490 Best Sights in USA

This exquisite three-story French Victorian mansion was built in 1870 and has a grand drawing room graced with original parquet floors and large mirrors. Antique furnishings include Aubusson carpets, marble mantels, and a Venetian crystal chandelier. The formal garden still has its gingerbread playhouse, now the museum shop.

Just a few blocks from the waterfront, Wright's Ferry Mansion was the residence of English Quaker Susanna Wright, a silkworm breeder and intellectual who counted Benjamin Franklin among her friends. Docents guide visitors around the 1738 stone house, which showcases period furniture in the William & Mary and Queen Anne styles as well as an extensive collection of English needlework, clothing, ceramics, and glass, all predating 1750.

Between the 1690s and 1973, Wyck sheltered nine generations of the Wistar-Haines family. Their accumulated furnishings are on display, along with ceramics, children's needlework, dolls, and artifacts generally contemporary with the mid-1800s. On one side is the oldest rose garden in the United States, dating to the 1820s, which blooms in May, as well as a magnolia tree from that time. Out back are a large lawn, where you can picnic, and a vegetable garden—the land has been continuously farmed since 1690, and during the summer it hosts many kid-friendly garden-related events as well as workshops. Known as the oldest house in Germantown, Wyck was used as a British field hospital after the Battle of Germantown. Walk-in tours are offered April–November, Thursday–Saturday, noon–4 pm, and the grounds are open for wandering Tuesday–Friday 10 am–4 pm. Off-season and specialty tours are available by appointment.

Between 1905 and 1976 (when the state built a new residence for the governor), 19 Wyoming first families made their home in this Colonial Revival building. Period furnishings and ornate chandeliers remain in nearly every room.

Celebrated Southern author Flannery O'Connor lived in this austere Charlton Street home from her birth in 1925 until 1938 when the family moved to Milledgeville, Georgia. The beautifully renovated home includes oddities like the "kiddie coop," a cage for children designed by O'Connor's father. In fall, the home hosts a reception with lectures by academics and experts discussing different aspects of O'Connor's life and work. Events are free and open to the public.

The Queen Anne–style mansion helps visitors imagine what life was like for the wealthy in late-19th-century Astoria. It rests on parklike grounds covering an entire city block and has been gorgeously restored, with its three-story octagon tower visible from throughout town. It was built for George Flavel, an influential Columbia River bar pilot and businessman who was one of the area's first millionaires. Visits start in the Carriage House interpretive center.

Designed by New York architect John Norris and built in 1850 for cotton merchant Charles Green, this Gothic-revival mansion cost $93,000 to build—a princely sum in those days. The house was purchased in 1892 by Judge Peter Meldrim, whose heirs sold it to St. John's Episcopal Church in the 1940s to use as a parish house. General Sherman lived here after taking the city in 1864. Sitting on Madison Square, the house has Gothic features such as oriels, a crenellated roof, and an external gallery with filigree ironwork. Inside are mantels of Carrara marble, carved black-walnut woodwork, and doorknobs and hinges of either silver plate or porcelain.

If the name sounds familiar, it's because a Beacon Hill home bears the same name. This is the first of three houses built for Harrison Gray Otis, Boston's third mayor and a prominent citizen and developer. It's owned and operated by Historic New England, an organization that owns and maintains dozens of properties throughout the region. The furnishings, textiles, wall coverings, and even the interior paint, specially mixed to match old samples, are faithful to the Federal period, circa 1790–1810. You may be surprised to see the bright and vivid colors favored in those days. Otis lived here only four years before moving to more sumptuous digs, also designed by Charles Bulfinch, on Beacon Hill. A second-floor room brings to life the home's days as a late-19th-century boardinghouse, and a display describes the "champoo baths" of former resident Mrs. Mott. From May through October, Historic New England runs a Beacon Hill walking tour from the house. It highlights the two sides of Beacon Hill, taking visitors past grandiose mansions and more modest townhomes. Along the way, you'll pass the African Meeting House, Louisburg Square, and the Boston Common. The $15 price includes admission to the Otis house.

A rancher and banker built the 1883 McHenry Mansion, the city's sole surviving original Victorian home. The Italianate mansion has been decorated to reflect Modesto life in the late 19th century. Its period-appropriate wallpaper is especially impressive.

Walk through the kitchen door off the garden—which contains old varieties of roses, peonies, and lilacs—and step into a different era. One of Washington's smallest state parks, operated by the Jefferson County Historical Society, offers a look into what life was like on the bluff overlooking the bay during the late 1800s. Built for a mercantile store owner and his family, the Greek Revival–style home remains largely unchanged since it was completed in 1868.