WONDERS OF THE UNITED STATES

Ancient Sites

There are tens of thousands of pre-Columbian sites the United States. The following are among the most renowned:

• Bighorn Medicine Wheel (Lovell, WY)

• Blythe Intaglios (Blythe, cA)

• Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (Collinsville, IL)

• Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (Coolidge, AZ)

• Chaco Culture National Historical Park (New Mexico)

• East Bay Walls [a.k.a. Berkeley Mystery Walls] (San Francisco, CA)

• Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (Chillicothe, OH)

• Kincaid Mounds State Historic Site (Massac County, IL)

• Mesa Verde National Park (Mesa Verde, CO)

• Miami Circle (Miami, FL)

• Montezuma Castle National Monument (Camp Verde, AZ)

• Mystery Hill [a.k.a. America’s Stonehenge] (Salem, NH)

• Palatki Heritage Site (Sedona, NM)

• Pueblo de Taos (New Mexico)

• Serpent Mound (near Peebles, OH)

• Three Rivers Petroglyph Site (Tularosa, NM)

68.2 National Wonders

Smithsonian ranks the most spectacular geologic sites in the U.S. as follows:

1. Grand Canyon (Arizona)

2. Yellowstone National Park (Idaho, Montana and Wyoming)

3. Niagara Falls (New York)

4. Meteor Crater (Arizona)

5. Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument (Washington)

6. La Brea Tar Pits (California)

7. San Andreas Fault at the Carrizo Plain (California)

8. Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky)

9. The Ice Age Flood Trail (Washington, Oregon and Idaho)

10. Lava Beds National Monument (California)

The following are lists of Top 10 National Wonders in the United States:

AARP Travel

• Brice Canyon National Park (Utah)

• Death Valley (California)

• Denali National Park and Preserve (Alaska)

• Everglades National Park (Florida)

• Great Sand Dunes (Colorado)

• Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky)

• Redwood Coast (California)

• Teton Range (Wyoming)

• Yellowstone Caldera (Wyoming and Montana)

• Yosemite Valley (California)

Discovery Channel

• Acadia National Park (Maine)

• Death Valley (California)

• Denali National Park and Preserve (Alaska)

• Everglades National Park (Florida)

• Grand Canyon National Park(Arizona)

• Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky)

• Red Rock Country [Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef National Parks] (Utah)

• Redwood Forest (California)

• Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming)

• Yosemite Valley (California)

Fodor’s

• Acadia National Park (Maine)

• Arches National Park (Utah)

• Cape Hatteras National Seashore (North Carolina)

• Denali National Park and Preserve (Alaska)

• Grand Canyon National Park(Arizona)

• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Hawaii)

• John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park (Florida)

• Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)

• Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming)

• Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park (California)

Lonely Planet

• Acadia National Park (Maine)

• Denali National Park (Alaska)

• Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)

• Kilauea Volcano (Hawaii)

• Mammoth Cave (Kentucky)

• Monument Valley (Arizona-Utah)

• Niagara Falls (New York)

• Redwood National & State Parks (California)

• Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming)

• Yosemite National Park (California)

CNN recognizes the top natural wonder in each of the 50 states as follows:

Alabama: Little River Canyon National Preserve

Alaska: Glacier Bay National Park

Arizona: Grand Canyon National Park

Arkansas: Crater of Diamonds State Park

California: Avenue of Giants in the Redwood National and

State Parks system

Colorado: Rocky Mountain National Park

Connecticut: Bluff Point State Park Coastal Reserve

Delaware: Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Florida: Everglades National Park

Georgia: Cumberland Island

Hawaii: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Idaho: Sawtooth range

Illinois: Starved Rock State Park.

Indiana: Indiana Dunes State Park

Iowa: Broken Kettle Grasslands and Loess Hills Scenic

Kansas: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Kentucky: Mammoth Cave National Park

Louisiana: Barataria Preserve

Maine: Mount Katahdin, trailhead of the Appalachian Trail

Maryland: Chesapeake Bay

Massachusetts: Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge on Nantucket Island

Michigan: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Minnesota: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

Mississippi: Gulf Islands National Seashore

Missouri: Elephant Rocks State Park in the Ozark ecoregion

Montana: Glacier National Park

Nebraska: Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park

Nevada: Valley of Fire State Park

New Hampshire: White Mountains on the Appalachian T rail

New Jersey: Delaware Water Gap

New Mexico: Carlsbad Caverns National Park

New York: The Adirondacks/Adirondack Forest Preserve

North Carolina: Jockey’s Ridge on Nags Head

North Dakota: Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Ohio: Hocking Hills State Park

Oklahoma: Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge

Oregon:

Crater Lake

Cherry Springs State Park Block Island

Jocassee Gorges – Devils Fork State Park and Table Rock State Park

Badlands National Park

Cades Cove at Great Smoky Mountains National Park Rio Grande River within Big Bend National Park Zion National Park Quechee State Park

Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive within Shenandoah National Park

Mount Rainier National Park Beartown State Park Horicon Marsh Yellowstone National Park

Pennsylvania: Rhode Island: South Carolina:

South Dakota:

Tennessee:

Texas:

Utah:

Vermont:

Virginia:

Washington: West Virginia: Wisconsin: Wyoming:

Man-Made Wonders

The Travel Channel recognizes the following as the Seven Man-Made Wonders of the United States:

• Brooklyn Bridge (New York, NY)

• Empire State Building (New York, NY)

• Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, CA)

• Hoover Dam (Nevada)

• Mount Rushmore (South Dakota)

• Space Needle (Seattle, WA)

• Washington Monument (Washington, DC)

The Day Zero Project (www.dayzeroproject.com) recognized the following as the top man-made wonders in the U.S.:

• Alcatraz (San Francisco, CA)

• Antietam National Battlefield (Sharpsburg, MD)

• Arlington National Cemetery (Arlington County, VA)

• Biloxi Lighthouse (Biloxi, mS)

• Biltmore Estate (Asheville, NC)

• Brooklyn Bridge (New York, NY)

• Cape Hatteras Light (Outer Banks, NC)

• Carhenge (Nebraska)

• Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (Savannah, GA)

• Cloud Gate Millennium Park (Chicago, IL)

• Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (New York, NY)

• Crazy Horse Memorial (Black Hills of South Dakota)

• Ellis Island (New York, NY)

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• Empire State Building (New York, NY)

• Fallingwater (rural southwestern Pennsylvania)

• Fountains at Bellagio (Las Vegas, NV)

• Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House (Chicago, IL)

• Gateway Arch (St. Louis, MO)

• Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, CA)

• Graceland (Memphis, TN)

• Grand Central Station (New York, NY)

• Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (Hollywood, CA)

• Ha’iku Stairs (Oahu, HI)

• William Randolph Hearst Castle (San Simen, CA)

• Hollywood sign (Los Angeles, CA)

• Hoover Dam (Nevada)

• Ivy Green, Helen Keller’s Home (Tuscumbia, AL)

• Jack Daniel’s Distillery (Moore County, TN)

• Lincoln Memorial (Washington, DC)

• Menil Collection (Houston, TX)

• Mount Rushmore (South Dakota)

• National September 11 Memorial (New York, NY)

• Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO)

• O.K. Corral (Tombstone, AZ)

• Parthenon (Nashville, TN)

• Pineapple Garden Maze (Wahiawa,HI)

• Rainbow Row (Charleston SC)

• Seattle Central Library (Seattle, WA)

• Space Needle (Seattle, WA)

• Staten Island Ferry (New York, NY)

• Statue of Liberty (New York, NY)

• Temple Square (Salt Lake City, UT)

• Texas School blog Depository (Dallas, TX)

• Times Square (New York, NY)

• USS Arizona National Memorial (Pearl Harbor, HI)

• Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Washington, DC)

• White House (Washington, DC)

• Willis Tower (Chicago, IL)

• Winchester Mystery House (San Jose, CA)