239 Best Sights in USA

Stop here in summer for park information and to visit the neighboring Sinnott Memorial Overlook, which has a small museum with geology exhibits and a covered observation terrace 900 feet above the lake. Ranger talks take place several times a day, and although it's closed in winter, snowshoe walks leave from outside the visitor center on weekends.

Stop here to pick up free maps and printed materials on various aspects of the park, including maps of hiking trails and backcountry camping permits. Exhibits at the center are comprehensive, and a relief map of the park lays out the complexities of this protected landscape. Two 20-minute slide shows explain the botanical and cultural history of the region, and there is a short self-guided nature walk along the paved Cactus Garden Trail. A select variety of books and other gift items, along with energy bars, beef jerky, and refillable water bottles, are sold here.

At this seasonal center you take in the videos of Big Bend's geological and natural features at the minitheater and view exhibits on the Rio Grande.

You can obtain wilderness permits, maps, and information about the backcountry at this station, where bear canisters, a must for campers, can be rented or purchased. When the station is closed (typically October–mid-May), complete a self-service permit form.

Though resembling a mansion, this impressive 1934 French Eclectic–style building originally housed personnel for the U.S. Navy base that operated at the tip of Schoodic Peninsula for decades. Now part of the campus of Schoodic Institute, a park-affiliated scientific research and education nonprofit, the first floor houses the park's seasonal Rockefeller Welcome Center. You can get information, watch a video about Schoodic, and check out kid-friendly exhibits about this neck of Acadia and the old Navy base. There's also a small gift shop. An automated fee machine inside the gatehouse at the campus entrance sells Acadia weekly park passes.

The visitor center features natural-history displays (including hands-on displays for kids), films, art, taxidermied animals, a world-record pair of elk antlers, and an outdoor nature trail. The foundation works to preserve wild lands for elk and other wildlife; since 1984 the nonprofit organization has saved almost 8 million acres from development.

Sandstone Visitor Center is a full-service visitor center in the south section that features a short video on the New River and a native garden, as well as a bookstore.

Start your visit here, on the mainland near the Sapelo Island ferry docks, where you can view exhibits on the island's history, culture, and ecology, and get helpful trip planning tips from knowledgeable staff. Check in advance to see if they are offering a bus tour of the island on the day of your visit. The sights that make up the bus tour vary, but generally include the old sugar mill, the airfield, the cemetery, Nanny Goat Beach, and the 80-foot-tall Sapelo Lighthouse. Built in 1820, it's a symbol of the thriving cotton and lumber industry once based out of Darien. You may also book a tour with one of the residents on Sapelo Island—staff can assist. To get to the visitor center and Meridian ferry dock from downtown Darien, go north on Route 99 for 8 miles, following signs for the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve. Turn right on to Landing Road at the Elm Grove Baptist Church in Meridian. The visitor center is about ½ mile down the road.

Built with materials from the surrounding region, this striking 2015 post-and-beam structure serves double duty as campground host and information center. It's just off Schoodic Loop road near the park entrance, so stop to buy an entrance pass if you don't have one. Inside, a large Schoodic District relief map centers the room, which has a gift shop area and exhibits, some hands-on, about the park. Comfy chairs flank a fireplace, inviting visitors to relax, pamphlet in hand, after chatting with a ranger or park volunteer. Outside, the setting is village-like, with walkways and handsome signage for bike paths that converge here, a stop for the free Island Explorer buses, and restrooms in a cabin-like building. Trailheads for 3.2-mile Buck Cove Mountain and 1.5-mile Lower Harbor trails are nearby. A campground amphitheater hosts ranger programs for park visitors and campers.

Just off Route 102A at the bottom of Mount Desert Island, this doubles as the Seawall Campground office and a park information center. Park passes are sold, and there's a small gift shop (no drinks or snacks are sold). A portion of Route 102A (Seawall Road) was temporarily closed after 2024's winter storms. While repairs should be complete, if the loop road is closed, access it from its southern terminus with Route 102 in Bass Harbor, not its northern terminus in Manset. Watch for signs.

Logging's colorful past is displayed in the big log barn at Seeley Lake Museum and Visitors Center, along with tools of the trade and visitor information.

This center is operated by Seattle City Light, North Cascades Institute, and the national park. It's the gathering point for various tours run by North Cascades Institute and Seattle City Light and has exhibits about the utility's hydroelectric projects in the North Cascades. Pick up a map of a self-guided walking tour of historic Newhalem, as well as other park information.

The park's only visitor center offers interactive exhibits and an introductory film detailing the park's geology and wildlife. Inquire at the center about free informational ranger programs.

This building houses a large auditorium screening the 17-minute film Refuge of the American Spirit. There's also an excellent exhibit on Theodore Roosevelt's life with artifacts such as the clothing he wore while ranching in the Dakota Territory, his firearms, and several writings in his own hand reflecting his thoughts on the nation's environmental resources. Be sure to stop in the Theodore Roosevelt Nature and History Association bookstore. Restrooms and a drinking fountain are also available. Open year-round except for select holidays. 

This impressive public lands interpretive center contains exhibits—including one on the rain forest—that focus on the resources, Native cultures, and ecosystems of Southeast. The U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies provide information on Alaska's public lands, and a large gift shop sells natural-history books, maps, and videos about the region's sights. National Park and Federal Recreational Land Passes are accepted and sold.

About an hour from Downtown—and about halfway up Kyle Canyon Road to the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area—you'll find this eco-friendly visitor center, which opened in 2015 and welcomes those heading to Mt. Charleston. Spend some time perusing the educational exhibits about the ecosystems and microclimates in the region's tallest mountains. Then hike one of the short interpretive trails for a sense of what the cactus- and bristlecone pine–strewn landscape is like. In winter, a modest ski resort operates at the top of Lee Canyon.

Glacier's largest visitor complex has a huge relief map of the park's peaks and valleys and screens a 15-minute orientation video. Exhibits help visitors understand the park from the perspective of its original inhabitants—the Blackfeet, Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Orielle peoples. Rangers conduct evening presentations in summer, and the auditorium hosts Native America Speaks programs. The center also has books and maps for sale, backcountry camping permits, and large viewing windows facing the 10-mile-long St. Mary Lake.

Open year-round, the center, part of the park's headquarters, has restrooms, a small post office, and a shop that sells books, maps, and postcards. There are fewer exhibits than at comparable national park visitor centers, but you can view an engaging 22-minute film that describes the lake's formation and geology and examines the area's cultural history. The building was closed for structural renovations in 2022 but is expected to reopen in 2023.

Like most amenities in the village of Stovepipe Wells, this station is basic but convenient, with a ranger on hand to answer questions and provide information and maps. You can also pay entrance fees here. Hours are variable; if it's closed, there's a pay station outside the building.

The main visitor center on the Tennessee side, Sugarlands features a nature museum with extensive exhibits about park flora and fauna, as well as a 20-minute film about the park. Ranger-led programs are held from spring to fall. There are hiking trails nearby.

Exhibits at this center explain the region's sparser alpine and subalpine ecology. A network of nearby loop trails leads you through alpine meadows and forest to overlooks that have broad views of the Cascades and Rainier. The visitor center has a snack bar and gift shop.

You can visit the site of a Washoe Indian settlement and walk self-guided trails through meadow, marsh, and forest at this U.S. Forest Service center. Forest Service naturalists organize discovery walks and evening programs in summer, and you may see spawning kokanee salmon digging their nests in fall. By 2024, extensive repairs should be completed to the Stream Profile Chamber, the Rainbow Trail's underground display with windows right into Taylor Creek.

Located on the southeast corner of the Capitol grounds, this regal 1890s edifice is the only surviving government building from Austin's first 30 years. Its Gothic style is attributed to its German architect, Conrad Stremme. This 2½-story structure, made of stuccoed stone and brick, opened in 1858 as the first home of the Texas General Land Office. The writer O. Henry worked here as a draftsman and used it as the setting for some of his short stories. Today, the visitor center and gift shop serve as a great first stop when touring the Capitol. The helpful staff can provide maps and brochures for self-guided walking tours of the grounds.

The center serves as the area's primary visitor center, with a museum dedicated to the fossil beds, fossils on display, in-depth informational panels, handouts, and an orientation movie. Two miles north of the visitor center on Highway 19 is the impressive Blue Basin, a badlands canyon with sinuous blue-green spires. Winding through this basin is the ½-mile Island in Time Trail, where trailside exhibits explain the area's 28-million-year-old fossils. The 3-mile Blue Basin Overlook Trail loops around the rim of the canyon, yielding some splendid views. Blue Basin is a hike with a high effort-to-reward ratio, and in summer rangers lead interpretive jaunts—check for an updated schedule at visitor center.

Thurmond Depot Visitor Center is a seasonal visitor center located inside a historic train depot. It's steps from the historic district, which includes restored retail stores and a bank.

To help with your planning, stop in at Tok's visitor center, which has travel information covering the entire state, as well as wildlife and natural-history exhibits. This is one of Alaska's largest info centers, and the staff is helpful.

Plan your visit to the Canadian side of the International Peace Park with the help of travel experts at this visitor center in West Glacier. You'll find maps, pamphlets, displays, and bathroom facilities here.

Managed by the nonprofit Tropical Everglades Visitor Association, this pastel-pink information center with teal signage offers abundant printed material, plus tips from volunteer experts on exploring South Florida, especially Homestead, Florida City, and the Florida Keys.