189 Best Sights in USA

President Calvin Coolidge used this great camp on Lake Osgood as his "summer White House" in 1926. Although built in 1907 and expanded in 1911 by William Massarene and Addison Mizner, the camp is noted for blending rustic architecture with a rather modern sensibility. If you're not staying at one of the guest cabins here, you may see the camp only as part of a guided tour. The tours (1½ to 2 hours) take in the bowling alley, tennis house, dining and great rooms, boathouse, and guest cabins. A Japanese teahouse on a small island is accessed by an arched stone bridge. The camp is 12 mi northwest of Saranac Lake.

The artist owners of this European-inspired castle have spent 45 years building their multi-towered stone pile using 85% recycled materials, including carved doors from a French chalet, salvaged stones, and old tools which are incorporated into the wrought-iron fence. It also has a small B&B with three antique-filled guest rooms, and three additional bedrooms across the street at the Tudor cottage. Be sure to check out the miniature Stonehenge with panoramic views of the Catskills and the Millbrook Winery vineyard.

Until 40 Wall Street stole the title in 1930, the 792-foot, neo-Gothic Woolworth Building, opened in 1913, was the world's tallest building. For security in the now-residential building, the spectacular lobby is no longer open to the public on a daily basis, though exclusive-access architecture tours are sometimes available through Open House New York ( ohny.org). The lobby is home to a stained-glass skylight and carved wooden sculptures set into the portals to the left and right: one represents retail-giant namesake F. W. Woolworth counting his nickels and dimes; another depicts the architect, Cass Gilbert, cradling in his arms a model of his creation. But even if you don't make it inside, the tower's exterior is exquisite, too—its facade details so ornate the building was nicknamed the "cathedral of commerce." 

In the 1920s, this building shaped like an 18th-century chest of drawers was constructed to call attention to the city's standing as the "Furniture Capital of the World." The 36-foot-high building, complete with a 6-foot-long pair of socks dangling from one of its drawers, remains one of the strangest sights in North Carolina to this day. Nearby Furnitureland South has actually built a much larger chest of drawers as the facade to one of its showrooms, although it is not freestanding.

The museum raises curiosity no matter where you look. The redbrick exterior’s carved stonework, stepped facade gable, and terra-cotta roof tiles are modeled after a town hall in Hoorn, in the Netherlands—a nod to Delaware's first Dutch settlement, established in 1631. Inside, displays showcase Lewes-area maritime, military, and social history.

This former archaeological site includes portions of an Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) village occupied most likely sometime between AD 1050 and 1200, a small but informative museum with artifacts discovered on-site, and a reconstructed pueblo dwelling.

The enormous, sandstone courthouse seems exceptionally grand for such a small town, but it was entirely appropriate at the time it was built, between 1909 and 1912, when Montesano was a prosperous railroad boomtown. Its clock tower soars above the classical, pillared entrance. The lobby has a marble staircase flanked by murals depicting Robert Gray in 1792, discovering the harbor that bears his name, and Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens negotiating with Native Americans at Cosmopolis in 1855. The murals inaccurately depict native people wearing feather headdresses and standing in front of tepees (neither was used by the local Chehalis). Information packets for self-guided tours around town are available in the room to the right of the Commissioner's Office.

The restored Victorian storefronts that line the four historic blocks of Oakland's original downtown now contain restaurants, cafés, offices, shops, galleries, and a Friday morning farmer's market. Architectural consistency distinguishes the area from surrounding streets, giving it a distinct neighborhood feel. Old World–inspired Caffè 817 (817 Washington St.) serves poached eggs and polenta, fresh-pressed panini, and bowls of café latte in an artsy atmosphere. Stop in for a deli sandwich at Ratto's International Market (827 Washington St.), an Italian grocery that's been in business for more than a century, or head over to the renovated Swan's Market (538 9th St.), where you can choose from an array of high-caliber multicultural eateries that offer takeout. Pacific Coast Brewing Company (902 Washington St.) pours a mean microbrew, while The Trappist (460 8th St.) wins loyalty for its exhaustive selection of Belgian ales. Various pop-up boutiques and permanent shops throughout the neighborhood are reinvigorating the storefront scene.

The Chicago Sun-Times Building was torn down to make way for this 92-story tower, which was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and opened in 2008. A spire that elevates its height to a whopping 1,392 feet makes it the city's second-tallest building. The concrete-reinforced structure (the former Sears Tower and John Hancock Center are reinforced by steel) is a glassy, tiered monolith whose biggest attribute is an idyllic riverfront location. Although there's no viewing deck, the public can get picturesque views of downtown through the floor-to-ceiling windows of its 16th-floor restaurant, Sixteen, or the Terrace (open seasonally); Rebar, on the mezzanine level, provides lovely views of the Chicago River and Michigan Avenue Bridge.