10457 Best Sights in USA

With 27 tables and 16 pedestal grills, this alfresco dining spot is open year-round, with flush toilets in the summer and vault toilets the rest of the year.

With virtually no elevation gain, this ½-mile, pine-lined looped path near a popular backcountry campground is wheelchair accessible and provides views of Hallet Peak and Flattop Mountain. Easy.

The Helper area—in particular the area around Spring Canyon, 4 miles to the west—probably holds the state's best concentration of ghost towns. Spring Canyon Road winds past the remnants of several, including the towns of Spring Canyon, Standardville, Latuda, and Mutual. If you're lucky, you might catch a glimpse of "the White Lady"—a ghost rumored to haunt the Latuda mine office. You can get a map of all the ghost towns in the Helper area at the Helper Museum information desk.

Built in the early 1900s as a family mansion, the community house was donated to the town in 1923. Today it hosts civic events and houses the Spring Lake Theater Company and the Children's Theater Workshop and Dance School. On the northeast side is the town library, featuring a dark, European reading room with a huge fireplace to warm by in winter, and a book-lined gallery.

The company produces six events (plays, musicals, or reviews) per year, staged from April to August, in December, and at sporadic times throughout the year. Shows ($25–$30) take place at the old, acoustically balanced, 350-seat Spring Lake Community House theater. The focus is on classic Broadway fare and family favorites.

About an hour from Downtown—and about halfway up Kyle Canyon Road to the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area—you'll find this eco-friendly visitor center, which opened in 2015 and welcomes those heading to Mt. Charleston. Spend some time perusing the educational exhibits about the ecosystems and microclimates in the region's tallest mountains. Then hike one of the short interpretive trails for a sense of what the cactus- and bristlecone pine–strewn landscape is like. In winter, a modest ski resort operates at the top of Lee Canyon.

This quarter-mile trail through a 124-acre preserve leads to Springer's Point, a sound-side beach where Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard) gathered with fellow pirates and ultimately met his demise in a battle with British naval lieutenant Robert Maynard. The enchanting trail traverses maritime forest and coastal marsh.

There is no parking at the trailhead—walk or bike from the village.

The junction of U.S. 180/191 and U.S. 60, just north of Springerville, is the perfect jumping-off spot for a driving tour of the Springerville Volcanic Field, which covers an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. On the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, it's spread across a high-elevation plain similar to the Tibetan Plateau. Six miles north of Springerville on U.S. 180/191 are sweeping westward views of the double volcanoes Twin Knolls. As you travel west on U.S. 60, Green's Peak Road and various south-winding Forest Service roads make for a leisurely, hour-long drive past St. Peter's Dome, and a stop for impressive views from Green's Peak, the topographic high point of the Springerville Field. Stop by the Springerville-Eagar Regional Chamber of Commerce ( 7 W. Main St., Springerville  928/333–2123  www.springervilleeagarchamber.com) for a map and more information on the Volcanic Field.

Scientists young and old will enjoy taking in a show at the oldest operating planetarium in the United States. There are also dinosaur exhibits, an extensive collection of stuffed and mounted animals, and an African Hall through which you can take an interactive tour of that continent's flora and fauna. There's also a small aquarium, where you'll see fishes from tropical reefs around the world as well as frogs, turtles, snakes, and spiders from the rainforests.

A suburban upscale live-work-play complex hardly seems like a typical recommendation for travelers to go visit. However, there aren't many concepts like Springline, which quickly emerged as a kind of second downtown for Menlo Park (just a 5-minute walk from the actual downtown) after opening in 2023. Several notable San Francisco restaurants and food artisans have opened their first branches outside of the city here, including sushi juggernaut Robin, the outstanding Cali-Italian cuisine of Che Fico Parco Menlo, and the beloved Andytown Coffee Roasters. With palm trees and beautiful fountains, the central plaza area of Springline feels like a vacation even for stressed-out workers in the adjacent offices.

This 180-acre complex defies traditional categories, combining botanical gardens, hiking trails, live animal exhibits, an ultramodern interactive museum, and a playground. The overarching theme of the facility is the rich diversity and delicate balance of nature in southern Nevada's deserts. Kids love the simulations of the flash-flood ravine, the re-created Southern Paiute Indian village (complete with grass huts!), and the trackless train, aboard which an engineer explains the role trains played in settling the West. The NV Energy Foundation Sustainability Gallery teaches about eco-friendly living, and a 2016 addition, Boomtown 1905, re-creates a streetscape designed to evoke turn-of-the-20th-century Vegas. There are also a few miles of walking trails that swing you by archaeological sites and may—if you're lucky—bring you face-to-face with some of the local fauna, such as bats, peregrine falcons, and Gila monsters.

The Springs Café provides famished eco-explorers with sustainable choices, like ethically raised cheeseburgers and environmentally mindful salads. The Nevada State Museum, with its famous fossil Ichthyosaur and a number of exhibits on local mining, is on the site (and included with admission) as well.

You can walk the carriage roads and trails that vein this woodsy, 20-acre landscape. It is the only surviving example of a landscape design by A.J. Downing, the 19th-century tastemaker. Downing had designed the landscape in 1850 for the country estate of Matthew Vassar, the founder of Vassar College. A trail guide is available in the kiosk at the site.

Springville, 10 miles south of Provo on I–15 or U.S. 89, is known for its support of the arts, and its museum is a must-stop for fine-arts fans. Built in 1937 to accommodate works by John Hafen and Cyrus Dallin, the museum now features mostly Utah artists, among them Gary Lee Price, Richard Van Wagoner, and James T. Harwood. It also has a collection of Soviet working-class impressionism and a sculpture garden with rotating exhibits.

While Petroglyph Point Trail takes you along the side of the canyon, this trail ventures down into its depths. It's only 2.4 miles long, but you descend about 600 feet in elevation. Remember to save your strength; what goes down must come up again. The trail is open even while Spruce Tree House is closed. Still, check with a ranger. Moderate.

The history and craftsmanship of Upper Appalachia are exhibited at this rustic village where spinners, weavers, potters, stained-glass workers, wood sculptors, and bird carvers demonstrate their artistry and skills. The Winterberg House, a log stagecoach stop, is the last remaining log tavern along the Old National Pike. It's now used as a crafts store and restaurant.

This seasonal oasis—referred to by some as an urban beach—is a combination of three landscaped barges, a hammock lounge, and floating gardens that hug the Delaware River. More than 50 hammocks are strung throughout the park, and there's an award-winning beer garden that pours more than 15 local brews. You can get food from the Franklin Fountain and Chickie's & Pete's as well as pizza, classic boardwalk foods, and more. There's even a boardwalk that's lined with swings, hammocks, bocce courts, Ping-Pong, shuffleboard, and shipping containers that have been converted into an arcade with skeeball, air hockey, and other classic games.

This 138-room complex is the best-preserved site in the park; however, the alcove surrounding Spruce Tree House became unstable in 2015 and was closed to visitors. Until alcove arch support is added, visitors can view but not enter this site. You can still hike down a trail that starts behind the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum and leads you 100 feet down into the canyon to view the site from a distance. Because of its location in the heart of the Chapin Mesa area, the Spruce Tree House trail and area can resemble a crowded playground during busy periods. When allowed inside the site, tours are self-guided (allow 45 minutes to an hour), but a park ranger is on-site to answer questions.

This leafy 314-acre tract, called Priest Point Park until 2022, is a beautiful section of protected shoreline and wetlands. Thick swaths of forest and glistening bay views are the main attractions, with picnic areas and playgrounds filling in the open spaces. The 3-mile Ellis Cove Trail, with interpretive stations, bridges, and nature settings, runs through the Squaxin Park area and around the Olympia coast.

A participant in the D-Day landing in Normandy during World War II, this Liberty Ship freighter is one of two such vessels still in working order. On board you can peek at the crew's living quarters and the officers' mess hall. The large display of the Normandy invasion, one of many exhibits on board, was a gift from France. To keep the 1943 ship in sailing shape, the vessel—powered by a steam engine that appears in the film Titanic—takes a trip on the bay a handful of times each year.

Nestled in the foothills of the Antelope Valley, this enclave is both Benedictine monastery and restful place for both day visitors and those participating in retreats. You can walk the lush tree-lined grounds, which include a shaded pond teeming with ducks and red-eared turtles, or browse the well-stocked gift shop. Ceramic tiles in the image of saints and angels by Father Maur van Doorslaer, a Belgian monk whose work U.S. and Canadian collectors favor, are among the items sold here to help sustain the monastery and its good works.

Stretching south of Glory Boardwalk to the St. Andrews Picnic Area at the very southern end of the island, this narrow beach backs up to dense maritime forest, making it a quiet, secluded bit of coast and a great spot for wildlife viewing or beachcombing. At the picnic area, a short trail leads to a viewing platform overlooking the outflow of Jekyll Creek—keep an eye out for dolphins cruising near the shoreline. A memorial and memory trail honors the landing of one of the last American slave ships, The Wanderer. Amenities: parking (no fee); toilets. Best for: solitude.

In the center of one of the historic area's busy circles, this brick building is one of the city's most prominent places of worship. King William III donated the Communion silver when the parish was founded in 1692, but the first St. Anne's Church wasn't completed until 1704. The second church burned in 1858, but parts of its walls survived and were incorporated into the present structure, which was built the following year. Free guided tours are offered the first and third Monday of every month at 10 am and every Wednesday at 12:30 pm. The churchyard contains the grave of the last Colonial governor, Sir Robert Eden.

This spot marks the site where French soldiers and Jesuits put ashore and built a fort, creating Vermont's first European settlement in 1666. Vermont's first Roman Catholic Mass was celebrated here on July 26 of that year.

Founded in 1893, the Alligator Farm is one of Florida's oldest (and, at times, smelliest) zoological attractions and is credited with popularizing the alligator in the national consciousness and helping to fashion an image for the state. In addition to oddities like Maximo, a 15-foot, 1,250-pound saltwater crocodile, and a collection of rare albino alligators, the park is also home to Land of Crocodiles, the only place in the world to see 24 species of living crocodilians.

Traversing the treetops in Crocodile Crossing is an inventive, ambitious, and expensive course with more than 50 rope and other challenges and 17 zip lines. In many places, a thin cable is all that keeps you from becoming croc cuisine. The shorter Sepik River course (nine zip lines) is cheaper. Reptiles are the main attraction, but there's also a wading-bird rookery, an exotic-birds and mammals exhibit, a python cave, and nature trails. Educational presentations are held throughout the day, and kids love the wild-animal shows.

Just south of Anastasia State Park, this beach has a livelier setting, thanks to the restaurants, bars, and shops along Beachfront Avenue and the 4-acre St. Johns County Ocean Pier Park. The park offers a playground, small splash park, sand volleyball courts, a covered pavilion, and a Wednesday-morning farmers' market. From May to September, Music by the Sea concerts are offered for free. Speaking of free, the beach doesn't charge a fee, but the popular fishing pier does ($6 fishing pass, $2 pier pass for spectators). In addition, there are some areas designated for driving on the beach. Amenities: lifeguards (seasonal); parking (no fee); showers; toilets. Best for: swimming.

Although the imposing white-and-beige, late-19th-century, Spanish-style building was modeled after the Cathedral of Queretaro in Mexico, a number of its details reflect the desert setting. For instance, above the entryway, next to a bronze statue of St. Augustine, are carvings of local desert scenes with saguaro cacti, yucca, and prickly pears—look closely and you'll find the horned toad. Compared with the magnificent facade, the modernized interior is a bit disappointing. For a distinctly Southwestern experience, attend the mariachi mass celebrated Sunday at 8 am.

Ursuline nuns donated the land for this church in 1841 and upon its completion in 1842, St. Augustine's became an integrated place of worship; the enslaved people were relegated to the side pews, but free blacks claimed just as much right to enter pews as whites did. The architect, J.N.B. de Pouilly, attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was known for his idiosyncratic style, which borrowed freely from a variety of traditions and resisted classification. Some of the ornamentation in his original drawings was eliminated when money ran out, but effusive pink-and-gold paint inside brightens the austere structure. The church grounds now also house the Tomb of the Unknown Slave, a monument dedicated in 2004 to the slaves buried in unmarked graves in the church grounds and surrounding areas. Following Hurricane Katrina, the Archdiocese of New Orleans planned to close seven churches in the city, including St. Augustine. Public outcry, the church's historical significance, and parishioners' dedication saved the parish, and its 10 am Sunday gospel-jazz services continue although fundraising efforts are still needed to mend the serious wear on the building. Tours are available by appointment. The cross made of chains outside the church is the The Tomb of the Unknown Slave, dedicated to the "nameless, faceless, turfless Africans who met an untimely death in Faubourg Tremé.

The first commercial block ice in Florida was made in this building over 100 years ago. Today, the structure has been transformed into a craft distillery that makes small batches of bourbon, rum, gin, and vodka using locally sourced ingredients. A self-guided tour takes you through the distilling process and provides insight on the operation's partnerships with small area farms. Samples during the tour include cocktails such as the Florida Mule and New World Gin and Tonic. A gift shop sells bottles of spirits, as well as bar gadgets and accessories.

It's unusual to find a lighthouse tucked into a residential neighborhood. This 1874 version replaced an earlier one built when the city was founded in 1565. Although its beacon no longer guides ships, it does draw thousands of visitors each year, in part because it has a reputation for being haunted.

The visitor center has a museum featuring an exhibit called Wrecked, which displays artifacts from an 1872 British loyalist shipwreck discovered off the shores of St. Augustine. You can also see exhibits on the U.S. Coast Guard, historic boatbuilding, maritime archaeology, and the life of a lighthouse keeper—whose work involved far more than light housekeeping.

You have to climb 219 steps to reach the top, 140 feet up, but the wonderful view and fresh ocean breeze are well worth it. Children must be at least 44 inches tall to make the ascent. The museum also conducts evening Dark of the Moon Paranormal tours ($25) and one-hour Lighthouse Keeper's tours ($19.95) for a history lesson and behind-the-scenes look at the keeper's role.

Inside this small museum established by entrepreneur and motivational speaker Pat Croce is a collection of more than 800 pirate artifacts, including one of only two Jolly Rogers (skull-and-crossbone flags) known to have actually flown above a ship. Exhibits include a mock-up of a tavern, a captain's quarters, and a ship's deck.

You'll learn about the lives of everyday and famous pirates, their navigation techniques, their weaponry, and the concoctions they drank (including something called Kill Devil, which is rum mixed with gunpowder). You'll get to touch an actual treasure chest; see piles of gold, jade, emeralds, and pearls; and leave knowing full well that there were pirates before Captain Jack Sparrow.