Shutterstock.com
Road Trip U.S.A.
From sea to shining sea, there are many incredible landmarks across the United States. Our country is home to breathtaking natural wonders and human-made structures that attract millions of visitors from around the world each year. Every site helps tell the story of America’s long history.
But you don’t have to pack your bags and hit the road to learn about the nation’s most famous landmarks. Read on to discover more about a few of them!
Shutterstock.com
Statue of Liberty
New York Harbor
The Statue of Liberty may be one of the best birthday gifts ever! France gave America this 151-foot-tall copper statue in 1876, for our country’s 100th birthday. Ten years later, it was officially unveiled on an island in New York Harbor, where it has stood ever since. For decades, the statue was one of the first things millions of immigrants saw as they sailed to the U.S. As a result, Lady Liberty came to represent opportunity and freedom. Today visitors can climb to the crown for views of the New York City skyline.
Shutterstock.com
Mount Rushmore
Keystone, South Dakota
Travel to the Black Hills of South Dakota and you’ll come face-to-face with four of our most famous presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Construction of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial began in 1927. Hundreds of workers spent the next 14 years carving each 60-foot face, removing about 450,000 tons of rock in the process. The memorial was designed to represent the first 150 years of U.S. history, but not everyone celebrates it. It was built on land the U.S. government had taken from Indigenous peoples.
iStockPhoto/Getty Images
The White House
Washington, D.C.
This iconic building in the nation’s capital has been home to U.S. presidents and their families since 1800. George Washington chose the site, but the second president, John Adams, was the first to actually live there. Over the years, the home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was known by different names. They included the President’s Palace, the President’s House, and the Executive Mansion. It wasn’t until 1901 that President Theodore Roosevelt officially named the building the White House. Today it’s open to the public for tours.
Dean Fikar/Getty Images
Grand Canyon
Northwest Arizona
Every year, nearly 5 million people flock to the Grand Canyon. The natural wonder was carved out over millions of years by the flowing waters of the Colorado River. It’s a whopping 277 miles long and 18 miles across at its widest point. At the canyon’s deepest spot, four Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other could fit in it! In addition to spectacular views of the canyon, visitors might see some of the hundreds of animal species that live there. They include bighorn sheep and a venomous reptile called the Gila monster.
Joel W. Rogers/Getty Images
Mesa Verde
Southwest Colorado
Tucked under a cliff ledge lie the remains of a palace that’s more than 800 years old. It has 150 rooms, tall towers, and courtyards. The palace is one of the roughly 600 homes and gathering places the Ancestral Pueblo people built into the rocky cliffs of Mesa Verde. The Ancestral Pueblo lived in the region from about the year 550 until the late 1200s, when a series of droughts may have forced them to leave the area. The U.S. government preserved the site as a national park in 1906. Many Indigenous people can trace their ancestors back to Mesa Verde.
Which place would you want to visit most?
Which place would you want to visit most?
Which place would you want to visit most?
