Walk in the Footsteps of History
131 historic landmarks across 34 states and the District of Columbia — the story behind each one, and everything you need to go and stand where it happened.
Epoch Explorer
From deep time to the civil rights movement: choose an era to see every landmark that belongs to it.
All eras, in order →- Deep time
Geological & Natural
Canyons, geysers, and forests whose significance predates human record — the landscapes that shaped where and how America was settled.
6 landmarks → - Pre-1500
Indigenous America
Cliff dwellings, earthworks, and settlements built by the peoples who lived here for millennia before European contact.
5 landmarks → - 1565–1763
Spanish Colonial
Missions, presidios, and plazas from the Spanish empire's long reach across Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and California.
7 landmarks → - 1607–1775
Colonial America
The English colonies from Jamestown to the eve of revolution — meeting houses, harbours, and the first American towns.
9 landmarks → - 1775–1783
Revolutionary War
Where independence was argued, signed, and fought for — statehouses, encampments, and battlefields.
9 landmarks → - 1783–1815
Early Republic
A new nation building its institutions, its capital, and its architecture, then defending them in a second war with Britain.
10 landmarks → - 1800–1900
The 19th Century
A century of expansion, industry, and upheaval, for the places whose significance spans more than a single period.
11 landmarks → - 1803–1890
Westward Expansion
Trails, forts, and frontier towns from the Louisiana Purchase to the closing of the frontier.
5 landmarks → - 1815–1861
Antebellum
The decades before the Civil War — plantation economies, abolitionist networks, and a country pulling apart.
7 landmarks → - 1861–1865
Civil War
Battlefields, forts, and the houses where the war began and ended.
10 landmarks → - 1865–1900
Gilded Age
Reconstruction to the turn of the century: immigration, railroads, mills, and the mansions the new fortunes built.
10 landmarks → - 1900–2000
The 20th Century
Skyscrapers, monuments, and modern memorials — the century that produced most of America's best-known landmarks.
36 landmarks → - 1939–1945
World War II
Harbours, shipyards, and memorials from the war that remade America's place in the world.
2 landmarks → - 1954–1968
Civil Rights
Churches, bridges, and schoolhouses where the movement for equal rights was organised and contested.
3 landmarks → - 2000–present
The 21st Century
Memorials and landmarks of living memory.
1 landmark →
Every Region Tells an American Story
From the Spanish missions of the Southwest to the harbors of New England, each state hub gathers its landmarks in one place. Choose a state on the map, or start with the busiest registers.
- Landmarks
- 131
- State hubs
- 35
Pillar Landmarks of the Republic
Gilded AgeStatue of Liberty
New York (Liberty Island), NY
The Statue of Liberty — formally Liberty Enlightening the World — was a gift from the people of France to the United States, dedicated on October 28, 1886.
Colonial AmericaIndependence Hall
Philadelphia, PA
Independence Hall in Philadelphia is where the United States was founded.
Colonial AmericaMount Vernon
Mount Vernon, VA
Mount Vernon was the home of George Washington — commander of the Continental Army and the first President of the United States.
Civil WarGettysburg Battlefield
Gettysburg, PA
The Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1–3, 1863, was the largest and bloodiest battle of the American Civil War.
Latest Historical Insights
- Revolutionary War · Colonial America
Boston's Road to Revolution, Street by Street
A market hall, a statehouse balcony, a church steeple and a silversmith's house — the places where Boston argued its way into a war, all within a walk of each other.
Old USA Editors · 2 min read · September 28, 2026
- Revolutionary War
Washington's War in Four Places: Ticonderoga to Yorktown
Cannon dragged through a New England winter, a desperate January counterstroke, a starving encampment and a surrender on the York River — the Revolution's turning points, and where to stand on them.
Old USA Editors · 2 min read · September 28, 2026