Happy 4th - Name the Most Impressive U.S. History Site(s) You've Seen
 

In no particular order:

- U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

- Monticello on a fall morning, fog covering the valley below, only about a dozen people there

- The Liberty Bell, heavy snow day in Philadelphia, we walked there and had it all to ourselves

- American cemetery at Omaha Beach

For me, it was the Vietnam War Memorial; The Wall. I was in college during the war. My then boyfriend, now DH worried about a deferment. My roommates very good friend was killed. After I graduated, we lived near campus and I remember the national guardsmen ringing the campus after Kent State. That feeling, when you come around the corner, see the statue of three guys, and that black with all the names engraved. It took my breath away.

Omaha Beach and the cemetery - absolutely.

As a non-American, the most emotive places I've been to, concerning American history in the States, have certainly been USS Arizona, Oahu and Ground Zero, NYC.
But, much closer to home, about 40-50 miles from where I live, the Sherman tank at Slapton Sands, commemorating the nearly 1000 American servicemen who lost their lives to a German E-boat, while practising for the D-Day Landings - Exercise Tiger I think it was called - is a beautiful place.

I have to say, having never been to Normandy (it's high high on my list), that it would be the Vietnam Memorial. I too was in college during the war, and I was fervently anti-that war. But that doesn't make the memorial any less breathtaking and thought-provoking.

Anyplace in the world it has to be Omaha Beach and cemetery...in the lower 48 it would be the Vietnam Memorial and outside the lower 48, Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial.

Gettysburg, especially walking partway across the fields of Pickett's Charge.

The original "star spangled banner" being restored at the American History Museum in Washington, DC.

Lee Ann

Interesting that the previous replies are mostly related to war. Anyway, mine are:

Mt. Wilson 100 inch telescope.

Lincoln Memorial

Wright Brothers Memorial at Kitty Hawk.

I chose these because they all gave me that lump in the throat feeling.

Arizona Memorial

Mt. Vernon

Everything in DC

Belleau Wood WWI US Cemetary in France

The World War II memorial in Washington DC, and seeing an old veteran there. Brought tears to my eyes.

The Lincoln Memorial.

The Little Bighorn battlefield.

Vicksburg.

Ellis Island.

A couple of personal places -

1. Ancestral home 1 (Great...great... etc. Grandfather) - near Portsmouth NH, built around 1670-1680 - http://gardyloo.us/nhhse1.jpg

2. Ancestral home 2 - nearby, built around 1750. http://gardyloo.us/nhhouse2.jpg

The family historian (shirt-tail relative) and a museum or two have blankets used by my forefather x 10 or so at Valley Forge, with his name embroidered.

Ditto Picks...Gettysburg. Especially Little Round Top.
Also Antietam, Harper's Ferry and Manassas.

Ford's Theater.

Donner Lake when I'm feeling a bit hungry....

I guess Ellis Island moved me more than any place else. Standing in the great hall just made me weep thinking about my grandmother and great-grandmother going through there in 1907 and what America meant to the poor, uneducated and persecuted Jews. I wouldn't be here if they hadn't come.

Having said that, any American who has not been to Washington, DC, owes himself a trip here. The Capitol, the memorials, Arlington Cemetery, etc., it's all here. That's why I don't want to live anywhere else.

Anytime I go into town, I can immediately raise my eyes and look at the US Capitol. How many of you know, however, that The Capitol's heavy lifting (including the lifting of the "freedom" statue at the top) was all done by African American slaves. US history is full of contradictions--some very embarassing.

Come and visit the Nation's Capital and I challenge you NOT to be moved!

The Vietnam Wall in a torrential downpour

Molokai's Leper Colony

The World Trade Center, still smoking over Thanksgiving

The 40 steps in Newport, RI where servants would meet to hear news from the old country

Plimouth Rock for representing one of the biggest lying tourist trap dissappointments in US history

Arlington Cemetary

Fenway Park

Old North Bridge in Concord, MA

USS Arizona

The Lincoln Memorial - not only for all the obvious reasons - but also because of it's later symbolic associations - including Marion Anderson's concert there after being barred from using the DAR Hall because she was black.

The entire Freedom Trial in Boston

The World Trade Center missing (I still think about it every time I'm returning from a meeting in Jersey and remember how it used to dominate the skyline) - and all the sorrow and sacrifices, bravery and tears - associated with that day

The Charles River Esplanade Hatch Shell hearing the 1812 Overture by the amazing Boston Pops

Fort McHenry, Baltimore, MD

The Mall, Washington, DC

Williamsburg, VA

"Donner Lake when I'm feeling a bit hungry...."

Kal, have you been drinking again?

My husband would say: Gettysburg
I say: The Freedom Trail, Lexington, and of course Harvard, proving how important education is that it was established in 1636, only 16 years after the Pilgrims landed.

Insofar as my opinion is worthwhile, I find Gettysburg a bit disappointing. All those memorials all over really do not help you "feel" what happened there. They get in the way.

For a battlefield that was left as is (and I wish they'd remove all the memorials at Gettysburg but it ain't gonna happen), try an Antietim/Sharpsburg. It looks like they cleaned up the bodies and just walked away. You can take photos of the battlefield taken by Matthew Brady and match them with specific locations. Now, that's a battlefield memorial!