10457 Best Sights in USA

Named after a stop on the Air Line trolley that once shuttled between Downtown and the Santa Monica Pier, Bergamot Station is now a depot for intriguing art---the largest of its kind on the West Coast. The industrial facades house more than 30 art galleries, shops, a café, a theater, and a museum. The galleries cover many kinds of media: photography, jewelry, and paintings from somber to lurid. Leashed, tame dogs are welcome and admission is free.

The appointment-only tasting room at Berghold recalls an earlier wine era with its vintage Victorian interior, including restored, salvaged mantlepieces, leaded glass, and a 26-foot-long bar. The wines—among them Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Zinfandel—pay homage to French wine-making styles.

The frozen ash and lava of the 2.8-million-acre Bering Land Bridge National Preserve lie between Nome and Kotzebue, immediately south of the Arctic Circle, one of the most remote parks in the world. The Lost Jim lava flow is the northernmost flow of major size in the United States, and the paired maars (clear volcanic lakes) are a geological rarity.

Of equal interest are the paleontological features of this preserve. Sealed into the permafrost are flora and fauna—bits of twigs and leaves, tiny insects, small mammals, even the fossilized remains of woolly mammoths—that flourished here when the Bering Land Bridge linked North America to what is now Russia. "Bridge" is something of a misnomer; essentially, the Bering Sea was dry at the time, and the intercontinental connection was as much as 600 miles wide in places. Early people wandered through this treeless landscape, perhaps following sources of food and materials, such as the musk ox, whose descendants still occupy this terrain, or the mammoths and steppe bison, which are both long gone. Flowering plants thrive in this seemingly barren region, about 250 species in all, and tens of thousands of migrating birds can be seen in season. More than 100 species, including ducks, geese, swans, sandhill cranes, and various shorebirds and songbirds, come here from around the world each spring.

Brothers Frederick and Jacob Beringer opened the winery that still bears their name in 1876. One of California's earliest bonded wineries, it's the oldest one in the Napa Valley never to have missed a vintage—no mean feat, given Prohibition. Beringer is known for Cabernet Sauvignons from several Napa Valley AVAs and Knights Valley in Sonoma County; many poured here are winery exclusives. Some tastings take place inside or on the veranda of Frederick's grand Rhine House Mansion, completed in 1886 and surrounded by mature landscaped gardens. A tour surveying Beringer's history passes through the wine caves before a tasting in the old facility where the brothers began making wine.

Thanks to old mining waste, Butte has the dubious distinction as the location of the largest toxic-waste site in the country. Some underground copper mines were dug up in the 1950s, creating the site that stretches 1½ by 1 mile, reaches 1,600 feet deep, and is filled with toxic water some 800 feet deep. A viewing platform allows you to look into the now-abandoned mammoth pit where more than 20 billion pounds of copper, 704 million ounces of silver, and 3 million ounces of gold were extracted from the Butte mining district.

This James River plantation was the birthplace of William Henry Harrison, the ninth U.S. President, and Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It also lays claim to hosting America's first Thanksgiving in December of 1619, long before the Pilgrims arrived. It played a major role in the Civil War, as the headquarters and supply base for McClellan's Union Army. The plantation features five terraced gardens leading from the house to the James River that were dug by hand before the Revolutionary War, and the mansion built in 1726, which is still family-owned.

Virginians say that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated at Berkeley in December 1619, not in Massachusetts in 1621. This plantation was the birthplace of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of William Henry Harrison, who became president in 1841. Throughout the Civil War, the Union general George McClellan used Berkeley as headquarters; during his tenure, his subordinate general Daniel Butterfield composed the melody for "Taps" while here in 1862 with 140,000 Union troops. An architectural gem, the original 1726 brick Georgian mansion has been carefully restored and furnished with 18th-century antiques. The gardens are in excellent condition, particularly the boxwood hedges.

Opened in 1903, this "universal" museum has a little bit of everything: paintings from the Hudson River School, local artifacts, and natural history specimens both animal and mineral. The Hall of Innovation showcases Berkshires innovators whose creations range from special effects for Star Wars to the paper used for U.S. currency. Don't miss the Egyptian mummy, or the aquarium with a touch tank in the basement.

In a restored 1903 railroad station, the museum's collection includes antique rail equipment, vintage items, a children's area, and a large working model railway. Short rides aboard the Lenox Jitney train from one end of the grounds to the other are available. 

A trip to Southern California's oldest operating winery, founded in 1889 and run by the Rizzo family since 1927, feels like traveling back to early California days; some of the vines on the former Spanish land-grant property have been producing grapes for more than 100 years. Most of the grapes now come from other wine-growing regions. A collection of quaint shops surrounds the winery. Manzanita Roasting Company has coffee and fresh pastries, and The Kitchen serves pizza and pasta Wednesday through Sunday. Shops sell cold-pressed olive oil, jams, and other gourmet goodies, as well as apparel, home decor items, and arts and crafts. A farmers' market is held Friday from 9 am to 1 pm. No dogs or outside food or drink allowed.

At the tasting room of Bernardus—known for its Bordeaux-style red blend, called Marinus, and its Chardonnays—you can sample current releases and reserve wines.

Petite Sirah, under that name and its original French one, Durif, is the flagship grape of this operation whose parent company's nursery has supplied a who's-who of Napa and Sonoma wineries with disease-free rootstock since 1969. Tempranillo and Barbera are two other successful reds, with Albariño and Verdejo the best whites. The redbrick downtown tasting room is open daily. You can visit the nearby estate and its affiliated brewery four days a week.

Founded in 1789, this Reform synagogue collects and preserves artifacts that relate to the culture and history of Richmond's Jewish residents and is one of the oldest synagogues in America.

Although it's just four blocks long, the wide, wooden path is a delightful oceanfront stroll. Shops sell beach vacation essentials like candy, french fries and frozen custard, clothing and souvenirs. Hear all sorts of music during summer concerts at the Boardwalk Bandstand.

Set on 26 acres of forest and freshwater and tidal wetlands, the barn-shaped center showcases the coastal enviroment via outdoor and indoor activities. Saturday-morning kids' programs are free, but children must be with an adult.

Founded in 1977, Bethel Heights was one of the first vineyards planted in the Eola Hills region of the Willamette Valley. It produces Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Gris. The tasting room has one of the most glorious panoramic views of any winery in the state; its terrace and picnic area overlook the surrounding vineyards, the valley below, and Mt. Jefferson in the distance.

At the edge of the village, these wooded trails are part of the Inland Woods + Trails network. Used for mountain biking, walking, and running and come winter, fat-tire bicycling, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing, the trails can be accessed outside the Bethel Resort & Suites golf course pro shop. In the winter, the shop rents cross-country skis and fat-tire bikes.

This Gothic-style Episcopal church had a claim to fame upon its creation in 1926: it was built by the first Protestant congregation in southeast Florida. Church lecture tours, covering Bethesda's history, architecture, and more, are offered at 12:05 on the second and fourth Sunday each month from September to mid-May (excluding December) and at 11:15 on the fourth Sunday each month from the end of May to August. Also notable are the annual Boar's Head and Yule Log festivals in January. Adjacent is the formal, ornamental Cluett Memorial Garden.

It's easy to find this little brick house with the gabled roof: just look for the 13-star flag displayed from its second-floor window. Whether Betsy Ross, also known as Elizabeth Griscom Ross Ashbourn Claypoole (1752–1836), actually lived here and whether she really made the first Stars and Stripes is debatable. Nonetheless, the house, built around 1740, is a splendid example of a Colonial Philadelphia home. The eight-room house overflows with artifacts such as a family Bible and Ross's chest of drawers and reading glasses. You may have to wait in line, as this is one of the city's most popular attractions. The house, with its winding narrow stairs, is not accessible to people with disabilities. Alongside the house is a courtyard with a fountain, as well as the graves of Ross and her third husband, John Claypoole. Visitors can meet Betsy in her upholstery shop (the only working Colonial upholstery shop in the country) and enjoy interactive historical programming.

Overlooking Lake Michigan, this well-conceived children's museum epitomizes the concept of hands-on learning. Playing on Wisconsin's agricultural economy, the museum lets kids learn the basics of commerce in an exhibit where they pick and sell play apples. Other perennial favorites are the BodyWorks exhibit, with its amusingly graphic mock-ups of bodily functions; nimble kids can crawl through a huge heart to see how blood flows from one chamber to another. Toddler play spaces are well protected from the general flow of traffic.

At 8,200 feet above sea level, the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens are the highest botanical gardens in the world. This oasis of columbines, alpine plants, colorful perennials, and wild roses offers stunning views of the Rocky Mountains from meandering pathways that pass beside streams and waterfalls. The gardens are free to the public and open year-round; peak flower season is June through August. Guided tours are available.

Seven miles north of Newport, this beachfront park extends from Yaquina Head, where you can see the lighthouse, to the headlands of Otter Rock. It's a great place to fly a kite, surf the waves, or hunt for fossils. The campground is well equipped, with a wind-protected picnic area.

Set back from U.S. 209 between the center of Stone Ridge and Hurley is the Bevier House Museum, which dates from 1690 and is the headquarters of the Ulster County Historical Society. Among the house-tour highlights are the scullery, which contains early building and food-prep tools (some from the 17th century), and an extensive collection of Civil War artifacts, including guns, photos, drums, and uniform pieces. A small gift shop has books about local history and architecture.

Built to celebrate Tennessee's bicentennial, this beautifully landscaped 19-acre park includes a 2,000-seat amphitheater, a scaled map of the state in granite, a World War II memorial, a wall etched with a time line of state events, and fountains representing each of Tennessee's rivers (you'll see both kids and adults splashing in them April–October). The park has a number of picnic tables and there are several dining options at the nearby Nashville Farmers' Market.

From this spot just south of the park's northeast entrance, the vast majority of the park's 1 million annual visitors get their first views of the White River Badlands.

This hike climbs 600 feet and 2.2 miles up to the 8,209-foot summit of Big Baldy. Your reward is the view of Redwood Canyon. Round-trip, the hike is 4.4 miles. Moderate.

This rescue and rehabilitation center specializes in animals native to the San Bernardino Mountains. Its residents may include black and (non-native) grizzly bears, bald eagles, coyotes, mountain lions, wolves, snow leopards, and bobcats.

The 25-passenger paddle wheeler Big Bear Cruzer departs from here on 90-minute lake tours ($22). The marina also rents fishing boats, Jet Skis, kayaks, and paddleboards.

The Big Clifty Sandstone, part of the Golconda Formation, lies atop the limestone bedrock of the Mammoth Cave region like a roof. Its cross-bedded layers of sandstone and shale form a shield impermeable to water, protecting the limestone beneath from dissolution. Only through cracks and holes in this shield can rainwater penetrate and begin undermining the caprock, flowing through the soluble limestones beneath and making caves. The Big Clifty Sandstone shows off its profile nicely at this location right off the Historic Entrance Trail nearby the visitor center. An outdoor exhibit facing the formation highlights the feature.