10457 Best Sights in USA

A tough little stone building (it was once a bank, and banks out here needed to be solid) is the site of the museum of the Crook County Historical Society. The 1910 edifice is on the National Register of Historic Places, with the inside vault and teller cages seemingly untouched. Prominent in the museum are old guns, relics from the lumber mills, and Native American artifacts that define early Prineville. An expansion houses a research library and life-size representations of an Old West street.

At the A. Scott Warthin Geological Museum on the ground floor of Ely Hall at Vassar, you can see fossil, mineral, and rock specimens.

This museum celebrates the resilience and preservation of the American Beach community founded during the Great Depression in 1935. A.L. Lewis created this resort-style beach community for African Americans, providing a destination for "recreation and relaxation without humiliation." The museum also honors area preservationist MaVynee Oshun Betsch by telling stories of her life as well as of the community. 

A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center, which celebrates Zuni history and culture through a collection of Hawikku artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian, is housed in the historic Kelsey trading post. The museum's orientation is more toward engaging the community rather than outsiders, but there is much to see here. Historic Zuni pottery and contemporary work is also displayed, as well as documentation from the early-19th-century excavation at Hawikku and a beautiful mural depicting the A:shiwi peoples' emergence story, which starts at the Grand Canyon.

As the name suggests, the specialty is "oceanfront." With rental units in more than 25 condominium complexes on the South Shore from the northernmost reaches of Kihei all the way to Wailea, there's something for everyone at rates that run $90–$450 a night.

Built in 1908 along the old town square, this auditorium reflects the grandeur of the days when lavish road shows and stellar entertainers took center stage. Current productions range from contemporary light comedies to local renderings of Broadway musicals. Self-guided tours are available.

The town's Victorian-era municipal building, built in 1876, displays Archibald Willard's painting The Spirit of '76. Many visitors, familiar since childhood with this image of the three Revolutionary veterans with fife, drum, and flag, are surprised to find the original in an otherwise unassuming town hall. Also on-site is a small naval museum exploring Marblehead's maritime past.

For her passion project, sixth-generation vintner Katie Bundschu, also involved in her family's historic Gundlach Bundschu winery, focuses on wines made from organic grapes grown in other family-owned, predominantly Sonoma County vineyards. Most of the wines are old-style field blends in which different types of grapes from the same vineyard are fermented and aged together rather than separately, as is more common these days. A recent vintage of the Makeshift red—Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Souzao, a Portuguese grape—hints at the experimentation going on here. You can sample the wines at a garden estate whose grape-growing history dates back nearly as far as the Bundschu family's.

Finish your day at Ontario Beach Park with a true Rochester treat: Abbott's Frozen Custard. You can spot this Rochester institution, opened in 1926, by the line on a hot afternoon. The custards—thicker and creamier than ice cream due to a slow-churning process—are made fresh daily in old-fashioned flavors ranging from chocolate almond to black cherry to butterscotch.

This collection, within the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, showcases American "decorative usefulware"—toys, furniture, weather vanes, coffeepots, and quilts—within typical 19th-century domestic interiors. There are also folk paintings, rustic sculptures, and needlepoint pictures. Since the 1920s, the 2,000-piece collection has grown from the original 400 pieces acquired by the wife of Colonial Williamsburg's first and principal benefactor. This is the oldest institution in the United States dedicated solely to the collection and preservation of American folk art.

Artist John Preble's strange vision—sort of a Louisiana version of the Watts Towers of Los Angeles—is an obsessive collection of found objects (combs, old musical instruments, paint-by-number art, and taxidermy experiments gone horribly awry) set in a series of ramshackle buildings, including one covered in mosaic tiles. This museum is odd and entertaining, but not for clutter-phobes. If he's there, ask Preble if you can see his studio, where he creates paintings of green-eyed Creole beauties.

This 5-mile round-trip trail is one of the most popular in the Smokies, thanks to its trailhead location on Cades Cove Loop Road. Beginning at the wooden bridge over Abrams Creek, the trail first follows a pleasant course through rhododendron, then becomes steeper at a couple of points, especially near Arbutus Ridge. The path then leads above Abrams Falls and down to Wilson Creek. Though only about 20 feet high, the falls are beautiful, with a large volume of water and a broad pool below. Moderate.  It is dangerous to climb, jump from, or swim near the falls.

The 1857 lighthouse was designed by George Meade, stands 171 feet tall, and is the oldest man-made tourist attraction on the Jersey shore. You can tour the adjacent lightkeeper's house and climb the 228 steps to the top for a great view of Atlantic City. In summer, kids are invited to Wacky Wednesday programs, moonlight climbs, and even sleepover adventures.

At an elevation of 6,720 feet, the Abyss is one of the most awesome stops on Hermit Road, revealing a sheer drop of 3,000 feet to the Tonto Platform, a wide terrace of Tapeats sandstone about two-thirds of the way down the canyon. From the Abyss you'll also see several isolated sandstone columns, the largest of which is called The Monument.

A magnificent avenue of pines and moss-laden oaks leads to the entrance of the first international branch of Sacred Heart schools (founded in 1821) and the site of the only Vatican-certified miracle to occur in the United States. The miracle occurred when nuns at the convent said novenas to St. John Berchmans, a 15th-century Jesuit priest, on behalf of Mary Wilson, a very ill novice. St. John Berchmans subsequently appeared to Mary twice, and she was suddenly and unexpectedly cured. St. John Berchmans was canonized in 1888. Make an appointment to enter a shrine on the exact site of the miracle, as well as to tour the convent including its museum with artifacts dating from the school's occupation by Union troops during the Civil War.

This nice local museum houses a permanent collection of fine art by such American artists as James McNeil Whistler, Grant Wood, Lichtenstein, and Rauschenberg, as well as Chagall and Dürer. Special exhibitions often cover local artists, and the juried art show held here in early October is one of the finest in the region.

One of this natural history museum's most popular attractions is Dinosaur Hall, with reconstructed skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus rex and some 30 others of its ilk, but interactive stations with docents and exhibits on topics including current environmental issues also help visitors engage with science and nature. Other areas are the Big Dig (open weekends at this writing), where you can hunt for real fossils, and Outside In, a hands-on experience where kids can climb into an eagle's nest, visit with animals, and more. State-of-the-art changing exhibitions are another highlight. The more than 35 dioramas of animals from around the world displayed in their natural habitats still have appeal and are gradually being renovated. Founded in 1812, the academy is considered the oldest natural history institution in the western hemisphere and a world leader in the fields of natural-science research and education; the present building dates from 1876.  Plan your visit ahead using the website's floor plan and program list. Weekdays and late afternoons are generally less busy times to visit.

This Colonial Revival building, housing a Catholic girls' school, was built in 1900 and features wide, wraparound balconies (or galleries) and colonnades facing a large garden. The academy is exceptionally beautiful during the December holiday season, when the galleries are decked with wreaths and garlands.

Evoking rugged Maine with a timber frame design, the 11,000-square-foot Acadia Gateway Center transit hub and visitor information center opened in 2025 on the west side of Route 3 a few miles before the causeway onto Mount Desert Island. The Maine Department of Transportation facility has a park-and-ride for the free seasonal Island Explorer buses that serve Acadia National Park and nearby towns. Even if you’re not taking the bus, you can pick up visitor information about the park and state, buy park entrance passes, and use the restroom.

This 681-foot peak is situated between Echo Lake to the west and Somes Sound to the east and is accessible via Route 102. The only mountain on Mount Desert Island that lies east–west rather than north–south, it features a popular summit trail with outstanding and expansive views.

A unit of the National Park Service, the center traces the history of the area through numerous audiovisual exhibits on food, music, and folklore. Be sure to watch the introductory film, which is a dramatization of the Expulsion of the Acadians (1755–64), when the British deported the descendants of French settlers in the maritime provinces of Canada to the 13 colonies. Clips from the 1929 silent movie Evangeline (a fictional account based on the Longfellow poem about an Acadian girl's search for her lost love) are incorporated into the presentation—film buffs will love it. Ranger-guided boat tours of Bayou Vermilion sometimes take place March through June and September through November in a traditional Cajun boat, but require two weeks' advance registration to book. Ranger talks on local history and culture take place Tuesday through Saturday at 10:45 am, and at noon on Saturday you'll find a free Cajun music concert taking place on the front porch.

A video introduction, a wall of names of Acadian Louisiana refugees, an audio tour, and a huge mural relate the odyssey of the Acadians. Behind the small heritage center containing these memorials, an eternal flame and the coats of arms of Acadian families pay tribute to their cultural and physical stamina.

The Acadian Museum is filled to the rafters with memorabilia donated by local folks—antique radios, butter churns, patchwork quilts, and yellowed newspaper clippings are all part of the mix. An exhibit on Joseph “Beausoleil” Broussard, who in 1765 led the first group of Acadians migrating to Louisiana, was one of many interesting collections.

Most of the structures at this re-creation of an early-19th-century bayou settlement were moved here to construct a representative "village." They actually represent a broad range of Acadian architectural styles, and the rustic general store, smithy, and chapel are replicas. The park is on 10 wooded acres, with a meandering bayou crisscrossed by wooden footbridges. Each house is decorated with antique furnishings. The weeks before Christmas bring "Noel Acadien au Village," with evening-only hours, musicians, food, and buildings covered in festive lights.

This multicultural arts center hosts art exhibits, musical performances, lectures, workshops, and children's programs. Film screenings are occasionally held at the in-house movie theater. A café is open for breakfast, lunch, and snacks from Tuesday to Saturday.

Naturalists are on hand in the interpretive center at this three-story cypress structure overlooking 150 acres of easy, peaceful nature trails and natural forest. The northern section includes a managed butterfly habitat. The focus here is on environmental education. Free weekend nature talks begin at 1 pm on the first Saturday of each month, and free guided trail tours are offered on the second and fourth weekend of every month by reservation. A guided evening hike on the last Saturday of the month is also available by reservation ($2.17 per person).

Bring your own sledgehammers and pry bars or rent them from the gift shop, stake a "claim," and begin your search for quarry. No matter where you prospect, you're not likely to be disappointed. Many open pits are an easy walk to the right or left of the visitor center, where you can see beads, stones, an extensive book section, and other rock-related items. You might venture up the steep hillside in hope of finding a pocket containing hundreds of "diamonds"—really quartz crystals with diamondlike facets. The views of the wooded valley and the Mohawk River are a find in themselves.

This 18-mile out-and-back trail begins at Juniper, climbs through the Achenbach Hills, descends to the river, and ends at Sperati Point. Check with rangers about river-fording conditions. For a shorter (6-mile) hike to Oxbow Overlook, the North Achenbach Trail begins at the River Bend Overlook. Moderate--Difficult.

The permanent holdings at this impressive museum include 20,000 works, with one of the Southeast's strongest collections of Asian art. There's an outstanding selection of drawings, prints, and photographs as well as Old Master paintings and sculptures. The museum hosts regular lunch panels, film forums, and guest lectures. Be sure to say hello to the museum's namesake, William Hayes Ackland, whose modernist tomb is on-site.