10457 Best Sights in USA

This was the house of worship for the Free \"Fighting\" Quakers, a group that broke away from the Society of Friends to support the cause against the British during the Revolutionary War. The building was designed in 1783 by Samuel Wetherill, one of the original leaders of the group, after they were disowned by their pacifist flock. Among the 100 members were Betsy Ross and Timothy Matlack, colonel in Washington's Army and assistant secretary of the Continental Congress. After the Free Quaker group dissolved, the building was used as a school, library, and warehouse. The meetinghouse, built in the Quaker plain style with a brick front and gable roof, has been carefully restored.  No tickets are required, but call Independence National Historical Park to check on availability.

During a period of the 19th century, one of the South's most lucrative slave-trading businesses, Franklin and Armfield, operated out of this Federal-style row house on Duke Street. More than 3,750 enslaved men, women, and children were held here between 1828 and 1861, en route to cotton and sugar plantations and markets in the deep South. Recently renovated and expanded, the museum has three floors of rotating exhibits that strive to reframe the undertold stories of enslaved and free Black people who lived in—and were trafficked through—Alexandria.

One of the neighborhood's best features is the Freedom Park Trail, a particularly pleasant stretch of the PATH Foundation's more-than-250-mile trail system in the metro area. It gives runners, bikers, and dog walkers a peaceful thoroughfare inside the 210-acre Freedom Park. The PATH is the largest public green space in a major metro area developed in the United States in the last century.

The Hattiesburg Visitors Center serves as the starting point for this educational driving tour commemorating 16 points of interest along the Civil Rights Trail. Maps and audio narratives, available from the Visitors Center, explain the historical significance of each site. The Visitors Center serves complimentary coffee, displays local art, operates a gift shop, and welcomes guests to use their restroom facilities. Outdoors, you'll find a picnic area and a dog park.

More than a route of historic sites, the Freedom Trail is a 2½-mile walk into history, bringing to life the events that exploded on the world around the time of the American Revolution. It's 16 stops, which include the Massachusetts State House, Faneuil Hall, and Bunker Hill Monument (the trail's final stop), allow you to reach out and touch the very wellsprings of U.S. civilization—keep an eye on the sidewalk for the painted red-stripe or redbrick line that marks the trail. The Boston Visitor Information Center (technically the trail's first stop) has maps and a ton of information about the city and the trail.  For a detailed tour, check out the Freedom Trail Walking Tour in the Travel Smart chapter.

Learn a bit about the history of homesteading in the region on this 1-mile loop. Look for owls living in the cliffs above as you make your way through the lowland vegetation. Easy.

Pick up a village walking map and delve into Freeport's rich past through the exhibits at the Freeport Historical Society, located in Harrington House, a hybrid Federal- and Greek Revival–style home built in the 1830s. It's a good idea to call ahead to make sure it's open. The historical society also offers walking tours a few times a month in the summer.

This modernist property on a 46-acre site exhibits the works of American abstract artists Suzy Frelinghuysen and George L. K. Morris, as well as those of their contemporaries, including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris. In addition to the paintings, frescoes, and sculptures on display, a 57-minute documentary on Frelinghuysen and Morris plays on a continuous loop. Tours are offered on the hour—just be aware that it's a long walk to the house. Painting demonstrations and workshops occasionally take place.

Between AD 300 and 1300, the Capitol Reef area was occupied by Native Americans who were eventually referred to by archaeologists as the Fremont, after the park's Fremont River. A nice stroll along a boardwalk bridge, 1 mile east of the visitor center, allows close-up views of ancient rock art depicting bighorn sheep as well as trapezoidal figures, often shown wearing headdresses and ear baubles.

What starts as a quiet little stroll beside the river turns into an adventure. The first 0.3 miles of the trail wanders past orchards next to the Fremont River. After you pass through a narrow gate, the trail changes personality and you're in for a steep climb on an exposed ledge with drop-offs. The views at the top of the 480-foot ascent are worth it. It's 2 miles round-trip; allow 90 minutes. Moderate.

The Experience was originally the name for the 1,450-foot arched canopy that was built 90 feet above \"Glitter Gulch,\" downtown's main drag, to revive its sadly fading epicenter. The plan worked, slowly but spectacularly—now the whole street is an \"experience.\" The Viva Vision synchronized light shows, which run the length of the canopy, got a $32-million makeover in 2019 and now sparkle with LED lights (officially touted as \"16.4 million brilliant pixels\") to create displays that are seven times brighter and four times sharper than previous versions. The brief shows are themed, such as the salutes to homegrown rockers The Killers and Las Vegas–based music producer Steve Aoki. They play five to seven times a night, depending on the time of year, and the six-minute presentations change regularly.

The upgrades to the overhead show were necessary to keep up with the carnival atmosphere on the street. Costumed characters and street performers vie for attention with the live bands playing on two stages, and outdoor bars now line the fronts of the historic casinos, the bar tops doubling as stages for dancing showgirls. Thrill-seekers can ride one of two zip lines beneath the length of the canopy; the zips emerge from the face of the world's largest slot machine, appropriately dubbed SlotZilla.

In summer, there's also free live music on stages adjacent to The D Las Vegas and Circa Las Vegas. Go ahead and sing at the top of your lungs; there's so much going on that nobody will even notice.

The circa-1845 Gothic-style church is home to the nation's only practicing Huguenot congregation. English-language services are held Sunday at 10:30, with a tour given to any visitors immediately afterward.

The museum's key permanent collections include pre-Columbian Mesoamerican art, Andean pre-Columbian textiles and artifacts, Japanese prints, Berkeley School abstract expressionist paintings, and contemporary sculpture. Temporary exhibits include important traveling shows.

For a dose of colorful foothills history, make a quick stop at this engaging local museum centered on two 1870s houses. Self-guided tours are available from dawn to dusk; museum visits are by appointment.

The includes Clayton, the turn-of-the-20th-century home of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, which preserves the original furnishings and art; a car and carriage museum; the Frick Art Museum, which possesses a small but choice collection of old master works; a Victorian greenhouse; and a café serving an excellent lunch. Reservations for tours of Clayton and café seating are recommended.

For locals, Friedrich Wilderness Park is a great close-to-home natural spot with more than 10 miles of hiking trails a mere 20 miles from the Alamo on the northwest side of town near Six Flags Fiesta Texas. This 600-acre hilly haven for rare birds and orchids is a nesting site for two federally listed bird species: the black-capped vireo and the golden-cheeked warbler. As a protected area that minimizes impact on the environment, in-line skates, scooters, skateboards, and bicycles are not allowed. Pedestrians only. Alcohol is prohibited, as are dogs, fires, and smoking. Because the park is a natural area, their primary mission is conservation and resource management. Bird-watchers from around the world are often spotted here. For trail conditions, check out their Facebook or Twitter, call the park office, or go to Friends of San Antonio Natural Areas ( fosana.org).

Occasional walking tours of Oak Hill Cemetery and downtown Nyack are led by Friends of the Nyacks; call or check online for dates and times.

Alexandria's showcase firehouse dates from 1855 and is filled with typical 19th-century implements, but the resident Friendship Fire Company was established in 1774, the same year it bought its first "engine." Among early fire engines on display is a hand pumper built in Philadelphia in 1851. 

It's not very secluded, but Frijole sports attractive picnic shelters near the parking area, which also has restrooms. Two picnic tables are also set up under tall trees near Frijole Ranch History Museum.

Branching off the Frijole Ranch Trail, this relatively flat hike leads to Pine Springs Campground. The 5½-mile round-trip through desert vistas takes about four hours; you can shorten it to 4½ miles if you start and finish at Frijole Ranch. Moderate.

This 57-acre vineyard and winery offers picturesque mountain views from its deck as well as a dramatic dining room. Since 2010, Frogtown wines have won more than 200 medals. Winemakers Craig and Sydney Kritzer believe it is one of the most awarded wineries in the country not located in California. Wine tastings are offered Wednesdays through Sundays. Lunch is available Thursday to Sunday in their Italian bistro-café. Reservations are recommended.

If you want a party scene and beach bars with live music and dancing, then this stretch of Isle of Palms is for you. Its string of businesses is the only beachfront commercial district in the area. Bicyclists are welcome, as are pets on leashes. Parking regulations are strictly enforced. Amenities: food and drink; parking (fee). Best for: partiers; swimming; windsurfing.

An outdoor living-history museum, the Frontier Culture Museum re-creates agrarian life in America. The four illustrative farmsteads, American, Scotch-Irish, German, and English, were painstakingly moved from their original sites and reassembled on the museum grounds. A West African village and an American Indian village are also among the exhibits. The livestock and plants here resemble the historic breeds and varieties as closely as possible. Special programs and activities, held throughout the year, include soap and broom making, cornhusking bees, and supper and barn dances.

This interactive living-history museum devoted to the county's early iron industry is home to a number of interesting attractions, including a bullet-scarred stagecoach that ran in the days of Butch Cassidy and the oldest standing home in all of southern Utah, built in 1851. Local artisans demonstrate pioneer crafts, and numerous mining artifacts and tools are on display.

The Frontier Montana Museum displays hats, saddles, spurs, chaps, and all things cowboy. Also here are Civil War items, Native American artifacts, and Desert John's Saloon, complete with whiskey memorabilia.

Hand-built in 1933 by stonemason Hough LeStourgeon from stones gathered in the region and decorated with geological artifacts found nearby, this popular museum, created by J. Marvin Hunter, founder of the Frontier Times magazine, teems with oddities and relics—take, for instance, the two-headed goat or the mummified cow fetus. The collection here is truly eclectic.

The pseudo-Western Frontier Town has wooden sidewalks, ramshackle buildings, and souvenir shops.

Robert Frost's year-round home from 1915 to 1920, this modest homestead on a peaceful unpaved road is surrounded by well-tended gardens and offers stunning mountain views. The place is imbued with the spirit of his work—two rooms contain memorabilia and signed editions of his books. Poetry readings are scheduled some summer evenings. Out back, you can follow short trails marked with lines from his poetry. The grounds are always open and beautiful for a stroll.

In addition to its beloved permanent collection—predominately 19th- and 20th-century pastoral paintings—the Frye hosts eclectic and often avant-garde exhibits, putting this elegant museum on par with the Henry in the University District. No matter what's going on in the stark, brightly lighted back galleries, it always seems to blend well with the permanent collection, which is rotated regularly. Thanks to the legacy of Charles and Emma Frye, the museum is always free, including parking.

The 467-acre Ft. Casey State Park, on a bluff overlooking sweeping views of Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Port Townsend ferry landing, was one of three forts (the "Triangle of Death") built after 1890 to protect the entrance to Admiralty Inlet from naval invasion. Look for the concrete gun emplacement and a couple of eight-inch "disappearing" guns. The charming Admiralty Head Lighthouse Interpretive Center is north of the gunnery emplacements. There are also grassy picnic sites, rocky fishing spots, waterfront campsites, and a boat launch. A Washington State Discover Pass is required ($30/year or $10/day; see  www.discoverpass.wa.gov). Once you're done exploring the park, take the ferry to Port Townsend for a quick side trip or a long lunch.