From ancient Puebloan cliff dwellings to European-era log cabins, we take a look at some of the oldest man-made structures you can visit in every US state. Many offer historic tours, tremendous walking trails and fascinating museum exhibits where you can find out more about the yesteryear of the USA.
The Russian American Magazin was built by the first permanent Russian settlers in Alaska in the first decade of the 19th century, a time when the city of Kodiak was known as Pavlovsk. Using a form of traditional Russian log construction, the building served as a storage facility for furs (like seal and sea otter). Once Alaska became American territory in 1867, the building was used as a private residence, social hub and boarding house before finally becoming the Kodiak History Museum. Inside you'll explore rooms detailing the history of the city, with opportunities to dress up too.
In the northwestern corner of Alabama lies the Florence Indian Mound, an ancient man-made structure built between AD 100 and 500. A sign at the base of the steps explains that the grassy landmark was probably used as a base for ceremonial temples or chief’s houses, and was encircled by an earthen wall. You can climb the steps to the top to take in the ancient wonder; it’s thought smaller mounds, villages and cultivated fields once lay nearby.
Love this? Follow our Facebook page for more travel inspiration
Arizona is home to dozens of ancient dwellings, pueblos and ruins. One of the oldest we know of is the Mummy Cave in Canyon de Chelly (pictured). Ancient Puebloans built at least 70 rooms here, believed to date back to AD 300, which you can view from the Mummy Cave Overlook on the park's North Rim Drive. Otherwise, the Pueblo Grande Ruins near Phoenix, built around AD 450 by the Hohokam people, are also worth seeing, and include a Mesoamerican-inspired ball court the Hohokam once played on. You can also visit the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park to enjoy exhibits, a trail system and special events and programmes throughout the year.
The Plum Bayou Mounds are what remains of a large, ceremonial complex. One of the mounds stands at about 48 feet (14.6m), making it the tallest Native American mound in Arkansas. These earthen mounds were inhabited between AD 650 and 1050 and you can explore them for yourself on a guided tour (booking recommended). The Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park is just a short drive from Little Rock.
This lovely landmark was initially founded in 1776 by a Basque Franciscan missionary as a simple adobe chapel, while the Spanish-style structure that surrounds it (pictured) was completed in 1782. It later served as a private ranch residence before returning to the Catholic church in the late 19th century. Today it features museum rooms and exhibits, while in the gardens you can explore the original 1776 chapel on an audio tour.
Possibly dating back to around AD 450, these dwellings housed Ancestral Puebloans who lived in this region for more than 700 years. In total, there are 5,000 or so archaeological sites to explore within the national park. If you visit, make sure you see the incredible homes carved into and built around the rocky, sandstone landscape.
One of the longest-standing – and most impressive – stone structures in New England is the Henry Whitfield House in Connecticut. It was constructed using local granite stone in 1639 for Henry Whitfield (one of the town of Guilford’s founders). You can visit the centuries-old cottage as part of the Henry Whitfield State Museum.
With its red exterior and green roof, Ryves Holt House looks like something out of a children’s book. Built in 1665, it’s reportedly the oldest house in Delaware. It acquired its current name in 1723, when Ryves Holt (the first Chief Justice of Delaware) bought the property. Today, the colourful house contains a visitor centre and museum with insightful walking tours available.
The incredible Crystal River Archaeological State Park boasts Native American burial mounds, temple mounds, a plaza area, a village and a shell midden (rubbish heap). The site is believed to date back as far as 1000 BC, with the largest mound, Mound A (pictured), being built around AD 600 out of foraged oyster shells for a high-ranking member of the community. As well as exploring the museum and interpretive exhibits, you can ascend the 'Stairway to Heaven' of Mound A.
Several thousand Native Americans would once have lived at the Etowah Mounds settlement, a 54-acre site roughly occupied from AD 1000 to 1550. An important centre for the Mississippian culture, the site contains a plaza, a village area, a defensive ditch and six earthen mounds – one of them a burial mound which housed the costumed corpses of village nobility. Looming above it all is a 63-foot (19m) flat-topped earthen knoll that probably once housed the settlement's main priest. Today the mounds make up perhaps the most intact Mississippian culture site in the southeastern US, and welcome a steady stream of visitors with 20 picnic tables and a gift shop.
Mo’okini Heiau is still a place of worship: a living, spiritual temple for Native Hawaiians. We don’t know for sure when it was built – oral histories vary between the 5th and 13th-14th centuries – but it was used for rituals involving human sacrifice, typically dedicated to the war god Ku. The Heiau is enclosed by stone walls which were constructed using a dry stacking technique creating a slanted rectangle shape. Open daily (except Wednesday) and free to visit, it’s best reached by following the trailhead – just don’t enter the sacred site itself.
The Mission of the Sacred Heart is as significant today as it was when it was built, between 1850 and 1853. Italian Catholic missionaries and members of the Coeur d’Alene Native American tribe constructed the church without using nails, used tin cans for chandeliers and formed walls using grass, straw and mud. While it was heavily reconstructed in 1975, visitors today have the chance to explore the building, visitor centre and the rest of the Old Mission State Park.
Spread over 2,200 acres, this site in western Illinois dating back to AD 700 is the largest pre-Columbian site north of Mexico. It’s thought that Cahokia, once larger than contemporary London, was home to around 120 mounds, with its 'golden age' spanning from AD 1100 to 1200. Today, visitors can explore prehistoric earthworks including the gargantuan Monks Mound, which reaches 98 feet (30m) and is thought to be the largest of its kind in the continent. Numerous trails lace between the mounds and guided tours typically run during summer.
The 10 earthworks that make up Mounds State Park were built between 250 BC and AD 50, and the largest earthwork – the Great Mound – dates to 160 BC. These piles were the work of the Adena-Hopewell people, who gathered at these elevated areas for ceremonies and to view astronomical alignments such as the summer and winter solstices. The park also includes a visitor centre, nature centre and dedicated campground.
While the Toolesboro Mound Group is probably the earliest Native American site in Iowa you can visit – dating to 200 BC – the Louis Arriandeaux Log House makes for a more memorable trip. Built around 1827 by a French fur trader from Canada, it was originally windowless and a chimney was added at a later date. The cabin has been deconstructed and rebuilt several times; today, it’s set in its third location at the Mathias Ham Historic Site, with public and private tours available.
You’ll find the USA’s most northeastern pueblo (settlement) ruins in Scott County, Kansas. Dated to AD 1650, many archaeologists reckon this was originally a seven-room pueblo in El Cuartelejo, a Plains Apache village. Then, in 1664, Taos Indians sought refuge in the village after escaping Spanish rule, cohabiting with the Apaches who already lived there. See their village for yourself along the Western Vistas Historic Byway.
The Wickliffe Mounds Site, dating from AD 1100-1350, is a prime example of how the Mississippian peoples once lived, with houses built around a central plaza. Head into the museum (open mid-November to mid-March) to marvel at the excavated artefacts, from pottery to weaving instruments, then clamber to the top of the Ceremonial, Chief’s and Burial Mounds on the Archaeology Walking Trail Tour.
These are the world's oldest bridges that are still standing
These two mounds contain remnants of the oldest known man-made structure in North America. The mounds likely served as a ceremonial site and were aligned with night-sky constellations. Radiocarbon analysis revealed that Mound B (originally constructed 11,000 years ago) was demolished and rebuilt around the same time Mound A was constructed, roughly 6,000 years ago.
Captain Richard Hunnewell – one of Scarborough’s founders – built Hunnewell House between 1684 and 1702, and in 1752 it became a school. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in recent decades it was relocated to Black Point Road. You can't go inside the house, but you can scope out its exterior and admire the ongoing work recreating the original garden.
You might think you’re in a quaint, English village when you visit the Old Trinity Church, as it was built by English settlers in the late 17th century. Following the American Revolution it switched from Anglican to Protestant Episcopal, with a surrounding graveyard that now contains veterans from every American war. The marker sign outside the still-functioning church provides more information on its historic details, from the original black walnut altar to the crest of England's Queen Anne.
Proudly taking the titles of oldest known wooden structure and oldest surviving timber frame house in North America, Fairbanks House was built for Jonathan Fairbanks, his wife Grace and their six children. It housed eight generations of the Fairbanks family until 1904. Tree ring dating pinpointed its construction to 1637-1641, and today it’s a historic house museum, with tours available between May and October.
Get hands-on with history at Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island, northern Michigan. The former military outpost was built by the British army between 1780 and 1782 and switched between British and American possession until the US took it for the final time in 1815. It remained active until 1895. The fort is open to the public and boasts themed exhibitions, tours and live programmes where you can have a go at firing a cannon.
Take a look at these ghost towns hiding in the world's deserts
In Minnesota, there are preserved burial mounds dating as far back as 3000 BC in Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, but the Round Tower at Fort Snelling is likelier to command your attention. Originally called Fort St Anthony, this stone fortress was built between 1820 and 1825 and was practically impregnable, with musket slits that allowed defenders to fire at enemies. Today, you can learn about the site at the restored Plank Museum & Visitor Center.
Native American earthen mounds are scattered across Mississippi, but the LaPointe-Krebs House has been scientifically confirmed to be the oldest standing structure in the state. Dating back to 1757, the French colonial-period property was previously known as the Old Spanish Fort – except it wasn’t Spanish, or a fort. The ancestral home of the Krebs family, it originally consisted of two rooms and a fireplace but was constantly added to, with its last additions in the early 1900s. There’s an on-site museum where you can find out more about its construction and history.
For a long time it was thought that the Bolduc House was constructed in the 1790s, but it's now possible that parts of the vertical log house could date to as early as the 1780s. Members of French-Canadian merchant Louis Bolduc's family lived here until 1949, and it reopened as a house museum in 1958. Today, the property forms part of the Centre for French Colonial Life Campus, where you can also visit three more buildings showcasing what life was like for French-speaking colonists.
Set in the remote prairie, this small log cabin was built between 1846 and 1847 by Scottish-born fur trapper Angus McDonald. It formed part of the Hudson’s Bay Trading Post until 1871, trading in the likes of fur, buffalo meat and rawhide. Today, a visitor centre and museum are still in the works, but two other cabins – one with historical artefacts and displays – have joined the original storehouse, so you can really get a sense of what Fort Connah was like.
The Bellevue Log Cabin is regarded as Nebraska's oldest building. Built close to the Missouri River in 1830, it was relocated further from the stream following a cholera outbreak in 1835. Then, in 1850, it moved again to the spot where you can visit it today. The dinky cabin was built with cottonwood logs, and was eventually enlarged to twice its original size. You can contact the Sarpy County Historical Museum and Society for a tour of the property, otherwise you can simply read the historic marker outside.
You need to see these ancient ruins at least once in your lifetime
Although partially reconstructed, you can still see sections of the original Old Mormon Fort that was built by Mormon missionaries in 1855. The 150 square foot (14sqm) outpost served as a station for travellers, while the rest of the site – in startling contrast to its downtown Las Vegas location – includes reconstructions of the creek the fort sat along, an adobe building, historic wagons and a ranch house. You'll feel as if you’ve stepped back in time, and both the fort and the visitor centre contain artefacts found at the 19th-century site.
Combining English and American architecture, Jackson House was built in 1664 with a tremendous amount of wood. Later additions included a lean-to by 1715 and bedchamber in 1727, and the property remained in the Jackson family until 1947. Visit the house-turned-museum between June and October and check out the parlour and the kitchen-like gathering place, imagining the Jackson family huddled together.
Claiming to be the oldest log cabin still standing in the Western Hemisphere, C A Nothnagle Log House was built by Swedish or Finnish settlers using oak logs and hardwood pegs in place of nails. The oldest part of the house is thought to date to 1638-1643, and while it’s a private residence today, the owner runs tours (by appointment) and has a Facebook page. If you do visit, you’ll see some of the original features, like 16th-century ironware, a brick fireplace and even a 300-year-old shoe found beneath the floorboards.
New Mexico is brimming with ancient sites you can still visit, from the Taos Pueblo (built around AD 1325) which still houses permanent residents today, to the AD 1100 Aztec Ruins located along the Trail of the Ancients Scenic Byway. Chaco Culture National Historical Park likely holds the oldest remains, with structures built from around AD 850. Chetro Ketl (pictured), a three-acre ceremonial site or royal palace, was built around AD 990. From the visitor centre, a nine-mile loop road runs through five major sites, or you can book onto a guided Ranger tour.
Wyckoff House has stood in Brooklyn since 1652, its Flemish stylings apparent with a steep, sloping roof and split Dutch doors. It was almost demolished in the 1950s but thankfully stood the test of time, opening as a museum in 2001. While it’s temporarily closed for repairs after being damaged by Hurricane Ida, you can still take a self-guided audio trail around the building, surrounded by grass and trees.
Confirmed by tree ring dating as the oldest building in North Carolina, Lane House was likely built in 1719, although nobody knows who the original owners were. It consists of one-and-a-half floors and, when it was first constructed, had two rooms on the ground floor and two in the attic. While the house is still occupied, you can drive to Edenton – the first Colonial capital of North Carolina – to admire the structure from the outside.
Prominent Metis (mixed European and Native American) fur trader Antoine Gingras constructed this oak log trading post in 1844 using dovetailed and pegged joints. The original logs are still exposed today (pictured), and remain fragile. However, the second building on the site, the family home, has been restored to its colourful former glory. Step inside to read the interpretative panels telling you more about this historic place, as well as about Métis culture.
Ohio is another state peppered with ancient mounds. Today, six remaining mounds make up the Wolf Plains in Athens, built by the Adena culture between 800 BC and AD 100. This area was a centre of activity in ancient times, with everything from sports enclosures to spiritual sites. Other mounds in Ohio have similar dates; the legendary Great Serpent Mound (pictured) in Peebles, created from around 800 BC, is the world’s largest serpent effigy.
One burial mound, two temple mounds and nine house mounds make up the Spiro Mounds archaeological site – once an important regional and religious centre for the Caddoan Mississippian culture, a prehistoric Native American people whose descendants make up the modern Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. Built and occupied between AD 850 and 1450, the 80-acre site is best known for its burial mound, which has yielded thousands of artefacts despite sustaining heavy damage in the 1930s. The mounds claimed a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and remain Oklahoma's only prehistoric Native American archaeological site open to the public.
With no known historical written records about this house, which was only discovered in 1984, experts are still unsure where the Molalla Log House originally stood – or even what purpose it served. Historians discovered that the house had been moved from an unknown location in 1892, so it was recently shifted again to its current location, a setting (hopefully) more similar to its origin. Tree ring dating tells us that the false hemlock logs used to construct it were felled in 1799, and it’s been theorised that the house was built by fur traders from Canada. Once the little log house has been restored, it will open for scheduled tours.
You’ll feel like you’ve stepped back in time when you visit the Lower Swedish Cabin in Drexel Hill, which looks much the same as it did when it was built by Swedish settlers between the 1630s and 1650s. The wooden timber structure served as a trading post used by the Swedish colony and the local Native Americans to exchange tools, beads and furs. It was fully restored in 1987 and a historical marker outside the property details its brief stint as a location for the film industry in the early-20th century.
Will we ever solve the mystery of who built Newport Tower? Generally accepted to have been constructed as a windmill in the 17th century (parts of the structure were radiocarbon-dated to 1635-1698), there are also theories that it could be of Portuguese, Scottish, Chinese or even Viking origin. Several astronomical alignments add to the mystery too. Visit the structure and Newport Tower Museum in Touro Park to decide for yourself…
With its original gambrel roof and surrounding cobblestone road, this petite palace really does make you feel as if you're walking the streets of France. This is the Pink House, located in Charleston's French Quarter, built in 1690 as a tavern (and brothel). It has since been used as a law office, private residence and now an art gallery, with one room on each of its three floors. There's talk of it returning to a private residence again, so see it while you can – but if you do miss out its photogenic exterior and plaque make a visit worthwhile.
Over one thousand years old, this Native American village is the only pre-Columbian archaeological site in South Dakota that you can visit. You can watch archaeologists at work with ongoing excavations, then visit the Boehnen Memorial Museum to see a reconstruction of the lodge that once stood here. If you're here in winter, come for the annual Lakota Games on Ice, where the Lakota people teach traditional games.
Venture into prehistoric America at the Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park in Manchester, Coffee County. Humans occupied this land from at least 6000 BC and the Old Stone Fort is its centrepiece, with remnants of raised walls (pictured) on a large ancient earthwork. It’s widely thought to resemble a Native American ritual enclosure and dates to the Middle Woodland period (100 BC-AD 500). Don’t miss the park’s excellent museum.
The Caddo people established a village and ceremonial centre here around AD 800, before abandoning the site in the 13th century. You could easily spend hours at the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site, where you can see two temple mounds and one burial mound via a walking trail, step inside a reconstructed dwelling (like the one pictured here) and explore the visitor centre's exhibits and displays about the early Caddo people's everyday life.
We have the ancient Puebloans to thank for the myriad cliff dwellings scattered across Utah. Tucked into the rocks at Bears Ears National Monument is the River House Ruin (pictured), dating to AD 900, which contains the well-preserved remains of two houses and a kiva (a room used by the Puebloans for religious rituals). Similarly, the structures at Cutthroat Castle at Hovenweep National Monument were built between AD 750-1300. You’ll need to take a 4WD part of the way and hike the rest of the way to visit both sites.
Tree ring dating puts the Governor Hunt House as one of Vermont's oldest structures. In 1764, bachelor Jonathan Hunt built the house and lived here with his brother, also a bachelor. In 1779, Jonathan Hunt finally married a woman named Lavinia Swan, and the house was then passed down through generations of the Hunt family. It’s had various uses over the years – summer retreat, farmstead, office space – but in 2020 it was donated to the Friends of Vernon Center, who hope to develop it into a community centre.
Head to Jamestown, home of America's first permanent English settlement, to see a number of still-standing structures dating from the early 17th century onwards, including this brick tower from 1639. Beneath it is the foundation of a church from 1617, which is still visible through glass panels. There's plenty of Native American history in Virginia too – Ely Mound is an ancient earthwork built between AD 1200 and 1650 and while it’s not much to look at today, it yielded fascinating discoveries related to Native American burial practices.
Prince’s Cabin is a small timber structure built in 1837 by the Hudson's Bay Company for a Cayuse headman known as 'the Prince'. It later became the property of non-native owners, and moved from its original location to the Frenchtown Historic Site in Walla Walla. Unfortunately, you can’t step inside this time capsule from the 19th-century Pacific Northwest. Still, there are historical markers and interpretative panels dotted around outside so you can find out more.
You can visit most of West Virginia’s ancient earth mounds, but the Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville is one of the most impressive. Back in 250 BC, the Adena people used more than 57,000 tonnes of sand and earth to create one of the largest Adena mounds ever found, and today you can follow a winding trail up to the top. The site now forms part of the Grave Creek Archaeological Complex, and a trip to the museum will take you all the way back to the Ice Age.
This is the best budget-friendly family day out in your state
Tank Cottage forms part of Heritage Hill State Park, an open-air museum. Built in 1776, the property is named after Niels Otto Tank who bought the property in 1850. The house is furnished with centuries-old pieces of Dutch origin, as the historical marker outside explains. Also in Wisconsin is the Lizard Mound Park, where you can follow a mile-long nature trail around a number of Native American mounds (built between AD 650 and 1200), built in conical, linear, bird, panther and lizard shapes.
This mountaintop site forms part of a Native American archaeological site up to 7,000 years old. It’s thought that the Bighorn Medicine Wheel was used to predict astronomical events like the summer solstice, although nobody knows for sure. The wheel is protected by a fence, onto which dreamcatchers and prayer cloths are tied. It's best seen in summer (and from above), when the snow melts away to reveal the limestone rocks organised in a wheel shape with regularly spaced spokes.
Now discover the awesome American attractions that never got built