36 Best Sights in USA

Tabasco was invented by Edmund McIlhenny in the mid-1800s, and the factory is still presided over by the McIlhenny family. Tabasco is sold all over the world, but it is aged, distilled, and bottled only here, on Avery Island. You can take a self-guided factory tour that lasts about an hour and a half and highlights the production process along with conservation efforts on the island. Grab free samples of creative Tabasco varieties, as well as Tabasco sauce ice cream at the visitor center, or enjoy a full meal at the on-site Tabasco Restaurant 1868. The Jungle Gardens and Bird City are adjacent and entry there is included with your ticket to this factory.

On the 30-minute tour of this fun-filled factory you'll hear more puns than you ever thought possible, while learning how a few homemade bears sold from a cart on Church Street turned into a multimillion-dollar business. Parents and children can relax, eat, and play under a large canvas tent in summer, or wander the beautiful 57-acre property.

You can see a blacksmith at work using traditional, antique tools at this historic shop behind the old schoolhouse in the center of town, and the artisan on site is enthusiastic about answering questions about his craft and the history of blacksmithing in Greenport. Housed in an old East Marion onion shack, the building is a replica of the original, destroyed by a nor'easter in 1992. You can purchase small, handmade items made here including wall hooks, and the proceeds help fund the site, which is part of the East End Seaport Museum.

The 30-minute tours at the famous brand's factory are unabashedly corny and only skim the surface of the behind-the-scenes goings-on, but this flaw is almost forgiven when the samples are dished out. To see the machines at work, visit on a weekday but call ahead to confirm if they will indeed be in operation.

You can sample the wares at this homey factory complex, which has tastings (try the aged Gouda) and cheese-making tours, a store, and a bakery. Outside are a picnic area and a petting zoo.

One of the most photographed structures in the country, this 185-year-old workhorse mill still grinds the flour and meal used for cooking at the nearby Old Mill Restaurant and the Old Mill Pottery House Cafe & Grille. Join millions of visitors who have purchased sacks of stone-ground products to take home as a special memory from the Smokies—not only a wide variety of flours and mixes (pancake, fish batter, etc.), but also jams, jellies, honeys, specialty foods, retro candies, and nostalgic crafts. Most of all, take time to listen to the sound of the 1830s mill grinding the grain. You might even want to try recording the sound with your smartphone as a unique no-cost souvenir.