10450 Best Sights in USA

This 2,500-acre former estate of Archer and Anna Huntington lies east of U.S. 17, across from Brookgreen Gardens. The park's focal point is Atalaya (circa 1933), their Moorish-style 30-room home. A nature center features live native animals, including an aquarium with rays and horseshoe crabs. There are nature trails, ample areas for biking (including a bicycle path from Huntington Beach to Litchfield Beach), fishing, picnic areas, bird-watching expeditions, a playground, concessions, and a campground.

If you have time for just one stop in the Pasadena area, be sure to see this sprawling estate built for railroad tycoon Henry E. Huntington in the early 1900s. Henry and his wife, Arabella (who was also his aunt by marriage), voraciously collected rare books and manuscripts, botanical specimens, and 18th-century British art. The institution they established became one of the most extraordinary cultural complexes in the world.

The library, beloved of researchers worldwide, contains hundreds of thousands of books and 9 million manuscripts, including one of the world's biggest history of science collections and a vellum Gutenberg Bible that's on show to the public in an exhibition of the library's biggest draws.

Don't resist being lured outside into the 130-acre Botanical Gardens, which extend out from the main building. The 10-acre Desert Garden has one of the world's largest groups of mature cacti and other succulents (visit on a cool morning or late afternoon). The Shakespeare Garden, meanwhile, blooms with plants mentioned in Shakespeare's works. The Japanese Garden features an authentic ceremonial teahouse built in Kyoto in the 1960s, along with historic buildings to explore (including a residential compound from 1700, brought from Japan and reassembled on-site). A waterfall flows from the teahouse to the ponds below. The Chinese Garden, which is among the largest outside China, winds around waveless pools. The Bing Children's Garden lets tiny tots explore the ancient elements of water, fire, air, and earth. Several on-site dining options are available, including the Rose Garden Tea Room, where afternoon tea is served (reserve in advance), and the new Asian-inspired Jade Court Cafe. 

A 1¼-hour guided tour of the Botanical Gardens is led by docents at posted times, and a free brochure with a map and property highlights is available in the entrance pavilion. Tickets for a monthly free-admission day are snapped up within minutes online, so plan carefully.

One of the finest art museums in the northeastern United States, the Hyde Collection encompasses some 2,800 pieces including paintings and works on paper by artists such as Josef Albers, Sandro Botticelli, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Paul Cézanne, William Merritt Chase, Leonardo da Vinci, Edgar Degas, Thomas Eakins, El Greco, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Antiques, fine period furniture, and decorative arts are also displayed, as are temporary exhibits. Audio Tours are available.

Sitting just a block from the Plaza, this fascinating museum is part of the esteemed Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) and contains the largest collection—some 7,500 works—of contemporary Native American art in the United States. The paintings, photography, sculptures, prints, and traditional crafts were created by past and present students and teachers. In the 1960s and 1970s, it blossomed into the nation's premier center for Native American arts and its alumni represent almost 600 tribes around the country. The museum continues to showcase the cultural and artistic vibrancy of Indigenous people, helping to expand what is still an often limited public perception of what "Indian" art is and can be. Be sure to step out back to the beautiful sculpture garden. Artist Fritz Scholder taught here, as did sculptor Allan Houser. Among their disciples were the painter T. C. Cannon and celebrated local sculptor and painter Dan Namingha.

When Mark Twain saw this park, he dubbed it the Yosemite of the Pacific. Yosemite, it's not, but it is a lovely deep valley with the curious Iao Needle, a spire that rises more than 2,000 feet from the valley floor. You can walk from the parking lot across Iao Stream and explore the thick, jungle-like topography. This park also has some lovely short strolls on paved paths, where you can stop and meditate by the edge of a stream or marvel at the native plants. Mist often rises if it rains, making it even more magical. Be aware that this area is prone to flash flooding; stay out of the water if it's been raining. Advance reservations are required for out-of-state residents.

Part of the Urban Wilderness that includes the adjacent Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area, this 315-acre woodland is home to former marble quarries. Mead's Quarry Lake is where River Sports Outfitters rents paddleboards, kayaks, and canoes to explore the clear blue water. More than 12 miles of trails connect to adjacent public lands, allowing for extended hiking and mountain biking circuits, and Ijams Crag is popular with rock climbers. Navitat is also based here, offering six different aerial high-ropes challenge courses through the treetops.

Kids love the wonderful interactive exhibits at this lively museum–aquarium combo that explores technology, physics, weather, and other science topics. Check out the stingrays and other marine life in the aquariums, touch tanks, and the USS Mohawk artificial reef tank featured on Animal Planet’s show Tanked. Feed the fish, turtles, and swans in the outdoor lagoon; see a tarantula, python, hissing cockroach, juvenile alligator, and other live critters in the Animal Lab; dig for dinosaur bones; watch a 3-D movie in the theater; take part in a hands-on Animal Encounter demonstration, and touch a cloud. Other highlights include the Mini Museum early childhood area, Backyard Nature, aquaponics area, Nano Lab, Idea Lab engineering design center, Build-Your-Own-Coaster, and Science of Motion. History exhibits include underwater plane wrecks, a Columbian mammoth, and giant ground sloth, as well as a replica Cracker House.

This museum does a striking job at telling the story of Independence and its surrounding regions through the eyes of various communities that have contributed to its history, not just white settlers. You can see a recreation of an old general store stocked with vintage packaging, a lifelike blacksmithing display, and even a doctor's office where old-timey medicines and medical books are displayed. Kids love the skeleton of “Betsy the Cow,” used in local classrooms to teach anatomy since her bones were first discovered by a group of schoolchildren in the 1960s.

This is the city's official visitor center as well as the gateway to Independence National Historical Park. Here, you'll find a fully staffed concierge-and-trip-planning desk, which provides information on the Park, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Zoo, and other attractions, as well as a reservation and ticketing service. Before you set off on a walking tour, acquaint yourself with Colonial American history by watching the Founding Fathers come to life in the 30-minute movie Independence, one of the films shown in the center's two theaters. On the mezzanine level upstairs, there's Liberty View Terrace, a great outdoor platform with views of Independence Mall. There's also a café for quick bites, accessible restrooms, and an excellent gift shop, where you can stock up on books, videos, brochures, prints, wall hangings, and souvenirs of historic figures and events. An atrium connects the visitor center to a renovated underground parking area.

This mostly level 0.6-mile loop hike crosses an arroyo into meadowlands with a bounty of native flora and dramatic views of the high walls that enclose this secluded canyon. It's an easy and rewarding way to orient yourself in Dog Canyon's peaceful countryside in less than an hour. Easy.

These neighboring gardens sit just across the Park Boulevard pedestrian bridge and offer gorgeous views over Florida Canyon. The award-winning formal rose garden contains 1,600 roses representing nearly 130 varieties; peak bloom is usually in April and May but the garden remains beautiful and worthy of a visit year-round. The adjacent Desert Garden provides a striking contrast, with 2½ acres of succulents and desert plants seeming to blend into the landscape of the canyon below.

Vintner-filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola's many wine-world contributions include resurrecting the historic Inglenook estate. Over the decades, he reassembled the original property acquired by Inglenook founder Gustave Niebaum and remodeled the Finnish-born sea captain's ivy-covered 1880s château. Inglenook's place in Napa Valley history is among the topics discussed at tastings, one (worth considering) devoted entirely to the winery's 22,000-square-foot eco-friendly wine cave and production facility. Some sessions involve food pairings, and most see a pour of the signature Rubicon, a Cabernet Sauvignon–based blend with a classic Rutherford profile. Visits require an appointment; call for same-day availability. Reserve a table at The Bistro, a wine bar with a picturesque courtyard, to sip wine by the glass or bottle.

One of the best—though often most crowded—places in the park to watch the sunset, this lofty promontory with sweeping vistas into the Bryce Amphitheater is easily accessed by car—the parking lot is down a short and well-signed spur road near the start of Bryce Point Road. But for a more exciting approach and a bit of fresh air and exercise, consider hiking to this dramatic spot via the relatively easy and flat Rim Trail; from Sunset Point, it's a ¾-mile trek south, and from Bryce Point, it's a 1½-mile hike northwest. From either direction, the views are spectacular for virtually the entire hike.

It's hard to say what's more cutting-edge: the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston's cantilevered building or the works that reside within. The events calendar is studded with changing, thematic exhibitions by the contemporary art world's brightest talents. Visitors will also see some curated pieces from the ICA's permanent collection, including some by Robert Mapplethorpe, Yayoi Kusama, and Louise Bourgeois. Live programming, from film festivals to talks to outdoor concerts, take place regularly. Don't miss the ICA Store on the ground level, where you can pick up an inventive trinket of your own.

In a corridor that tells the gruesome history of American slavery at this strikingly beautiful yet stark new museum, an embroidered sack tells a bitter history. In 1921, Ruth Middleton sewed her grandmother's story into the canvas, recounting how she was sold to another family at age nine, with only the sack containing a tattered dress, a few pecans, and a braid of her mother's hair to take with her. It's easy to see why the museum includes private reflecting rooms with tissues on hand. The IAAM relates a factual, vivid account of the Middle Passage from Africa to Charleston, where 40% of enslaved Africans entered America. But while acknowledging the gruesome past and societal disadvantages African Americans still face, the majority of the museum celebrates their achievements, from politics to music to visual art, including a flexible gallery space. Permanent exhibits include a reconstructed Gullah-Geechee prayer house, an authentic bateau used for fishing and shrimping in the Lowcountry, and an elaborate Mardi Gras Indian costume from New Orleans. Underneath the new waterfront museum is the city's newest and most evocative public space, including a path through a garden of sweetgrass and the Tide Tribute, a sculptural diagram of the floor of a slave ship that fills and empties with the shifting tide in Charleston Harbor.

With an unflinching eye, this museum documents the beauty and horror of America's civil rights movement of the 1960s. The star attraction is the actual Woolworth's lunch counter where countless African Americans staged sit-ins to protest segregation for more than six months in 1960. A guided tour shows viewers how this act of defiance spread to more than 50 cities throughout the South and helped finally bring segregation to an end. Other exhibits uncover the brutality of America's racism throughout the South.

Many of the museum's graphic images of historical violence may be too intense for young eyes.

This glorious patch of greenery within Washington Park comprises three terraced gardens, set on 4½ acres, where more than 10,000 bushes and some 610 varieties of roses grow. The flowers, many of them new varieties, are at their peak in June, July, September, and October. From the gardens you can take in views of the Downtown skyline and, on clear days, the slopes of Mt. Hood. Summer concerts take place in the garden's amphitheater. It's a pretty but hilly 30- to 40-minute walk from Downtown, but it's also pretty easy to get here by bus.

Tennis fans and lovers of history, art, and architecture will enjoy visiting the birthplace of U.S. championship tennis. The museum contains interactive exhibits, a holographic theater that simulates being in a room with Roger Federer, displays of clothing worn by the sport's biggest stars, video highlights of great matches, and memorabilia that includes the 1874 patent from England's Queen Victoria for the game of lawn tennis. The 7-acre site is home to the Bill Talbert Stadium with its manicured grass courts, the historic shingle-style Newport Casino—which opened in 1880 and was designed by architects McKim, Mead & White—and the recently restored Casino Theatre. The 13 grass tennis courts, one clay court, and an indoor tennis facility are open to the public for play. 

Depending on your point of view, the International UFO Museum and Research Center will either seem like a display of only-in-America kitsch or a real opportunity to examine UFO documentation and other phenomena involving extraterrestrials. This homespun nonprofit facility is surprisingly low-tech—some of the displays look like they've seen previous duty on B-movie sets (the museum is, coincidentally, inside an old movie house). The blowups of newspaper stories about the 1947 Roswell crash, its fallout, and 1950s UFO mania make interesting reading, and you can view the videotaped recollections of residents who say they saw the crash firsthand. The gift shop sells all manner of souvenirs depicting wide-eyed extraterrestrials, along with books and videos. Though some of the exhibits are whimsical, the portion of the museum devoted to research accumulates serious written collections and investigations of reported UFOs. The city hosts AlienFest (575/914–8017) over the first weekend of July each year.

Ranger-guided activities are held throughout the park, indoors and outdoors, and include slideshows, talks, and walks on cultural and natural history, including wildlife and birds. Check visitor centers and campground bulletin boards for event postings.

A meandering one-lane road leads to this winery known for its sparkling wines and estate Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. The sparklers have made history: Ronald Reagan served them at his summit meetings with Mikhail Gorbachev, and Barack Obama included them at official state dinners. Despite Iron Horse's brushes with fame, a casual rusticity prevails at its outdoor tasting area (large heaters keep things comfortable on chilly days), which gazes out on acres of rolling vine-covered hills. Tastings are by appointment.

Newer and more relaxing than its famed sibling across town, Iron Mountain Hot Springs is geared to adults looking for a peaceful retreat. Seventeen mineral pools with views of the Colorado River and Mt. Sopris are scattered across the hilltop; temperatures vary from 98°F to 108°F. A large family pool, heated to 94°F, encourages young children to stay out of the soaking spas, and soothing music drowns out much of the noise from the nearby kids' area. On-site bars offer a variety of beer and wine for sipping at the pools, and the contemporary locker rooms maintain the property's spa–like atmosphere. In summer 2023, a new adults–only area complete with two large pools with waterfalls and eight riverside pools lined with relaxation pebbles opened to visitors over 21. Reservations are required and visits are limited to three hours.

This rising star among Southern Oregon wineries specializes in two varietals the region generally isn't known for: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The cooler higher-elevation setting is perfect for these grapes usually associated with the Willamette Valley, and you can sample them, along with a refreshing dry rosé of Pinot Noir—with one of their impressive cheese-and-charcuterie boards, perhaps—amid the cushy seating in the airy modern tasting room and sweeping patio, with its grand mountain views.

A spirited society woman, Isabella Stewart came in 1860 from New York to marry John Lowell Gardner, one of Boston's leading citizens. "Mrs. Jack" promptly set about becoming the most un-Bostonian of the Proper Bostonians. She built a Venetian palazzo to hold her collected art. Her will stipulated that the building remain exactly as she left it—paintings, furniture, down to the smallest object in a hall cabinet—and so it has remained.

Gardner's palazzo includes such masterpieces as Titian's Europa, Giotto's Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and John Singer Sargent's El Jaleo. Eight balconies adorn the majestic Venetian courtyard, and themed rooms include Raphael, Spanish Cloister, Gothic, Chinese Loggia, and a magnificent Tapestry Room for concerts, where Gardner entertained Henry James and Edith Wharton.

On March 18, 1990, the Gardner was the target of a sensational art heist. Thieves disguised as police officers stole 12 works, including Vermeer's The Concert. None of the art has been recovered. Because Mrs. Gardner's will prohibited substituting other works for any stolen art, empty expanses of wall identify spots where the paintings once hung. The heist is the subject of a 2021 Netflix documentary, This is a Robbery.

The modern Renzo Piano–designed addition houses a music hall, exhibit space, and conservation labs.

Watching the Isotopes (a sparkling Triple A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies) at this sweet 13,279-seat ballpark is always great fun, and with the New Mexico United pro soccer team playing here now as well, there’s yet more opportunity to join a rousing crowd while the setting sun vividly colors the Sandias to the east. The 'Topes season runs April through September while the United play March or April through October.

Oddly enough, you'll find the world's largest indoor adventure ropes course within Jordan's Furniture Store. The 60-foot-high courses have more than 100 activities, like walking across zigzag-swinging beams, rope ladders, bridges, moving planks, a 50-foot free-fall jump, four 200-foot-long ziplines, and more. At Little IT, toddlers and little kids can zip along, too.

At this 30-acre lavender farm and wine-making operation set in a stylishly modernized farmhouse a little northwest of Zillah, you can sample first-rate, mostly Bordeaux- and Rhône-style vin, along with a brick-oven-baked pizza made with a dough recipe passed down by one of the owner's Ukrainian families. You can also attend concerts, chef dinners, and other special events.