The idea for a sculpture in South Dakota’s Black Hills was proposed in the 1920s. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum suggested carving the giant heads of four U.S. Presidents out of Mount Rushmore and chose Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Work began in 1927, and it took a team of 400 men about 14 years to complete the towering monument.

Dedicated in 1943, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial consists of a bronze statue depicting the nation’s third President holding the Declaration of Independence. Around him is a large dome of Georgia and Tennessee marble; several Jefferson quotations adorn the walls of the dome. From the monument, visitors can see the White House across the Tidal Basin.

The Beaver and the Eleanor earned a place in American history after they arrived in Boston Harbor in 1773 with a cargo of tea and were met with local protests against taxation — an event that came to be known as the Boston Tea Party. There are no records to indicate what happened to the real Beaver and Eleanor; however, replicas are now on display at the Boston Tea Party Museum.

Betsy Ross is remembered as the woman who stitched the first American flag. Reportedly, in 1776, George Washington and two other men visited her Philadelphia shop and presented her with a sketch of 13 stripes and 13 stars. They asked if she could make a flag using the design. Ross suggested changing the six-pointed stars to five-pointed stars, and the rest is history. Her house at 239 Arch Street is now a popular tourist attraction.

Only two U.S Presidents are buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. One is William Howard Taft, the only person who has been both the President and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The other is John F. Kennedy, who was buried here in 1963. Many other Kennedy family members, including his widow, are also buried there. More than 400,000 veterans and dependents are buried at Arlington.

While there are various museums devoted to specific military conflicts, until 2018, there was no museum or memorial dedicated to all U.S. veterans. That changed with the opening of the National Veterans Museum in Columbus, Ohio. The museum shares the stories of servicemen and women throughout U.S. history with artifacts, interactive exhibits, and personal recollections.

In addition to being a multi-platinum-selling rockstar, Phil Collins is also an avid collector of Alamo memorabilia. In 2014, the British musician donated his collection to the Texas General Land Office. The collection contains hundreds of items, including weapons, documents, and other artifacts. It is now on display at the Alamo in San Antonio. As thanks for his donation, Collins was made an honorary Texan.

On April 19, 1775, “the shot heard around the world” rang out as British and colonial troops faced off in the Battles of Lexington and Concord — marking the start of the American Revolution. Today, the National Park Service manages the site in Massachusetts as the Minute Man National Historical Park, where living history reenactments and exhibitions teach visitors about the American Revolution.

The National WWII Museum opened in New Orleans in 2000 as the National D-Day Museum. Four years later, the name changed to reflect the museum’s expanded mission. The museum recounts the American experience during the Second World War, with detailed exhibitions covering the European and Pacific theaters, as well as D-Day, tanks, airplanes, and more.

A monument to George Washington was originally proposed in 1783, but the plans never came to fruition. A new plan was proposed on the centenary of his birth, this time for an obelisk instead of a more traditional military statue. Work began in 1848, and the obelisk was completed in 1884. Measuring a little over 555 feet in height, it was the world’s tallest human-made structure at the time, until work finished on the Eiffel Tower five years later.

The Smithsonian Institution holds a massive collection of more than 154 million artifacts. Among them is a piece of granite that came from Plymouth Rock, where the Mayflower Pilgrims disembarked after their 1620 voyage to America. The piece held by the Smithsonian is not currently on display; however, you can see a different piece at the Plymouth Memorial State Park in Massachusetts.

The three-day Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 was a turning point in the American Civil War. More than 50,000 soldiers perished during the fighting in and around this rural Pennsylvania town. Culp’s Tower, Little Round Top, and Devil’s Den were important strategic sites in the battle. Today, the town and the former battlefields form a national military park. Guided tours recount the details of the battle and President Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address.

In 1814, Maryland-born lawyer Francis Scott-Key wrote the lyrics to what would become America’s national anthem. Scott-Key, who served as a quartermaster during the War of 1812, was at Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in September 1814. Inspired by the resilience of U.S. troops, the strength of the fort, and the sight of a giant American flag, he wrote the now-famous song.

The USS Arizona Memorial is part of the Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii. The floating memorial is built across the submerged hull of the USS Arizona battleship and pays tribute to the 1,177 crew members who lost their lives in the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack. The memorial was built in 1962 and now welcomes more than 2 million annual visitors.

In August 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his now iconic “I Have a Dream” speech — a call for civil rights and an end to racism. Approximately 250,000 people were gathered at the memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In 2011, Dr. King became the first African-American to be honored on Washington D.C.’s National Mall.

Towering over the Mississippi River, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis is the country’s tallest monument, dedicated to the pioneer spirit and westward expansion of the United States. A competition for its design was held in 1947, and famed architect Eero Saarinen was chosen to design the monument. Completed in 1965, the stainless steel arch measures both 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide.

In 1734, Augustine Washington built a modest four-room house in Virginia. After his death in 1743, his son George Washington, one of the Founding Fathers and the first President of the United States, inherited it. Washington oversaw a number of renovations, expanding the house to an impressive 21 rooms. Today, Mount Vernon is one of the most visited homes in the U.S.

From its perch in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty has welcomed thousands of immigrants to the U.S. In 1865, a French historian suggested a monument to commemorate U.S. independence and the friendly relationship between America and France. A gift from the people of France, the statue arrived in New York on June 17, 1885, packed in 214 crates for reassembly.

Originally known as the State House Bell, the Liberty Bell is now on display at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The first bell, made in London in 1752, cracked the very first time it was used, so it was melted down and recast. Eventually, another crack appeared in the new bell in 1846, and metal workers tried to fix it by using a technique that required widening the fissure. Unfortunately, that caused another crack to form, and the bell hasn’t rung since.

Boston’s Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile walking trail that guides visitors through 250 years of the city’s history. It begins at Boston Common, the nation’s oldest public park, and ends at Bunker Hill, the site of a famous Revolutionary War battle. Other significant sites along the Freedom Trail include Paul Revere’s House, the USS Constitution, and the site of the Boston Massacre.