5 U.S. Monuments You Can't Miss

Lincoln’s memorial looks out over D.C.’s Reflecting Pool. Standing on the steps fronting the memorial, you can have the same view that Martin Luther King, Jr. had in 1963 when he delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. 

Mount Rushmore (the mountain, not the monument) is a perfect habitat for Ponderosa Pine trees, which thrive in the Black Hills’ dry, rocky soil. The region is also home to many animals adept to steep terrains, like Rocky Mountain goats, bighorn sheep, and osprey. 

The presidents carved into Mount Rushmore are, from left to right, George Washington, the nation’s first; Thomas Jefferson, who added South Dakota to the U.S.; Theodore Roosevelt, the National Park Service founder, and Abraham Lincoln, who preserved the Union during the Civil War. 

Set within South Dakota’s Black Hills, lands sacred to many Native American nations, Mount Rushmore forever transformed the landscape. Carved during the Great Depression, the monument is a remarkable feat of 20th-century engineering against a backdrop of deep ancestral history.

The Statue of Liberty is a tribute to the American ideals of freedom and democracy. Sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi chose a female figure to represent these ideas because he was inspired by ancient Roman female figures, which symbolized liberty. This famous figure has been standing on Liberty Island since 1886, greeting people as they arrive in New York.

When you step inside the statue’s pedestal, check out the plaque engraved with a poem. “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, calls Lady Liberty“The mother of exiles,” who urges the downtrodden to come live in the United States. 

Nearby Ellis Island, an official part of the Statue of Liberty Monument, was the landing place for more than 12 million immigrants to the U.S. between 1892 and 1954. Since 1990, it’s been a U.S. immigrant history museum. 

The monument honors George Washington, president from 1787 to 1789. Completed in 1885, it was designed by Robert Mills to commemorate Washington in his namesake city. The obelisk, made of marble, granite, and blue gneiss, is one of the tallest monumental columns in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people visit the monument each year.

Look west at the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial. Neither monument is a tomb. Washington is buried at his home, Mount Vernon, in Virginia, and Lincoln is buried in his hometown, Springfield, Illinois.

You might also notice that you can’t see any skyscrapers. That’s because of a law, passed in 1899 (amended in 1910), that limits the height of D.C. buildings. No building can be over 20 feet taller than the width of the street it faces.

To your south lies the Potomac River, spanned by several bridges connecting Washington, D.C. with Virginia state. The river’s name derives from “Patawomeke,” an Algonquian Indian place name and the name Captain John Smith gave the river in 1608. 

To the east is the Capitol building and its impressive dome. The buildings flanking the Mall in this direction are the museums and galleries of the Smithsonian Institution, which house approximately 138 million objects and works of art.    

Look to the north and you can see the White House, home of the President of the United States and their family. Beyond the White House lies the northwest quadrant of the city.  

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson completed the Louisiana Purchase, a vast expanse of land stretching west from the Mississippi River. He sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark out to explore the land. Their famous expedition officially began on what’s now the arch site. 

Conceived by the architect Eero Saarinen in 1947, construction was completed in 1965. The Arch, with its 60-feet deep foundations, has a structural steel inner skin and a stainless steel outer skin separated by concrete. Although it looks taller rather than wider, the Arch’s width is precisely the same as its height (630 feet).

The Gateway Arch is part of the Jefferson National Expansion Museum Memorial. The Museum of Westward Expansion that once operated at its base closed in February, 2015. The grassy park that remains includes walkways that repeat the arch shape.