78 Best Sights in USA

Inside this local art and history interactive museum, visitors can learn about the island's native Chumash people, as well as about Catalina Island's owner and creative developer William Wrigley Jr., his baseball team, his Hollywood celebrity friends, and his love for big band music. The exterior of the Catalina Island Museum is a beautiful Spanish Mission style with art deco enhancements.

The bell fulfilled the words of its inscription when it rang to "proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," beckoning Philadelphians to the State House yard to hear the first reading of the Declaration of Independence. Ordered in 1751 and originally cast in England, it cracked during testing and was recast in Philadelphia by Pass and Stow two years later. To keep it from falling into British hands during the Revolution—they would have melted it down for ammunition—it was spirited away by horse and wagon to Allentown, 60 miles to the north. The Liberty Bell is the subject of much legend; one story says it cracked when tolled at the funeral of Chief Justice John Marshall in 1835. Actually, the bell cracked slowly over a period of years. It was repaired but cracked again in 1846 and was then forever silenced. It was called the State House Bell until the 1830s, when a group of abolitionists adopted it as a symbol of freedom and renamed it the Liberty Bell.

After more than 200 years inside Independence Hall, the bell was moved to a glass-enclosed pavilion for the 1976 Bicentennial, which for many seemed an incongruous setting for such a historic object. In mid-2003 it once again moved to another glass-enclosed pavilion with redbrick accents. This time, great care was taken to improve access and viewing of its former home at Independence Hall, which is seen against the backdrop of the sky—rather than 20th-century buildings. The Liberty Bell complex houses a bell chamber, an interpretive exhibit area with historic displays and memorabilia, and a covered area for waiting in line. The bell is clearly visible from outside, day or night, so if time is an issue (or if the lines are very long), you can see it without entering the building. 

During construction for the bell's current home, the foundation and other archaeological remains of the President's House, the home of the nation's chief executives before the capital shifted to Washington, D.C., were discovered, as well as evidence of slaves owned by President George Washington, who lived there during his time in office. A new permanent installation includes a series of video panels focusing on the stories of the nine enslaved African Americans, as well as glass panels through which you can view the remains of the structure's foundation.

An outdoor branch of the Seattle Art Museum is a favorite destination for picnics, strolls, and quiet contemplation. Nestled at the edge of Belltown with views of Elliott Bay, the gently sloping green space features native plants, chairs overlooking the water, and walking paths that wind past larger-than-life public artwork. On sunny days, the park frames an astounding panorama of the Olympic Mountains, but even the grayest afternoon casts a favorable light on the site's sculptures. The grounds are home to works by such artists as Richard Serra, Louise Bourgeois, and Alexander Calder, whose bright-red steel Eagle sculpture is a local favorite (and a nod to the bald eagles that sometimes soar above). Echo, a 46-foot-tall elongated girl’s face by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, is a beautiful and bold presence on the waterfront.

Bushwick is well known for its street art, as the Brooklyn graffiti scene endures with colorful, larger-than-life murals. It's all encouraged, supported, and curated by this urban art collective, under the helm of Joseph Ficalora. The outdoor street art gallery is omnipresent as you walk Troutman Street and the adjacent blocks of St. Nicholas Avenue and Wyckoff Avenue, the area's main drag. Fans of global street art will recognize featured artists, including Sam Lao, Robert Vargas, and Case Maclaim. Every summer, the Collective throws a block party that's a mix of DJs, hip-hop performances, food trucks, and local vendors. Check their social media for details.

The cultural center of the Barrio Logan neighborhood, Chicano Park—designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016—was born in 1970 from the activism of local residents who occupied the space after the state rescinded its promise to designate the land a park. Signed into law a year later, the park is now a protected area that brings together families and locals for both public and private events, a welcoming gathering space as well as an outdoor gallery featuring large murals documenting Mexican-American history and Chicano activism. Every year Chicano Park Day is held on the Saturday nearest April 22, filling the park with the sights and sounds of music, dancers, vintage cars, and food and clothing vendors.

Find some shade and maybe have a picnic in this unique, 3-acre park. It's not only filled with fountains and luscious landscape but also some funky, interactive art, including walk-through sculptures. Don't miss the LED installation depicting a couple in forward walking motion at the park's western edge.

At Galleta Meadows, camels, llamas, saber-toothed tigers, tortoises, and monumental gomphotherium (a sort of ancient elephant) appear to roam the Earth again. These life-size bronze figures are of prehistoric animals whose fossils can be found in the Borrego Badlands. The collection of more than 130 sculptures, created by Ricardo Breceda, was commissioned by the late Dennis Avery, who installed the works of art on property he owned for the entertainment of locals and visitors. Maps are available from Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce.

The sculptor Walter De Maria created Lightning Field, a work of land art composed of 400 stainless-steel poles of varying heights (the average is about 20 feet, although they create a horizontal plane) arranged in a rectangular grid over 1 mile by ½ mile of flat, isolated terrain, and installed in 1977. Groups of up to six people are permitted to stay overnight from May through October—the only way you can experience the artwork—at a rustic on-site 1930s cabin. Fees include dinner and breakfast, and range from $600 (May to June, September to October) to $1,000 (July to August) per group; additional people incur extra fees. Dia Art Foundation administers Lightning Field, shuttling visitors from Quemado to the sculpture, which is on private land 45 minutes to the northeast. Thunder-and-lightning storms are most common from July to mid-September; book way ahead for visits during this time. If you're lucky, you'll see flashes you'll never forget (though lightning isn't required for the sculpture to be stunning in effect).

This multi-acre outdoor adventure honors the natural topography and engages the senses with amusing, mystical, and kinetic experiences. Here you can walk through internationally renowned artist Bruce Munro's installation, Field of Light, a huge array of stemmed spheres with solar-powered fiber-optic lights that morph into different hues. More than 17,000 wine bottles were used to create the 69 colorful structures of Light Towers, an installation whose fiber-optic illumination ripples to a musical score. Nearby the towers are two new-in-2023 attractions: the magical Fireflies display with more than 10,000 flickering points of light and the reflective Gone Fishing exhibit, which offers a playful interpretation of a contemplative pastime.

A visit begins in the predusk hours to capture the changing light of the landscape and the installations as darkness descends. A hospitality area offers live entertainment by local musicians, as well as wine, beer, and meals or snacks in the casual, indoor–outdoor Mercado Sensorio dining space. Sign up for the Terrace Experience to gain exclusive access to an Airstream bar, private tables, and firepits on a terrace overlooking Field of Light. Reserve tickets well in advance: Sensorio is phenomenally popular.

The "mountains" of Seven Magic Mountains aren't actually mountains at all; instead they're towers of multicolored stacked boulders standing more than 30 feet high. The art installation from renowned Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone is a commentary about human presence in the desert, and it stands tall about 10 miles south of the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard South and St. Rose Parkway, near Jean. Visitors to the site can walk right up and pose with the towers, making it a popular place for selfies. The exhibit opened in 2016 and was only scheduled to run until 2018, but due to public demand, it's been extended. Watch for signs on I–15 directing you to the parking area. 

This 1,500-foot-long, 15-foot-wide earthen creation that juts in a spiral out into Great Salt Lake was created by artist Robert Smithson in 1970 and is often photographed by passengers in planes flying overhead. The jetty, 16 miles from the Golden Spike site via a dirt road, was submerged for much of the subsequent 30 years, before the lake level fell precipitously in 2002 revealing the structure again. The snail shell–shape land art structure is considered one of the most remote sculptures in modern American art history, and it is Utah's state work of art.

Between Northeast 25th and 26th Streets on Northwest 2nd Avenue, the Wynwood Walls are a cutting-edge enclave of modern urban murals, reflecting diversity in graffiti and street art. More than 50 well-known and lesser-known artists have transformed 80,000 square feet of warehouse walls into an outdoor museum of sorts (bring your camera). The popularity of the walls spawned the neighboring Wynwood Doors and Garden, an industrial space replete with metal roll-down gates also used as blank canvases, complemented by a garden with singular pieces of art and an eye-popping indoor gallery.

This busy traffic circle at Central Park's southwest corner anchors the Upper West Side and makes a good starting place for exploring the neighborhood. The 700-ton, granite monument in the circle's center, capped by a marble statue of Christopher Columbus, serves as a popular meeting place. To some people, Columbus Circle is synonymous with the Deutsche Bank Center building and its several floors of shops, restaurants, and quick-bite cafés. The Whole Foods market and the food hall Turnstyle (on the subway-station mezzanine) are good spots to pick up sandwiches, coffee, or sushi for a Central Park picnic. The building is also home to the Rose Hall performing arts complex, part of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Conceived by environmental artist Peter Richards and fashioned by master stonecutter George Gonzales, this unusual wave-activated acoustic sculpture at the entrance of a harbor gives off subtle harmonic sounds produced by seawater as it passes through 25 tubes. The sound is loudest at high tide. The granite and marble used for walkways, benches, and alcoves that are part of the piece were salvaged from a gold rush–era cemetery.

This sculpture, created by J. Seward Johnson, depicts a 72-foot giant struggling to free himself from the earth and is actually five separate pieces buried in the ground. The statue was originally at Hains Point in Washington but was moved to National Harbor in 2008. Feel free to climb all over the giant; everyone else does.

Mission District artists have transformed the walls of their neighborhood with paintings, and Balmy Alley is one of the best-executed examples. Many murals adorn the one-block alley, with newer ones continually filling in the blank spaces. In 1971, artists began teaming with local children to create a space to promote peace in Central America, community spirit, and (later) AIDS awareness; since then dozens of muralists have added their vibrant works. The alley's longtime popularity has grown exponentially thanks to its Instagram appeal. Once you're done at Balmy Alley, head a couple blocks west on 24th Street to another prominent alley of murals on Cypress Street (also between 24th and 25th Streets).   Be alert here: the 25th Street end of the alley adjoins a somewhat dangerous area.

This stop on the Freedom Trail, in front of Old City Hall, commemorates the revolutionary, statesman, and inventor that every school child knows by name. Speaking of education, Franklin's likeness marks the original location of the Boston Latin School, the country's oldest public school (founded in 1635). Franklin attended Boston Latin with three other signers of the Declaration of Independence—Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine. However, he has the dubious distinction of being the only one of the four not to graduate. This is Freedom Trail stop 6.

Conceptualized by the late Sabrina Soong, a Chinese-American architect/artist and Philadelphia resident, the 40-foot-tall, 88-ton “China Gate” has welcomed visitors to historic Chinatown since its introduction in 1984. Designed in a manner reminiscent of China’s Qing dynasty, it features materials and cultural flourishes fabricated by artisans from Philadelphia’s sister city of Tianjin, China. The Chinese characters emblazoned on the “Friendship Arch” translate simply to “Philadelphia Chinatown,” a paean to the neighborhood’s historic importance and resilience.

Inspired by the work in Balmy Alley, a new generation of muralists began creating a fresh alley-cum-gallery here in 1992, offering a quick but dense glimpse at the Mission's contemporary art scene. The works by the loosely connected artists of the Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) represent a broad range of styles and imagery, such as an exuberant, flowery exhortation to Tax the Rich, several colorful and powerful messages about hot-button political topics, and poignant murals honoring the legacies of George Floyd and Prince.

Claes Oldenburg's 45-foot-high, 10-ton steel sculpture stands in front of the Center Square Building, above one of the entrances to SEPTA's City Hall subway station. Lauded by some and scorned by others, this pop-art piece contrasts with the traditional statuary so common in Philadelphia.

From an outstretched hand to a Constellation shaped like a drinking gourd, dozens of images and symbols are woven into this sweeping and remarkable trompe-l'oeil mural, which makes a humble concrete bridge appear ivy-covered and made of intricately carved stone. The public art is the work of nationally known artist William Cochran who used ideas submitted by Frederick residents and others nationwide as inspiration. The bridge and the waterway it spans are part of the multimillion-dollar construction, development, and renovation efforts that revitalized the Carroll Creek Park area. Restaurants offer outside seating along the walkways that flank the creek and bands play during summer festivals. Thousands of visitors now enjoy this area's charms year-round.

Heading west on Cherry Street in the Central District, you'll see a 17-foot-tall mural of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the side of Fat's Chicken & Waffles restaurant. Pacific Northwest artist James Crespinel painted the mural on the eastern face of the building in 1995 and touched up his faded work two decades later while the community gathered to watch.

The lobby of the Curtis Publishing Company building has a great treasure: a 16-by-50-foot glass mosaic mural, The Dream Garden, based on a Maxfield Parrish painting. It was executed by the Louis C. Tiffany Studios in 1916. The work's 260 colors and 100,000 pieces of opalescent hand-fired glass laced with gold leaf make it perhaps the finest Tiffany mural in the world. The beautiful mural was also designated a "historic object" by the Philadelphia Historical Commission after its owner, the estate of a local art patron, put it up for sale for $9 million in 1998; the designation, the first in the city's history, stopped the sale and the mural remains in public view, under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

The home of artists Jane Orleman and her late husband Dick Elliott is a continuously growing whimsical folk sculpture of outsider art: a collage of some 20,000 bottle caps, 1,500 bicycle reflectors, and other colorful, reused bits. Although you can't tour the house itself, you can view the fantastic exterior and art-strewn front and backyards from the sidewalk, and you're encouraged to sign the guest book mounted on the surrounding fence.

From late June through September, this public-arts project presents visual and performing arts events including exhibitions, video screenings, site-specific installations, and opening galas and performances.

Look under and around the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (near the staircase to the Brooklyn Bridge walkway) for colorful murals by the likes of Apolo Torres, Craig Anthony Miller, and Sophia Dawson—all sponsored by the DUMBO Improvement District and the NYC Department of Transportation Urban Art Program.