No presidential monument is as famous or majestic as Mount Rushmore, the enormous sculpture carved into a natural rock face. Completed in 1941, the monument features the faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, chosen to represent the birth, growth, development and preservation of the United States, respectively. The site is not without controversy, as it was built on sacred indigenous land, violating a historic treaty with the Lakota people.
A celebration of both John Adams and John Quincy Adams, this quaint national park features the birthplaces of both presidents, as well as other buildings connected to the Adams family. The Adams’ Stone Library is also on the site, featuring over 12,000 of the family’s most prized books. In addition to the buildings, the park is full of picturesque gardens.
Dealey Plaza looks like a typical urban public space, but it has great historic significance as the site of the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. There is an “x” on the street where the assassination took place and a concrete memorial located near the plaza. The comprehensive Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is located in the former book depository where Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots that took President Kennedy’s life.
The beautiful natural landscape and rugged horseback riding trails of this park in North Dakota are a perfect match for the spirit of Theodore Roosevelt, largely regarded as America’s most adventurous president. The park includes Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch Site, which the President often referred to as his "home ranch", as well as the appropriately rustic Maltese Cross Cabin, his first cabin in the region.
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President Jimmy Carter quite famously got his start as a humble peanut farmer in Plains, Georgia and this historical park preserves many aspects of his early life, including his boyhood farm and school, and the railway station that he once used as his campaign headquarters. In the town of Plains, visitors can also find a statue of a peanut with a cartoon depiction of Carter’s trademark full lips.
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Hoover Dam is an important piece of American infrastructure, but it's also meant to honour its namesake, President Herbert Hoover. Finished in the 1930s, it was originally named after the president, but became known as Boulder Dam after Hoover lost his bid for re-election. The name didn’t really stick, though, and in 1947 Congress officially re-named it the Hoover Dam. It remains the most famous (and most useful) monument to Hoover’s legacy.
The people of Rapid City – located just a half hour drive from Mount Rushmore – have created an extra piece of presidential lore for history-loving tourists to enjoy. The streets of the town are lined with life-sized bronze statues of 43 presidents of the past. Visitors can download a self-guided walking tour manual to help them hunt down the likenesses of James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Barack Obama and other works of presidential art.
Montpelier is the palatial home of the Fourth President of the United States, James Madison, and his wife Dolley. The house and grounds have been fully restored and the main building now stands as an interpretive centre. Montpelier was a working plantation, which means it also serves as a reminder that early presidents like Madison participated in slavery. This fact is recognised through exhibits that pay tribute to the people who were enslaved on the property.
Also known as “Grant’s Tomb”, this memorial is where 18th President and Commanding General of the Union Army Ulysses S. Grant was laid to rest. But it’s much more than a grave site. The mausoleum is a striking landmark in Manhattan, funded by over 90,000 donors. Its 1897 completion was a true event with over a million people attending the opening day parade. To this day, the memorial is the largest mausoleum in North America.
Another presidential home that only exists because of the labour of enslaved men, women and children, Andrew Jackson’s home and final resting place acknowledges the difficult history of the Seventh President of the United States. Today the Hermitage serves as a museum that houses many of Jackson’s personal belongings, with the grounds of the former cotton plantation providing green space for visitors to explore.
Richard Nixon may not have the best reputation as far as presidents go, but he does have a very well-respected presidential library. The building sits on land that Nixon once owned and both the President and his wife Pat are buried on site. The building includes a museum stocked with Nixon artefacts, including his presidential helicopter. The house where the President was born is also located on the property.
Many presidential historic sites mark the birthplace of the president in question, but this one marks the place where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. The classic old theatre houses a museum detailing Lincoln’s life and presidency, as well as artefacts pertaining to perpetrator John Wilkes Booth and the assassination itself. These include replicas of the clothes that Lincoln was wearing at the time of his death.
One of the most iconic structures in the entire United States, the Washington Monument stands as a beacon of freedom and liberty. Construction on the monument began in 1848 and didn’t wrap up until 1884 (it paused for over 20 years due to a lack of funds during the Civil War). The obelisk is indeed a tribute to the country’s first president, George Washington, though it has come to represent much more to many Americans.
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Martin Van Buren, the Eight President of the United States (1837 to 1841), bought this charming estate – named Lindenwald – during his presidency and continued living there until his death. Today he’s not the most well-known president by any stretch, but this site has considerable historic significance. Van Buren, a one-term president, ran two presidential campaigns from the estate, including one with the Free Soil Party.
Better known as the LBJ Ranch or the “Texas White House,” this historic park in Texas Hill Country is the go-to for anyone interested in Lyndon B. Johnson’s legacy. The vast park area not only features the Johnsons’ famous ranch house home, but also a reconstructed version of the President’s boyhood home and family cemetery, where both Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson were laid to rest.
Woodrow Wilson was born in Virginia, but he spent 13 years of his childhood in Augusta, back when he was still known as “Tommy” (Woodrow is actually his middle name). This house, which was then owned by the church where Wilson’s father was a pastor, is now a National Historic Landmark. The Wilson family later moved to South Carolina, where there is another historic boyhood house preserved in Wilson’s memory.
Andrew Johnson, who took over the presidency after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, had a short but complicated time in office (he was the first president to be impeached) – all of which is documented at this historical site. The area features two of his homes, one of which was used as a headquarters during the Civil War. Johnson was also a former tailor and his preserved tailor shop sits on the site’s grounds too.
There’s no better place to learn about America’s first President than Mount Vernon, George Washington’s plantation. The jewel of the site is Washington’s mansion, built in 1734 by his father, which served as Washington’s home until his death (and beyond, as he continues to lie in a tomb on the property). As with most plantations from this era, Mount Vernon has a history of slavery, a story that is carefully detailed in the site’s exhibitions.
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Florida’s only presidential museum, the “Little White House” served as President Harry S. Truman’s winter getaway. The house was originally built as housing for naval officers, but by the 1910s it was being used as a vacation home for US presidents. Several presidents have used the house, but an exhausted post-war Truman used it the most, spending a total of 175 days there from 1946 to 1952. Today it’s used as a museum to honour Truman’s life and presidency. New for 2021 are tours around the island city in the limousine used by President Truman himself.
A modern president requires a modern-looking presidential library. This museum wasn’t completed until 1979, but Kennedy himself conceived the idea for a comprehensive presidential library before his assassination in 1963. His family and colleagues completed it as a tribute to his vision. The library houses all of his administration’s archives, as well as museum exhibits that not only detail Kennedy’s life, but also his extraordinary cultural impact in America.
A beautiful example of a mansion preserved in luxurious mid-century style, the Eisenhower National Historic Site showcases the house that Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower lived in from 1950 onward (minus their time in the White House, of course). The house is still full of the Eisenhowers' original furnishings and is surrounded by beautifully maintained farmland.
Named after Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” State of the Union Address in 1941, this park on Manhattan’s Roosevelt Island was completed in 2012, many years after it was initially drawn up by late architect Louis Kahn. The beautiful park is designed for relaxation and reflection. Its highlight is a physical monument at the tip of the island with a large bust of Roosevelt and quotes from his famous speech.
Before becoming a luxury hotel in the 1980s, this property was an exclusive club for the rich and famous that hosted many historic figures. In 1915 it was involved in the world’s first transcontinental call: President Woodrow Wilson (in Washington, DC) got on the phone with Alexander Graham Bell in New York, plus a few other parties, including AT&T President Theodore Newton Vail, who took the call from inside the club.
This modern-looking building, completed in 2004, is home to President Bill Clinton’s official presidential library as well as the offices of the Clinton Foundation. In addition to the entirety of Clinton’s records from his time in the White House, the library and museum features exhibits detailing the Clinton presidency, as well as the continuing work of the Foundation. On top of all of this, it offers a beautiful view of the Arkansas River.
Home to 44 million pages of records, two million photographs and 122,000 artefacts, this facility paints a full picture of the administration of America’s 41st President. In addition to those library archives, the museum features a selection of rotating exhibits and permanent displays depicting Bush’s life, as well as the legacy of his family. The library is located in College Station, which is also home to Texas A&M University.
Federal Hall is an incredibly important historical building: the original structure served as New York’s City Hall and then it became the site of the United States’ first Congress, where George Washington himself was first inaugurated in 1789. The current columned Greek Revival building is not the original (it was built in the 1830s), but it stands in the same place and now serves as a museum commemorating the birth of the American government.
The Ronald Reagan Library is the largest of the federally operated presidential libraries and home to over 60 million pages of documents and 1.6 million photos from Reagan’s time in office. It’s also a beautiful place to visit, sitting in the California hills not far from Los Angeles. The museum portion features a replica of Reagan’s Oval Office, many of Nancy Reagan’s outfits, a retired Air Force One and large pieces of the Berlin Wall, among other important artefacts.
This impressive Greek Revival-style home, which looks over the city of Cincinnati, is the birthplace of William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States. Taft was born here in 1857 and lived here as a child with his family, including his father Alphonso, who eventually became the US Attorney General and Secretary of War.
Another of Washington DC’s greatest hits, the Jefferson Memorial is one of the capital’s most iconic memorials. A straight line runs between the memorial and the White House, highlighting Jefferson’s special place in American history. The Classical architectural style is meant to mimic Jefferson’s own personal taste, as exhibited at Monticello, his family’s plantation home in Virginia, which has a similar aesthetic.
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