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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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”.
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
