10405 Best Sights in USA

On the far side of Chestnut Hill, on the slope leading toward the suburbs, this Philly artist–centric museum focuses on 19th- and 20th-century eastern Pennsylvania art. The permanent collection features mid-1900s woodcuts and a number of 19th-century Pennsylvania landscapes. The largely contemporary special exhibitions are often very engaging, along with live jazz and classical music, movie nights, and workshops. There's a popular, if overpriced, haystack maze each October outside.

President Wilson and his second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, retired in 1921 to this Georgian Revival house designed by Washington architect Waddy B. Wood. It was on this quiet street that Wilson lived out the last few years of his life. It is the only presidential museum in the nation’s capital. Wilson died in 1924—Edith survived him by 37 years—and bequeathed the house and its contents to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Tours of the home can be general or themed or even virtual, and they provide a wonderful glimpse into the lives of this couple and the dignitaries who visited them here. Items on display include his cane collection, a Gobelin tapestry, a mosaic from Pope Benedict XV, the pen used by Wilson to sign the declaration that launched the United States into World War I, and the shell casing from the first shot fired by U.S. forces in the war. The house also contains memorabilia related to the history of the short-lived but influential League of Nations, including the colorful flag Wilson hoped would be adopted by that organization.

Interactive exhibits and displays children can touch make this museum family-friendly. The collection features period antiques, items from Wilson's political career, and some original pieces that belonged to Wilson's father, a Presbyterian minister. Wilson's presidential limousine, a 1919 Pierce-Arrow sedan, is on display in the garage. An interactive World War I trench exhibit simulates the soldier's experiences and there's also a hands-on kids' corner.

This exquisite three-story French Victorian mansion was built in 1870 and has a grand drawing room graced with original parquet floors and large mirrors. Antique furnishings include Aubusson carpets, marble mantels, and a Venetian crystal chandelier. The formal garden still has its gingerbread playhouse, now the museum shop.

Dead artists of all kinds reside here: poets, musicians, writers, painters, sculptors, dancers, and bon vivants. Many of the stones, in keeping with the wishes of their buried subjects, tell artfully rendered stories. Look for the grassy knoll behind the Evergreen Cemetery to commune with the spirits of Woodstock.

The juried fair, held Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, showcases potters, photographers, jewelry designers, and other artisans from across the nation. The food is better than usual fair fare, with many vegetarian and other innovative dishes.

Lovers of fine wines make pilgrimages to this winery, 12 miles west of Walla Walla, for the superb Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlots. Its 2017 Chardonnay was named "Best Splurge" by Seattle magazine. The winery's flagship Cabernet Sauvignon wine is produced in the Artist Series, which features a different label each year by West Coast artists. The tasting room doesn't require reservations, and you're welcome to bring a picnic to enjoy outside in the garden.

A trip to this peaceful hillside winery in the Applegate Valley offers the chance to sample organic fresh and aged cheese produced with milk from the winery's dairy goats. Enjoy a platter of cheeses along with homemade charcuterie while you relax on the patio, sipping the exceptional estate wines, including Malbec, Pinot Noir, Tempranillo, and Chardonnay.

Until 40 Wall Street stole the title in 1930, the 792-foot, neo-Gothic Woolworth Building, opened in 1913, was the world's tallest building. For security in the now-residential building, the spectacular lobby is no longer open to the public on a daily basis, though exclusive-access architecture tours are sometimes available through Open House New York ( ohny.org). The lobby is home to a stained-glass skylight and carved wooden sculptures set into the portals to the left and right: one represents retail-giant namesake F. W. Woolworth counting his nickels and dimes; another depicts the architect, Cass Gilbert, cradling in his arms a model of his creation. But even if you don't make it inside, the tower's exterior is exquisite, too—its facade details so ornate the building was nicknamed the "cathedral of commerce." 

Another only-in-Joshua Tree spot not to be missed, this museum displays all kinds of crocheted creations inside a reimagined drive-through photo stand. Tucked off the street in Art Queen's courtyard, it earned global recognition when it appeared in an international advertising campaign. Before you get back in the car, detour around the front to see another eclectic collection at the Beauty Bubble Salon and Museum ( beautybubble.net). The working salon displays more than 3,000 pieces of vintage equipment, toys, products, and advertising related to the hair/beauty industry.

This handsomely designed, contemporary museum across from the Oregon Zoo contains interactive and multimedia exhibits about forest sustainability. A white-water raft ride, smoke-jumper training simulator, and Timberjack tree harvester all provide different perspectives on Pacific Northwest forests. On the second floor the forests of the world are explored in various travel settings. A canopy lift ride hoists visitors to the 50-foot ceiling to look at a Douglas fir.

Each August, Long Beach hosts the Washington State International Kite Festival; the community is also home to the Northwest Stunt Kite Championships, a competition held each June. At the only U.S. museum focused solely on kites and kiting, you can view an array of kites and learn about kite making and history. 

This shrine to the brown soda's image, products, and marketing is, at 62,000 square feet, twice the size of its previous building and features more than 1,200 artifacts never before displayed to the public. You can sip samples of 100 different Coca-Cola products from around the world and peruse more than a century's worth of memorabilia from the corporate archives. The gift shop sells everything from refrigerator magnets to handbags.

Set in a restored 1936 Coast Guard station, this museum—geared as much to kids as adults—features the life of a "Coastie" in the early 1940s, told through personal accounts of the WWII history of St. Simons Island. Exhibits explore how small communities like St. Simons came close to conflict due to the threat of German U-boats just offshore, and how the military shipbuilding industry sprung up in nearby Brunswick. The museum demonstrates how Georgia's Golden Isles were transformed during and after the Second World War and the important role civilians played on the home front.

The impact of World War II on Unalaska/Dutch Harbor is visible practically everywhere you look: remnants of war bunkers, tunnels, Quonset huts, pillboxes, and other military relics are scattered throughout town. You can explore these pieces of history hands-on when at Bunker Hill, Memorial Park, Unalaska Lake, Mt. Ballyhoo, and other sites.

Knoxville hosted the World's Fair in 1982, and the legacy is a green space maintained in the heart of the city. The centerpiece is the Sunsphere, a gold-domed observation tower with 360-degree views of the city. Below, there's a splash pad that's popular with children during summer and a festival lawn and amphitheater that host events throughout the year.

In the 1920s, this building shaped like an 18th-century chest of drawers was constructed to call attention to the city's standing as the "Furniture Capital of the World." The 36-foot-high building, complete with a 6-foot-long pair of socks dangling from one of its drawers, remains one of the strangest sights in North Carolina to this day. Nearby Furnitureland South has actually built a much larger chest of drawers as the facade to one of its showrooms, although it is not freestanding.

Showcasing some of the world's greatest classic toys, as well as a few modern ones, this museum is fun not only for children, but also for adults wanting to get nostalgic about their childhood. There are more than a million toys here, and collections include vintage toy trains, old school lunchboxes, tin toys, toddler pull toys, and many decades' worth of Barbie dolls and action figures. The gift shop is well stocked with classic toys to take home, including plenty of Mr. Potato Head figurines.

Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun are two adjoining theme parks with roller coasters, shows, water shenanigans, and attractions for people of all ages.

In 1736, General James Oglethorpe gave 500 acres to Noble Jones, who was required to build a small fort to protect Savannah from an attack up the Skidaway River. Wormsloe is the only property in Georgia remaining in the hands of descendants of the original owners. Over the years, the land was used to produce cotton, as well as fruits, vegetables, and silk. In later years it served as a dairy farm and rice mill. Many of the 400 oaks planted along the 1½-mile entry in 1891 still stand proud today—you might recognize them from the movie Forrest Gump. Today, you can tour the tabby fort ruins, wander around the historic cemetery, and take in colonial plantation reenactments.

A stone obelisk marks the mass grave at the site of the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, where several hundred Sioux---including many women and children---were killed by U.S. Army soldiers after a skirmish broke out at what had been a peaceful encampment. Only a handful of visitors make pilgrimages to the remote site today, which is simple and largely unchanged from its 1890 appearance. The short dirt road leading up the hill to the site from the highway is sometimes too rutted to drive. If you go, be advised that this is a place of deep solemnity for many people. Visitors should be quiet and respectful.

This facility interprets the history of the December 29, 1890, Wounded Knee Massacre through interactive exhibits with historical photos and documents. Many visitors choose to stop at this convenient location off I--90 in lieu of a stop at the isolated massacre site 80 miles to the south on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where several hundred Native American victims remain buried in a mass grave after being killed by U.S. Army troops.

Covering a 100-by-70-mile area, the Wrangells tower over the 2,500-foot-high Copper River Plateau, with the peaks of mounts Jarvis, Drum, Blackburn, Sanford, and Wrangell rising from 15,000 feet to 16,000 feet above sea level.

The College of William and Mary, founded in 1693, is the second-oldest college in the United States after Harvard University. The campus extends to the west; the Wren Building (1695) was based on the work of the celebrated London architect Sir Christopher Wren. Its redbrick outer walls are original, but fire gutted the interiors several times, and the current quarters are largely reconstructions of the 20th century. The faculty common room, with a table covered with green felt and an antique globe, suggests Oxford and Cambridge universities, the models for this New World institution. George Wythe became America's first law professor at the college and taught law to Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, James Monroe, and John Marshall. Tours, led by undergraduates, include the chapel where Colonial leader Peyton Randolph is buried. Among the portraits of college presidents on the second floor of the Wren Building is an arresting painting of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who visited William and Mary during her tenure.

Named for James Wright, Georgia's last colonial governor, this square has an elaborate monument in its center that honors William Washington Gordon, founder of the Central of Georgia Railroad. A granite boulder from Stone Mountain adorns the grave of Tomochichi, the Yamacraw chief who befriended General Oglethorpe and the colonists, giving his permission for the English settlers to establish their colony on Yamacraw Bluff.

Just a few blocks from the waterfront, Wright's Ferry Mansion was the residence of English Quaker Susanna Wright, a silkworm breeder and intellectual who counted Benjamin Franklin among her friends. Docents guide visitors around the 1738 stone house, which showcases period furniture in the William & Mary and Queen Anne styles as well as an extensive collection of English needlework, clothing, ceramics, and glass, all predating 1750.

Near Loma Prieta, as high as one can go in the Santa Cruz Mountains, this fun winery balances high-quality wines with a more laid-back atmosphere that encourages relaxing all afternoon. There’s a boccie court, splendid vineyard views, and excellent estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Charcuterie boards are sold for hungry tasting groups, and once a month or so there's a food truck on hand. This is one of the few local wineries that welcomes both children and dogs.

Clean, wide beaches here provide the setting for all sorts of water sports. Surfers dominate the sunrise waves at Crystal Pier. Kayakers, parasailers, and paddleboarders all share the waters here while shoreline runners and walkers hit the sand, which is also perfect for sandcastle building and people-watching. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards (Memorial Day to Labor Day); parking (fee); toilets. Best for: surfing; swimming.

Families from the Sinagua and other Ancestral Puebloans are believed to have lived together in harmony on the site that is now Wupatki National Monument, farming and trading with one another and with those who passed through. The eruption of Sunset Crater may have influenced migration to this area a century after the event, as freshly laid volcanic cinders held in moisture needed for crops. Although there's evidence of earlier habitation, most of the settlers moved here around 1100 and left the pueblo by about 1250. The 2,700 identified sites contain archaeological evidence of a Native American settlement.

The national monument was named for the Wupatki (meaning "tall house" in Hopi) site, which was originally three stories high, built above an unexplored system of underground fissures. The structure had almost 100 rooms and an open ball court—evidence of Southwestern trade with Mesoamerican tribes for whom ball games were a central ritual. Next to the ball court is a blowhole, a geologic phenomenon in which air is forced upward by underground pressure.

Other sites to visit are Wukoki, Lomaki, and the Citadel, a pueblo on a knoll above a limestone sink. Although the largest remnants of Native American settlements at Wupatki National Monument are open to the public, other sites are off-limits. On Saturdays November through March, free guided 2.5-mile hikes to backcountry pueblos and petroglyphs are offered (reservations required). A 1.3-mile hike to East Mesa is also available during this time. Between the Wupatki and Citadel sites, Doney Mountain affords 360-degree views of the Painted Desert and the San Francisco Volcanic Field. It's a perfect spot for a sunset picnic.

In late 2014, Congress re-designated this quiet, sunken garden to honor General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, the first—a century ago—to hold the title General of the Armies. An official unit of the National Park System, the memorial currently includes engravings on the stone walls recounting pivotal campaigns from World War I, when Pershing commanded the American Expeditionary Force and conducted other military exploits. Steps and small tables surround a fountain and duck pond, making for a pleasant midday respite. The park had a $46-million renovation of the memorial in 2021.