118 Best Sights in USA

The campus of one of the country's most prestigious research universities spreads over 1,200 acres of coastal canyons and eucalyptus groves, where students and faculty jog, bike, and skateboard to class. If you're interested in contemporary art, check out the Stuart Collection of Sculpture—20 thought-provoking, site-specific works by artists such as Nam June Paik, William Wegman, Niki de St. Phalle, Jenny Holzer, and others arrayed around the campus. UCSD's Price Center has a well-stocked, two-level bookstore—the largest in San Diego. Look for the postmodern Geisel Library, named for longtime La Jolla residents Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel and his wife, Audrey. Bring a credit card for the pay stations and park in lot P704.

There are free outdoor walking tours offered at various times for the public. For scheduled tours, visit www.admissions.ucsd.edu.

A top research university, UC Davis educates many Wine Country vintners and grape growers. Top majors include psychology, biological science, and economics. Campus tours depart from the welcome center, near the Mondavi Center, a striking modern glass structure that presents top-tier performing artists. Other worthy stops include the Arboretum and the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.

The New York Times has called the university "one of the most architecturally dynamic campuses in America today." It's not surprising, perhaps, given its renowned College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). The school's $234 million Main Street project has codified the campus identity, created an enhanced sense of community, and brought more student housing to what's still largely a commuter campus. Self-guided tour maps of the campus are available, as are guided architectural tours for parties of four or more. U.C., which joined the Big East conference in 2005, has an enrollment of 35,000 students and fields 18 Division I athletic teams. The university is in the uptown area in the rolling hills above Downtown, adjacent to the neighborhoods of Corryville, Clifton Heights, Clifton, and Avondale.

The campus of the University of Colorado Boulder began in 1876 with the construction of Old Main, which borders the Norlin Quadrangle, now on the National Register of Historic Places, a broad lawn where students hang out or play Frisbee between classes. The university’s red sandstone buildings with tile roofs, built in the “Rural Italian” architectural style that Charles Z. Klauder created in the early 1920s, complement the campus’s green lawns and small ponds. You can take a walking tour (reservations required) of the campus year-round.

UConn's large, sprawling main campus offers lots for visitors to see and do. The William Benton Museum of Art's permanent collection includes centuries-old European and American paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and sculptures, and the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts presents a series of 25--30 music, dance, and theater programs during the academic year. The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry has more than 2,500 puppets on display (UConn is one of two colleges in the country that offer a puppetry degree); and, depending on the season, you might catch a Connecticut Huskies football game at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, or watch the amazing national championship-winning men's and women's basketball teams play at home in Storrs.

On campus are two art galleries: the Ridderhof Martin Gallery, which hosts art exhibitions from various cultures and historical periods, and the duPont Gallery in Melchers Hall, which houses paintings, drawing, sculpture, photography, ceramics, and textiles, by art faculty, students, and contemporary artists. Free parking is available for visitors in the lot at the corner of College Avenue at Thornton Street.

One of the largest campuses in the country, the University of Maryland at College Park has an enrollment of about 37,000. The College Park campus began as an agricultural college in 1856, and became part of the University of Maryland in 1920. The university's athletic teams (the Terrapins) participate in the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference and draw large crowds to Byrd Stadium and the 17,950-seat Comcast Center. In Turner Hall, visitor-center staff provide information about the university and maps for getting around the sprawling campus of 1,200 acres and 270 buildings. At the dairy, ice cream made from campus cows' milk is available by the cone or carton.

Franklin Street runs along the northern edge of the campus, which is filled with oak-shaded courtyards, stately old buildings, and tucked-away gems like the mystical Forest Theatre and the gorgeous Coker Arboretum. Regarded as one of the top public institutions in the United States, UNC–Chapel Hill is also one of the country's oldest public universities and was the first to admit students in 1795. To this day, it remains the very heart of Chapel Hill, which has grown up around it for more than two centuries.

The true heart of Eugene lies southeast of the city center at its university. Several fine old buildings can be seen on the 250-acre campus; Deady Hall, built in 1876, is the oldest. More than 400 varieties of trees grace the bucolic grounds, along with outdoor sculptures that include The Pioneer and The Pioneer Mother. The two bronze figures by Alexander Phimster Proctor were dedicated to the men and women who settled the Oregon Territory and less than a generation later founded the university.

A highlight of this sprawling university is its original campus, founded in 1801. Stroll the historic buildings and gardens of the Horseshoe, or dive into the special collections at the South Caroliniana Library, built in 1840 as the first stand-alone college library in the nation. The McKissick Museum on campus features exhibits on geology, gemstones, and local folklife.

Crowning the hilltop above Burlington is the University of Vermont, known as UVM for the abbreviation of its Latin name, Universitas Viridis Montis, meaning the University of the Green Mountains. With more than 12,000 students, this is the state's principal institution of higher learning. The most architecturally impressive buildings face the main campus green and have gorgeous lake views, as does the statue of founder Ira Allen, Ethan's brother.

The University of Virginia is simply called "The University" by many associated with it, annoying its rivals. Unquestionably, though, it is one of the nation's most notable public universities, founded and designed by 76-year-old Thomas Jefferson, who called himself the university's father in his own epitaph. Even if you're not an architecture or history buff, the green terraced expanse called The Lawn, surrounded by redbrick columned buildings, is astounding. The Rotunda is a half-scale replica of Rome's Pantheon, suggesting Jefferson's Monticello and the U.S. Capitol. Behind the Pavilions, where senior faculty live, serpentine walls surround small, flowering gardens. Edgar Allan Poe's room—where he spent one year as a student until debt forced him to leave—is preserved on the West Range at No. 13. Campus tours (daily at 10, 11, 2, 3, and 4 pm) begin indoors in the Rotunda, whose entrance is on the Lawn side, lower level.

The flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin system enrolls around 40,000 students, making it the state's largest campus. Catering to visitors as well as students, the Memorial Union's setting along Lake Monona is a crowded scene on Friday and Saturday nights during summer, with live-music concerts and local craft beer on tap. Babcock Ice Cream's indulgent scoops are made daily at the campus's Babcock Dairy plant. More than 1,200 acres of natural plant and animal communities—such as prairie and forest landscapes, and horticultural collections of the Upper Midwest—reside at the University Arboretum. There are hiking trails, and free walks take place on Sunday (call for details).

More than 300 acres of Vanderbilt University's campus is a designated arboretum, with more than 6,000 trees, that can be explored using self-guided tours available via smartphone. Numerous trees have plaques that tell visitors the story of their ecological and historical significance, while others have QR codes that visitors can scan with their phones to learn more about a specific species. Visit the website for specific tour information and start locations.

Founded as a women's college in 1865, Vassar went coed in 1969, the first well-known single sex school to do so. Today about 2,400 students attend this highly-respected liberal arts school. The 1,000-acre campus, with its lakes, gardens, and 200-plus tree varieties, is a lovely place for a walk. Other Vassar highlights include the Tiffany windows in the chapel.

Next to Quechee Gorge, this science center has more than 40 raptor ambassadors, including bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and owls. All caged birds were found injured and are unable to survive in the wild. In summer, experience "Raptors Up Close," a 30-minute live bird program that happens three times a day. An ADA-accessible Forest Canopy Walk gives visitors a bird's-eye view as it reaches 100 feet above the forest floor.

Adjacent to Washington and Lee University, the Virginia Military Institute, founded in 1839, is the nation's oldest state-supported military college. With an enrollment of about 1,300 cadets, the institute has admitted women since 1997. After a two-year expansion and renovation effort, the Virginia Military Institute Museum now includes a 3,000-square-foot main exhibit hall in Jackson Memorial Hall, dedicated to the VMI Heritage. Displays include 15,000 artifacts, including Stonewall Jackson's stuffed and mounted horse, Little Sorrel, and the general's coat, pierced by the bullet that killed him at Chancellorsville, and on the lower level, the Henry Stewart antique firearms collection.

Virginia Tech is the state's largest university. A small college just a few decades ago, the school is now known for top-notch research programs and its Hokies football team, regularly ranked in the top 10. The focal point of the sprawling campus is the Drillfield, a vast green space surrounded by hefty neo-Gothic buildings built of what is known locally as "Hokie Stone" masonry.

The ninth-oldest college in the United States, Washington and Lee University was founded in 1749 as Augusta Academy and later renamed Washington College to commemorate a donation made by George Washington. After Robert E. Lee's term as its president (1865–70), it received its current name. Today, with 2,000 students, the university occupies a campus of white-column, redbrick buildings around a central colonnade. Twentieth-century alumni include the late Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, newsman Roger Mudd, and novelist Tom Wolfe. The campus's Lee Chapel and Museum contains many relics of the Lee family. Edward Valentine's statue of the recumbent general, behind the altar, is especially moving: the pose is natural and the expression gentle, a striking contrast to most other monumental art. Here you can sense the affection and reverence that Lee inspired.

Opened in 1892 as the state's agriculture school, Washington State University today sprawls almost all the way to the Idaho state line. Besides checking out the interesting architecture of 19th century buildings like Bryan Hall with its clocktower that lights up at night and Thompson Hall with its castle-like turrets, a visit to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a must. If you visit on a weekday, be sure to stop at Ferdinand's for ice cream or the famous Cougar Gold cheese. To park on campus, pick up a parking pass in the Security Building on Wilson Road.

Founded in 1831, Wesleyan University is one of the oldest Methodist institutions of higher education in the country. The roughly 2,800 undergraduates give Middletown a contemporary, college-town feel. Note the massive, fluted Corinthian columns of the 1828 Greek Revival Russell House at the corner of Washington Street, across from the pink Mediterranean-style Davison Art Center built 15 years later. Farther along, you'll find gingerbreads, towering brownstones, Tudors, and Queen Annes. A few hundred yards up on Church Street, which intersects High Street, is the Olin Library. This 1928 structure was designed by Henry Bacon, architect of the Lincoln Memorial.

The Western New Mexico University Museum (WNMU) contains the world's largest permanent display of distinctive black-on-white Mimbres pottery (it's especially notable for its crisply painted animal forms). The Mimbres collection—which the museum bought for a remarkable $1,000 from the family of the man who procured most of the pieces by illicit pot hunting—fills the main floor of this 1917 Trost & Trost building that once housed WNMU's science classes and gym. Town history exhibits are displayed downstairs, including a period classroom and the original gym floor. Set on a hill on the west end of town, WNMU's campus offers a nice view of the surrounding mountains and the valley below; the museum's topmost floor is window-lined, and visitors can enjoy the broader view from that vantage point, as well as historic photos and other university memorabilia. Mimbres designs are reproduced on mugs and more in the gift shop.

Behind the Capitol, across State Street but half a world away, are the brick buildings and grounds of Willamette University, the oldest college in the West. Founded in 1842, Willamette has long been a breeding ground for aspiring politicians. Hatfield Library, built in 1986 on the banks of Mill Stream, is a handsome brick-and-glass building with a striking campanile; tall, prim Waller Hall, built in 1867, is one of the oldest buildings in the Pacific Northwest. It's also home to the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, the third-largest art museum in the state.

In the eyes of the world, Little Rock became a global destination in 2004 when the William Clinton Presidential Center and Park opened on 29 riverfront acres adjacent to the city's central business district. The Clinton School of Public Service is housed on-site in a renovated historic train station; the offices for the Clinton Foundation are also here. This energy-efficient, environmentally conscious complex is an architectural icon visualizing a "bridge to the future," mirroring Little Rock's six other bridges across the Arkansas River. See replicas of the Oval Office, Cabinet Room, and President Clinton's limousine. Permanent and rotating exhibits, films, lectures, special events, and activities recount Clinton's years in office.

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.

Learn about the park’s ecology, geology, history, and wildlife from expert instructors, including well-known geologists, biologists, and photographers. Most classes take place at Lamar Buffalo Ranch, which serves as the institute’s field school, though some are held elsewhere in the park. Programs run from a few hours to several days and are typically centered on the north side of the park. Family- and youth-focused options are also offered, and rates are reasonable.

Though it used be considered an off-the-beaten-path gem, the Center for Wooden Boats is now a major feature of Lake Union Park. The center gives free boat rides on the lake every Sunday; they sail on the hour from 1 to 3 pm, but the first-come, first-served slots tend to go fast, so you should queue up at the Center as soon as it opens. You may also rent a variety of small craft—pedal boats, canoes, rowboats, and small sailboats—to explore the lake on your own (lessons are available if you don't have much experience). Rates are $25–$50 per hour. Check out the events calendar for weekend workshops or to schedule one-on-one sailing lessons.

Well-to-do Palo Alto and its intellectual neighbor, Stanford University, are about 35 miles south of San Francisco. Stanford's gorgeous grounds are home to a primordial-looking cactus garden, a stone river sculpture by Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy, wood carvings and indigenous artworks from Papua New Guinea, and an excellent art museum—the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts (open daily except Tuesday)—whose lawn is planted with bronze works by Auguste Rodin. Free one-hour walking tours of the campus leave daily at 11 and 3:15 from the visitor center.