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The United States has many historic places that can be considered links to the past. We visit and study and learn about landmarks, buildings, and other sites that help us remember our past and honor the people who shaped our nation.

Sample some of the following activities to learn more about America's historic places.

Places To Go

The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out about America's historic places.

Lincoln Memorial
Travel to the Lincoln Memorial. The architect, Henry Bacon, modeled the design of the building after the Greek Parthenon. The 36 exterior Doric columns represent the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. Those states are listed on the frieze above the columns. Above those states are listed the 48 states in the country when the memorial was built. Alaska and Hawaii are represented with a plaque on the front steps. Inside the memorial is a statue of Lincoln by Daniel Chester French and two murals by Jules Guerin.

Washington Monument
Virtually visit the Washington Monument. It was designed by Robert Mills. Construction began in 1848 and was not completed until 1888. The obelisk is 555 feet tall. Visitors can take an elevator to a landing that provides magnificent views of Washington, D.C.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Visit the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. Architect John Russell Pope incorporated Jefferson's own architectural tastes into the design of the memorial. The memorial, like Jefferson's home Monticello, is based on the Roman Pantheon. Inside is a 19-ft statue of Jefferson by the sculptor Rudulph Evans.

Ford's Theatre National Historic Site
Visit Ford's Theatre where John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln.

FDR Memorial
Visit the memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It is located along the famous cherry tree walk on the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park, Washington, D.C. There are four presidential memorials on the National Mall--the Washington Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and this newest FDR Memorial.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Travel to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It was built in 1982 and is one of the most visited attractions in Washington, D.C. It was designed by Maya Ying Lin. The names are inscribed in the chronological order of their dates of casualty. There are more than 58,000 names inscribed on the wall. The memorial also contains a statue of three soldiers by Frederick E. Hart erected in 1984 and a statue of three nurses and a wounded soldier by Glenna Goodacre erected in 1993.

Library of Congress
Spend time in the Library of Congress, the national library of the United States. The library is composed of three huge structures on Capitol Hill, near the U.S. Capitol--the Jefferson Building which opened in 1897, the Adams Building which opened in 1939, and the Madison Building which opened in 1980. About two million researchers, scholars, and tourists visit the Library of Congress each year and millions more use its services. It was established in 1800 when John Adams was President of the U.S. and Thomas Jefferson was Vice-President. Thomas Jefferson was a strong proponent of the library and its creation. British troops destroyed much of the library and its collections in 1814 during the War of 1812. So the government bought Thomas Jefferson's personal library for $23,940. The new collection of 6,487 volumes included more than twice as many books as the library had had before.

Korean War Veterans Memorial
Visit the Korean War Veterans Memorial. It was designed by WWII veteran, Frank Gaylord. The memorial has 19 stainless steel statues that depict an American ground troop squad on patrol. 

Underground Railroad Freedom Center
The Freedom Center offers lessons and reflections on the struggle for freedom.

Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement
We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement tells the powerful story of the struggle of African Americans to achieve the bright promise of America, which culminated in the mid-20th century. Many of the places where these seminal events occurred, the churches, schools, homes, and neighborhoods, are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Pony Express Museum
Visit the Pony Express Museum and learn more about the young men on fast horses who carried the nation’s mail across the country from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, in the unprecedented time of only ten days.
Historic Places in the Civil Rights Movement

Fort Laramie 
Visit with John Fremont, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Jedediah S. Smith, Martha Jane Cannary (Calamity Jane), Crazy Horse (Tashunka Witco), Buffalo Bill, Wyatt Earp, and others who passed through Wyoming's historic Fort Laramie.

Fort Douglas
Meet Colonel Patrick E. Connor. He was the first commander of Fort Douglas on the east bench of Salt Lake City. Fort Douglas was established in October 1862, and it was named after Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. According to this site, Fort Douglas was established "to protect the overland mail route and to keep an eye on the Mormons." During the winter of 1862, the fort consisted only of quickly built dugouts. The next summer log buildings were erected. The post was rebuilt of red sandstone in 1873-76, and the existing brick buildings were built in the early 1900s.

Gutzon Borglum
Meet Gutzon Borglum. He was the sculptor who designed and carved the figures on Mount Rushmore. The faces carved on Mount Rushmore are so large that they are visible from 60 miles away.

Presidential Log Cabins
Find out which presidents lived in log cabins--other than Abraham Lincoln.

Golden Spike National Historic Site
Take a ride on the transcontinental railroad. In the 1860s, the Union Pacific Railroad began construction from Omaha, Nebraska and the Central Pacific Railroad broke ground at Sacramento, California. The two lines met at Promontory Point, Utah, and on May 10, 1869, a golden spike joined the two railways.

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
Take a virtual tour of Fort McHenry in Maryland and learn about this historic fort's role as birthplace of our national anthem. 

National Museum of American History
Click on a letter to see and learn about treasures from the National Museum of American History.

Virtual Field Trips are teacher and student-created tours of curricular topics. (You can learn how to use this UEN Virtual Field Trip tool created by UEN for Utah educators).

• Fort Douglas 

Online activities are a listing of internet sites with fun, interesting, and educational tasks attached to each one. (You can learn how to use this WWW Activities tool created by UEN for Utah educators).

•  U.S. Government Hotlist

Lesson Plans/Webquests

• Teaching With Historic Places
  From the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places, you can find lesson plans and ideas to use in the classroom.
• Designing a Tour of Washington D.C.
• Monument on the Mall

• Ashabranner, Brent K. A Memorial for Mr. Lincoln. New York : Putnam, c1992.  
• Curlee, Lynn. Rushmore.New York : Scholastic Press, 1999.
• Doherty, Craig A. Washington Monument. Woodbridge, Conn. : Blackbirch Press, c1995.
• Kent, Deborah. The Lincoln Memorial.
• Sevastiades, Patra McSharry.The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. New York : PowerKids Press, 1997.
• Stone, Tanya Lee. America's Top 10 National Monuments. Woodbridge, Conn. : Blackbirch Press, c1998.