George Washington was known to frequent New York City’s Fraunces Tavern during the Revolutionary War, and on December 4, 1783 — just days after the last British troops had departed American soil — Washington and his Continental Army gathered there so he could bid them farewell. The restaurant has been in continuous operation for over 300 years and features an accompanying museum.

The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, ending the American Revolutionary War and recognizing U.S. independence. American negotiators John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay signed the treaty along with British representative David Hartley. The signing took place in Paris, and the document is now held in D.C.’s National Archives.

Amid low morale, Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River on a cold winter’s night in 1776 and executed a surprise attack on Hessian forces in Trenton, reigniting the fight for American independence. The site is preserved at Washington Crossing Historic Park, where visitors can watch reenactments of the crossing every December.

On October 19, 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to American and French troops at the Yorktown Battlefield in Virginia, effectively ensuring American independence. The battlefield has been preserved as a National Historical Park and features exhibits including field tents used by George Washington, as well as the Moore House, where the surrender was negotiated.

The American forces’ capture of Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775, marked their first offensive victory during the war. The fort, located in upstate New York, provided American troops with a strategic passageway into Canada as well as a trove of much needed artillery. Though the fort fell back into British hands in 1777, it marked a key American victory.

Not only did Valley Forge serve as a winter encampment for General George Washington and his troops in 1777, but it’s also credited with being the birthplace of the modern U.S. Army. It was at Valley Forge that concepts like basic training and distinctive branches such as the corps of engineers were first instilled in America’s newly formed fighting brigade.

On December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty destroyed 340 chests of tea and dumped the contents into the Boston Harbor as an act of rebellion. Though Griffin’s Wharf no longer exists due to extensive landfills over the centuries since, the approximate location is marked with the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum atop the Congress Street Bridge.

Immortalized in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1837 poem “Concord,” the “shot heard round the world” marked the start of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775. While marching toward Concord, British troops encountered a group of minutemen in the town of Lexington, leading to a brief skirmish in which the first shots of the war were fired.

Originally constructed as the Pennsylvania State House, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall marks the site where both the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were debated and signed. The signing itself took place in the Assembly Room, which is furnished to look like it did at the time. The building’s tower was also once home to the famous Liberty Bell.

The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile-long walking tour through Boston, featuring 16 sites that were significant to America’s fight for independence. Popular stops along the trail include the Boston Common, Paul Revere’s House, and the Bunker Hill Monument, which commemorates the first major battle of the American Revolutionary War.