558 Best Sights in USA

Housed in the island's former stables, this museum offers guests a glimpse into Jekyll's rich history. A wide array of exhibits, interactive tools, and audio and visual effects tell the stories of the barrier island—from the life of original natives and the landing of one of the last slave ships at the south end to the golden age of the island, when America's rich and famous wintered here. Tram tours ($20) depart daily four times daily, weather permitting. The 60-minute tour covers the National Historic Landmark District and includes entry into a restored cottage and Faith Chapel. The museum also regularly offers specialty themed tours, particularly around the holidays. Advanced tickets are recommended and can be purchased online.

This remarkable museum highlights the cultural, military, and natural history of the Aleutian and Pribilof islands. You'll find an exhaustive array of objects representing the region's history, from gut parkas and repatriated religious artifacts to original drawings from Captain Cook's third voyage. The exhibits also give glimpses into the Unangax̂ way of life, as well as illustrating the impact of Russian contact and occupation, the gold rush, World War II, the fishing industry, and more. In the summer, the museum sponsors archaeological digs as well as periodic lectures by visiting scientists, historians, and researchers. It also offers a range of guided tours, indoors and out. You can take gallery or special collections tours in the museum, or venture out on a city walk, a Bunker Hill hike, a driving tour of Amaknek Island, or a morning history and photography tour.

Within walking distance of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Constitution Center, and the First Bank of the United States, the Museum of the American Revolution resides in the heart of historic Philadelphia. Divided into four parts—Road to Independence (1760–75), The Darkest Hour (1776–78), A Revolutionary War (1778–83), A New Nation (1783–present)—the museum’s impressive collection has been in the making for more than a century. Several thousand artifacts, many of which have never been shown before, include General George Washington’s actual tent that he used as his war headquarters; a pair of English holster pistols carried throughout the war by a German American brigadier general; an early-19th-century summer coat worn by a Revolutionary War soldier; and a pair of infant shoes crafted from the stolen coat of a British soldier. Many of the exhibits are interactive and family-friendly, too.

This expansive history-lover's haven has exhibits representing the life and cultures of the region and sponsors an annual show on ranching handiwork (such as saddles, reins, and spurs) held in conjunction with the Cowboy Poetry Gathering each February. The map collection is renowned.

Covering 12,000 years of history, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian is one of the country's best Native American museums. Computer-generated images, video projections, and sound effects help bring to life events in the history of the Cherokee. For example, you'll see children stop to play a butter-bean game while adults shiver along the snowy Trail of Tears. The museum has an art gallery, a gift shop, and an outdoor living exhibit of Cherokee life in the 15th century.

Here you'll find a celebration of the history of the Rockies region, with exhibits ranging from prehistory to pioneers, plus a planetarium with laser shows. Most renowned is the museum's Siebel Dinosaur Complex housing one of the world's largest dinosaur fossil collections along with the largest-known T-rex skull, a Mesozoic Media Center, and a Hall of Giants complete with sound effects. Children love the hands-on science activities in the Explore Yellowstone Martin Children's Discovery Center and (in the summer) the living history farm. Tinsley Homestead, with home-crafts demonstrations, including butter churning, weaving, and blacksmithing is open Wednesday through Sunday.

Covering the era from 1800 to 1900, the Museum of the Upper Missouri highlights the importance of Fort Benton and the role it played as a trading post, military fort, and the head of steamboat navigation. In the summer there are daily guided tours at the adjacent Old Fort Benton, considered the birthplace of Montana; its 1846 blockhouse is the oldest standing structure in the state.

In a former textile mill, this interactive museum examines the lives of American factory workers and owners during the Industrial Revolution. Focusing on French Canadian immigrants who came to work in Woonsocket's mills, the museum's cleverly laid out, walk-through exhibits begin with a 19th-century Québécois farmhouse, then continue with displays of life in a 20th-century tenement, a Catholic school, a church, and the shop floor. The genesis of the textile workers' union is described, as are the events that led to the National Textile Strike of 1934. There's also a fascinating presentation about child labor. Exhibits are presented in both French and English.

Antique and classic cars made by obscure and familiar companies fill this engaging facility. Celebrity vehicles include the Lana Turner Chrysler (one of only six made), an Elvis Presley Cadillac, and the Mercury coupe James Dean drove in the movie Rebel Without a Cause. Hard to miss are the experimental and still futuristic-looking 1938 Phantom Corsair and a gold-plated 1981 DeLorean.

This three-level, 43,000-square-foot, hands-on museum offers visitors a multisensory immersion into both the U.S. civil rights movement and global human rights efforts. Each exhibit is a force of its own: the quiet and vicarious look at handwritten journals and personal items from Martin Luther King Jr.; the jolting sensation of sitting in at a lunch counter, hearing the threats and slurs that young protesters would have; or the mirrorlike effect of one-on-one stories told by those who’ve suffered human rights violations—and the workers whose mission it is to triumph over them. The Rolls Down Like Water exhibit is superb, bearing the mark of its curator, award-winning playwright and film director George C. Wolfe. The center hosts one of the biggest celebrations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the world each December. And the building, itself a work of art reminiscent of folding hands, is steps away from parking and a brief walk to World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium.

One of the most popular museums in the nation's capital is perhaps best summed up with a quote by founding director Lonnie Bunch: "The African American experience is the lens through which we understand what it is to be an American." The museum serves as that lens, thanks to more than a dozen exhibitions that display nearly 3,000 historical artifacts, documents, photographs, memorabilia, and media.

The building's structure resembles nothing else on the Mall. The shape of its bronze-color corona was inspired by a Nigerian artist's carving, prominently displayed in one of the galleries. The corona's filigree design was patterned after railings made by enslaved 19th-century craftsmen. The museum's three tiers are hung at the same angle as the Washington Monument's capstone (it makes for a dramatic photo). Powerful quotes from African Americans are strategically placed throughout the space. The museum divides into two parts: 60% is underground, and the remaining 40% is aboveground. Lower-level exhibits showcase a somber and wrenching historical timeline from slavery through civil rights. Aboveground galleries celebrate the cultural contributions of African Americans.

To best experience this museum, start at the underground Concourse History Galleries. Here you'll see a portion of a slave ship that broke apart off Cape Town, South Africa, in a 1794 shipwreck that drowned 212 people; a 19th-century, Edisto Island, South Carolina, slave cabin that was occupied until 1980; the original casket of 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly flirting with a white woman; a railcar with its very different first-class and "colored" sections; and a biplane used to train the Tuskegee Airmen who fought in WWII. Also on the main concourse level is the 350-seat Oprah Winfrey Theater, which hosts musical performances, lectures and discussions, film presentations, and other programming. The Center for African American Media Arts is on the second floor, where visitors can research their families in a genealogy center.

The third- and fourth-floor galleries explore the achievements of African Americans. Highlights include sports memorabilia like Jesse Owens's cleats, Michael Jordan's 1996 jersey, Joe Louis's gloves, Muhammad Ali's robe, Gabby Douglas's leotard, and nine Olympic medals won by Carl Lewis. Other of the collection's many gems include a lobby card from the 1967 movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Louis Armstrong's trumpet, Michael Jackson's sequined jacket, and the jacket and skirt that Marian Anderson wore when she performed a 1939 concert from the Lincoln Memorial.

You must have a timed pass to enter the museum. Same-day timed passes are available online daily beginning at 6:30 am. A limited number of walk-up passes are given out weekdays beginning at 1 pm, but they go fast. Download the NMAAHC mobile app to further enhance your visiting experience.

The world's largest private collection of military vehicles is housed in this 140,000-square-foot museum, which opened in 2020 with more than 400 vehicles from 1897 to the present, including every vehicle type used in WWII (including tanks). The vast majority of the vehicles are still functioning and would just need oil and fuel to work again. Along with the vehicles, the museum also houses more than 200 historically significant firearms, including the musket that fired the "shot heard around the world" during the battle at Bunker Hill.

Previously known simply as the National Atomic Museum, this brilliant Smithsonian affiliate traces the history of the atomic age and how nuclear science has dramatically influenced the course of modern history. Exhibits include replicas of Little Boy and Fat Man (the bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II), a compelling display about the difficult decision to drop atomic bombs, and a look at how atomic culture has dovetailed with pop culture. One particular highlight is the restored 1942 Plymouth that was used to transport the plutonium core of "the Gadget" (as that first weapon was known) down from Los Alamos to the Trinity Site for testing. The campus contains the nine-acre Heritage Park, which has a B-29 and other mega-airships, plus rockets, missiles, cannons, and even a nuclear sub sail. There are also children's programs and an exhibit about X-ray technology.

Visually and conceptually, the National Museum of the American Indian stands apart from the other cultural institutions on the Mall. The exterior, clad in Minnesota limestone, evokes a sense that wind and water carved the building. Inside, four floors of galleries cover 10,000 years of history of the western hemisphere's indigenous tribes. Nevertheless, only a small portion of the museum's holdings are on display at any time. Live music, dance, theater, and storytelling are central to experiencing this museum. Tribal groups stage performances in the Rasmuson Theater and sunlit Potomac atrium. Americans, a permanent exhibition, reveals how Native Americans exist in unexpected ways in the history, pop culture, and identity of the United States. Other rotating exhibits explore the many indigenous groups throughout the Americas.

Visit between 11 and 2 on a sunny day to see the Potomac atrium awash in rainbows created by the light refracted through the southern wall's prisms, which are aligned to show the passage of time with specific patterns marking the equinoxes and solstices. The museum's family-friendly imagiNATIONS Activity Center includes hands-on activities throughout the year. For those looking for a quick bite, check out their award-winning restaurant, whose menu takes you from Canada to South America, exploring the diverse cuisine of the indigenous groups. It's a favorite lunch spot for many locals working in the area.

Dedicated solely to telling the story of the Pacific battles of World War II, this museum is the only one of its kind in the nation, making it a popular attraction for history buffs and veterans alike. Opened in 1967, the museum was originally named the Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial Naval Museum, after the admiral famous for successfully halting the Japanese advances following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Today, the museum has been expanded to include an Admiral Nimitz Gallery and a George H. W. Bush Gallery in addition to a number of memorials, and it also houses the Center for Pacific War Studies. In its more than 45,000 square feet of exhibit space, the museum exhibits both Allied and Japanese airplanes, tanks, and guns among its numerous displays.

The center's exhibits document the life of Pulitzer- and Nobel-prize winner John Steinbeck and the history of the nearby communities that inspired novels such as East of Eden. Highlights include reproductions of the green pickup-camper from Travels with Charley and the bunk room from Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck House, the author's Victorian birthplace, is two blocks from the center at 132 Central Avenue. Now a popular (lunch-only) restaurant and gift shop with docent-led tours, it also displays memorabilia.

Minting began in 1838 in this ambitious Ionic structure, a project of President Andrew Jackson's. The New Orleans mint was to provide currency for the South and the West, which it did until Louisiana seceded from the Union in 1861. Both the short-lived Republic of Louisiana and the Confederacy minted coins here. When Confederate supplies ran out, the building served as a barracks—and then a prison—for Confederate soldiers. The production of U.S. coins recommenced only in 1879; it stopped again, for good, in 1909. After years of neglect, the federal government handed the Old Mint over to Louisiana in 1966. The state now uses the building for exhibitions of the Louisiana State Museum collection, and the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park has events here too. At the main Barracks Street entrance, which is set back from the surrounding gates and not well marked, notice the one remaining section of the mint's old walls—it'll give you an idea of the extent of the building's deterioration before it was restored. Hurricane Katrina ripped away a large section of the copper roof, and for months the twisted metal remained on the ground here, one of the most dramatic reminders of the storm in the French Quarter. After repairs, the museum reopened to the public in 2007.

The first-floor exhibit recounts the history of the mint. The principal draw, however, is the second floor, dedicated to items from the New Orleans Jazz Collection. At the end of the exhibit, displayed in its own room like the Crown Jewels, you'll find Louis Armstrong's first cornet. The third floor of the building is now a performance space for the Jazz National Historical Park, which has a packed calendar of free performances throughout the week. Check in with the helpful Park Ranger office for details.

The Louisiana Historical Center, which holds the French and Spanish Louisiana archives, is open to researchers by appointment. At the foot of Esplanade Avenue, notice the memorial to the French rebels against early Spanish rule. The rebel leaders were executed on this spot and gave nearby Frenchmen Street its name.

To tour this musty shop is to step back into 19th-century medicine—the window display alone, with its enormous leech jar and other antiquated paraphernalia, is fascinating. This building was the apothecary shop and residence of Louis J. Dufilho Jr., America's first licensed pharmacist, in the 1820s. His botanical and herbal gardens are still cultivated in the pretty back courtyard (complete with a postcard-worthy fountain). Watch for free 19th-century seasonal health tips posted in the front window.

History buffs, train geeks, and playful children will all appreciate this unique museum inside an underground, decommissioned 1930s subway station. Exhibitions include timelines of the transit system's construction and evolution over the decades, but the true highlight is the subway platform two levels down, featuring train cars of different eras of the subway, dating back over a century ago. Adults and kids alike can wander these cars, each a time capsule of vintage aesthetics and advertising, or sit behind the driving wheel of a replica MTA bus. There are also old turnstiles and other transit memorabilia. The gift shop carries subway-line socks, decorative tile reproductions, and other fun souvenirs.

New York City's oldest (and perhaps most under-the-radar) museum, founded in 1804, has an extensive research library in addition to sleek interactive technology, a children's museum, and inventive exhibitions that shed light on America's history, art, and architecture. The eclectic permanent collection includes more than 14 million pieces of art, literature, prints, photographs, and memorabilia, and special exhibitions showcase the museum's unique voice and ability to provide fresh insight on all things related to New York and the nation. The Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture includes 100 dazzling Tiffany lamps on display and historic treasures that tell the American story in a novel way. Also part of the Luce Center is the Center for Women's History, examining the untold stories of women who have impacted and continue to shape the American experience. The DiMenna Children's History Museum on the lower level invites children to become "history detectives" and explore New York's past through interactive displays, hands-on activities, and the stories of notable New York children through the centuries. The gift shop offers excellent New York--specific gifts and souvenirs.

In late 2023, the museum began construction of its Democracy Wing, scheduled to open in 2026 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. The new wing will include expanded space for educational programs, state-of-the-art preservation facilities, a new exhibition gallery, a courtyard, and rooftop garden terraces. The museum will remain open during construction.

Vintage railroad cars line a paved path along Railroad Avenue, with signs explaining the origin of each engine, car, and caboose, with more history and memorabilia inside several different buildings, including the former waiting room of the stunningly restored Snoqualmie depot. The Railway History Campus, located in the train shed a mile south of the depot at 9312 Stone Quarry Road, displays photographs, documents, and exhibits related to the region's rail history. Several times a day on weekends, a train made of cars built in the mid-1910s for the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railroad travels between Snoqualmie Depot and North Bend. The two-hour round-trip excursion passes through woods, past waterfalls, and around patchwork farmland, and it includes a stop at the History Campus. Families pack the winter Santa Train journeys and the mid-August Snoqualmie Days rides; the latter event features an annual parade.

This institution, which interprets the stories and lives of the state's vibrant Jewish community, also functions as an educational and inspirational resource that focuses on promoting tolerance and combating discrimination and persecution. The museum was established in 1999 and is the force behind Washington Park's poignant Oregon Holocaust Memorial and occupies the historic 1916 DeSoto Building, on the leafy Park Blocks. The gallery on the upper floor contains permanent collections, including artifacts and artwork, and oral histories of the state's earliest Jewish residents as well as the profoundly moving historical exhibit on both the Holocaust and the valiant struggles of Jewish, Asian American, African American, Hispanic, LGBTQ+, and other minority communities in the face of often strenuous intolerance in Oregon.

Spruce railings and siding on this acclaimed museum's facade replicate a local taxidermy shop from 1900 or so. Inside, there's an authentic log sporting camp from this period, when grand hotels and full-service sporting lodges drew well-to-do rusticators to Rangeley for long stays. Diverse and in-depth exhibits at this Historic Rangeley museum explore such subjects as U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Herbert Hoover fishing in Rangeley; the famed Rangeley boat, a rowing craft designed for local waters (two are displayed); art of the region; and gleaming fish mounts of world-record-size brook trout. The Native American gallery has a birch-bark canoe, artifacts, and a Penobscot language place name map. A big draw is an exhibit on local flytier Carrie Stevens, whose famed streamer flies increased the region's fly-fishing fame in the 1920s. Free exhibits and informational placards on the front lawn invite a stop even if the museum is closed: a 12,000-year-old Paleo-American meat cache (moved here from a Rangeley archaeological site), a traditionally styled Wabanaki wigwam, and another Rangeley boat. See the website for events, including summer walking tours of Oquossoc and Rangeley, where a sister museum on local history occupies a small 1905 former bank.

This impressive collection of aircraft spans from World War II and Vietnam through the War on Terror and includes showpieces like a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, a King Cobra, F-117A Nighthawk, and Grumman cats. In addition to planes, there are cool murals and exhibits on women in aviation, the Tuskegee Airman, and important battles and military operations of the last 100 years including a Tom Brokaw–narrated Pearl Harbor diorama.

There are no ropes, so you can crawl into or walk under aircraft and feel the metal. You can also watch mechanics rehab flying machines and see a flight demonstration. If you dare and can afford the splurge, take advantage of the museum's coolest offering: a flight in a vintage warbird like the T-28 Trojan, T-33 Thunderbird, and P-51 Mustang.

Think Maine is cold in the winter? Try the Arctic, where two of Bowdoin’s most famous alumni, Admiral Robert E. Peary (class of 1877) and explorer Donald B. MacMillan (class of 1898), spent considerable time. As a result, the college has both an Arctic Studies program and this museum, which is in the imposing neo-Gothic Hubbard Hall.

Although controversy rages regarding whether it was Frederick Cook (in 1908) or Peary (in 1909) who first made it to the North Pole (or whether either man ever made it there at all), the museum has some of the principal artifacts from Peary's expedition, including his notebook page that reads “The pole at last!!!” and the American flag that he unfurled upon reaching it. Among the many interesting things you'll learn is that Peary’s assistant, an African American named Matthew Henson, was the only other man with him when he reached the pole—and Henson was actually in the lead.

MacMillan, who made more than 30 trips to the Arctic over the course of almost 50 years, extensively documented both the region and its peoples. He also named one of his expedition schooners after the college. (The Bowdoin is now the flagship training vessel of the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine). The museum's collection includes many of his photographs and films, as well as memorabilia, artifacts, and historical and contemporary Inuit, Yup’ik, and Iñupiat art. Rotating exhibitions have showcased everything from changing Arctic climate conditions to Inuit music to traditional kayak construction.

This is considered one of the world's finest archaeological and anthropological museums and research institutes—and would likely be a bigger draw to the city if its location next to a hospital megaplex made it easier to visit. The vast collection includes a large Egyptian sphinx, numerous mummies, a crystal ball once owned by China's dowager empress, some of the oldest writing known to humanity—Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets—and 4,600-year-old golden jewels from the royal tombs of Ur (modern-day Iraq). Other collections focus on artifacts from Africa, Asia, Central and North America, ancient Europe, and more. Much revamped (and still revamping), the museum mixes in contemporary culture to connect the past to the present, such as with Native American tribes, who helped reimagine the North American galleries. Two of the main Egyptian galleries will be closed until about 2027, but some Egyptian highlights remain on view in other rooms. The museum specializes in tours like Ancient Alcohol or Global Guides, where guides are native to the area they are speaking about. You can download self-guided tours like Amazing Artifacts from the museum's website, where you can also check out what events might be happening during your visit. The koi pond and gardens out front are free to enter and a great hideaway to enjoy a snack and a little respite.

Those looking to dig a little deeper into the history of this area may find some answers at the Pioneer Museum Complex, which also encompasses the Vereins Kirche Museum. Both museums offer permanent exhibits with collections of woodworking tools, textile pieces, furniture, paintings, and a number of domestic artifacts from the area. Other historic buildings in the complex include a pioneer log cabin, an old First Methodist Church, and a smokehouse. Also on the premises stands a typical 19th-century "Sunday house" that catered to farmers and their families who traveled long distances to attend church services and had to stay the night.

The basement of the town's quaint General Store is home to the Smithsonian-designed Port Gamble Historic Museum, which takes you through the region's timber heyday. Highlights include artifacts from the Pope and Talbot Timber Company, which built the town, and realistic ship's quarters. On the second floor of the General Store (which is open year-round), the Sea and Shore Museum houses more than 25,000 shells as well as displays on natural history. Kids love the weird bug exhibit. Stop at the General Store for souvenirs or a huge ice-cream cone or hand-dipped milk shake, or stay for lunch in the store's excellent café.

The Monument's astoundingly large collection of fossils was discovered by Earl Douglass in 1909, when he stumbled upon eight enormous dinosaur vertebrae exposed on a sandstone ridge. Although most of the park's acreage is in Colorado, the Utah side features its prime attraction: the Quarry Exhibit Hall. Here you can view more than 1,500 genuine fossils, displayed in their original burial positions in an excavated river bed, several stories high, 150-feet long, and now enclosed by a large, airy museum. A "touch wall" allows you to run your hands over some of the ancient bones, and various displays and dinosaur replicas help you put the jumble of bones in their prehistorical context. Before going to the Exhibit Hall, stop by the Quarry Visitor Center near the Monument's west entrance. There you can view a short video and see displays that give an overview of the site and its paleontological significance. Then hop a shuttle (in summer) or drive (in winter) up to the Exhibit Hall.

Use one of the interactive kiosks to identify the massive bones embedded in the wall, or, better yet, flag down a ranger, who can add interesting tidbits about the bones and their excavation.

Built in 1877, this fully restored, three-room sugar mill is a testament to Molokai's agricultural history that's next to the Molokai Museum and is usually included in museum tours. Several interesting machines from the past are on display, including a mule-driven cane crusher and a steam engine. The museum contains changing exhibits on Molokai's early history. A current highlight is an incredible photography exhibit that showcases the people of and life in Kalaupapa; viewing the exhibit and speaking with docents is a great way to learn more about the community if the Kalaupapa National HIstorical Park is closed during your visit. In addition, the museum gift shop sells unique, locally made items.