10457 Best Sights in USA

More of an overlook than a forest, this spot has a large concentration of petrified trees in jasper or red.

More of an overlook than a forest, this spot has a large concentration of petrified trees in jasper or red.

Predominantly red wines with bold, dry flavors are produced by Javelina Leap Vineyard. Taste a few here and you'll be welcomed by the owners as if you were family.

When two of Roxbury's churches were destroyed—one in a windstorm, the other by fire—Jay Gould offered to foot the bill to rebuild. The result was this church, built in 1893 at the edge of Kirkside Park under the direction of Henry Hardenburgh, architect of New York City's Dakota apartment building. Constructed of St. Lawrence limestone, the church has had only minor restoration work over the years. It has two stained-glass windows by Tiffany and two others by the Maitland Armstrong Co.

The university's working, research, and teaching 10-acre garden holds the most diverse collection of hardy temperate-zone plants in the southeastern United States. There's also a garden featuring plants with white flowers and foliage and a 300-foot-long perennial border.

Mirrors and shiny surfaces abound in this ode to indulgence named for its French owner, Jean-Charles Boisset (JCB). Sparkling wine, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir were early successes, with Cabernet Sauvignon a more recent strong suit. Boisset's plush tasting space doubles as a showcase for home decor items from the likes of Lalique and Baccarat.

Visitors who want to explore the areas around New Orleans should stop here first. The office supervises and provides information on the Jean Lafitte National Park Barataria Preserve, a beautiful wetland area across the river from New Orleans, and the Chalmette Battlefield, where the Battle of New Orleans was fought in the War of 1812. Each year in January, near the anniversary of the battle, a reenactment is staged at the Chalmette site. This visitor center has free visual and audio exhibits on the customs of various communities throughout the state. Knowledgeable on-site rangers offer history talks at 10 am, Tuesday through Saturday. You'll need a car to visit the preserve or the battlefield.

Adjacent to the state park's main campground, this seasonal center has information about ranger-led walks and evening campfire programs. Also here are nature and history exhibits, a gift shop, and a picnic area.

Known for elegant, fruit-forward wines with velvety tannins, Jeff Runquist specializes in Barbera, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah but makes several other reds and Muscat Canelli, Verdelho, and Viognier whites. His tasting room ranks among the Shenandoah Valley's jolliest.

Exhibits and artifacts important to Madison's history and Ohio Valley's heritage are on show here. Some exhibits trace southern Indiana's role in steamboating and the Civil War, while others tap into railroad history—Madison was once the terminus of Indiana's first railroad, the Madison and Indianapolis line. Be sure to visit the octagonal restored Madison Railroad Station next door. It was constructed in 1895 and in use as a passenger station until 1935.

The carved-sandstone 1892 City Hall building houses this history and art museum operated by the Jefferson County Historical Society. You can also see the old courtroom and the basement cells of the old city jail, where author Jack London spent a night on his way to the Klondike in the summer of 1879. Attractions include a maritime display, clusters of Native American artifacts, vintage photos of the Olympic Peninsula, exhibits chronicling Port Townsend's past, and rotating art shows. The society operates two other sites in town, both of which are open in summer: the period-decorated 1868 Rothschild House Museum, which sits on a bluff in Uptown, and the Commanding Officers Quarters building in Fort Worden State Park.

Behind 2.5 mi of scenic Patuxent riverfront stretch 544 acres of woods and farmland. The 70-odd archaeological sites have yielded evidence of 9,000 years of human habitation—from prehistory on through to colonial times. At the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum you can follow an archaeology trail to inspect artifacts of the successive hunter-gatherer, early agricultural, and plantation societies that once roamed and settled this land. Displays include primitive knives and axes, fragments of Native American pottery, and Colonial glassware. Stroll along the nature trails to take a look at wildlife, antique agricultural equipment, and fields of crops. The park is 2 mi south of Port Republic.

Jazz enthusiasts would do well to follow Frenchmen Street beyond the borders of the Marigny to pay homage to Jelly Roll Morton at the pianist and composer's modest former home, now a private residence with nary a plaque to suggest its importance. The current residents, however, have put a photo of the musician in the window. Morton was a "Creole of color" (free African American of mixed race), a clear distinction in those days—Morton himself always described his roots as "French." The neighborhood has declined some since Morton's days, so plan for a daytime walk-by.

Good for swimming and sunbathing, this long, sandy beach is a favorite among locals who enjoy its light crowds and nice waves for bodysurfing. Wide and shallow, Jenness Beach is a great place for kids to run and build sandcastles. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: surfing; swimming; walking.

Shaded and pine-scented, this picnic site adjacent to the Jenny Lake shuttle boat dock is a good place to have lunch before catching a shuttle boat across the lake for some hiking.

You can walk to Hidden Falls from Jenny Lake Visitor Center by following the mostly level trail around the south shore of the lake to Cascade Canyon Trail. Jenny Lake Trail continues around the lake for a total of 6½ miles. It's an easily managed though somewhat long trail hike if you circumnavigate the whole lake—allow three hours, not counting any forays into Cascade Canyon on the west side of the lake. You'll walk through a lodgepole-pine forest, have expansive views of the lake and the land to the east, and hug the shoulder of the massive Teton range itself. Along the way you may see elk, foxes, pikas, golden-mantled ground squirrels, and a variety of ducks and water birds. Moderate.

Vashon has many parks and protected areas. This park, on the lush Burton Peninsula overlooking Quartermaster Harbor, is home to 64 acres of secluded hiking and horseback-riding trails. The adjacent Jensen Point, a four-acre shoreline park, has picnic tables, a swimming beach, and kayak and paddleboard rentals (May through September).

The downtown tasting room of owner-winemaker Jeremy Trettevik has the feel of an old-time saloon, though in good weather everyone sips in the umbrella-shaded patio out back. Creative red blends are the specialty, with sweet yet clean-on-the-palate wines like the Bluebonnet Albariño–Orange Muscat blend among the lighter options. Tastings are also held at the winery (closed Tuesday and Wednesday) in nearby Lockeford.

The grapes at family-owned Jericho Canyon grow on hillsides that slope as much as 55 degrees. The rocky, volcanic soils of this former cattle ranch yield intensely flavored berries that winemaker Nicholas Bleecher, the founders' son, transforms in consultation with blending specialist Michel Rolland into three Cabernet Sauvignons and a few other wines. The nuances of sustainable farming in this challenging environment are among the topics covered during tastings. All visits, customized based on guests' interests, are by appointment.

Of the three mining museums in town, the most inclusive is part of Jerome State Historic Park. At the edge of town, signs on AZ 89A will direct you to the turnoff for the park, reached by a short, precipitous road. The museum occupies the 1916 mansion of Jerome's mining king, Dr. James "Rawhide Jimmy" Douglas Jr., who purchased Little Daisy Mine in 1912. You can tour the mansion and see tools and heavy equipment used to grind ore; some minerals are on display, but accounts of the town's wilder elements—such as the House of Joy brothel—are not so prominently featured. Just outside the mansion/park gates is Audrey Head Frame Park, where you can peer 1,900 feet down into the Daisy Mineshaft.

By appointment, you can drive or walk through the grounds and cemetery of the first Jesuit seminary in the south, as well as visit the beautiful interior of the Church of St. Charles Borromeo.

A short bike or shuttle-bus ride from town, Jetties Beach is popular with families because of its calm surf. It's also a good place to try out kayaks and paddleboards. The shore is a lively scene, with a playground and volleyball nets on the beach and adjacent public tennis courts. There is a boardwalk to the beach (special wheelchairs are available). You'll have a good view of passing ferries—and an even better one if you clamber out onto the jetty itself. (Careful, it's slippery.) Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: swimming; windsurfing.

Open in summer only, this 2-mile-long, sand-fringed offshore haven is full of wildlife and outdoor opportunities. Seasonal programs include guided walks, bonfires, and midsummer Jetty Island Days festivities. A ferry provides round-trip transportation.

A wonderful taste of the real Florida, this 4½-acre beach and oceanfront campground has picnic pavilions, bike paths, and a 1,200-foot-long fishing pier that doubles as a perfect vantage point from which to watch a liftoff from Cape Canaveral or to glimpse the gigantic cruise ships as they depart the port for the Bahamas. Lifeguards are on duty year-round, and all manner of equipment from beach chairs and umbrellas to bodyboards to beach wheelchairs is available for rent. A jetty constructed of giant boulders adds to the landscape; a walkway across it provides access to a less-populated stretch of beach. This is Florida without the theme-park varnish. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: sunrise; surfing; swimming; walking.

Jewel Cave's more than 200 miles of surveyed passages made it the third-longest cave in the world as of 2020, while exploration continued. But for tourists who aren't cavers, it's the rare crystalline formations that abound in the cave's passages—not the cave's size—that are the main draw. Take one of the paid, year-round, ranger-led tours, and you'll be rewarded with the sight of tiny crystal Christmas trees, hydromagnesite balloons, and delicate calcite deposits dubbed "cave popcorn." Plan to arrive early in the morning, because summertime tours fill up fast and start at prescheduled intervals. While you wait, scenic surface trails and exhibits in the visitor center can be explored for free.

Sandwiched between two 19th-century synagogues, the Jewish Museum of Maryland has changing exhibits of art, photography, and documents related to the Jewish experience in Maryland. The Lloyd Street Synagogue, to the left of the museum was built in 1845 and was the first in Maryland and the third in the United States. The other, B'nai Israel, was built in 1876 in a uniquely Moorish style. Tours of both synagogues are available.

Built near Klukwan, a Native village 23 miles up the road from Haines, this site offers visitors the chance to learn more about Tlingit culture, language, and ongoing traditions. Visit the site's Clan House, built using traditional methods; find out about traditional Native art forms, including wood carving and the distinctive Chilkat weavings, still being created today by a small number of skilled artists; see the process for smoking salmon; and much more.

Since his death in 1970, the famed guitarist has rested in Greenwood Cemetery, at first with just a simple tombstone. In 2002, the singer's remains moved to this much more elaborate tribute, with domed roof and granite columns.

Adjacent to the Northwest African American Museum, Jimi Hendrix Park pays homage to one of the Central District's most famous sons. The 2½-acre park features walking paths, landscaping, interpretative signs about Hendrix's legacy, and a colorful 100-foot-long outdoor public art piece called the Shadow Wave Wall. The sculpture, which consists of undulating sections of gray and purple metal with cut-out designs, has a huge mural of the musical icon engraved at the center. A short walk from the park, the under-construction Judkins Park Station also features two large-scale public artworks of a teen Jimi Hendrix. The light rail station, the only Seattle stop on the new East Link light rail line that will connect Seattle to Bellevue and Redmond, is slated to open in winter 2024.