24 Most Famous Historical Landmarks in the USA

We all know how landmarks are often the defining characteristics of symbols of a city. They usually represent the essence of who the residents are as a people, with landmarks like The Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore.

Landmarks are called “landmarks” for a reason: they represent the essence of who we are and often provide points of reference that help us navigate our way around. But what are some of the most famous landmarks in the US? Let’s look at some of the most famous landmarks in America to explore!

First, though, let’s talk about landmarks, national historic landmarks, and other National Park Service sites. Did you know the National Park Service manages 424 locations throughout the country and its territories?

While many people may think of the 63 American National Parks (like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Everglades), the other 361 places are also preserved! Here’s a handy guide to understanding the different ways that the National Park Service classifies its sites:

Most Famous American Landmarks

1. National Mall

The National Mall, or the “Mall,” is a landscaped park in the United States National Park System’s (NPS) Memorial Parks unit. It is located near Washington, D.C.’s downtown area and is administered by the NPS of the United S tates Department of the Interior.

The term commonly includes areas that are also officially part of neighboring West Potomac Park and Constitution Gardens to the southwest. The mall is popular for many tourists, especially in the spring and summer months. It’s also a popular place to hold rallies and is the site of presidential inaugurations.

Many historical gatherings have occurred on the Mall, such as protests against the Vietnam War and the Million Man March. The Washington Monument lies at the mall’s center, a gleaming white needle piercing the skyline.

Other landmarks on the mall include the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the World War II Memorial.

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2. Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial is a national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States and the savior of the Union, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the western end of the National Mall in Washington D.C., across from the Washington Monument.

The architect was Henry Bacon, the designer of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, while Daniel Chester French sculpted the 19-foot (5.8 m) statue of Lincoln – both in white marble.

The memorial was dedicated on May 30, 1922, and the interior is decorated with a vast array of sculpted and painted artworks and inscriptions honoring President Lincoln.

The outside features a large semi-circular colonnade with 36 Doric columns. Inside the colonnade is inscribed with two major speeches by Abraham Lincoln: the Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address. The Lincoln Memorial is one of the USA’s most important and famous landmarks, serving as a universally recognized symbol of American history, hardship, and sacrifice.

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3. Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Four of the nation’s most influential and significant US Presidents are honored at this memorial carved into Mount Rushmore. It is among the most important and most controversial landmarks in the USA.

The monument is located in Keystone, South Dakota, and was designed by sculptor Gutzon Borglum. It is more than 60 stories high, with only one story visible above ground level.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln are depicted in stone sculptures reaching 60 feet (18 m) above the ground.

The memorial opened to the public on October 1, 1941. Sculpting of Mount Rushmore began on October 4, 1927, with the first blast being an 8-foot (2.4 m) deep hole on September 14, 1927.

Mount Rushmore faces southeast at a 60° angle toward the northeast corner of South Dakota‘s Black Hills so that the stone on which the memorial was carved had more solid granite to work with.

The carving started above 4,200 feet (1.3 km) from the figure of Washington and has been descending along with his head, progressing to his shoulders. The summit of Mount Rushmore is 5,725 feet (1,745 m) high.

The monument is a true spectacle of massive sculpture work. However, it is less popular among Native Americans who claim the land was built on was stolen. It has been defaced by the busts of (at least) two presidents who brought slaughter to Indigenous Americans.

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4. Statue of Liberty National Monument

The Statue of Liberty National Monument is a United States National Monument that includes both Liberty Island and Ellis Island in New Jersey and New York.

The Statue of Liberty (or Liberty Enlightening the World) was the brainchild of sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who initially designed the giant statue to depict a Muslim peasant woman standing guard and greeting ships into Suez harbor.

Plans fell through, so Bartholdi amended his design for a new recipient. The statue, dedicated on October 28, 1886, commemorated the centennial of the United States and was gifted as a gesture of friendship from France to the United States. It was designated as a National Monument in 1924.

As well as the Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island, and the former immigration station at Ellis Island, which includes the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, are all part of this monument. You can visit Lady Liberty by departing from Battery Park on a boat.

The NPS administers the monument. On July 4, 1986, President Ronald Reagan gave a speech that marked the rededication of the Statue of Liberty after the centennial celebration.

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5. Empire State Building

This isn’t just one of the most famous landmarks in the USA; it’s one of the most famous and instantly recognizable worldwide. The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931.

Its name is derived from “Empire State,” the nickname of the state of New York. The building has a roof height of 1,250 feet (381 m), and its antenna spire stands a total of 1,454 ft (443.2 m) high.

The spire was added as a mooring mast for airships at a time when people assumed Zeppelins were going to be a thing. The Hindenburg disaster ended that notion; no airship ever docked with the giant building.

The Empire State Building has approximately 102 floors above ground and five below ground level. It is one of the most famous landmarks in America. Many movies include examples of American landmarks, like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014, The Avengers in 2012, and the American classic King Kong.

The Empire State Building was the world’s tallest building until 1970 when construction of the World Trade Center began. The building’s 86th and 102nd-floor observatories are visited by approximately four million tourists each year from around the world. An additional indoor observatory on the 80th floor opened in 2019 to help the flow of visitors.

The skyscraper’s height and length have been standardized as the worldwide building measurement standard. The American Society of Civil Engineers has dubbed it one of the Modern World’s Seven Wonders. In 2007, the American Institute of Architects named it one of America’s Favorite Architecture.

In 1980, the Empire State Building and its ground floor were designated city landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and in 1986 they became listed as a National Historic Landmark.

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6. Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the “Golden Gate Strait,”; a one-mile (1.6 km) wide strait joining San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

It carries US Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait. Pedestrians and cyclists also use it, forming part of US Bicycle Route 95.

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of San Francisco and California’s most internationally recognized symbols, designated a Wonder of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The Golden Gate Bridge was designed by engineer Joseph Strauss in 1917. The Golden Gate Bridge could be one of the world’s most photographed bridges and one of the most iconic global landmarks.

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7. Grand Canyon National Park

The Grand Canyon National Park, in northwestern Arizona, is the country’s 15th national park and perhaps the most well-known of all. To call The Grand Canyon a canyon seems a bit of an understatement.

This biblically enormous gorge, through which the Colorado River runs, is often regarded as one of the natural world’s greatest wonders and is understandably the park’s primary attraction. The Grand Canyon is one of North America’s most visited national parks.

The park sees millions of visitors each year. In 2017 alone, more than six million people visited the park, the second-highest number of all American national parks after the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Grand Canyon National Park was established in 1919, more significant than the sprawling Yellowstone National Park. The designation of the Grand Canyon as a national park followed decades of efforts by Arizona officials and conservationists to protect the canyon from development. In 1979, UNESCO designated the Grand Canyon a World Heritage Site, and the park commemorated its 100th anniversary in 2019.

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8. Brooklyn Bridge

Another bridge among the most famous landmarks in the USA, the Brooklyn Bridge, is a suspension bridge with cable stays and one of the oldest landmarks in New York City.

Completed in 1883, it was a revolutionary piece of architecture, the longest bridge in the world. It connected Manhattan Island to the borough of Brooklyn over the East River for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians on foot. It is a constant reminder that New York City was once two separate cities with two identities – Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Bridge has appeared in countless films, television shows, and video games. It is the subject of songs by many famous musicians like Jay-Z, Billy Joel, Vampire Weekend, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. It has seen daredevils, parades, attacks, and high-profile arrests and is one of the world’s most famous “Love Lock Bridges.”

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9. Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located in Tennessee and North Carolina, straddling the border between the two states. The United States Congress established the park in 1934 and it was formally dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940. It was the first national park endowed with land and other expenses paid partly with federal money; previous parks had been entirely funded by state or private donors.

The park is divided between the haunting Blue Ridge Mountains, a subdivision of the broader Appalachian Mountain chain, and the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the larger Southern Appalachians.

The park has some of the highest points in eastern North America, including Clingmans Dome, Mount Guyot, and Mount Le Conte. The border between Tennessee and North Carolina runs northeast to southwest across the middle of the park.

The national park is notable for its mountains, waterfalls, biodiversity, and spruce-fir forests. The park also houses several historical buildings from early European-American settlers’ settlements.

With over 12.5 million visitors in 2019, it is currently the most popular national park in the United States. This colossal park covers 522,419 acres (816.28 sq mi, 211,415.47 ha, or 2,114.15 sq km if we’re getting technical). The park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 and an International Biosphere Reserve in 1988.

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10. Yosemite National Park

This famous landmark is a federally protected area in California, encompassing portions of Sierra National Forest to the southeast and Stanislaus National Forest to the northwest. Yosemite National Park is in California’s central Sierra Nevada range and extends to the Mono Lake Basin area.

The United States Department of Interior’s National Park Service administers the park and covers 759,620 acres (1,187 sq mi; 3,029.4 sq km). The park encompasses an elevation range from 1,300 feet (400 m) to over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) and contains some of the most visited waterfalls in North America.

The park encompasses an elevation range from 1,300 feet (400 m) to over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) and contains some of the most visited waterfalls in North America.

The park is famous for its impressive waterfalls but has many animal habitat types, including temperate, subalpine, and alpine forest zones. The forest is made primarily of evergreen trees. Types include pine, Jeffrey pine, fir, red fir, lodgepole pine, and sugar pine.

Since 1994 the Park Service has completed several notched-timber cross-sections of the park’s steepest trails to help reduce visitor injuries by rock falls.

Yosemite now receives about four million visitors annually, and most tourists spend the bulk of their time in Yosemite Valley, which measures roughly seven square miles (18 sq km).

The park broke its visitation record in 2016 when it saw over five million people for the first time. As a result of the increasing number of visitors, the park is implementing reservations for hotels and campgrounds.

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11. USS Arizona Memorial

The USS Arizona Memorial is a war memorial that commemorates United States Navy sailors, particularly the crew of USS Arizona, who died in the surprise Japanese military attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. It is among the most famous naval landmarks in the USA.

The memorial was designed by architect Alfred Preis and engineer Allen H. Trelease (1914-1969) and built-in 1962 at $180,000.

USS Arizona was a 30,000-ton battleship built as America’s response to the Naval Arms Race of the early 20th Century. She was an armored monster with a top speed of 24mph, armed with twelve 14″ guns, each capable of lobbing a 1,500lb shell over 7 miles. It was for these reasons she was a priority target for Japanese aircraft.

The attack on Pearl Harbor began at 0800 hours; shortly after, four bombs struck Arizona, the last piercing her deck and igniting the gunpowder charges in her magazine. At 08:06, Arizona exploded, killing 1,177 of her 1,512 crewmen on board. Her loss was the single largest loss of life during the attack.

The National Park Service administers the site as part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. It is open to visitors year-round for an entrance fee.

The monument straddles but does not obscure the wreckage of Arizona and is shaped like a boat within a breakwater: halfway sunken in the water and half emerging from it.

Its white structure, designed to reflect the sun’s rays, is 171 feet (52.4 m) long and 126 feet (38.1 m) wide at its base. It contains a shrine room where an eternal flame used to be kept burning for the dead but is now only allowed to be lit under certain circumstances for specific individuals.

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12. Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is an American national park in parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It was established by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.

The park spans a 3,468.4 square miles (8,987 sq km) – approximately 97% of Wyoming’s land area – and contains a wide variety of ecosystems and life zones home to a diverse assortment of plant and animal life. Yellowstone National Park is one of the largest protected areas in the world for recreational use, without any roads going through it.

As today’s world becomes more urbanized, many areas have been developed around the globe with little to no concern for preservation or environmental impact. However, Yellowstone was among the first of this country’s protected areas and has had more than 1 billion visitors since it was established 126 years ago.

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13. San Antonio River Walk

The San Antonio Riverwalk is a city park with a special-case pedestrian thoroughfare spanning 2.7 miles, one level lower than the street used for automobiles. It is an iconic landmark due to its symbolism of Texan culture.

This iconic attraction connects the city’s five Spanish colonial missions to the downtown area, including the famous Alamo. It combines the major tourist draws of the Shops at Rivercenter, Arneson River Theatre, Marriage Island, La Villita, the river’s headwaters at Durango, and El Tropicano.

The River Walk winds and loops under bridges, around barges, docked along the channel, and alongside lush green spaces and public parks. Along this glorious walk, the path is sporadically flanked by expensive hotels, tourist shops, and businesses ranging from luxury stores to casual restaurants in downtown San Antonio.

Following it will also lead to other local landmarks such as the Arneson Theatre, the Majestic Theatre on the amphitheater stage, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Emily Morgan Hotel, the historic St. Mary’s Cathedral, La Villita Historic Arts Village, Market Square, and Rivercenter Mall. It’s a landmark that rewards visitors with even MORE landmarks!

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14. The Gateway Arch

The Gateway Arch is a jaw-dropping monument in St. Louis, Missouri that stands 190 meters (623 ft) tall and is made of stainless steel. It commemorated US westward expansion from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. It was completed when President Thomas Jefferson signed an act into law on March 3, 1803, that allowed for the purchase of existing territories.

Jefferson signed the Louisiana Purchase soon after, which doubled the nation’s size. It’s the world’s tallest arch and Missouri’s tallest accessible building, featuring a weighted catenary arch clad in stainless steel.

It is considered the West Coast’s tallest man-made monument by height and the first American monument to withstand significant horizontal wind load.

The Gateway Arch is located on the west bank of the Mississippi River on land that once served as a railroad yard for surface-level tracks before it was converted into an intercontinental railroad station called Union Station.

Since its completion in 1965, it has become a well-known tourist destination in St. Louis, a local and national icon, and one of the most iconic landmarks in the United States.

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15. Biltmore Estate

The Biltmore Estate is a historical mansion, museum, and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. George Washington Vanderbilt II built Biltmore House between 1889 and 1895, incorporating elements of French Châteauesque-style architecture.

It is the United States’ largest privately held house at a whopping 178,926 sq ft (16,622.8 sq m) and contains approximately 175,000 sq ft (16,000 sq m) of living space. George Vanderbilt’s descendants still own it, and is one of the world’s most significant Gilded Age mansions.

The Biltmore Estate grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who co-designed New York City’s Central Park in 1858. Biltmore House’s construction began in 1889 and was completed on Christmas Eve, 1895.

Vanderbilt constructed the house to fulfill his vision of creating an estate that expressed his wealth and boosted his ego, much like many other wealthy Americans who built grandiose mansions during the Gilded Age.

It’s one of the most influential architectural landmarks in America, where visitors can tour the vast historic home with the help of a well-informed guide and explore the estate’s extensive collections of art and other artifacts.

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16. Bryce Canyon National Park

Located in southwestern Utah, Bryce Canyon National Park has a collection of unique natural sandstone formations called hoodoos that tower several hundred feet high.

Some of this almost alien landscape resembles mushrooms or structures ranging from cottage to fortress, all in gorgeous shades of orange and red that are tear-jerkingly beautiful at dawn and dusk.

The park is also popular among stargazers as the virtually non-existent light pollution allows celestial bodies to shine down on the park in the billions. Bryce Canyon National Park was established as a national monument in 1923 and later became an official U.S. National Park in 1928.

After being designated as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1976 for its geological, biological, paleontological, and archaeological values.

Today, visitors can explore the park’s incredible geological features with the help of trails and shuttle buses. Park rangers also provide lectures and presentations during the summertime to explain more about these fascinating landmarks.

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17. Alcatraz Island, San Francisco California

Alcatraz Island was home to a maximum-security prison known by its nickname, The Rock. It was the site of several famous incarcerations, most notably Al Capone’s. It has also been the subject of several Hollywood blockbusters, particularly The Rock, starring Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage.

Alcatraz was where the worst of the worst were sent and was deemed impossible to escape from. This proved false when three inmates staged an ingenious escape in 1962, never to be seen again.

The island, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, includes several structures such as a lighthouse, military fortifications, federal court buildings, and more.

Today, it is open for tourists to explore, offering guided tours of the old prison. It is also popular for live theater, music, and comedy performances, such as Eddie Izzard’s famous Dress To Kill performance.

Take a boat trip across San Francisco Bay to discover the story behind the ominous structures. Look out over the bay from a cliffside and imagine what life was like for those incarcerated there previously.

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18. The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation

The Henry Ford (also known as the Edison Institute or Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village) is a large indoor and outdoor history museum complex in Dearborn, Michigan, home to a legion of exhibits compiled to tell the story of the United States.

The museum’s extensive collection includes John F. Kennedy’s limousine, Abraham Lincoln’s chair from Ford’s Theatre, Thomas Edison’s laboratory, the Wright Brothers’ bicycle shop, the Rosa Parks bus, and countless other historical artifacts sacred to the nation’s history.

The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village is the nation’s largest indoor-outdoor museum complex, with over 1.7 million annual visitors. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 as Greenfield Village and Henry Ford before being designated a National Historic Landmark in 1981 as the “Edison Institute.”

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19. Washington Monument

The Washington Monument is a 202-foot obelisk in Washington, D.C., erected as a tribute to the first president of the United States, George Washington. Along with the Statue of Liberty, it is the most famous of all landmarks in the USA.

Monuments and landmarks such as the Washington Monument are enduring symbols of the ambition of America’s founders to establish a nation for all, not just those with titles or wealth.

A former colonel in British service, Washington found his fame as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. His familiarity with British tactics would be key to winning the Revolutionary War.

After bringing victory and liberty to the revolutionaries’ cause, he became the United States’ first President, serving from 1789 to 1797. The monument, constructed of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, stands 555 ft & 5+1⁄8 in (or just under 170 m). It was the world’s tallest building between 1884 and 1889, after which the Eiffel Tower surpassed it in Paris.

The marble cornerstone, 21 feet (6.4 m) below ground, includes a zinc case packed with relics, which may be found at the northeast corner of the monument. A large circular of poles centered on the monument flies fifty American flags, one for each state.

In recent history, the monument was closed for repairs in 2011 after an earthquake and reopened in 2014. It was later shut down for elevator maintenance, security improvements, and soil cleanup from August 2016 through September 2019.

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20. Badlands National Park

The Badlands National Park is an American national park in southwestern South Dakota and one of the top landmarks in the USA. The park’s 262,756 acres (0r 379.3 sq mi; 982.4 sq km) of eroding buttes and pinnacles are protected, as well as the country’s largest mixed-grass prairie.

The park also prominently features one of the world’s richest fossil beds, dating from the Oligocene epoch and preserving more than 600 species of plants and animals. The fossil record of its wildlife includes large saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, mammoths, and short-faced bears.

The movies Dances with Wolves (1990) and Thunderheart (1992) were partly recorded in Badlands National Park, primarily for its breathtaking and largely untouched landscape.

The park’s southern section, which comprises most of this national reserve, was formerly a reservation of the Oglala Sioux Indians. Stronghold Table was originally Sioux territory and is regarded as a ceremonial sacred site rather than a tribal one.

This makes the park a wonderful place to learn about the nation’s first inhabitants. In 1868, the United States committed to keeping Sioux’s land in the Badlands. However, in 1889, after a history of betraying their word to Native Americans, the US government ignored the treaty, and the Badlands were illegally annexed by the United States, becoming government property.

The Lakota and Sioux Indians utilized this location in the late 1800s as a staging ground for the Ghost Dance, a ceremony intended to reawaken buffalo and dead souls. This practice terrified white Americans, who in their ignorance of the culture, banned the practice in 1890, enraging the Natives.

This ban would be followed by the Wounded Knee Massacre, where the US Army murdered around 300 Native Americans (mostly women and children) after trying to force them from their homes.

In 1980, nearly 100 years after the land was stolen, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the abrogation of the agreement was illegal. In 1990, both houses of Congress passed a resolution on the centennial of the massacre, formally expressing “deep regret” for the massacre.

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21. Walt Disney World Resort

The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment complex in Bay Lake, Florida, that opened on October 1, 1971, and it’s the happiest place on Earth! Seriously, it’s infectious! Owned and operated by the gargantuan Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division, it is the largest single-site employer in the United States, with nearly 65,000 employees.

The resort is or has been home to many landmarks, including the “Partners” statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse at Town Square. The Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot’s Spaceship Earth, Typhoon Lagoon’s Shark Reef, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad are just a few of the incredible attractions at this magical landmark.

If you’re looking for a more exclusive experience without breaking the bank, the best time to visit the Walt Disney World resort is in the winter, as it is far less crowded.

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22. Portland Head Light

The Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The light station is located on a head of land at the mouth of the main shipping channel into Portland Harbor, part of Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine.

It is Maine’s oldest lighthouse, having been built in 1791. The light station is automated, and the United States Coast Guard maintains the tower, beacon, and foghorn.

The former lighthouse keepers’ house is now a maritime museum within Fort Williams Park. The best time to visit Portland Head Light is in the spring or fall when the weather is the most pleasant.

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23. Monticello

President Thomas Jefferson’s primary plantation, Monticello, was located in Virginia and was built after he inherited property from his father at age 26.

The plantation was founded in 1743 and is located just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, in the Piedmont region; and is one the landmarks in the USA with the most storied, controversial histories.

It’s no secret that Jefferson utilized enslaved African people’s labor for extensive tobacco and mixed agriculture cultivation early on before switching to wheat because of changing market conditions.

The site has been recognized as a National Historic Landmark for its architectural and historic significance—an ideal place to visit and enjoy a vacation.

In 1987, Monticello and the University of Virginia were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list. On the reverse side of the current nickel, a portrait of Monticello is featured. Mulberry Row was the name of the plantation’s main street. The house occupied less than one-fifth of this area, while additional buildings were added over time.

It includes nailery, quarters for enslaved Africans who labored in the home, gardens for flowers, produce, and Jefferson’s experiments in plant breeding, all complemented with statuary and ornamental shrubbery.

After his death, Jefferson was interred on the grounds in what is now known as the Monticello Cemetery at his request. The Monticello Association, a group of his descendants through Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, owns the cemetery.

In 1834, Uriah P. Levy, a commodore in the United States Navy, purchased the house to preserve it because he admired Jefferson. Jefferson Monroe Levy inherited the property in 1879 and spent significant money restoring and preserving it. In 1923, Monroe Levy sold it to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (TJF), which uses it as a house museum and educational institution.

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24. Bunker Hill Monument

The Bunker Hill Monument, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is a monument to the Battle of Bunker Hill, one of the first major clashes between British and Revolutionary forces during the American Revolutionary War.

The granite obelisk was built between 1825 and 1843 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, using Quincy granite transported by way of the purpose-built Granite Railway, the first commercial railroad in the United States.

The monument is located on Breed’s Hill, where the battle’s fiercest fighting actually took place, but this has been obscured because landscaping and other construction have removed landmarks associated with that location.

The obelisk’s peak is 181 ft (55 m) above sea level and 194 ft (59 m) above the ground, constructed of slightly over 1,200 tons of Quincy granite. It is located adjacent to the Bunker Hill Museum, which contains many artifacts from the battle and the town of Charlestown’s history.

The top of the monument is 294 steps. A fallen hero, Dr. Joseph Warren’s statue may be seen in an exhibit lodge near the monument’s base, constructed in the late 1800s. Boston National Historical Park includes Bunker Hill, one Freedom Trail stop.

The Bunker Hill Museum, located across the street and opened in June 1895, has artifacts from the battle itself and the early history of Charlestown.

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Final Thoughts: American Landmarks and Monuments

In the United States, there are a variety of famous and lesser-known landmarks. The Statue of Liberty and the Bunker Hill Memorial are important symbols of national pride and narrative. They tell a tale about who we are and what makes the United States unique. Which landmark is your favorite?

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