10450 Best Sights in USA

This trail has breathtaking views of the ocean, mountains, and the windward Islands. The point of land jutting out in the distance is Mokapuu Peninsula, site of a U.S. Marine base. The spired mountain peak is Mt. Olomana. On the long pier is part of the Makai Undersea Test Range, a research facility that's closed to the public. Offshore is Manana Island (Rabbit Island), a picturesque cay said to resemble a swimming bunny with its ears pulled back. Ironically enough, Manana Island was once overrun with rabbits, thanks to a rancher who let a few hares run wild on the land. They were eradicated in 1994 by biologists who grew concerned that the rabbits were destroying the island's native plants.

Nestled in the cliff face is the Makapuu Lighthouse, which became operational in 1909 and has the largest lighthouse lens in the United States. The lighthouse is closed to the public, but near the Makapuu Point turnout is the start of a paved mile-long road (it's closed to vehicular traffic). Hike to the top of the 647-foot bluff to get a closer view of the lighthouse and, in winter, to do some whale-watching.  Park in the free parking lot for the trail (it's busiest on the weekends), but don't attempt to continue driving to the gates for the military base since civilian vehicles are not allowed.

Spanning a distance of more than 400 miles, Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world, and the best place to experience a little stretch of this massive system is Mammoth Cave National Park. As Cave City's biggest attraction, it draws hoardes of tourists, and summertime cave tours can get crowded. The U.S. National Park Service offers a range of themed tours throughout the year to different sections of the cave, ranging from an easy quarter-mile to a physically demanding six-hour exploration. For safety reasons, backpacks and baby carriers are not allowed inside the caves.

Multicolor travertine terraces formed by slowly escaping hot mineral water mark this unusual geological formation, one of the most remarkable sights in the park. You can explore the terraces via an elaborate network of boardwalks, the best of which is the Lower Terrace Interpretive Trail. If you head uphill from Liberty Cap, near the lower parking area, in a half-hour you'll pass bright and ornately terraced Minerva Spring, and in an hour you can make your way up to the Main Terrace Overlook and the side trail to Canary Spring. Along the way you might spot elk grazing nearby. Alternatively, you can drive up to the Main Terrace Overlook on Upper Terrace Drive and hike down to the Lower Terrace. Distances are fairly short amid these terraces, but give yourself at least a couple of hours to thoroughly explore them—especially if you enjoy taking lots of pictures.

Mammoth's seven main lakes are popular for fishing and boating in summer, and a network of multiuse paths connects them to the North Village. First comes Twin Lakes, at the far end of which is Twin Falls, where water cascades 300 feet over a shelf of volcanic rock. Also popular are Lake Mary, the largest lake in the basin; Lake Mamie; and Lake George. Horseshoe Lake is the only lake in which you can swim.

While building a housing development in the 1970s, workers uncovered this sinkhole where giant mammoths came to drink, got trapped, and died about 26,000 years ago. The site has been protected with a high, domelike structure so archaeologists can dig up and study the bones. To date, the remains of 60-plus mammoths have been discovered, and most have been left in place, partially excavated, for visitors to see. You can watch the excavation in progress, take guided tours, and learn all about mammoths and archaeology.

The Confederacy won two important victories—in July 1861 and August 1862—at this battlefield, also known as Bull Run. General Thomas Jackson earned his nickname Stonewall here, when he and his brigade stood "like a stone wall." When the second battle ended, the Confederacy was at the zenith of its power. Originally farmland, the battlefield bore witness to casualties of nearly 30,000 troops. The Stone House, used as an aid station during the war, still stands. In 1911, 50 years after the first, battle, President Taft led a "Peace Jubilee," a peaceful reunion of thousands of veterans here.. .A self-guided walking or driving tour of the park begins at the visitor center, whose exhibits and audiovisual presentations greatly enhance a visit. Manassas is a 30-mile drive from Washington; from Arlington and Fairfax take I–66 west to Exit 47B (Sudley Road/Route 234 North). Don't be fooled by the earlier Manassas exit for Route 28. The visitor center is ½ mile north on the right.

Once a casual spot next to the local electric plant's discharge waters, this center celebrating the manatee—South Florida's popular winter visitors—opened at a spot where the peaceful creatures naturally congregate. The airy, two-story facility is surrounded by wraparound decks to accommodate sea-cow spotters from fall to spring. Educational, interactive displays tell the story of this once-endangered species. A long deck along the seawall leads to picnic pavilions from where you can watch the action at nearby Peanut Island and the Port of Palm Beach. Free admission makes it group-friendly; a live "manatee cam" shows manatee counts before you go. The center offers various community events but requires advance registration; check their calendar for details.

A pleasant place to stroll in summer, this 90-acre park has a formal Renaissance-style garden, Japanese garden, duck pond, rose and perennial gardens, and a conservatory. In December the park hosts a festive and free holiday lights event over 10 nights, with a drive-thru option the first four nights. The half-mile trail is lit up with more than five million lights in animated and whimsical displays. The park's café is open daily from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Snowy winters find the park's hills full of sledders and its frozen pond packed with skaters.

Nature and art blend seamlessly throughout the home, studio, and 75-acre grounds of mid-20th-century industrial designer Russel Wright. Boulders protrude through the ground floor of Dragon Rock, Wright's experimental home and a National Historic Landmark. It is built on a rock ledge and spans 11 levels; fist-size stones serve as door handles. Four miles of paths weave through a landscape that appears natural but is actually a studied design of native trees, rocks, mosses, and wildflowers. The 90-minute tours take in the buildings and woodlands; wear comfortable walking shoes.

A reminder of an ugly episode in U.S. history, this site is where more than 10,000 Japanese-Americans were contained behind barbed-wire fences between 1942 and 1945. A visit here is both deeply moving and inspiring—the former because it’s hard to comprehend that the United States was capable of confining its citizens in such a way, the latter because those imprisoned here persevered despite the adversity.

The best place to start is the outstanding interpretive center, which screens a 22-minute documentary film and displays historical photos, artifacts, and a model of the camp as it was during WWII. Although few of the original 1940s structures remain, the area known as Block 14 has a restored mess hall and reconstructions of a women's latrine as well as two barracks, where four exhibits highlight what daily life was like here. You can also drive or bike the 3.2-mile road through the site, taking a self-guided tour of Japanese rock gardens, various signposted ruins, and a small cemetery.

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.

Somewhat unusual for the Pacific Northwest, this boutique winery with a small, airy tasting room and a verdant garden patio specializes in Italian varietals—Moscato, Dolcetto, Sangiovese, Barbera, Nebbiolo, and a few others. Owner Franco Marchesi hails from Italy's Piemonte region, and he's earned serious kudos for his finesse as a winemaker.

Part of the Cape Cod National Seashore, Marconi Beach is accessed via a very long and steep series of stairs leading down to the beach. It's also popular with both surfers and surf casters looking for striped bass or bluefish. Erosion from fierce storms has impacted beach access. That said, it's wide, long, and quite beautiful. Another plus: The parking lot is huge, so there's little chance of being shut out. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: sunrise; surfing; swimming; walking.

The winery's name references the Sonoma Coast fog rolling off the Pacific, allowing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes to ripen more slowly than further inland. With spare elegance, the loungelike tasting room's soft lighting, soothing white tones, and alternately gray, dark brown, and light mahogany hues also evoke the shoreline. The winemaker and owner have worked together previously; this project evolved out of a yearning to craft cool-climate, appellation-specific wines from high-pedigree sites.  Flights are poured until 5 pm, after which hosts serve wines by the glass (no reservations taken) until closing.

A world history of seagoing vessels and the people who sailed them occupies the outstanding Mariners' Museum, inside a 550-acre park. An alliance between the museum and the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City allows the two institutions to share collections, exhibitions, and educational programs. Among the more than 50 full-size craft on display are a Native American bark canoe, a sailing yacht, a speedboat, a gondola, a Coast Guard cutter, and a Chinese sampan. In separate galleries you can often watch the progress of a boat under construction; view ornate and sometimes huge figureheads; examine the watermen's culture of the Chesapeake Bay; and learn about the history of the U.S. Navy. The museum also holds artifacts from the RMS Titanic and remains of the ironclad USS Monitor, which served in the 1862 Peninsula Campaign and was recovered from the coast of North Carolina. A 63,500-square-foot addition, the USS Monitor Center, houses the ironclad ship and Civil War exhibits. One of the highlights is the August Crabtree exhibit, authentic scale models hand carved by August Crabtree that portray historic shipbuilding accomplishments in miniature from ancient Egypt to 19th-century Britain. They are so tiny that you must view them through magnifying glasses (built into the display).

This 5-acre waterfront center, the cornerstone of the city's SoNo district, explores the marine life and maritime culture of Long Island Sound. The aquarium's more than 20 habitats include some 1,000 creatures indigenous to the Sound, including sharks, rays, sea turtles, harbor seals, river otters, and jellyfish. You can see toothy bluefish and sand tiger sharks in the 110,000-gallon Ocean Beyond the Sound aquarium. The Maritime Aquarium also operates an Environmental Education Center, and leads marine life cruises aboard R/V Spirit of the Sound through Norwalk harbor.

From sailing ships to submarines, the Maritime Museum is a must for anyone with an interest in nautical history. This collection of restored and replica ships affords a fascinating glimpse of San Diego during its heyday as a commercial seaport. The jewel of the collection, the Star of India, was built in 1863 and made 21 trips around the world in the late 1800s. Saved from the scrapyard and painstakingly restored, the windjammer is the oldest active iron sailing ship in the world. The newly constructed San Salvador is a detailed historic replica of the original ship that first sailed into San Diego Bay by explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo back in 1542, and the popular HMS Surprise is a replica of an 18th-century British Royal Navy frigate. The museum's headquarters are on the Berkeley, an 1898 steam-driven ferryboat, which served the Southern Pacific Railroad in San Francisco until 1958.

Numerous cruises of San Diego Bay are offered, including a daily 45-minute narrated tour aboard a 1914 pilot boat and four-hour weekend sails aboard the topsail schooner the Californian, the state's official tall ship, and 75-minute tours aboard a historic swift boat, which highlights the city's military connection. Partnering with the museum, the renowned yacht America also offers sails on the bay as an add-on experience, and whale-watching excursions are available in winter.

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.

The American River's south fork slices through this park commemorating California's mining history. Trails lead from the parking lot to a statue of James Marshall with sublime views; beyond it to the north stands a working reproduction of an 1840s mill erected near where he first spotted gold. Most of Coloma lies within the park. Though crowded with tourists in summer, the town hardly resembles the mob scene it was in 1849, when 2,000 prospectors staked out claims along the streambed. Coloma's population grew to 4,000, supporting seven hotels, three banks, and many stores and other businesses. But when reserves of the precious metal dwindled, the prospectors left as quickly as they had come. Rangers give gold-panning lessons (additional fee) on most days.

About a mile from Port Clyde's town landing (turn off Route 131 at the sign), this 31-foot, granite and brick lighthouse has been in operation since it was erected in 1858 to replace an earlier tower whose beacon was fueled by lard. It is perhaps best known as the spot where Tom Hanks, aka Forrest Gump, concluded the eastern end of his very long cross-country run in the 1994 film adaptation of the book by the same name. As you walk out on the short footbridge to the light, resist the urge to shout, "Run, Forrest, Run!" There's also a small museum and gift shop, housed in the 1895 lightkeepers' house. Exhibits focus on local granite quarrying and lobstering as well as the lighthouse. The serene grounds have a few picnic tables and offer beautiful views of the sea; it's a perfect spot for watching pleasure and fishing vessels cruise in and out of Port Clyde harbor.

The modest Queen Anne–style residence is where Martin Luther King Jr. was born and raised. Besides items that belonged to the family, the house contains an outstanding multimedia exhibit focused on the civil rights movement. A limited number of visitors are allowed to tour the house each day. Advance reservations are not possible, so sign up early in the day. 

Note: Tours of the Birth Home will be suspended until November 2025 to allow for an extensive rehabilitation project. 

A wonderfully eclectic mix of artworks, including the largest assemblage of Rodin works outside France; posters, glasswork, and ephemera related to the modern-dance pioneer Loïe Fuller; an impressive cache of Native American artifacts; furniture and art that belonged to another Hill companion, Queen Marie of Romania; an art nouveau glass collection; and a large collection of mostly Victorian-era European and American landscape paintings: they're all housed within the walls of a grandiose mansion built rather improbably in the middle of nowhere by Sam Hill, the man who spearheaded the development of a scenic highway through the Columbia Gorge. The main Beaux Arts building dates to 1914, and a daring, beautifully executed, LEED-certified modern wing extends from the back, with a terraced slope overlooking the Columbia River—it contains the museum café, a lovely spot for lunch. The extensive, harmoniously landscaped grounds include a sculpture garden and pathways along the Gorge rim.

Just down the road from Maryhill Museum, this expansive winery enjoys the same phenomenal views up and down the Gorge. The largest tasting room in the Gorge has a good-size gift shop as well as a market selling cheese, charcuterie, and other gourmet goodies. Maryhill produces dozens of wines at a variety of prices—the reserves, including stellar Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Chardonnay, tend to earn most acclaim.

Originally known as the Maryland Academy of Sciences, this 200-year-old scientific institution is one of the oldest in the United States. Now housed in a contemporary building, the three floors of exhibits on the Chesapeake Bay, Earth science, physics, the body, dinosaurs, and outer space are an invitation to engage, experiment, and explore. The center has a planetarium, a simulated paleontological dinosaur dig, an IMAX movie theater with a screen five stories high, and a playroom especially designed for young children.

More than 2,000 animals live in the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, the third-oldest zoo in the country. Elephants, lions, giraffes and hippos are among the park's roaming game. The zoo's centerpiece is a new African penguin habitat, a state-of-the-art facility surrounded by water housing the country's largest breeding colony of Afircan penguins. Other exhibits feature a giraffe-feeding station, the polar bear arctic pool, and a petting zoo with a re-created barnyard. Also, don't miss the Jones Falls Zephyr, a locomotive modeled on an 1863 locomotive that takes visitors on a 10-minute ride alongside the African Journey exhibit. Surrounding the zoo is grand, leafy Druid Hill Park, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.

Housed in a large complex 1 mile from Foxwoods, this museum brings to life in exquisite detail the history and culture of the Northeastern Woodland tribes in general and the Mashantucket Pequots in particular. Highlights include views of an 18,000-year-old glacial crevasse, a caribou hunt from 11,000 years ago, and a 17th-century fort. Perhaps most remarkable is a sprawling "immersion environment": a 16th-century village with more than 50 life-size figures and real smells and sounds. Audio devices provide detailed information about the sights. A full-service restaurant offers both Native and traditional American cuisine. A 185-foot stone-and-glass tower provides sweeping views of the surrounding countryside.

Encompassing nearly 1,000 acres, this reserve is home to more than 300 species of birds. A jewel of Mass Audubon's statewide network of wildlife sanctuaries, Wellfleet Bay is a superb place for walking, birding, and watching the sun set over the salt marsh and Cape Cod Bay. The Esther Underwood Johnson Nature Center contains six aquariums that offer an up-close look at marine life common to the region's tidal flats, marshes, and ponds. From the nature center you can hike five short nature trails, including a fascinating boardwalk trail that leads over a salt marsh to a small beach, or you can wander through the pollinator garden.

A flight of delicate yet full-flavored wines blended specifically for pairing with Japanese cuisine—an Albariño, a Chardonnay, a rosé of Malbec, and a Cabernet Franc—is among the tasting options at this Oak Knoll winery founded by real-estate developer Brian Cunat and his Japanese-born wife, Miki. Chelsea Barrett, the daughter of two famous winemakers, shows a similarly graceful touch with the other Materra wines, which include a Viognier, the estate Chardonnay, and several quietly powerful Bordeaux reds. They're usually presented in a stately salon, though when the weather’s fine, some tastings unfold outside near the vines. The wines and the hospitality here over deliver for the price.

You'll likely get your first glimpse of the canyon from this viewpoint, one of the most impressive and accessible (next to the main visitor center plaza) on the South Rim. Named for the National Park Service's first director, Stephen Mather, this spot yields extraordinary views of the Grand Canyon, including deep into the inner gorge and numerous buttes: Wotans Throne, Brahma Temple, and Zoroaster Temple, among others.