrying 700 military personnel home. After serving as a reserve ship, Alabama was slated for disposal in 1962. Alabama’s citizens raised funds to acquire it; they restored it and opened a museum in 1965. READY, SET, GO! ussalabama.com Good For: Military & Maritime Enthusiasts Price: $$…

Rowan Oak was the home of celebrated author William Faulkner. He purchased the home and 4-acre grounds in 1930 and owned it until his death in 1962. Faulkner lived most of his life in or near Oxford, and his fictional Yoknapatawpha County is modeled after his experiences living in the deep South. Faulkner won the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for A Fable in 1955 and for The Reivers in 1963, and the National Book Award for Collected Stories in 1951 and A Fable in 1955. He is considered one of the greatest writers from the American South. Faulkner named his property Rowan Oak after the rowan tree of Scotland, symbolizing peace and security. The home was built in the early 1840s in the…

Newark Earthworks is a preserved area of earthworks (human-made land constructions), that were built by members of the Hopewell culture between 100 BCE and 400 CE. It is the largest Hopewell earthworks complex in North America, but less than 10% of the original 4-square-mile area is still intact. The three that are still visible are Great Circle Earthworks, Octagon Earthworks, and Wright Earthworks. Great Circle Earthworks is one of the biggest circular earthworks in North America. It is 1,200 feet wide and has 8-foot walls surrounded by a moat that is 5 feet deep. Great Circle is believed to have been used as a ceremonial center. Octagon Earthworks consist of Observatory Mound, Observatory Circle, and the Octagon. The Octagon has eight 550-foot-long walls that are between 5 and 6…

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an auto racing circuit that is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and the former home of the United States Grand Prix. It is the only National Historic Landmark affiliated with automobile history. The speedway, built in 1909, is the oldest continuously-operated automobile racecourse in the world, and it is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world. The annual Indianapolis 500 is also one of the largest single-day sporting events across the globe. Over its 114-year existence, the Speedway has made significant contributions to race car design, performance, and safety. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is located within the Speedway oval between Turns 1 and 2. General admission includes seeing the Winner’s Gallery, a collection of cars that have won the…

Abraham Lincoln home is where Lincoln and his family lived from 1844 to 1861, before he became the 16th U.S. president. In 1837, Lincoln moved to Springfield to start his law career. In 1839, he met Mary Todd and they married in 1842. They purchased the two-story, 12-room house, the only one Lincoln ever owned, in 1844 and started their family. Three of their children were born there. While Lincoln lived in the home, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846 and as President of the United States in 1860. In 1877, Lincoln’s son Robert donated the home to the state of Illinois under the condition that it would be well-maintained and would remain open to the public for free. The home has been meticulously…

Herbert Hoover birthplace is a National Historic Site in eastern Iowa. Hoover was born in the humble two-room cottage, which he called “physical proof of the unbounded opportunity of American life.” He restored the home after his presidency. Hoover was president from 1929-1933, at the start of the Great Depression. Hoover was the first president born west of the Mississippi, and the only Iowa-born person to hold America’s top office. At the site, you can see the restored cottage, a reconstructed blacksmith shop that honors Hoover’s father’s blacksmithing career, a restored Quaker meetinghouse, President and Mrs. Hoover’s grave sites, and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum. READY, SET, GO! nps.gov/heho Good For: History Lovers Price: $ Airport: Eastern Iowa Airport Where to Stay: The Highlander Hotel, Iowa City…

Fort Union was the busiest and most important fur trading post on the upper Missouri River between 1828 and 1867. It was more than a place to buy and sell goods: It was a tolerant community of people from different nations and cultures who worked together to survive. The post was essential in developing the fur trade in North Dakota and Montana, which had major economic and cultural impacts on the area, including Western influence on Indigenous people that changed their ways of life forever. At the fort, Northern Plains tribespeople exchanged buffalo robes and smaller furs for cloth, guns, blankets, and beads. Every year, merchants here traded over 25,000 buffalo robes and $100,000 in merchandise (the equivalent of over $3 million today). Almost all the fur trade was…

Washita Battlefield is the place where, on November 27, 1868, the U.S. 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Gen. George Armstrong Custer, attacked a Cheyenne winter encampment by surprise, killing men, women, and children. The site is a symbol of the Cheyenne’s bloody struggle to protect their homelands against the forces of Western expansion. The attack was in response to nearly two decades of skirmishes over territory. The U.S. government had set aside tracts of land for the tribespeople to live and offered them aid, but assistance was meager, and the unprecedented rush of settlers headed west in the 1860s caused hostilities, including attacks on stagecoaches, mining camps, and white settlements. The village on the Washita River that was attacked was guided by Chief Black Kettle, a well-known…

Apollo Mission Control Center was the facility where the technical management of the historic Apollo 11 mission took place. On July 20, 1969, American Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon. He and two others, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, made the flight on the Apollo 11 spacecraft. The event was a national celebration and was televised to an audience of an estimated 650 million people who heard Armstrong say, “…one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” It was an amazing technological feat that was made possible by the contributions of NASA employees for over a decade—from rocket scientists to geologists to the tailors who designed the spacesuits. Three astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives…

GOING-TO-THE-SUN ROAD IS THE ONLY ROAD that traverses Glacier National Park. It was completed in 1933 and cost $2.5 million (over $56 million today). It is one of the world’s most scenic mountain drives. The road was named for Glacier’s Going-to-the-Sun Mountain, a prominent sight along the drive. Construction of the two-lane road was one of the first National Park Service projects that catered specifically to automobile-driving tourists. Before the road was built, it took several days to travel from one end of the park to the other via mountain passes. Going-to-the-Sun Road is an engineering marvel—it was the first major road built on high mountain terrain. The narrow, winding road is filled with hairpin turns; it is not for the faint of heart. Consider taking a narrated Red…

Fort Yellowstone was a U.S. Army installation created to protect the resources and natural beauty in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was America’s first national park. In the decade after it opened in 1872, it was seriously threatened by those who wanted to exploit its resources. Poachers, hunters, souvenir finders, and grifter opportunists were everywhere. At first, the government hired civilian superintendents to provide protection, but they couldn’t do much. So the park turned to the U.S. Army for help. In 1886, troops from Fort Custer arrived at the park and started what ended up being 32-year military presence. By 1910, there were 324 soldiers stationed at Fort Yellowstone, along with some families and civilian workers. The troops staffed the park’s outposts, patrolling on horseback in summer and on skis…

Pioneer Courthouse is a federal courthouse located in Pioneer Square, the center of downtown Portland. It was built in stages between 1869 and 1903, and it was first occupied in 1875 when it went by the name of the United States Building and served as the federal seat for the post office, judiciary, customs office, and tax department. Pioneer Courthouse is the oldest federal building in the Pacific Northwest, and the second-oldest west of the Mississippi. The three-story structure was designed in the Italianate style with a prominent cornice and a cupola with arched windows. The trials pertaining to the Oregon land fraud scandal took place here at the turn of the 20th century. Numerous public officials were accused of helping timber corporations obtain illegal land grants. Over 1,000…

A Trip to Alaska is bucket-list worthy: IT requires major planning and expense for most, but it’s so worth it. For those who love stories of the Klondike Gold Rush and gorgeous scenery, Skagway National Historic District and White Pass are a must-see. When fortune hunters in search of gold rushed the region between 1896 and 1899, Skagway was one of the last supply stops before they embarked on the arduous trek to the Klondike. To accommodate the quick influx of prospectors, the mining town was set up quickly with no regard to law and order: Saloons and brothels stood alongside supply stores and lodging, creating a unique town rich in local lore. Almost 100 buildings from the gold rush era survive; many have been restored and are open…

On Dec. 7, 1941, USS Arizona was bombed by the Japanese in a surprise attack, killing 1,177 of its crew and sinking the ship. Because of the extensive damage Arizona sustained in the attack, the U.S. Navy declared it a total loss, so it was not raised and repaired, but parts of it were retrieved and used for the war effort. The bulk of the ship and the remains of over 900 crew members are still underwater. The attack marked a turning point in America’s position on WWII—the U.S. joined the Allied Forces and declared war on Japan the next day. The ship itself is what was declared a National Historic Landmark, but the USS Arizona Memorial that floats above the wreckage is where visitors can pay their respects.…