15 Bucket List National Historic Landmarks in America (Must-See + Photos)

From sea to shining sea, these are America’s best historic landmarks

What are some bucket list national historic landmarks that you want to see during your lifetime?

I will give you my list of the 15 National Historic Landmarks you’ll want to see in your lifetime. Maybe you’ve already been to a few of these incredible sites. There’s no reason why you can’t go back, however. Or you might want to see some of the ones you haven’t been to yet.

This list includes American landmarks which are managed by the National Park Service as well as others which are not.

Without further ado, let’s dive in.

El Tovar © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

1. El Tovar

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: May 28, 1987

Location: South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, Coconino County, Arizona

Description: This celebrated historic hotel located directly on the rim of the Grand Canyon first opened its doors in 1905. El Tovar was one of a chain of hotels and restaurants owned and operated by the Fred Harvey Company in conjunction with the Santa Fe Railway. The hotel was built from local limestone and Oregon pine. It cost $250,000 to build and many considered it the most elegant hotel west of the Mississippi River.

Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Grand Canyon National Park

USS Drum © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

2. USS Drum 

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: January 14, 1986

Location: Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama

Description: The submarine USS Drum (SS-228), a World War II veteran with 12 Battle Stars is credited with sinking 15 ships, a total of 80,580 tons of enemy shipping, the eighth highest of all U.S. submarines in total Japanese tonnage sunk. USS Drum is the oldest American submarine on display in the world.

Read more: Lucky A: USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park

Woodford Reserve Distillery © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

3. Labrot & Graham’s Old Oscar Pepper Distillery

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: May 16, 2000

Location: Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky

Description: Woodford Reserve Distillery is an award-winning distillery that produces a range of whiskeys including limited-edition releases like the Kentucky-only Distillery Series. Established by Elijah Pepper in 1812 the distillery is one of the oldest distilleries in Kentucky and is listed as a National Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places. Formerly known as the Old Oscar Pepper Distillery and later the Labrot & Graham Distillery, the distillery produces several whiskeys including Woodford Reserve Bourbon.

Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Massachusetts State House © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

4. Massachusetts Statehouse

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: December 19, 1960

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts

Description: Designed by Charles Bulfinch, the new and current State House has served as the seat of the Massachusetts government since its opening in 1798. Holding the legislative and executive branches, it sits adjacent to the former site of the historic Hancock mansion. 

Read more: Walk the Freedom Trail and Experience over 250 years of History

Santa Fe Plaza © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

5. Santa Fe Plaza

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: December 19, 1960

Location: Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico

Description: The Santa Fe Plaza, part of the Santa Fe Historic District is the heart of Santa Fe. It has been the social, political, commercial, and public center of Santa Fe since it was established in 1610 by Don Pedro de Peralta.

Today the Santa Fe Plaza is popular for tourists who are interested in Spanish, Native American, and Mexican cultures. Throughout the Plaza, one can find native jewelry, art, designs, music, and dances. Many annual events are held at the Santa Fe Plaza including Fiestas de Santa Fe, the Spanish Market, the Santa Fe Bandstand, and the Santa Fe Indian Market.

Read more: Santa Fe Never Goes Out of Style

The Breakers © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

6. The Breakers

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: October 12, 1994

Location: Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island

Description: The Breakers is a Vanderbilt mansion located on Ochre Point Avenue along the Atlantic Ocean. The Breakers is the grandest of Newport’s summer cottages and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family’s social and financial preeminence in the turn of the century America. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) established the family fortune in steamships and later in the New York Central Railroad which was a pivotal development in the industrial growth of the nation during the late 19th century.

Read more: Newport Cliff Walk: Ocean Views, Mansions and more

Middleton Place © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

7. Middleton Place

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: November 11, 1971

Location: Dorchester County, South Carolina

Description: Middleton Place is a 65-acre, 18th-centuryth -century rice plantation. The plantation is the birthplace of Arthur Middleton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The plantation is now a National Historic Landmark and home to America’s oldest landscaped gardens. The Middleton Place House Museum was built in 1755 as the gentlemen’s guest quarters and is the only structure still standing of the original three-building residential complex.

Fort Davis © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

8. Fort Davis

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: December 19, 1960

Location: Jeff Davis County, Texas

Description: Set in the rugged beauty of the Davis Mountains of West Texas, Fort Davis is the best surviving example of an Indian Wars frontier military post and one of the best preserved Buffalo Soldier forts in the Southwest. Fort Davis was strategically located to protect emigrants, mail coaches, and freight wagons on the Trans-Pecos portion of the San Antonio-El Paso Road and the Chihuahua Trail, and to control activities on the southern stem of the Great Comanche and Mescalero Apache war trails.

Fort Davis is important in understanding the presence of African Americans in the West and the frontier military; the 24th and 25th U.S. Infantry and the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry, all-black regiments established after the Civil War, were stationed at the post. When not chasing renegade bands of Apache or bandits, the soldiers helped build roads and telegraph lines.

Read more: Fort Davis National Historic Site: Frontier Military Post

Skyline Drive © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

9. Skyline Drive

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: October 6, 2008

Location: Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Description: The historic 105-mile Skyline Drive, a National Scenic Byway, traverses Shenandoah National Park, a beautiful, historic national treasure. The mountain-top highway winds its way north-south through Shenandoah’s nearly 200,000 acres along the spine of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. 75 scenic overlooks offer stunning views of the Shenandoah Valley to the west or the rolling Piedmont to the east. While you are gazing out at the views, keep a close eye on the road too, as deer, black bear, wild turkey, and a host of other woodland animals call Shenandoah home and regularly cross Skyline Drive in their daily travels.

Read more: Ride the Sky along Skyline Drive

Painted Desert Inn © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

10. Painted Desert Inn

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: May 28, 1987

Location: Navajo County, Arizona

Description: In its almost 100 years overlooking the Painted Desert, the inn has undergone many changes. The original building from the early 1920s was made of petrified wood. Today’s adobe facade dates to the 1930s renovation of the Painted Desert Inn.

The national historic landmark functions only as a museum now, with no overnight accommodation and food service. Interior displays highlight the building’s history, Route 66, and Civilian Conservation Corps. There are also restored murals by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie.

Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Petrified Forest National Park

Union Oyster House © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

11. Union Oyster House

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: May 5, 2003

Location: Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts

Description: The Union Oyster House located on the Freedom Trail enjoys the unique distinction of being America’s oldest restaurant. This Boston fixture, housed in a building dating back to Pre-Revolutionary days started serving food in 1826 and has continued ever since with the stalls and oyster bar, where Daniel Webster was a constant customer, in their original positions.

Read more: Walk the Freedom Trail and Experience over 250 years of History

Roma Bluffs © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

12. Roma Historic District

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: November 4, 1993

Location: Roma, Starr County, Texas

Description: Over two centuries of Texas borderland heritage surrounds the plaza in the historic river town of Roma. The plaza’s surviving structures as well as surrounding buildings trace Roma’s heritage back to its Spanish Colonial roots, providing a visual reminder of the beautiful border architecture once thriving throughout the region. 

Mission San Xavier del Bac © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

13. San Xavier del Bac Mission

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: October 9, 1960

Location: Pima County, Arizona

Description: Mission San Xavier del Bac is a place both historical and sacred that no visitor to Southern Arizona should miss. San Xavier is one of the finest examples of Spanish colonial architecture in the U.S. The oldest intact European structure in Arizona, the church interior is filled with marvelous original statuary and mural paintings.

The mission’s white walls and soaring bell tower can be seen for miles around and the site attracts tens of thousands of visitors a year. Plan to spend an hour or two walking the grounds of the mission and exploring the interior. I was awed by the glowing white walls against the deep blue sky—all set off by rugged desert terrain.

Read more: Mission San Xavier del Bac: White Dove of the Desert

Fort Ticonderoga © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

14. Fort Ticonderoga

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: October 9, 1960

Location: Essex County, New York

Description: Fort Ticonderoga, formerly Fort Carillon is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in northern New York. It was constructed between October 1755 and 1757 during the action in the North American theater of the Seven Years’ War often referred to in the US as the French and Indian War.

The fort was of strategic importance during the 18th-century colonial conflicts between Great Britain and France and again played an important role during the Revolutionary War. The name Ticonderoga comes from the Iroquois word tekontaró:ken meaning “it is at the junction of two waterways”.

Mesilla © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

15. Mesilla Plaza

Date recognized as a National Historic Landmark: July 4, 1961

Location: La Mesilla, Dona Ana County, New Mexico

Description: Mesilla did not become part of the United States until the mid-1850s but its history begins with the end of the Mexican-American War and the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe. Soon after, the sleepy border town would become one of the most important towns in the West, playing a key role in Western expansion. By the mid-1800s, Mesilla’s population had reached 3,000 making it the largest town and trade center between San Antonio and San Diego and an important stop for both the Butterfield Stage Line and the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Lines.

Read more: La Mesilla: Where History and Culture Become an Experience

Worth Pondering…

The past itself as historical change continues to accelerate has become the most surreal of subjects—making it possible to see a new beauty in what is vanishing.

—Susan Sontag

20 Top Things to Do in South Carolina

Quite simply, South Carolina has it all, y’all—and the state has delivered to visiting RVers with a friendly southern drawl

From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Midlands and the beaches and marshes of the Coast, South Carolina is full of natural beauty and historic gems. You’ll find a wide variety of attractions in the Palmetto State to explore including stately antebellum mansions, world-class golf courses, and sun-soaked beaches.

The Palmetto State contains many surprises. It’s the first state to open a library (1698) and its state fruit is the peach—it produces even more than Georgia. But beyond what you may not know about this coastal state, South Carolina has plenty of what you would expect from historic estates and cultural tours to gorgeous shorelines and its ever-present oak trees. It’s a state that blends old and new, land and sea.

With hundreds of years of history and postcard-perfect landscapes, South Carolina has something surprising in store for any RV traveler.

Charleston © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

1. Charleston Historic District

Frequently ranked as one of America’s best places to visit, Charleston is known for its candy-colored historic homes, friendly vibe, and a skyline dotted with grand church spires. Take a guided tour or head out on your own to view architectural landmarks like Rainbow Row, the Gibbes Museum of Art, and St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, the city’s oldest church. Then grab provisions from a nearby market like Butcher & the Bee and head to the Battery to enjoy a picnic under majestic oak trees with waterfront views.

>> Get more tips for visiting Charleston

Congaree National Park © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

2. Congaree National Park

Just 18 miles southeast of the state’s capital, Columbia, Congaree National Park contains the country’s largest tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest and one of the world’s largest concentrations of champion trees including a 167-foot point loblolly pine and 500-year-old cypress trees. Park highlights include the 2.6-mile Boardwalk Loop Trail which departs from the Harry Hampton Visitor Center and traverses through old-growth hardwood forest featuring bald cypress, tupelo, oak, and maple trees.

A marked canoe trail invites visitors to kayak or canoe their way through the park along Cedar Creek. More adventurous and experienced paddlers can take on the Congaree River Blue Trail, a designated 50-mile recreational paddling trail that stretches from Columbia to Congaree Park.  

>> Get more tips for visiting Congaree National Park

Walterboro © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

3. Walterboro

Established in 1826, the City of Walterboro is hailed as the front porch of the Lowcountry with its historic charm, plentiful natural resources, and warm Southern hospitality. For those reminiscing about the warmth and familiarity of an authentic small town, Walterboro provides the perfect opportunity to step back through time.

Treasure-hunters love scouring the village’s dozen antique shops finding everything from high-end antiques to fun vintage souvenirs or shopping the Colleton Farmers Market for farm-fresh produce and delicious homemade food products. Nature lovers can take advantage of South Carolina’s year-round balmy weather and enjoy the quiet solitude of the ACE Basin and Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary (see below).

>> Get more tips for visiting Walterboro

Hunting Island State Park © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

4. Hunting Island State Park

Located near historic Beaufort, four-mile-long Hunting Island is home to dense vegetation and wildlife making it the most natural of the Lowcountry Islands. Climb to the top of Hunting Island lighthouse to survey the palm-studded coastline. Bike the park’s trails through maritime forest to the nature center, fish off the pier, and go bird watching for herons, egrets, skimmers, oystercatchers, and wood storks.

Camping is available at the northern end of the park near the ocean. 102 sites offer water and 20/30/50 amp electric service. Campground roads are paved while the sites are packed soil. Some sites accommodate RVs up to 40 feet; others up to 28 feet. The campground is convenient to hot showers with restroom facilities, beach walkways, and a playground.

Charleston © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

5. King Street in Charleston

Once Charleston’s main thoroughfare, historic King Street bisects the peninsula from north to south. Its colorful buildings house restaurants, bars, and shops like Saks Fifth Avenue, Apple, and Anthropologie along with local gems like estate furniture shop George C. Birlant and Co., men’s clothier M. Dumas & Son, women’s ready-to-wear designer collective Hampden Clothing, family-owned fine jewelry store Croghan’s Jewel Box, and rare and used purveyors Blue Bicycle Books.

Edisto Island © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

6. Edisto Island 

Edisto Island is a sea island in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, a rustic world of majestic live oaks that are thickly draped with light-as-air beards of Spanish moss, salt marshes, meandering creeks, and historic plantations. Activities include touring Edisto Island, Edisto Island State Park (See below), the beach, and driving/walking tour of Botany Bay Plantation (see below).

>> Get more tips for visiting Edisto Island

Peachoid, Gaffney © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

7. Gaffney

Southern charm makes Gaffney a desirable place to visit especially if your RV is a motorhome built on a Freightliner chassis. The Freightliner Custom Chassis Factory Service Center offers six service bays, 20 RV electric hookup, and factory-trained technicians. Be sure to visit the factory and see how the custom chassis is produced for the RV market.

And the Peachoid, a 135-foot structures that functions as one million gallon water tank is an iconic landmark that draws attention to one of the area’s major agricultural products.

Greenville © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

8. Greenville

As the hub of South Carolina’s Upcountry region, Greenville has been finding its way onto many national Top Ten lists for its lively arts scene, modern downtown, and livability. Known for its exceptional beauty, the two most distinctive natural features of downtown Greenville are its lush, tree-lined Main Street and the stunning Reedy River Falls located in the heart of Falls Park (see below).

Crossing this urban oasis is the award-winning Liberty Bridge and its postcard-perfect photo ops. Shop up and down Augusta Road shopping district and marvel at all the public art that energizes this city.

>> Get more tips for visiting Greenville

St. Helena Island © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

9. St. Helena Island 

In the center of the island surrounded by Spanish moss-draped oak trees you’ll find the Penn Center, a 50-acre historic district comprising 25 historic buildings and structures. The Penn Center was one of the first schools in the country where formerly enslaved persons could receive an education. The center was visited by Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s and continues to work toward preserving and celebrating Gullah culture to this day. Visitors can learn about African American history, art, and culture on self-guided tours and group tours.

Middleton Place © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

10. Middleton Place

Home to America’s oldest landscaped gardens, Middleton Place is a former plantation and a National Historic Landmark. Only one part of the original house still stands and now functions as a museum complete with original furnishings.

The Plantation Stableyards are designed to give visitors a taste of 18th-19th century working plantation life and the beautiful 65 acres of gardens on the property have been planned so that there are flowers in bloom all year round. Interpretive tours of the various areas are offered for a fee and nature walks and guided kayak tours are also available.

Reedy Falls, Greenville © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

11. Stroll through Falls Park on the Reedy

This stunning, 32-acre green space in Greenville’s historic West End is the ultimate urban oasis. Stroll along the walking trails to view landscaped gardens, public art installations, dramatic stonework, and a wall from the site’s original 18th-century grist mill.

For the city’s best views and the park’s namesake picturesque waterfalls, cross the 355-foot suspension Liberty Bridge, the longest single-sided bridge in the Western Hemisphere. After visiting the park, head to Passerelle Bistro to dine on French-inspired cuisine like escargot and crab cakes with a view.

Magnolia Plantation © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

12. Magnolia Plantation & Gardens

Founded by the Drayton family in 1676, Magnolia Plantation & Gardens has been open to visitors since 1870. It has been owned by the same family for more than three centuries and over the years they have carefully tended and added to the gardens.

There is also a beautiful plantation house on the property and guided tours are available for a small fee. Several other guided tours are offered as well, including a train tour, a boat tour, and a tour of the plantation’s slave cabins. The gardens are open 365 days a year, but hours vary according to the season.

Aububon Swamp © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

13. Audubon Swamp Garden

The Audubon Swamp is a black water cypress and tupelo swamp that’s lovely, mysterious, and unique to this area. Once a freshwater reservoir used for rice cultivation the entire 60 acres is traversed by boardwalks, bridges, and dikes featuring all varieties of local mammals, birds, and reptiles including bald eagles, herons and egrets, otters, turtles and alligators. Allow at least 45 minutes for a self-guided walk. A 45-minute nature boat tour takes visitors through ancient rice fields.

Botany Bay Plantation © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

14. Botany Bay Plantation

If you want to see the South Carolina coast the way the original settlers did, take a step back in time to Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve located adjacent to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the northeast corner of Edisto Island. The 3,363-acre preserve includes almost three miles of undeveloped, breathtaking beachfront that you’ll never forget. Botany Bay is very accessible; you can tour most of the property in half a day or less. The 6.5-mile route begins along a magnificent avenue of oaks interspersed with loblolly pine and cabbage palmetto.

>> Get more tips for visiting Botony Bay

Cowpens National Battlefield © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

15. Cowpens National Battlefield

On January 17, 1781, the Americans won a decisive battle against the better-trained British Army. The Battle of Cowpens was over in less than an hour. This battle was the event which started British General Cornwallis on his march north to his eventual surrender at Yorktown just nine months later. It was one of those special moments in time when destiny is forever changed. The march to Yorktown had begun.

>> Get more tips for visiting Cowpens National Battlefield

Folly Beach © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

16. Folly Beach

Folly Beach is one of America’s last true beach towns. Just minutes from historic downtown Charleston, Folly Beach is a 12 square mile barrier island that is packed with things to do, see, and eat. Surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Folly River, visitors enjoy six miles of wide beaches, surfing, fishing, biking, kayaking, boating, and eco-tours. Folly Island was named after its coastline which was once densely packed with trees and undergrowth: the Old English name for such an area was folly.

Peace Center, Greenville © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

17. The Peace Center

The Peace Center is situated in the heart of Greenville’s downtown area and is largely considered the upstate’s cultural hub. The multipurpose venue is capable of seating 2,100 people in its concert hall, 1,400 people in its amphitheater, and 400 people in its theater. It has event spaces, rehearsal spaces, different stages, and more, making it incredibly versatile for acts of all kinds.

Jazz, Broadway, musical concerts, comedy, political events, and celebrity acts all arrive here to take the stage. There’s also the South Carolina Children’s Theater and the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, which call the Peace Center their home. With all its variety, there’s no surprise that watching a show here is one of the top things to do in South Carolina.

Frances Beidler Forest © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

18. Frances Beidler Forest

Frequented by photographers and nature lovers from around the world, Audubon’s 18,000-acre bird and wildlife sanctuary offers a beauty unsurpassed in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Frances Beidler is the world’s largest virgin cypress-tupelo swamp forest—a pristine ecosystem untouched for millennia. Enjoy thousand-year-old trees, a range of wildlife, and the quiet flow of blackwater, all from the safety of a 1.75-mile boardwalk.

Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

19. Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary

There is a beautiful wildlife sanctuary located in the middle of Walterboro. Easily reached from I-95, the Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary (formerly the Great Swamp Sanctuary), is a great place to leave the traffic behind, stretch your legs, and enjoy nature. Located within the ACE Basin, the East Coast’s largest estuarine preserve, the sanctuary contains a network of boardwalks, hiking, biking, and canoe trails that are perfect for viewing a diversity of a black water bottomland habitat. The 3.5-mile loop is paved and well maintained.

>> Get more tips for visiting Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary

Edisto Beach State Park © Rex Vogel, all rights reserved

20. Edisto Beach State Park

Located on Edisto Island, Edisto Beach State Park is one of four oceanfront parks in South Carolina. Its 1.25-mile public beach is ideal for swimmers and beachcombers—and also a nesting site for loggerhead turtles.

The state park is situated neatly between a salt marsh and the beach making it possible to hear the waves lapping at the shore regardless of whether you’re staying in an RV, tent, or cabin. Located in the town of Edisto Beach, it’s just a short walk or bike ride from the grocery store, gas station, restaurants, and shops.

The park has an impressive array of camping sites in oceanfront and maritime forest habitats and most can accommodate RVs, some up to 40 feet. There are 64 oceanside sites and 33 sites along the salt marsh. Many sites offer easy access to the sea, sand, and sun. There is also a restroom and showering facility on the premises.

>> Get more tips for visiting Edisto Beach State Park

Worth Pondering…

As the old song declares, “Nothin’ could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning,” or almost any other time.