10451 Best Sights in USA

The welcome center on the preserve's western side has abundant information and educational features, as well as restrooms, picnic facilities, and a 70-seat auditorium. An outdoor breezeway showcases an interactive Big Cypress watershed exhibit, illustrating Florida's water flow. It's a convenient place to stop when crossing from either coast.  Love manatees? The boardwalk overlooking the canal behind the welcome center can be a good spot for viewing the intriguing mammals. (Legend has it that they were once mistaken for mermaids by thirsty or love-starved sailors.)

This lush, serene 7-acre grove was conceived as a living memorial to the disease's victims. Coast live oaks, Monterey pines, coast redwoods, and other trees flank the grove. There are also two stone circles, one recording the names of the dead and their loved ones, the other engraved with a poem. Free self-guided tours are available to download on any mobile device.

The has a wide variety of bird species, including parrots, bald eagles, and flamingos. Some of the raptors are in room-sized cages, but other species occupy tree-filled aviaries that visitors can walk through.

The local variety is known as the Rocky Mountain bighorn, but you can learn about all kinds of bighorn sheep at this nonprofit conservation center and wildlife museum about an hour east of Grand Teton National Park. Expect dioramas with full-scale taxidermy mounts that recreate bighorn habitat, as well as interactive exhibits about wildlife management and special adaptations of wild sheep. Reserve ahead for winter wildlife-viewing tours ($100) to Whiskey Mountain.

The state-chartered museum's extensive collection of bottles dates from the 1700s. On-site is a glassworks that sometimes hosts a sale of contemporary art-glass pieces. The museum is 7 mi south of Saratoga Springs.

Architecture, design, landscaping, and urban planning are the themes of this museum, the nation's premier cultural organization devoted to the built environment. The open interior of the mammoth redbrick building is one of the city's great spaces and has been the site of many presidential inaugural balls. The eight central Corinthian columns are among the largest in the world, rising to a height of 75 feet. Although they resemble Siena marble, each comprises 70,000 bricks covered with plaster and painted. The long-term exhibition House and Home features a kaleidoscopic array of photographs, objects, models, and films that takes visitors on a tour of houses both surprising and familiar, through past and present, exploring American domestic life and residential architecture. The museum also offers a series of temporary hands-on exhibitions focusing on construction. Although geared towards children, people of all ages enjoy the experience.

A selection of historic trolleys have been rescued, restored, and put on display at the National Capital Trolley Museum, along with streetcars from Europe, Canada, the District of Columbia, and elsewhere in America. The museum is run by volunteers whose childhood fascination with trains never left them at the station. Take a short ride through the countryside or play with an interactive model trolley display.

The National Cemetery is the final resting place of 15,000 Union dead, most of whom have not been identified.

Talking about the weather is not boring at this center, where the hands-on exhibits and tours fire up kids' and adults' enthusiasm for what happens in the sky. If you can't make the free, guided one-hour noon tours on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, take a self-guided tour or a mobile app tour (available on the Apple and Google app stores). The distinctive blocky-looking buildings, designed by architect I. M. Pei, stand on a mesa at the base of the mountains, where you can see wildlife. Follow the short, wheelchair-accessible, interpretive NCAR Weather Trail to learn more about how weather affects the local environment.

Those interested in the nation's Civil War past should make it a point to visit this innovative military museum that focuses on the Confederate navy and its influence on the U.S. Navy's subsequent development. Columbus's riverfront location made it a major player in river transport prior to and throughout the Civil War. Interactive exhibits tell the story of shipbuilding and major Civil War ship battles. You can even walk the decks of partially reconstructed Civil War ships and get a glimpse of what combat was like in a full-scale replica of the CSS Albermarle. The museum also boasts the largest collection of Civil War naval-related flags on display in the country.

You don't have to be a cowgirl or cowboy to fall in love with this fine museum and its celebration of pioneering women. The building, just across from the Will Rogers Memorial Center, shares fascinating Western history through technologically savvy exhibits. The Hall of Fame honors more than 180 pioneering women, including Sacagawea, Mary Ann Goodnight, Georgia O'Keeffe, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Sandra Day O'Connor. Each woman's accomplishments are highlighted on easy-to-use touch screens. Other kiosks allow visitors to listen to female country music stars and modern-day cowgirls describe life on ranches and the road. Another area displays flashy rodeo fashions from the past century. Don't miss the chance to "ride" a bucking bronco and later watch and share the video online.

The world's largest croquet complex, the 10-acre center is also the headquarters for the U.S. Croquet Association. Vast expanses of orderly lawns are the stage for fierce competitions. There's also a clubhouse with a pro shop and the Croquet Grille, with verandas for dining and viewing (armchair enthusiasts can enjoy the games for no charge). You don't have to be a member to try your hand out on the lawns, and on Saturday morning at 10 am, there's a free group lesson with an introduction to the game and open play; call in advance to reserve a spot.

Wildlife abounds on this 25,000-acre refuge. From late November to March, more than 7,000 elk, many with enormous antler racks, winter here. Elk can be observed from various pull-outs along U.S. 191 or by slowly driving your car on the refuge's winding, unpaved roads. Other animals that make their home here include buffalo, bighorn sheep, and coyotes, as well as trumpeter swans and other waterfowl. In summer, the refuge is light on big game, but you can tour a historic homestead from June to September. From mid-December to early April, sleigh rides operated by Double H Bar (nersleighrides.com) depart several times a day from the Jackson Hole and Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center.

More than 100 wax figures on display recount the triumphs and trials of Africans and African Americans. The wax figures are accompanied by text and audio. Baltimoreans honored include Frederick Douglass, who as a youth lived and worked in Fells Point; singer Billie Holiday; and jazz composer Eubie Blake. To get here from Mount Vernon, take Charles Street north and turn left at North Avenue.

Anchoring downtown Eastport, the district extends from the former Customs House, a striking Italianate granite structure that's now the post office, down Water Street to Bank Square and the Romanesque Peavey Memorial Library, with a cannon on the lawn. The area was largely rebuilt in the late 19th century after a fire. A bench is beside an 1889 cast-iron water fountain in front of a former bank, now Tides Institute & Museum of Art.

One of the world's foremost biomedical research centers, with a sprawling 322-acre campus, the NIH offers tours for the public, including an orientation tour at the NIH Visitor Information Center and one at the National Library of Medicine, that will likely be quite interesting to those interested in medicine and a little dry to everyone else. The visitor center tour discusses how health and medicine has been transformed through discovery—discoveries that have kept the blood supply safe from disease and begun mapping the human genome. There are about 1,500 ongoing clinical trials at this facility at any given time, and tours will take you through the pediatric day unit, which offers a playroom for children and a program for them to connect with pediatric patients across the country via Internet. Then the tour continues to the pediatric oncology lab, where researchers are working to improve methods to help these very children. Although best known for its books and journals—there are about 14 mi worth of them—the National Library of Medicine also houses historical medical references dating from the 11th century. A library tour includes a look at historical documents, the library's databases, and "visible human" anatomical simulator. The library was built during the Cold War, and as guides will explain, the building's roof was designed to collapse in the event of an attack from the Soviet Union, protecting the books kept below ground.

Located inside the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the National Inventors Hall of Fame spotlights more than 600 inventors and the greatest technological and trademarked achievements. Browse the interactive gallery of inductees, have a seat in a 1965 Ford Mustang merged with a 2015 Ford Mustang, test your eye for authenticity through an interactive display of authentic and counterfeit products, and more. The gift shop has some truly one-of-a-kind mementos and gifts.

This 84,824-acre refuge was established in 1957 to protect the dwindling population of the Key deer, one of more than 22 animals and plants federally classified as endangered or threatened. The Key deer, which stands about 30 inches at the shoulders and is a subspecies of the Virginia white-tailed deer, once roamed throughout the Lower and Middle Keys, but hunting, destruction of their habitat, and a growing human population caused their numbers to decline to 27 by the middle of the last century. The deer have made a comeback, increasing their numbers to approximately 750. The best place to see them in the refuge is at the end of Key Deer Boulevard and on No Name Key, a sparsely populated island just east of Big Pine Key. Mornings and evenings are the best time to spot them. Deer may turn up along the road at any time of day, so drive slowly. They wander into nearby yards to nibble tender grass and bougainvillea blossoms, but locals do not appreciate tourists driving into their neighborhoods after them. Feeding them is against the law and puts them in danger.

A quarry left over from railroad days, Blue Hole is the largest body of fresh water in the Keys. From the observation platform and nearby walking trail, you might see the resident alligators, turtles, and other wildlife. There are two well-marked trails, recently revamped: the Jack Watson Nature Trail (0.6 miles), named after an environmentalist and the refuge's first warden, and the Fred C. Mannillo Wildlife Trail (0.2 miles), one of the most wheelchair-accessible places to see an unspoiled pine-rockland forest and wetlands. The visitor center has exhibits on Keys biology and ecology. The refuge also provides information on Key West National Wildlife Refuge and Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge. Accessible only by water, both are popular with kayak outfitters.

Using interactive exhibits, video, and works of art, the museum aims to combat bigotry in the United States by putting a spotlight on the nation's rich traditions of freedom and diversity. Galleries celebrate outstanding Americans and contemporaries abroad. The \"Heroes from around the World\" exhibit celebrates everyday heroes, including teachers, first responders, and extraordinary children working to better their communities. The museum's collection of glass art is symbolic of the fragility of peace; its highlight is Dale Chihuly's 21-foot-tall red glass sculpture Flame of Liberty. Sandy Skoglund's colorful Jellybean Kids wall is a reminder that many of our differences are only skin deep.

Just a short five-minute stroll from the ferry terminal, this museum sheds \"light\" on lighthouse history throughout America. It's housed not in a lighthouse, but in the foundry that was once part of an 18-building complex for the U.S. Lighthouse Service's General Depot, the center of all lighthouse operations across the country from 1864 to 1939. Self-guided tours through the small museum reveal miniature scale models of many recognizable American lighthouses, an exhibit on the technology of Fresnel lenses, plus displays about famous lighthouse keepers, who collectively played an important role in American maritime history.

Nestled in the bowl of Puowaina, or Punchbowl Crater, this 112-acre cemetery is the final resting place for more than 50,000 U.S. war veterans and family members and is a solemn reminder of their sacrifice. Among those buried here is Ernie Pyle, the famed World War II correspondent who was killed by a Japanese sniper on Ie Shima, an island off the northwest coast of Okinawa. Intricate stone maps provide a visual military-history lesson. Puowaina, formed 75,000–100,000 years ago during a period of secondary volcanic activity, translates as "Hill of Sacrifice." Historians believe this site once served as an altar where ancient Hawaiians offered sacrifices to their gods. The entrance to the cemetery has wide-open views of Waikiki and Honolulu—perhaps the finest on Oahu.

This museum covers virtually every aspect of mining, from the discovery of precious ore to fashioning it into coins and other items. Dioramas in the beautiful brick building explain extraction processes.

Said to be the largest freestanding granite statue in the United States, this allegorical monument stands high on an 11-acre hilltop site. Designed by Hammatt Billings of Boston in 1854 and dedicated in 1889, it depicts Faith, surrounded by Liberty, Morality, Justice, Law, and Education, and includes scenes from the Pilgrims' early days in Plymouth.

Formerly known as the Freer/Sackler, the National Museum of Asian Art formally rebranded to its current name in 2019. The museum opened in 1923 as the Freer Gallery of Art to showcase the collection of American industrialist and donor Charles Lang Freer. The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery was built next door in 1987 after Sackler donated 1,000 objects and $4 million for a museum to house them. With its commitment to preserving Asian art, the museum counts more than 44,000 items in its permanent collection hailing from countries like China, Japan, and Korea, also expanding into Southwest and Southeast Asia. One of the most popular rooms is the Peacock Room, which has dazzled guests at the Freer Gallery of Art since 1923. Initially designed by artist James McNeill Whistler to showcase a Chinese blue-and-white porcelain collection, the room marries its avian motif with a striking use of color inspired by the arts of East Asia.

The critical role that early medicine played in the Civil War is front and center at this museum, believed to be the only one of its kind. Housed in a former funeral home that prepped the bodies of soldiers who died at Antietam, it's said that ghostly footsteps sometimes echo in the night. By day, a soundtrack of moans and groans plays as visitors wander past a life-size tableau of soldiers preparing to amputate a comrade's leg. A Civil War ambulance, hospital tent, and various surgical instruments testify to the advances in technology that the war fostered. The museum also highlights the documented but barely-known role of black Civil War doctors and nurses, and camp life for black soldiers. Finally, letters written by wounded patients illustrate humanity amid the tragedies of war.

Five galleries house photographs, videos, costumes, and archives that explore the history and development of dance as an art form. The Hall of Fame honors top dancers, choreographers, and costumers. You may even watch dancers rehearsing in the performing-arts studios.

Founded in 1862, this museum chronicles the history and practice of American medicine—especially military medicine—over the centuries. It has one of the world's largest collections of microscopes and human remains. Because some exhibits are fairly graphic (with wax surgical models and preserved organs), the museum may not be suitable for young children or the squeamish, but may be perfect for teenagers. It's a rare opportunity to see the effects of different diseases on the human body. In the presidential display you'll see one of the most famous artifacts: the bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln. "Trauma Bay II" shows the floor of an emergency room of an Air Force tent hospital in Balad, Iraq during the Iraq War. In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the museum is exhibiting artifacts and specimens from 1865. For up-to-date information check www.facebook.com/MedicalMuseum.

There's no exact formula to get kids excited about math, but the sleek two-floor National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath)—the only cultural institution of its kind in all of North America—comes close to finding the perfect fun-to-math ratio. Kids can ride square-wheel trikes, create human fractal trees, build virtual 3-D geometric shapes (which can be printed out on a 3-D printer for a fee), use lasers to explore cross sections of objects, solve dozens of puzzles, and generally bend their minds. The popular Robot Swarm exhibition allows kids to explore swarm robotics and interact with two dozen small (Roomba-like) glowing robots using simple math rules. Exhibits are best suited to kids aged six and up, but preschoolers can still enjoy many interactive exhibits like the Math Square, a light-up floor programmed with math games, simulations, and patterns.

The museum closes at 2:30 pm the first Wednesday of every month.

The National Museum of Mathematics (aka MoMath) transforms math into hands-on fun for all ages—even if numbers aren’t your thing. Solve mind-bending puzzles, ride a trike with square wheels, make your own color patterns with magnetic tiles, play brain games at interactive stations, and much more. Adults will love it as much as kids, making it a rare museum where everyone can geek out. Don’t miss the stellar gift shop, packed with clever, math-inspired finds.