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This restored Hudson's Bay Trading Post—a British outpost on the Nisqually Delta in the 1830s—was moved to Point Defiance in 1935. The compound has a trading post, granary, blacksmith's shop, bakery, and officers' quarters, as well as extensive gardens. Docents dress in 1850s attire and demonstrate pioneer skills like weaving and loading a rifle. Queen Victoria's birthday in May is a big event, and eerie candlelight tours are offered several days in October.
Major John Owen established Fort Owen as a trading post in 1850. The property also served as the headquarters of the Flathead Agency until 1860. It's worth a half hour to visit the museum to see the restored barracks, artifacts, and some of the fort's original furnishings.
An active fort during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, this site sits at the head of Machias Bay, where a naval battle was waged in 1775. Climb atop the grass-covered earthworks to take in the expansive water views. A panel display details the successive forts built here and relates the dramatic story of patriots—mostly armed with farm implements like pitchforks and axes—who captured a British tender in the bay. A stone marker honors the site as a "birthplace" of the U.S. Navy.
Fort Raleigh is a restoration of the original 1584–90 earthworks that mark the beginning of English-colonial history in America. The site has been identified as the original site of the doomed Lost Colonists, and the question that hangs in the air here is "What happened to the 117 men, women, and children of the 1587 expedition who disappeared without a trace?" A nature trail through the 513-acre grounds leads to an outlook over Croatan Sound. Native American and Civil War history is also preserved here.
Once the location of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and later the U.S. Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory, the fort was originally built to defend New London Harbor from British attack. You'll now find a 19th-century stonework-and-masonry fort, an extensive visitor center focusing on military history, a top-rate fishing pier, a waterfront boardwalk with fantastic views, and a picnic area when you want to relax.
This was the house of worship for the Free "Fighting" Quakers, a group that broke away from the Society of Friends to support the cause against the British during the Revolutionary War. The building was designed in 1783 by Samuel Wetherill, one of the original leaders of the group, after they were disowned by their pacifist flock. Among the 100 members were Betsy Ross and Timothy Matlack, colonel in Washington's Army and assistant secretary of the Continental Congress. After the Free Quaker group dissolved, the building was used as a school, library, and warehouse. The meetinghouse, built in the Quaker plain style with a brick front and gable roof, has been carefully restored. No tickets are required, but call Independence National Historical Park to check on availability.
On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere came here to warn patriots John Hancock and Sam Adams (who were staying at the house while attending the Provincial Congress in nearby Concord) of the advance of British troops. Hancock and Adams, on whose heads the British king had put a price, fled to avoid capture. The house, a parsonage built in 1698, is a 10-minute walk from Lexington Common. Inside is the Treasures of the Revolution exhibit, and outside, a Colonial herb garden. Guided tours take place on the hour.
In a traffic circle at the northern edge of the Warehouse District, an 1884 bronze statue of Civil War General Robert E. Lee, by sculptor Alexander Doyle, stood high above the city on a white marble column—until spring 2017, that is, when Mayor Landrieu responded to local protests and nationwide attention to remove glorified Confederate monuments. Formerly called Lee Circle, it has now been renamed Harmony, as a public space that unites the city.
A tour of Havre Beneath the Streets takes you to a bordello, an opium den, a bakery, and other stops in an underground business center dating from the early days of the frontier—the equivalent of a modern underground mall. The subterranean businesses were mainly built and operated by the town's Asian population, drawn to the area by the Great Northern Railroad and its attendant business opportunities. Reservations for tours are recommended (you must call to book).
The life and times of Andrew Jackson, known as Old Hickory, are reflected with great care at this house and museum. Jackson built the mansion on 600 acres for his wife, Rachel, for whose honor he fought and won a duel; both are buried here in the family graveyard. By the 1840s, more than 140 enslaved people lived and worked on the Hermitage Plantation, and archaeological digs uncovered the remains of many slave dwellings. The Andrew Jackson Center, a 28,000-square-foot museum, visitor center, and education center, contains many Jackson artifacts never before exhibited. Mansion tours are led by costumed guides, while audio tours of the grounds are self-guided. Optional activities include wagon tours (April through October) and tours of Tulip Grove, home of the niece who served as Jackson's White House hostess and her husband, Jackson's presidential secretary.
This stone platform, once an impressive temple dedicated to the god Lono, was built by King Kalaniopuu. When Captain Cook arrived in 1778, ceremonies in his honor were held here. It's still considered a religious site, so visit with respect and do not walk on the platform. There are small pathways nearby, and the heiau is tended to by lineal descendants of people who lived in the area.
Within the Seville Square Historic District is this complex of several museums and historic homes whose indoor and outdoor exhibits trace the area's history back 450 years. The Museum of Industry ( 200 E. Zaragoza St.), in a late-19th-century warehouse, has permanent exhibits dedicated to the lumber, maritime, and shipping industries—once mainstays of Pensacola's economy. A reproduction of a 19th-century streetscape is displayed in the Museum of Commerce ( 201 E. Zaragoza St.).
Strolling through the area gives you a good (and free) look at many architectural styles, but to enter some of the buildings you must purchase an all-inclusive ticket online or at Tivoli High House Shop, the Pensacola Museum of Art, the Pensacola Museum of History, or the Pensacola Children's Museum. Insightful, 60- to 90-minute, guided tours are offered Tuesday through Saturday at 11 am and 1 pm. Also, be sure to check on Victorian Holiday Traditions, Haunted Ghost tours, and other seasonal offerings.
Owned by the Bennehan and Cameron families, Stagville was one of the largest plantations in antebellum North Carolina, at 30,000 acres. More than 900 people were enslaved here, and the story of their struggle for freedom and independence, even after Emancipation, is told through exhibits that include four original two-story slave cabins. The plantation today sits on 71 acres and has many original buildings, including the Bennehans' two-story wood-frame home, built in the late 1700s; the Great Barn, built by enslaved workers; and the family cemetery. Call for guided tour times.
The city's oldest surviving structure was once home to businessman Frank Stranahan, who arrived from Ohio in 1892. With his wife, Ivy, the city's first schoolteacher, he befriended and traded with the Seminole tribe. In 1901 he built a store that would later become his home after serving as a post office, a general store, and a restaurant. The couple's tale is filled with ups and downs. Their home remains Fort Lauderdale's principal link to its brief history and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973. Guided tours are about an hour long and are offered a few times a day; however, calling ahead for availability is a good idea. Self-guided tours of the museum are not allowed.
This historic landmark was once the vast estate of the late Wall Street financier Bernard M. Baruch. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill came here to confer with him. A small interpretive center has exhibits on coastal ecology and history, with special emphasis on the Baruch family. There are aquariums, touch tanks, video presentations, and guided two-hour tours of the 16,000-acre wildlife refuge.
A scenic half-mile interpretive trail leads you over the Colorado River to the original dude ranch that the Holzwarth family, some of the park's original homesteaders, ran between the 1920s and 1950s. Allow about an hour to view the buildings—including a dozen small guest cabins—and chat with a ranger. Though the site is open year-round, the inside of the buildings can be seen only from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
The origins of Major League Baseball's spring training can be traced back to 1886, when the Chicago White Stockings, now the Cubs, came to Hot Springs to “boil out the winter.” Other teams followed suit, and through the middle of the 20th century, Hot Springs hosted more than 300 professional ballplayers including Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Honus Wagner. This free, self-guided tour around town features 32 markers at significant locations, like the spot where Babe Ruth hit the first home run to fly more than 500 feet. You can find out more about each location by dialing in to the accompanying audio tour or by using the free, web app. Trail brochures are available at the Hot Springs Visitor Center.
Gold mining was an early mainstay of the Mat-Su Valley's economy. You can tour the long-dormant Independence Mine on the Hatcher Pass Road, a loop that in summer connects the Parks Highway just north of Willow to the Glenn Highway near Palmer. The stunningly scenic drive travels past forested streams and alpine meadows and winds high above the tree line. The road to Independence Mine from the Palmer side is paved; the section between the mine and Willow is gravel. In the 1940s the mine employed as many as 200 workers. Today it is a 271-acre state park that has good cross-country skiing in winter. Only the wooden buildings remain; one of them, the red-roof manager's house, is now used as a visitor center.
In 1861, pretzel maker Julius Sturgis opened America's first pretzel bakery. These days, the original site, a stone house on the National Register of Historic Places, operates guided tours and a hands-on lesson in pretzel twisting. An on-site bakeshop has souvenirs and fresh pretzels. Tours with lessons are by appointment only.
Stone masons are rebuilding the walls of this largely intact 13-acre Hawaiian village dating back to the mid-1400s. Fishponds, taro patches, a temple, and a festival arena eventually will be restored, serving as a cultural learning center for residents and visitors. You can walk around the outside and check out the statues and signage; restoration is in phase three and the interior is set to open in 2025.
The Ahtnu and Upper Tanana Athabascan peoples who inhabited the Copper River Region for thousands of years used and traded copper found in the region. These ore deposits were noted by European surveyors in the late 1800s, and, by the early 1900s, prospectors began staking claims in the mountains above Kennicott Glacier. The Kennecott Copper Corporation soon built a mine, a railway (now the McCarthy Road), and a self-contained company town and camp for about 300 workers, replete with company store, skate rink, school, tennis court, and dairy.
In just 24 years, from 1911 to 1935, the company processed nearly $200 million of copper. By 1938, however, the copper ore was depleted, and the company ceased operations, leaving behind equipment, facilities, and debris. Today, the abandoned mine is one of Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve's main attractions, and restoration works have been an ongoing effort for almost two decades. The best way to see the mine is on a tour with one of the area operators, though only St. Elias Alpine Guides is authorized to take you into some of the restored buildings.
While exploring the area, it's hard not to notice the different spellings of the mine and the glacier, which was named after Robert Kennicott, a geologist who surveyed the area in 1899. Believed to have been caused by a clerical error, the discrepancy can be confusing, unless you look at it as a way to differentiate the man-made landmarks from the natural ones.
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic District occupies several blocks on Auburn Avenue, east of Peachtree Street in the Black business and residential community of Sweet Auburn. Martin Luther King Jr. was born here in 1929; after his assassination in 1968, his widow, Coretta Scott King, established this center, which exhibits such personal items as King's Nobel Peace Prize, Bible, and tape recorder, along with memorabilia and photos chronicling the civil rights movement. In the courtyard in front of Freedom Hall, on a circular brick pad in the middle of the rectangular Meditation Pool, is Dr. King's white-marble tomb; the inscription reads, "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I'm free at last." Nearby, an eternal flame burns. A chapel of all faiths sits at one end of the reflecting pool. Mrs. King, who passed away in 2006, is also entombed at the center.
Both somber and dramatic, King's Chapel looms large. In 1688, the first chapel on this site was erected as an Anglican place of worship, but that no longer stands. Today's interior remains essentially as it looked in 1754 and is a masterpiece of proportion; unfortunately, the building is not open to the public. Its acoustics make the use of a microphone unnecessary for Sunday sermons. Among other fun facts, the pulpit, built in 1717, is the oldest pulpit in continuous use on the same site in the United States, and a special pew to the right of the main entrance was once reserved for condemned prisoners about to be hanged on the Common. The chapel's bell is Paul Revere's largest and, in his own judgment, his sweetest sounding. This is Freedom Trail stop 5.
In 1819, an estimated 300 Hawaiians were killed on this vast lava field; their burial mounds are still visible at the south end of Alii Drive (called the "End of the World" by locals). After the death of his father, King Kamehameha, the newly crowned King Liholiho ate at a table with women, breaking the ancient kapu (taboo) system. Chief Kekuaokalani, his cousin and co-heir, held radically different views about religious traditions and unsuccessfully challenged Liholiho's forces in battle here. It's a great place to watch the surf, especially when a large swell is in, creating splashes as large as three-story buildings.
The Story Wall, comprising 10 plaques along the waterfront, recounts the history of African Americans in Maryland. These granite-framed markers lead to a sculpture group depicting Alex Haley, famed author of Roots, reading to a group of children of different ethnic backgrounds. Here you'll also see a plaque that commemorates the 1767 arrival of Kunta Kinte, who was brought from Africa, sold into slavery, and later immortalized in Haley's novel. Across the street is "The Compass Rose," a 14-foot-diameter inlaid bronze map of the world oriented to true north with Annapolis in the center.
The house where author L. Frank Baum dreamed up The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been replaced by an affordable housing complex. But Baum's connection to the corner lot hasn't been forgotten; in 2019, the current building's developer paved the sidewalks with yellow brick, and installed a colorful mosaic depicting Dorothy and the gang beneath the author's famous words, "There's no place like home."
The state's most fully restored mission, founded in 1787, stands in a stark and still remote location that powerfully evokes the lives and isolation of California's Spanish settlers. Docents lead tours Wednesday to Sunday (daily June to August), and vivid displays illustrate the secular and religious activities that formed mission life.
A self-guided, 1-mile walking tour leads through the ruins of the once-prosperous fishing village of Koaie, which dates as far back as the 15th century. Displays illustrate early Hawaiian fishing and farming techniques, salt gathering, games, and legends. Because the shoreline near the state park is an officially designated Marine Life Conservation District (and part of the site itself is considered sacred), swimming is not allowed nor are swim gear or sunscreen. Portable restrooms are available but not drinking water. Gates close promptly at 4 pm, and they mean business!
