490 Best Sights in USA

On a hill surrounded by gardens, stone terraces, and fountains sits the stunning classical-revival mansion that was home to four generations of Rockefellers, one of America's most famous families. From its regal position, Kykuit (pronounced "kie-cut"), which means "lookout" in Dutch, has breathtaking views of the Hudson River. Antiques, ceramics, and famous artworks fill the house, which was finished in 1913; sculptures by Alexander Calder, Constantin Brancusi, Louise Nevelson, and Pablo Picasso adorn the grounds, which encompass 87 acres. You must take a tour to see the estate, which is accessible only by shuttle bus from the visitor center at Philipsburg Manor.

One of the most impressive surviving Spanish Colonial houses in the Southwest, the Hacienda was built between 1804 and 1820 on the west bank of the Rio Pueblo and served as a community refuge during Comanche and Apache raids. Its thick walls, which have few windows, surround two central courtyards. Don Antonio Severino Martínez was a farmer and trader; his hacienda was the final stop along El Camino Real (the Royal Road), the trade route the Spanish established between Mexico City and New Mexico. The restored period rooms here contain textiles, spiritual art, and fine handcrafted pieces from the early 19th century. Be sure to stop in the gift shop, which features many renowned Taos artists, books on the region, and more. Visit in June for the hacienda's American mountain man event, or in September for their well-loved trading fair.

Leland Stanford, a railroad baron, California governor, and U.S. senator, expanded the original 1856 two-story row house on this site into a 19,186-square-foot mansion. The opulent space is open for touring except on days when California's governor hosts official events. After the death of Stanford's wife, Jane, Roman Catholic nuns transformed the mansion into an orphanage and later a home for teenage girls. Luckily for the restoration efforts, which began in 1986 following the state acquiring the property, the sisters had stashed many original furnishings and fixtures on the fourth floor, and the renowned photographer Eadweard Muybridge had shot images in 1872 that made clear what rooms looked like and where things belonged. Guided tours (first come, first served) depart hourly from 10 to 4.

Located on the southern end of town, this fascinating historic site contains the modest three-bedroom cottage in which Roosevelt stayed during his visits. The cottage, built in 1932, remains much as it did the day America's 32nd president died here (while having his portrait painted) and includes the wheelchair Roosevelt designed from a kitchen chair. The unfinished portrait is on display, along with the 48-star American flag that flew over the grounds when Roosevelt died. The FDR Memorial Museum includes an interesting short film narrated by Walter Cronkite (last screening at 4 pm), exhibits detailing Roosevelt's life and New Deal programs, and some of Roosevelt's personal effects, such as his 1938 Ford, complete with the full hand controls he designed. Admission here allows you to also visit the nearby pools where Roosevelt took his therapy.

The boyhood home of the famous American poet was the first brick house in Portland and the oldest building on the peninsula. It's particularly interesting, because most of the furnishings, including the young Longfellow's writing desk, are original. Wallpaper, window coverings, and a vibrant painted carpet are period reproductions. Built in 1785, the large dwelling (a third floor was added in 1815) sits back from the street and has a small portico over its entrance and four chimneys surmounting the roof. It's part of the Maine Historical Society, which includes an adjacent research library and a museum with exhibits about Maine life. After your guided tour, stay for a picnic in the Longfellow Garden; it's open to the public during museum hours.

One of the most opulent of the Newport mansions, Marble House contains 500,000 cubic feet of marble (valued at $7 million when the house was built from 1888 to 1892). William K. Vanderbilt, grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, gave Marble House to his wife, Alva, as a gift for her 39th birthday. The house was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, who took inspiration from the Petit Trianon at Versailles. The Vanderbilts divorced three years later, in 1895. Alva married Oliver H. P. Belmont and moved down the street to Belcourt. After Belmont's death, she reopened Marble House and had the Chinese Tea House built on the back lawn, where she hosted "Votes for Women" rallies.

Built in 1874, this was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (better known as Mark Twain) until 1891. In the time he and his family lived in this 25-room Victorian "Stick Style" mansion, Twain published seven major novels, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Prince and the Pauper. The home has one of only two Louis Comfort Tiffany–designed domestic interiors open to the public. A contemporary museum on the grounds presents an up-close look at the author and screens an outstanding documentary on his life introduced by Ken Burns. Tour size is limited; book online before your visit.

 A staple on the tourist circuit, this house museum has been the stuff of legend since the release of the longtime best-selling novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which was based on the murder trial of local architectural restorer and antiques dealer Jim Williams. Williams, who purportedly killed his lover in the front den while sitting at the desk where he later died, purchased the house in 1969. Scandal aside, Williams was an aficionado of historic preservation, and the Mercer House was one of some 50 Savannah properties that he purchased and restored. Designed by New York architect John S. Norris for General Hugh Mercer, great-grandfather of Johnny Mercer, the home was constructed in 1860 and completed after the end of the Civil War in 1868. Inside are fine examples of 18th- and 19th-century furniture and art from Jim Williams's private collection. Don't miss a look around the charming gift shop.

The period interior of this striking 1763 mansion tells the story of Portsmouth's merchant class through portraits, letters, and furnishings. The Colonial Revival garden includes a horse chestnut tree planted by General William Whipple when he returned home after signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Thomas Jefferson's home, featured on the back of the U.S. nickel, is well worth the admission and the almost inevitable wait. Arrive early, ideally on a weekday, and allow at least three hours to explore the nuances of Jefferson's life as exemplified by the architecture, inventions, and layout throughout his grand hilltop estate. Monticello (which means "little mountain") is the most famous of Jefferson's homes, constructed from 1769 to 1809. Note the narrow staircases—hidden because he considered them unsightly and a waste of space—and his inventions, such as a seven-day clock and a two-pen contraption that allowed him to make a copy of his correspondence as he wrote it without having to show it to a copyist. On-site are re-created gardens, the plantation street where his slaves lived, and a gift shop.

One of the nation's finest examples of Federal-style architecture, the Nathaniel Russell House was built in 1808 and has been restored to a 19th-century aesthetic. Its grand beauty speaks to the wealth Russell accumulated through chattel slavery and how this allowed him to become one of the city's leading merchants. The kitchen, laundry, and certain living quarters have been transformed from storage space into exhibits on the enslaved people who lived and labored here. Inside, in addition to the famous "free-flying" staircase that spirals up three stories with no visible support, the ornate interior is distinguished by Charleston-made furniture as well as paintings and works on paper by well-known American and European artists, including Henry Benbridge, Samuel F. B. Morse, and George Romney. The extensive formal garden is worth a leisurely stroll.

The Berkshire cottage of Joseph Choate (1832–1917), an influential New York City lawyer and the ambassador to Great Britain during President William McKinley's administration, provides a glimpse into the Gilded Age lifestyle. The 44-room gabled mansion, designed by Stanford White and completed in 1887, sits atop Prospect Hill. Its many original furnishings and artworks span three centuries; the collection of Chinese porcelain is particularly noteworthy. The meticulously kept 8 acres of formal gardens, a three-decade project of Choate's daughter, Mabel, and landscape designer Fletcher Steele, alone make this site worth a visit. Creative use of the property now includes a Winter Lights display, with over 200,000 twinkling LED lights; a Halloween-inspired pumpkin trail and haunted house; live music nights with picnics; and a springtime Daffodil Festival.

The most famous of all the antebellum homes in Louisiana is a darling of Hollywood, having appeared in major movies and television productions. Built between 1837 and 1839 by Jacques T. Roman, a French Creole sugar planter from New Orleans, Oak Alley is an outstanding example of Greek Revival architecture and is now owned and operated by the Oak Alley Foundation. The 28 stately oak trees that line the drive and give the columned plantation its name were planted in the early 1700s by an earlier settler. A guided tour introduces you to the grand interior of the manor, but be aware that you're unable to book specific times for your tour, so you may want to arrive early in the day to avoid lengthy lines. Leave time to explore the expansive grounds and visit an excellent slavery exhibit where regularly scheduled conversations with staff members tell the lives of those owned and kept on the plantation, as well as their lives after emancipation. Other exhibits cover the history of sugarcane in the region, the Civil War, and much more. A number of late-19th-century cottages behind the main house provide simple overnight accommodations, and a restaurant is open daily from 8:30 am to 3 pm. A café with lighter bites stays open until 5 pm.

The Reverend William Emerson, grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson, watched rebels and Redcoats battle from behind his home, which was within sight of the Old North Bridge. The house, built in 1770, was occupied continuously by the Emerson family for almost two centuries, except for a 3½-year period during which Nathaniel Hawthorne rented it. Furnishings date from the late 18th century. Different themed guided tours inside are available (Old Manse; Women of the Manse; Family-friendly; Attic; American Contradictions). The grounds are open year-round, from sunrise to sunset.

On the National Register of Historic Places, Pebble Hill is the only plantation in the area open to the public. The sprawling estate was last home to sporting enthusiast and philanthropist Elisabeth "Pansy" Ireland Poe, who specified that the plantation be open to the public upon her death (in 1978). The property dates to 1825, although most of the original house was destroyed in a fire in the 1930s. Highlights of the current two-story main house include a dramatic horseshoe-shape entryway, a wraparound terrace on the upper floor, and an elegant sunroom decorated with a wildlife motif. The second story now serves as an art gallery displaying the Poes' large sporting art collection. Surrounding the house are 34 acres of immaculately maintained grounds that include gardens, a walking path, a log-cabin school, a fire station, a carriage house, kennels, and a hospital for the plantation's more than 100 dogs (prized dogs were buried with full funerals, including a minister). The sprawling dairy-and-horse-stable complex resembles an English village.

The winding 10-mile drive through Russell-Abbott State Forest is part of the fun of visiting this enchanted—and secluded—1786 red clapboard cottage on which artist Elizabeth Orton Jones based her illustrations in Little Red Riding Hood in the 1940s. Surrounded by fragrant, organic herb and flower gardens (you can buy seeds and plants in the nursery in back), the house today contains a sweet gift shop that sells dried herbal blends and other gourmet products, a small museum with Little Red Riding Hood memorabilia, and a wonderful little restaurant that serves five-course lunches featuring herbs and produce grown on-site.

Henry Pittock, the founder and publisher of The Oregonian newspaper, built this 22-room, castlelike mansion, which combines French Renaissance and Victorian styles. The opulent manor, built in 1914, is filled with art and antiques. The 46-acre grounds, northwest of Washington Park and 1,000 feet above the city, offer superb views of the skyline, rivers, and the Cascade Range, including Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. The mansion is a half-mile uphill trek from the nearest bus stop. The mansion is also a highly popular destination among hikers using Forest Park's well-utilized Wildwood Trail.

Six huge Ionic columns front this restored 1839 Greek Revival mansion overlooking Seneca Lake. The 21 rooms open to the public include servants' quarters, the children's playroom, the kitchen, dining room, and parlors. Some rooms are outfitted with the Empire-style furnishings that were used from 1850 to 1890 by the prosperous farm family that lived here. Guided tours of the house begin with an introductory film and are given on the hour weekdays and on the half hour weekends. The grounds include boxwood gardens.

Tobacco heiress, philanthropist, and preservationist Doris Duke furnished her 39,000-square-foot English manorial–style house at the southern end of Bellevue Avenue with family treasures, fine art, and antiques purchased on her world travels. Highlights include paintings by Renoir, Van Dyck, and Gainsborough, numerous Chinese porcelains, Turkish carpets and Belgian tapestries, and a suite of Louis XVI chairs. Duke's two camels, Baby and Princess (who came with an airplane she had purchased from a Middle Eastern businessman), once summered here on the expansive grounds designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted; more recently, a herd of wooden elephants took residence. Duke bequeathed the oceanfront house with all of its contents to the Newport Restoration Foundation to operate as a museum after her death. Each year, the foundation assembles an exhibit devoted to Duke's lifestyle and interests, which is included with a guided tour. 

Judge Thomas Ruggles, a wealthy lumber dealer, store owner, postmaster, and justice of the Court of Sessions, built this Federal-style home in 1818. The house’s remarkable flying staircase, Palladian window, and intricate woodwork were crafted over three years by Massachusetts wood-carver Alvah Peterson. On guided tours you’ll also learn about the outstanding collection of period furnishings, much of it original to the home. The museum includes displays in the excavated basement where the original kitchen was located.

On a bluff in rural Cornish with views of Vermont's stately Mt. Ascutney, this pastoral property celebrates the life and artistry of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, a leading 19th-century sculptor with renowned works on Boston Common, Manhattan's Central Park, and Chicago's Lincoln Park. In summer you can tour his house (with original furnishings), studio, and galleries, and year-round it's a pleasure to explore the 150 gorgeous acres of lawns, gardens, and woodlands dotted with casts of his works and laced with 2½ miles of hiking trails. Concerts are held Sunday in July and August.

In 1936, heiress Doris Duke bought 5 acres at Black Point, down the coast from Waikiki, and began to build and furnish the first home that would be all her own. She called it Shangri La. For more than 50 years, the home was a work in progress as Duke traveled the world, buying art and furnishings, picking up ideas for her Mughal Garden, for the Playhouse in the style of a 17th-century Irani pavilion, and for the water terraces and tropical gardens. When she died in 1993, Duke left instructions that her home was to become a public center for the study of Islamic art.

Outside of minor conservation-oriented changes and 2017 renovations to the courtyard and pool, the house and gardens have remained much as Duke left them. To walk through them is to experience the personal style of someone who saw everything as raw material for her art. With her trusted houseman, Jin de Silva, she helped build the elaborate Turkish Room, trimming tiles and painting panels to retrofit the existing space (including raising the ceiling and lowering the floor) and building a fountain of her own design.

Among many aspects of the home inspired by the Muslim tradition is the entry: an anonymous gate, a blank white wall, and a wooden door that bids you, "Enter herein in peace and security" in Arabic script. Inside, tiles glow, fountains tinkle, and shafts of light illuminate artwork through arches and high windows. In 2014, after years of renovation, Duke's bedroom (the Mughal Suite) opened to the public. This was her private world, entered only by trusted friends. The house is open only via the guided tours that depart from downtown's Honolulu Museum of Art. Tours take about 2½ hours including transit time, and reservations are required. Book your spot as early as possible, and note that children under eight are not permitted.

This exuberant Greek Revival mansion was the home of William Scarborough, a wealthy early-19th-century merchant and one of the principal owners of the Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. The structure, with its portico capped by half-moon windows, is another of architect William Jay's notable contributions to the Historic District and Regency-style architecture. These days, it houses the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum, with displays of model ships and exhibits detailing maritime history. The ambitious North Garden nearly doubled the original walled courtyard's size and provides ample space for naturalist-led walks and outdoor concerts.

The well-known architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White was responsible for the beaux arts style of this grand 65-room mansion fronted with mammoth columns. Formerly known as Mills Mansion, the Hudson River estate was a family home of financier Ogden Mills and his wife, Ruth Livingston Mills, in the late 1800s to early 1900s. You may see the mansion's lavish interior by guided tour only. The estate, one of the most beautiful properties in the Hudson Valley, has hiking and cross-country-skiing trails, and a huge hill for sledding in winter.

Despite being an active retreat venue, the stunning 200-acre winter home of the late Ambassadors Walter and Leonore Annenberg, which has welcomed eight presidents and first ladies, royalty, numerous world leaders, and countless celebrities, is open to the public for free. You could easily spend a day taking a self-guided audio tour of 9 acres of art-filled grounds; viewing art exhibits; watching a film about the estate and the desert diplomacy that has happened here; grabbing a bite in the café; and participating in wellness activities, classes, or other programs. For an insightful peek inside the 25,000-square-foot mid-century marvel, book a 90-minute Historic House Tour. Guided estate (shuttle and walking options) and birding tours are also available.

The former home and studio of impressionist painter Theodore Clement Steele comprise this historic site, which displays a number of his works. Considered Brown County's first major artist, Steele moved to the area in 1907. Restored gardens once tended by Steele's second wife, Selma Nehbacher Steele, are open to visitors, along with four nature trails, the Dewar Log Cabin, and the 92-acre Selma Steele Nature Preserve. Hourly guided tours of Steele's studio are offered daily.

Frank Lloyd Wright built his summer residence about a two-and-a-half hour drive from Milwaukee (Taliesin West was his winter home in Arizona). The famed architect's estate is made up of five buildings showcasing classic elements of his organic style on Wright's family land, with the main house rising gently from a hilltop. Seeking a more private life, the artist left Oak Park, Illinois in 2011 and began construction but the living quarters of Taliesin were rebuilt later twice after fires destroyed part of the building. For some insight into his personal life, be sure to read the Loving Frank, a novel by Nancy Horan about Wright's real-life relationship with Mamah Cheney. You can only experience the property through a tour—choose from exploring the house, hillside studio and theater, or entire estate—and reservations are recommended. The visitor center includes a cafe and a bookstore with great gifts for any fan of Wright's work. Check the website for detailed directions, the address has been known to confuse GPS systems.

Ten years after visiting Arizona in 1927 to consult on designs for the Biltmore hotel, architect Frank Lloyd Wright chose 600 acres of rugged Sonoran Desert at the foothills of the McDowell Mountains as the site for his permanent winter residence. Today it's a National Historic Landmark. Wright and apprentices constructed a desert camp here using organic architecture to integrate the buildings with their natural surroundings. In addition to the living quarters, drafting studio, and small apartments of the Apprentice Court, Taliesin West has two theaters, a music pavilion, and the Sun Trap—sleeping spaces surrounding an open patio and fireplace. Guided tours range from a 90-minute in-depth tour to an hour-long nightfall tour, with other tours offered seasonally. Wear comfortable shoes for walking.

To reach Taliesin West, drive north on the 101 Freeway to Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard. Follow Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard for a few miles to the entrance at the corner of Cactus Road.

Astride rose-granite steps and a period herb garden overlooking the Stroudwater River on the outskirts of Portland, this magnificent 1755 house was built by Captain George Tate. Tate had been commissioned by the English Crown to organize "the King's Broad Arrow"—marking and cutting down gigantic trees, which were shipped to England to be fashioned as masts for the British Royal Navy. The house has several period rooms, including a sitting room with some fine English Restoration chairs. With its clapboard siding still gloriously unpainted, its impressive Palladian doorway, dogleg stairway, unusual clerestory, and gambrel roof, this house will delight all lovers of Early American decorative arts.