Sixteen-hundred Pennsylvania Avenue is among the most famous addresses in the United States. The 132-room home and workplace has also been known as the “President’s House” and the “Executive Mansion”, but since 1902 it’s officially been called the White House.

History of White House construction:

When George Washington was President, government meetings were held in various cities. He and Martha Washington kept two homes in New York and one in Pennsylvania.

Seeing the need for a federal city, the President and Congress agreed in 1790 to the Residence Act. This provided for a district “not exceeding ten miles square…on the river Potomac”. The new federal city would be designed by Pierre L’Enfant, and the city planner would hold a blueprints contest for the White House.

James Hoban, an Irishman living in South Carolina, won the competition with a classic Georgian design. (Thomas Jefferson was also among the entrants; he competed under a pseudonym.) Hoban based the building on a duke’s palace in Ireland.

Two states, Maryland and Virginia, ceded land for the new federal district. Both were slaveholding states, and slaves broke ground for the home. The work was completed by European immigrants. The new house wasn’t built in time for the Washington’s to move in; John and Abigail Adams were the first to take up residence in 1800.

The Washington Monument, which is visible from almost everywhere in Washington, D.C., is truly a city landmark.

The 555-foot tall obelisk has punctuated the National Mall since 1884. It honors George Washington, “Father of the United States”, who was unanimously elected the nation’s first President.

Washington Monument:

When George Washington died in 1799, Congress praised him as “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Politicians proposed a Washington monument in the early 1800s, but they disagreed about details. For example, should the monument include Washington’s tomb?

Would it be appropriate to depict him in ancient Greek style? When a statue was eventually presented, people objected to the half-clad classical Greek sort of George. Congressional quibbling ultimately led to the creation of a private monument foundation.

The National Washington Monument Society was formed in 1833. The members raised a considerable amount of money within a few years, and in 1836 they announced a design competition for the memorial.

Robert Mill’s Washington Monument:

An artist named Robert Mills submitted the winning design. He proposed a 600-foot obelisk that would protrude from a circular base. The base and obelisk would be decorated with statues and frescoes of national heroes, including a toga-clad George Washington in a horse-drawn chariot.

By December of 1620, after a long Atlantic voyage, the English Separatist William Bradford and his crew had explored several landing spots along the North American coast. They’d rejected various locations after having conflicts with indigenous people.

Finally, according to legend, Bradford and his party disembarked on a large boulder, which would eventually be known as Plymouth Rock. They soon declared the surrounding area suitable for their New World settlement, Plymouth Colony.

History of Plymouth Rock:

Although the Plymouth Rock has much historical significance, evidently none of the Pilgrims mentioned it in their writings. Knowledge of its location was traditionally passed from parents to their children. In 1741, the 94-year-old Elder Faunce identified Plymouth Rock as the stone his father had pointed out years earlier.

Faunce was a somewhat credible source; he had been Plymouth’s record keeper for many decades. Still, his father had not been among the original Plymouth settlers; he’d arrived three years later in 1623 and heard the Plymouth Rock story from others. Nevertheless, people accepted Faunce’s story and the identified rock took on great patriotic significance.

Olvera Street, or La Placita Olvera, is the quaint birthplace of modern Los Angeles. This block-long street has now been restored to an old-fashioned marketplace and plaza reminiscent of early Mexico.

The Olvera street and plaza were designated “El Pueblo Historic Monument” in 1953.

Olvera Street attracts two million tourists every year. The area is blocked to automobiles so pedestrians can easily explore the street’s 27 historic buildings.

These include a range of authentic Mexican eateries, including the city’s oldest Mexican restaurant, La Golondrina Café.

Some of the buildings are rented to merchants selling Mexican goods. Some stores stock inexpensive souvenirs like finger puppets, marionettes, and tiny Mexican flags. Others import high-quality Mexican pottery, silver, and textiles. Vendors stationed in the middle of the street sell churros, souvenirs, and inexpensive children’s toys.

While Olvera Street is a tourist attraction, it’s also the center of an authentic Mexican-American community. Locals gather for a Las Posadas reenactment before each Christmas, and they fill the site for celebrations like Cinco de Mayo and Día de los Muertos.

The Olvera plaza also features cultural performances throughout the year.

Imagine thousands of gallons of boiling water rushing forth from the earth. Shooting toward the sky, the water forms a tall, steamy column – sometimes 180 feet high!

When the water falls, it’s only a matter of time before another surge will appear. Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park erupts regularly and has attracted sightseers since at least 1870.

Old Faithful geyser:

In 1870, a team of surveyors explored the area of northwestern Wyoming that would become Yellowstone National Park.

The team (known as the Washburn Expedition) explored lakes, mountains, plants, and wildlife. They also observed many geothermal features. While camping, they noticed a geyser that erupted about every hour. Since this geyser was nearly as reliable as a wristwatch, the men named it Old Faithful.

The Old Faithful geyser is a hot spring that occasionally erupts; the term is derived from an Icelandic word meaning “to gush”. Such gushers are rare.

The Old Faithful geyser can become blocked by mineral deposits, and tectonic activity (earthquakes) or human intervention can alter their behavior. Only about 1,000 geysers are known to exist on Earth, and about half of those are located in Yellowstone.

In the 1820s, when War of 1812 fighting had ceased in the Niagara Falls region, local hotel owners wanted to revive tourism.

The Niagara Falls had once made popular tourist destinations of two cities along the international border: Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada, and Niagara Falls in New York, USA.

To attract attention, the hotel owners sponsored the first daredevil Niagara Falls stunt on record: they sent a defunct ship over Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls.

Niagara fall stunt:

The hoteliers’ stunt drew a crowd indeed. On September 8, 1827, about 10,000 people gathered to watch the condemned schooner are swept over the waterfall. The ship crashed 173 feet down to a whirlpool gorge below.

Within two years, daredevils were risking their own lives in Niagara Falls stunts. In

October of 1829, a man named Sam Patch dubbed himself “The Yankee Leaper”. He survived a long, deliberate fall into the gorge at the bottom of the waterfall.

People also swam across or tried to sail. In 1886 a man named Carlisle Graham was the first to fall down Niagara Falls in a barrel. Many people, including women in petticoats, imitated this stunt. For example, in 1901 a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Taylor rode a barrel over the edge.

Mount St. Helens is most famous for its catastrophic eruption in 1980. The active volcano is located in Washington State, about 90 miles south of Seattle and 50 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon. The Mount St. Helens recreational area was re-opened in 1987.

Mount St. Helens volcanic eruption:

The Mount St. Helens eruption of 1980 was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in United States history. A series of small earthquakes were detected starting on May 16, 1980. Two days later, at 8:32 on a Sunday morning, a massive earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale violently shook Mount St. Helens.

The volcano violently erupted, its north face exploded, and lava poured fourth for nine continuous hours. Minor explosive activity would continue for six years.

More than 1,300 feet of the mountain’s rocky summit were blown away, leaving a mile-wide crater. The lava – which was 1300 degrees Fahrenheit — incinerated the surrounding forest and campsites, killing fifty-seven people and 7,000 large wild animals.

It also destroyed more than $1 billion in property. The lava coated 185 miles of highway and 230 square miles of forest. It incinerated 250 homes, dozens of bridges, and 15 miles of railways.

In 1927, workmen with lively nicknames like “Whiskey Art”, “Palooka”, and “Hoot” quit their regular jobs. They were among the 400 people invited to create Mount Rushmore, a massive mountainside carving of four United States presidents in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The work on the Mount Rushmore would be on-and-off labor lasting fourteen years.

Mount Rushmore was conceived by the South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson in 1923. He had learned of a similar project underway in the southern US.

Just east of Atlanta, the sculptor Gutzon Borglum had been commissioned to carve into Stone Mountain the likeness of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and a column of soldiers. The historian thought a similar undertaking by Borglum could draw tourists’ dollars to the Black Hills region.

To help maximize tourism interest, Borglum suggested that South Dakota choose a theme of national significance. The men settled upon the first 150 years of United States history, with four presidents being selected to represent the nation’s development.

These include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. Collectively, these men symbolized the country’s founding, expansion, and unity. The project received approval from Congress and President Calvin Coolidge.

On July 4, 1798, surviving fathers of the American Revolution met in Boston for the dedication of the Massachusetts State House. Governor Samuel Adams and patriot Paul Revereplaced the cornerstone, and Revere would later roll copper sheeting for the capitol’s dome.

With pomp and circumstance, stone for the building was drawn by fifteen white horses – one for each state in the Union. The State House would come to be known as one of the greatest works of neoclassical architecture in the United States. It also boasts a prime location, sitting on Beacon Hill and overlooking the prosperous Back Bay and Boston Commons.

Massachusetts State House:

When the architect Charles Bulfinch designed this graceful seat of government, he was inspired by the neoclassical Somerset House that rose above London’s River Thames.

Architectural buffs describe the State House design as intermediate between Georgian and Federal styles. It is chiefly red brick with white accents. It has delicate Corinthian columns, gently arching windows, and a vast golden dome.

Massachusetts State House golden dome:

The golden dome has been through a few important changes. The mound was originally covered in wooden shingles. After Paul Revere laid copper sheeting, the dome was finished with gold plating.

Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky includes the most extensive cave system known in the world. More than 367 miles of cave passageways have been mapped, and there may be more miles still uncharted.

The national park preserves this cave system along with Kentucky’s Green River Valley and the surrounding hills. Since becoming a national park in 1941, the area has also been designated a World Heritage Site and an international Biosphere Reserve.

Mammoth Cave national park tunnels:

Mammoth Cave national park started to develop 350 million years ago in a layer of limestone. Over 70 million years, water slowly dissolved the stone and left the extensive network of tunnels. Then a new layer of rock, sandstone, formed a stable roof for the tunnels.

Different layers of tunnels were formed by the Ohio River during the Tertiary and Quaternary Periods. Most of the caves are now dry, but the lower level of tunnels continues to be carved by the Green River, which is 450 feet underground.

It can be seen outside, where it emerges along the eastern border of the park. When the river floods, whirlpools swell back into the cave system; similar whirlpools formed the cave’s larger rooms millions of years ago.