10457 Best Sights in USA

For any visit to Bears Ears National Monument, this is as important a stop as the BLM office in Monticello. Run by the nonprofit Bears Ears Partnership, this is not an official visitor center for the park, but it does focus on teaching visitors how to explore Bears Ears respectfully. It's also a great place to pick up maps for your trip, and do peruse the gift shop and bookstore. Indigenous pottery shards are on display, as are more modern pieces by indigenous artisans showcasing the kind of work Native people created in the area thousands of years ago. The visitor center typically has a seasonal closure in summer and winter, though the dates change depending on visitation. The Partnership's thorough website also has plenty of up-to-date information for your journey.

In this part of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness you can hike, fish, and go white-water rafting on the Madison River. A picnic area and access to Trail Creek are at the head of the canyon below Ennis Lake. To get here, drive north out of Ennis on U.S. 287 to the town of McAllister and turn right down a bumpy dirt road (no number), which takes you around to the north side of the lake across the dam. Turn left after the dam onto an unmarked road and drive across the river to the Trail Creek access point.

"Museum" might be a stretch for this tiny storefront that's half bookstore, half memorabilia collection. You can see the 1949 Hudson from the movie version of On the Road and the shirt Neal Cassady wore while driving Ken Kesey's Merry Prankster bus, "Further." There are also manuscripts, letters, and early editions by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. But the true treasure here is the passionate and well-informed staff, which often includes the museum's founder, Jerry Cimino: your short visit may turn into an hours-long trip through the Beat era. Excellent walking tours go beyond the museum to take in favorite Beat watering holes and hangouts in North Beach.

In the center of town, the historic site consists of 10 buildings dating from 1732 to 1859, including the 1796 Carteret County Courthouse and the 1859 Apothecary Shop and Doctor's Office. Don't miss the Old Burying Grounds (1709), where Otway Burns, a privateer in the War of 1812, is buried under his ship's cannon; a nine-year-old girl who died at sea is buried in a rum keg; and an English soldier saluting the king is buried upright in his grave. Tours of the entire 12-block historic site, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places, either on an English-style double-decker bus or by guided walk, depart from the visitor center. For a self-guided tour, download the free walking tour brochure from the website and put on your walking shoes—Beaufort has about 150 historic houses with plaques that list their date of construction and original owner.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Beaufort National Cemetery is the final resting spot of both Union and Confederate soldiers from the Civil War. In 1987, 19 more Union soldiers were interred here after having been discovered buried under the sands of Folly Beach. (These men had been missing in action since 1863.) The site’s peaceful, well-maintained grounds make this a somber spot to commemorate the dead.

The influential André Tchelistcheff (1901–94), who helped define the California style of wine making, worked his magic here for many years. BV, founded in 1900 by Georges de Latour and his wife, Fernande, makes several widely distributed wines, but others are produced in small lots and available only at the winery. The most famous, the Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, which debuted in the late 1930s, has scored as high as 100 points in recent years.  Book a Hewitt Vineyard Cabernet Tasting to sample wines from a heralded Rutherford vineyard.

This stately 19th-century mansion was briefly home to Confederate general and Louisiana native P.G.T. Beauregard, but a longer-term resident was the novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes, who found the place in a sad state when she arrived in the 1940s. Keyes restored the home—today filled with period furnishings—and her studio at the back of the large courtyard remains intact, complete with family photos, original manuscripts, and her doll, fan, and teapot collections. Keyes wrote 40 novels there, all in longhand, among them local favorite Dinner at Antoine's. Even if you don't have time for a tour, take a peek at the beautiful walled garden through the gates at the corner of Chartres and Ursulines Streets. Landscaped in the same sun pattern as Jackson Square, it blooms year-round. The house was used most recently as the interior for the Fairplay Saloon in the TV series Interview with the Vampire. Tours (45 minutes) begin on the hour.

As its name implies, little ones love singing along with beloved classics from Beauty and the Beast at this show, which plays in the same theater as Impressions de France. The traditional story has a twist, however. As Mrs. Potts narrates, you realize that LeFou, best known as Gaston's sidekick, was actually working behind the scenes to help Belle and the Beast fall in love. Although this 15-minute film is particularly good for younger kids, everyone will appreciate the chance to sit down and enjoy a cute storyline. For people with disabilities: Wheelchair- and ECV-accessible; reflective captioning and equipped for assisted-listening and audio-description devices.

This popular stage show takes place at the Theater of the Stars, a re-creation of the famed Hollywood Bowl. The actors playing a luminous Belle and delightfully vain Gaston sing passionately with a lively cast of characters and dancers. The enchanted prince (Beast) and household characters (Mrs. Potts, Chip, Lumière, and Cogsworth) deftly navigate the stage despite their bulky costumes. Even some set pieces sway along during the charming "Be Our Guest" number. There's high drama during the mob scene and a sweet ending when ballroom dancers in frothy pink and purple waltz along with the fairy-tale couple.

As you arrive or depart, check out handprints and footprints set in concrete of the TV personalities who've visited Disney's Hollywood Studios. For people with disabilities: Wheelchair and ECV accessible and equipped for handheld-captioning, audio-description, and assisted-listening devices. Sign language twice a week. Arrive 30 minutes early on crowded days (which are rare) or if you want the "perfect" seat; otherwise show up 15 minutes before. Attend in the afternoon when you'll appreciate a chance to sit down.

Severely damaged by hurricane Katrina in 2005, Beauvoir (French for "beautiful view) is "dedicated to preserving and interpreting the legacy of American hero and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and the Southern soldier." Many of the site's structures have been repaired or restored, and the gardens have been replanted; but conservation efforts of the collections continue in earnest. Guided tours of the home are conducted every half hour, beginning at 9:30 am daily. Self-guided tours of the home and the cemetery are available anytime during operating hours.

Rising out of the White Mountains National Recreation Area, Beaver Creek makes its easy way north. If you have enough time, it's possible to run its entire length to the Yukon, totaling 360 river miles if done from road to road. If you make a shorter run, you will have to arrange a takeout via small plane. A lot of people make the trip in five or six days, starting from Nome Creek and taking out at Victoria Creek. Contact CanoeAlaska to schedule a shuttle. Don't try this on your own unless you're an expert in a canoe, and don't forget to pack mosquito repellent.

Set in the ancient Bears Paw Mountains, about 10 miles south of town, is the 10,000-acre Beaver Creek Park, the largest county park in the country. It's a favorite spot for locals, who come here to fish in the two lakes and winding Beaver Creek, camp, picnic, and enjoy the grassy foothills and timbered ridges of this island mountain range surrounded by dryland wheat fields.

Beaver Island State Park at the southern tip of the island, is a flat, grassy, sparsely treed expanse crossed with biking and walking-running paths (including a long boardwalk along the Niagara River), plus a sandy beach for swimming, a golf course, and driving range.

Housing the park headquarters, this visitor center was designed by students of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin West using the park's popular rustic style. The center has a terrific 20-minute orientation film and a large relief map of the park.

This 2½-hour, 5-mile loop starts at Liberty Cap in the busy Lower Terrace of Mammoth Hot Springs. Within minutes you'll find yourself amid the park's dense backcountry as you climb 400 feet through spruce and fir, passing several ponds and dams, as well as a glacier-carved moraine, before emerging on a windswept plain overlooking the Montana–Wyoming border. Look up to see Everts Peak to the east, Bunsen Peak to the south, and Sepulcher Mountain to the west. Your final descent into Mammoth Springs has great views of Mammoth Springs. Moderate.

The Beaverhead County Museum exhibits Native American artifacts, ranching and mining memorabilia, a homesteader's cabin, agricultural artifacts, a one-room schoolhouse, a Lewis and Clark diorama, a model train, a research center, and a boardwalk imprinted with the area's ranch brands.

Water conditions range from tranquil to harrowing at this park straddling the southern tip of Conanicut Island. In rough weather, waves crash dramatically (and dangerously) on the rocky point. On a clear, calm day, however, the park's craggy shoreline invites sunning, hiking, and climbing. There are portable restrooms open daily, year-round. On about a dozen dates (July–October), the Beavertail Lighthouse Museum Association (beavertaillight.org) opens the Beavertail Lighthouse, the nation's third-oldest lighthouse (established 1749), letting you climb the 1856 tower's 49 steps (and then a 7-foot ladder) to enjoy the magnificent panorama from the observation catwalk. A museum occupies the lighthouse keeper's former quarters; the lighthouse's last "beehive" Fresnel lens is on display. The old fog signal building has a saltwater aquarium with local species of fish. Both are open seasonally.

Stretching along the southern edge of the Alaska Peninsula, these two refuges encompass nearly 6 million acres of towering mountains, glacial lakes, broad tundra valleys, and coastal fjords. Volcanoes dominate the landscape—14 in all, nine of them active—and the waters are known for their salmon and grayling. The world-record grayling, nearly five pounds (most weigh a pound or less), was caught at Ugashik Narrows in 1981. Remote and rugged, with the peninsula's signature unpredictable weather, the Becharof and Alaska Peninsula Refuges draw mostly anglers and hunters. Backpackers, river runners, and mountain climbers also occasionally visit.

Some people hike the Kanatak Trail in Becharof, a route between the Pacific Ocean and Bristol Bay via Becharof Lake that was used by people residing on the Peninsula for at least 1,900 years. Early Russian and American settlers continued using the trail and developed settlements on either end, and oil exploration in the 20th century brought people who settled in the Pacific Kanatak—they built unpaved roads on top of the old walking routes. The last residents left in the 1950s. If you walk the trail now, you'll see the remnants of the the old roads and trail, along with plenty of animals and no other humans. It's not a long hike—about 5 miles—but the weather, terrain, and other elements can be challenging, so come prepared.

With the famed Firebird sculpture out front, there's no way you can miss this staple of Uptown's art scene. Covered in mirrors and colored glass, Niki de Saint Phalle's 17-foot birdlike creature is just a taste of what the Bechtler has to offer inside. The rotating collection might include Warhol's pop art, Giacometti's dark sculptures, and ceramics by Picasso. Founded by the Swiss-born Andreas Bechtler, the museum highlights his family's love affair with art, as well as their deep connections with many of the artists on display. The small museum is spread across three compact floors—allow about an hour to fully experience the collections.

Check the museum's calendar of after-hours concerts in their popular Jazz at the Bechtler series.

Commemorating Knoxville's African-American history with photographs, art, and a large archive of newspapers, this center is located in the former home of one of the city's most prominent Black families. In nearby Morningside Park is a statue of the late Alex Haley, a one-time Knoxville resident and author of the book Roots.

Merlot is the benchmark of the region, and Bedell's reputation as the area's premier maker of this wine attracts serious wine lovers. The tasting room, in a New England farm–style building, has a modern-art collection and a stainless-steel bar. It has fine environmentally-friendly sustainable credentials. Splurge on the 16-month, oak-aged $90 Musée 2010.

Winemaker Andy DuVigneaud of Bee Hunter prefers vineyards close to the ocean because the cool climate requires grapes to stay longer on the vine, preventing them from ripening before their flavors fully develop. His delicious output, poured with enthusiasm in a former car repair shop, includes Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, dry Riesling, rosé of Pinot Noir, several Pinot Noirs, and a few other reds.

A unique payoff awaits on this 1.2-mile round-trip hike: a fire lookout tower where you can enjoy views of Somes Sound, Echo Lake, Acadia Mountain, and beyond from its platform. The forested and rocky trail is popular with sunset seekers, who are reminded to carry appropriate clothing and headlamps for the descent. Moderate.

One of Acadia National Park's renowned iron rung and ladder trails, this popular, super challenging 1.4-mile loop ascends a 450-foot cliff. Hikers celebrate at the summit 250 feet above sea level with views of Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and the Gulf of Maine beyond the Ocean Drive section of Park Loop Road. To get there, they hike up steep granite staircases, scramble rocks, and grasp iron rungs and ladders. There's even a section where you step on iron bars, not solid ground. Yes, it's much easier going down—no more rungs, ladders, or bars. If you have a fear of heights, fear not: from Sand Beach you can watch those who don't on the Beehive.   Wear sturdy footwear; the trail is dangerous when wet. Difficult.

On this 60-minute program at Shark Encounter and Avian Research, you'll have a chance to see how SeaWorld's animal experts care for rescued manatees and sea turtles. Where else can you touch a shark and play with a penguin?

In 1883, Elijah Cutler Behunin used blocks of sandstone to build this rudimentary cabin in which he and his family of 15(!) resided. Floods in the lowlands made life too difficult, and he moved just a year later. The house, 5.9 miles east of the visitor center, is empty, but you can peek through the window to see the interior.

The library's collection of literary papers, early manuscripts, and rare books include a Gutenberg Bible and original Audubon bird prints; the exhibition spaces on the ground floor and mezzanine are open to the public. The building that houses them is an attraction in its own right: the walls are made of marble cut so thin that the light shines through, making the interior a breathtaking sight on sunny days. Introductory tours for individuals are offered on Saturday afternoons; group tours are Yale-led and require advance registration at the Yale Visitor Information Center.

Built in the mid-1700s as a country retreat for provincial Maryland governor Samuel Ogle, the Georgian-style Belair Mansion was subsequently owned in the early 1900s by James Woodward. Ogle was instrumental during Colonial times in importing horses that improved the American Thoroughbred. The house displays British and Early American paintings, silver, and furniture. In 1908 Woodward built additions to the house, including the Belair Stable, which began the modern legacy of the Belair Stud, the line responsible for Omaha and his sire Gallant Fox, each of whom won the Triple Crown in the 1930s. One-hour self-guided tours of the mansion and stable emphasize the contributions of the families and their horses to racing history.

Richard Morris Hunt based his design for this 60-room mansion, built in 1894 for wealthy bachelor Oliver H. P. Belmont, on the hunting lodge of Louis XIII. Billionaire founder of Alex and Ani, Carolyn Rafaelian, a native Rhode Islander, purchased Belcourt in 2012 and has been working to restore the home to its former glory in an eco-conscious way, employing solar panels and thermal-heating-and-cooling systems. Jennifer Lawrence famously chose the estate as her 2019 wedding venue. On a tour, which takes about 50 minutes, you can admire the stained glass, carved wood, and chandeliers—one of which has 20,000 pieces and another that weighs 460 pounds and was originally held up by a single nail. Ghost tours are also conducted seasonally.

With its distinctive shape right out of your favorite Western film and its proximity to the main drag, this popular butte ensures a steady flow of admirers, so you may want to arrive early in the day. The parking lot next to the Bell Rock Pathway often fills by midmorning, even midweek. The views from here are good, but an easy and fairly accessible path follows mostly gentle terrain for 1 mile to the base of the butte. Mountain bikers, parents with all-terrain baby strollers, and not-so-avid hikers should have little problem getting there. No official paths climb the rock itself, but many forge their own routes (at their own risk).