490 Best Sights in USA

Built in the mid-1700s as a country retreat for provincial Maryland governor Samuel Ogle, the Georgian-style Belair Mansion was subsequently owned in the early 1900s by James Woodward. Ogle was instrumental during Colonial times in importing horses that improved the American Thoroughbred. The house displays British and Early American paintings, silver, and furniture. In 1908 Woodward built additions to the house, including the Belair Stable, which began the modern legacy of the Belair Stud, the line responsible for Omaha and his sire Gallant Fox, each of whom won the Triple Crown in the 1930s. One-hour self-guided tours of the mansion and stable emphasize the contributions of the families and their horses to racing history.

Richard Morris Hunt based his design for this 60-room mansion, built in 1894 for wealthy bachelor Oliver H. P. Belmont, on the hunting lodge of Louis XIII. Billionaire founder of Alex and Ani, Carolyn Rafaelian, a native Rhode Islander, purchased Belcourt in 2012 and has been working to restore the home to its former glory in an eco-conscious way, employing solar panels and thermal-heating-and-cooling systems. Jennifer Lawrence famously chose the estate as her 2019 wedding venue. On a tour, which takes about 50 minutes, you can admire the stained glass, carved wood, and chandeliers—one of which has 20,000 pieces and another that weighs 460 pounds and was originally held up by a single nail. Ghost tours are also conducted seasonally.

Both an elegant farmhouse and 100-acre working farm, Belle Grove is a monument to the rural and the refined, two qualities that exist in harmony in the architecture here and throughout the region. Constructed in 1797 out of limestone quarried on the property, the building reflects the influence of Thomas Jefferson, said to have been a consultant. Originally built for Major Isaac Hite and his wife Nelly (President James Madison's sister), this was the headquarters of the Union general Philip Sheridan during the Battle of Cedar Creek (1864), a crucial defeat for the Confederacy. Part of the battle was fought on the farm.

In 1923, copper king and Montana senator William Andrews Clark bought the 24-acre Bellosguardo (Beautiful Lookout) estate on a bluff between East Beach and Butterfly Beach. After his death, his widow, Anna, built her own summer residence there, designed by famed architect Reginald Johnson and completed in 1937. When she died in 1963, the property passed on to daughter Huguette. (The Clarks’ other daughter, Andrée, died as a teenager, and the family donated funds to create the adjacent Andrée Clark Bird Refuge in her honor.)

Although Huguette, a recluse in New York who died in 2011 at age 104, hadn’t visited Bellosguardo in more than 50 years, she kept it maintained as if she and her family would walk through the door at any moment. Huguette willed the estate to a foundation so that it could become an arts and culture center, and today, Bellosguardo is slowly opening to the public.

For now, access is only via 90-minute, docent-led tours, conducted several times a day, of the garden and the ground floor of the main house. Of particular note are the carved wood panels in several of the rooms and the European art and antiques that once adorned the Clark luxury town house in New York. To book tours, which sell out quickly, click on the "Become a Supporter" option of the website, and subscribe to the mailing list for the latest information on ticket releases.

This 1850s Italian-style villa was the home of Adelicia Acklen, a wealthy plantation owner who married "once for money, once for love, and once for the hell of it." On Belmont University's campus, it's rich with historical and architectural details, with guided tours suited to varying interests. The property now also features Freedom Plaza, a monument built in 2021 honoring the many enslaved people who lived and worked on the property. The last tour of the day starts at 3:30.

This museum built on the site that was Benjamin Franklin's first permanent home in Philadelphia was thoroughly renovated in 2013, reopening as the Benjamin Franklin Museum. The exhibits combine the latest touch-screen displays and computer-generated animation with a chess set, eyeglasses, and other items actually used by the Renaissance man. Franklin's multifaceted roles as scientist, inventor, philosopher, writer, politician, and businessman are represented in various rooms via interactive displays. Franklin, publisher of Poor Richard's Almanack, helped draft the Declaration of Independence and negotiate peace with Great Britain. He also helped found Pennsylvania Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Contributionship, and the American Philosophical Society. In the courtyard adjacent to the museum, architect Robert Venturi erected a steel skeleton of Franklin's former home. You can peek through "windows" into cutaways to see wall foundations, outdoor privies, and other original elements uncovered during excavation. At the Market Street side are several houses, now exhibition halls, that Franklin rented in addition to his main home. Here, too, you can find a restoration of a Colonial-era print shop and an operational post office. Don't forget to get a letter hand-stamped with a "b. free franklin" cancellation.

Virginians say that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated at Berkeley in December 1619, not in Massachusetts in 1621. This plantation was the birthplace of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of William Henry Harrison, who became president in 1841. Throughout the Civil War, the Union general George McClellan used Berkeley as headquarters; during his tenure, his subordinate general Daniel Butterfield composed the melody for "Taps" while here in 1862 with 140,000 Union troops. An architectural gem, the original 1726 brick Georgian mansion has been carefully restored and furnished with 18th-century antiques. The gardens are in excellent condition, particularly the boxwood hedges.

This James River plantation was the birthplace of William Henry Harrison, the ninth U.S. President, and Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It also lays claim to hosting America's first Thanksgiving in December of 1619, long before the Pilgrims arrived. It played a major role in the Civil War, as the headquarters and supply base for McClellan's Union Army. The plantation features five terraced gardens leading from the house to the James River that were dug by hand before the Revolutionary War, and the mansion built in 1726, which is still family-owned.

It's easy to find this little brick house with the gabled roof: just look for the 13-star flag displayed from its second-floor window. Whether Betsy Ross, also known as Elizabeth Griscom Ross Ashbourn Claypoole (1752–1836), actually lived here and whether she really made the first Stars and Stripes is debatable. Nonetheless, the house, built around 1740, is a splendid example of a Colonial Philadelphia home. The eight-room house overflows with artifacts such as a family Bible and Ross's chest of drawers and reading glasses. You may have to wait in line, as this is one of the city's most popular attractions. The house, with its winding narrow stairs, is not accessible to people with disabilities. Alongside the house is a courtyard with a fountain, as well as the graves of Ross and her third husband, John Claypoole. Visitors can meet Betsy in her upholstery shop (the only working Colonial upholstery shop in the country) and enjoy interactive historical programming.

Built in 1787, this restored upper-class house embodies Colonial and Federal elegance. It was the home of Bishop William White (1748–1836), rector of Christ Church, the first Episcopal bishop of Pennsylvania and spiritual leader of Philadelphia for 60 years. White, a founder of the Episcopal Church after the break with England, was chaplain to the Continental Congress and entertained many of the country's first families, including Washington and Franklin. The second-floor study still contains much of the bishop's own library. The building is currently not open to the public. 

The elegant home of former governor John Motley Morehead is considered the prototype of the Italian-villa architecture that swept the country during the mid-19th century. Noted architect Alexander Jackson Davis designed the house, which has a stucco exterior and towers and still contains many of its original furnishings. A kitchen garden and rose garden on the grounds are maintained by local volunteers. Guided tours highlight the architecture and history. The house also serves as the headquarters of Preservation Greensboro. Among the fascinating and well-preserved artifacts is a bracelet woven by Governor Moreland's daughter from her deceased husband's hair, featuring a posthumous portrait.

In this modest structure dating from 1792, Territorial Governor William Blount, a signer of the Constitution, planned the admission of Tennessee as the 16th state in the Union. The home looks out over the Tennessee River and is furnished with original and period antiques, along with memorabilia of Blount's checkered career.

History buffs should check out the 1915 Bonelli House, an excellent example of Anglo-territorial architecture, featuring a facade of light-gray quarried stone and whitewashed-wood accents, a very popular style in the early 1900s. It is one of more than 60 buildings in the Kingman business district listed on the National Register of Historic Places and contains period pieces including a large wall clock that was once the only clock in Kingman. Because of the narrow hallways, only 10 visitors are allowed to tour the property at a time.

High-style period furniture and collections of crystal, silver, and porcelain fill this restored 1808 mansion, now a museum of Federal-period decorative arts. Built by States Morris Dyckman, a descendant of one of New Amsterdam's early Dutch families, the house originally stood in Montrose, some 15 miles south. It's open by tour only, but the grounds are reason enough to visit.

This childhood home of the commander of the Confederate forces of Virginia is a fine example of a 19th-century Federal town house. The house is privately owned and not open to visitors.

This charming, yellow, 18th-century, gambrel-roof Colonial once belonged to the Loyalist William Brattle. He moved to Boston in 1774 to escape the patriots' anger, then left in 1776 with the British troops. From 1831 to 1833 the house was the residence of Margaret Fuller, feminist author and editor of The Dial. Today it's the office of the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Though Anne Rice moved out of her elegant Garden District home in 2004, the famous novelist's fans still flock to see the house that inspired the Mayfair Manor in her series Lives of the Mayfair Witches. The house is a three-bay Greek Revival, extended over a luxurious, lemon tree–lined side yard and surrounded by a fence of cast-iron rosettes that earned the estate its historical name, Rosegate.

The only Gothic Revival house in the district was built in 1849. Garden District Americans shunned the Gothic Revival style, deeming it a little too close to Creole-Catholic tradition, but Londoner Charles Briggs ignored decorum and had James Gallier Sr. design this anomaly, touted as a "Gothic cottage." The interior departs from a strict Gothic layout to make it better suited for entertaining. A miniature replica of the structure stands next door; it once housed Briggs's servants, who were reputedly free men of color.

Mormon leader Brigham Young spent the last seven winters of his life in the warm, sunny climate of St. George. Built of adobe on a sandstone-and-basalt foundation and now a museum, this two-story home, with pretty green and red trim and well-tended gardens, contains a portrait of Young over one fireplace and furnishings from the late 19th century. Visits are by guided tour.

Broadway uptown, unlike its garish North Beach stretch, has plenty of prestigious addresses. The three-story palace at 2222 Broadway, which has an intricately filigreed doorway, was built by Comstock silver-mine heir James Clair Flood and later donated to a religious order. The Convent of the Sacred Heart purchased the Grant House at 2220 Broadway. These two buildings, along with a Flood property at 2120 Broadway, are used as private school buildings today. A gold-mine heir, William Bowers Bourn II, commissioned Willis Polk to build the nearby brick mansion at 2550 Webster Street. Two blocks away, movie fans will surely recognize the "Mrs. Doubtfire" apartment at Broadway and Steiner ( 2640 Steiner St.). It's the home where Robin Williams donned his disguise as a lovable British nanny in the beloved 1993 comedy.

This mansion, completed in 1904 for cotton magnate William Perry Brown, is one of the largest houses on St. Charles Avenue. Its solid monumental look, Syrian arches, and steep gables make it a choice example of Romanesque Revival style.

Dating from 1889, this restored pioneer farm includes an apple orchard, farmhouse, barn, and many ranch buildings. You can pick up a self-guided tour booklet from the drop box. Feel free to enjoy apples from the trees in season. A harvest festival is held in October. The site may not be too accessible in winter if there's a lot of snow.

This 1856 home was built by cotton king Henry S. Buckner in overt competition with the famous Stanton Hall in Natchez, built by Buckner's former partner. Among the luxurious details are its 48 fluted cypress columns and a rare honeysuckle-design cast-iron fence. Now privately owned, the house served as the campus of Soulé College from 1923 to 1975 and appeared in American Horror Story.

The colonial Georgian-style house General Cornwallis used as his headquarters in 1781 was built in 1770 (making it the oldest home in Wilmington open to the public) on the foundations of a jail where both European and enslaved African prisoners were imprisoned. After a fine, furnished restoration, this colonial gentleman's town house, framed by two stately magnolias, is now a museum that includes several small gardens, including an orchard, a rose garden, and a kitchen garden, along with an 18th-century debtors prison. The names of the enslaved people who toiled here are acknowledged in one display. The ground floor also includes a small art gallery and gift shop almost exclusively stocked by local artisans and authors. Tours are given on the hour, until 3 pm.

It was in this 1820 home that Jefferson Davis disbanded the Confederate armies, effectively ending the Civil War. Now a popular wedding venue, the house was a private residence until 1971, when Mary Stark Davis died. She willed the house to the Abbeville County Historic Preservation Commission, with a provision that nothing be added or removed from it; thus it's filled with lovely antiques, carved-wood surfaces, and old family photos.

In the 1890s, visitors from New York's Art Students League journeyed to the Cos Cob section of Greenwich to take classes taught by American Impressionist John Henry Twachtman at a boardinghouse for artists and writers run by Josephine and Constant Holley. Thus, the Cos Cob Art Colony was born and flourished until 1920. Today, the circa-1730 house is known as the Bush-Holley House, which displays a wonderful collection of 19th- and 20th-century art by Twachtman, along with rotating art, history, and cultural exhibitions. The collection also includes personal papers, photographs, and records that reflect the long history of Greenwich and its inhabitants, from farmers to Gilded Age barons, politicians, artists and writers, and shopkeepers.

Built in 1782, this was home to four generations of Butlers and McCooks until it became a museum in 1971. Today, it houses Hartford's oldest intact collection of art and antiques, including Connecticut-crafted furnishings, family possessions, and Victorian-era toys that show the evolution of American tastes over nearly 200 years. The beautifully restored Victorian garden was originally designed by Jacob Weidenmann.   Open for guided tours by reservation at least 7 days in advance.

One of the first homesteaders in Desert Hot Springs, Cabot Yerxa, the man often credited with "discovering" the hot springs the Cahuilla Indians had known about for centuries, built a quirky, 35-room, Hopi-inspired pueblo by hand using reclaimed and found materials between 1941 and his death in 1965. Now a museum, the adobe structure is filled with memorabilia from Yerxa's wild life, including his encounters with Hollywood celebrities and his expedition to the Alaskan gold rush. The inside of the home can only be seen on self-guided audio tours, but grounds-only tickets are also available.