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Issue date: March 25, 2001
Annual
Travel Report
The
American Experience
With
the boldness that has always been part of our national character,
USA WEEKEND takes on an awesome task: Rank the 10 sites that
best help you understand our great country. This is a democracy,
though, so let the debate begin.
AMERICA
is a great and still-evolving experiment. Only 225 years old
as a nation, it has benefited from unsurpassed natural beauty
and resources, a vibrant and continuously changing culture
and population, and a history that, ultimately, is blessed.
It's also a great place to travel. There are sights to see
in every corner of the land, each offering clues about the
country and its people. Few Americans can visit them all,
but with an audacity we at USA WEEKEND are well aware of,
we drew on the diverse experience of our staff and contributing
editors to compile a list of 10 must-see sights. Through them,
our culture and history are placed in sharp relief, and visitors
come to a fresh understanding of what it means to be American.
We're proud to report the process resulted in more than 200
nominations. That was fine by us: No one, least of all Jefferson
and company during that hot summer of 1776, ever said democracy
would be tidy. After spirited debate, we whittled the proposals
down to 10 essential places. Then, with characteristic American
confidence, we ranked them in order of importance. You may
quibble with our list, or its order, but we stand behind it
as a starting point for a journey of discovery. We hope it
inspires discussion, education and, most of all, travel.
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 Gettysburg
National Military Park
The consensus top choice as the essential American place,
Gettysburg is the symbolic heart of America. On this sacred
ground, turning point of the Civil War, visitors gain powerful
insight into the meanings, often conflicting, of those celebrated
national virtues of liberty, justice and honor. In these Pennsylvania
fields, the fate of the republic was decided during three
terrible days in 1863. Here, the young nation was nearly torn
asunder. And here, at great cost of life, it ultimately held.
A combined 48,000 Union and Confederate men gave their lives
on this blood-soaked soil, home of Cemetery Hill, Pickett's
Charge and so many other names and events seared into the
American consciousness. Today, none who visits the battlefield,
maintained by the National Park Service, can fail to be moved.
July 1-3, the battle's 138th anniversary will be commemorated
with a full schedule of ranger-conducted "Battle Walks." For
more information, visit www.gettysburg.com or call 717-334-1124.
Go to top
 Acadia
National Park
In a country graced with abundant natural beauty, we chose
Acadia, in Maine, to represent our beloved wilderness areas.
The Grand Canyon also would have been a fine choice, or Yosemite,
or Yellowstone, or Alaska's Denali, among our national treasures.
Acadia is neither the oldest (that's Yellowstone, established
in 1872) nor the largest (Alaska's 8.9 million-acre Wrangel-St.
Elias National Park) of the 383 national parks, monuments,
forests and historic sites currently overseen by the park
service. As the easternmost jewel in our system, however,
it is where the sun first rises each morning. As such, we
think it makes a wonderful symbol of the unspoiled wilderness.
Of course, Acadia stands on its own merits, too: Encompassing
more than 40,000 breathtaking acres of granite mountains,
dense woods, lakes, ponds and rocky Atlantic coast, this is
the America that stirs the rugged individualist in all of
us.
For more information, call 207-288-3338 or visit www.nps.gov/acad.
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 Gateway
Arch
Westward ho! The famous cry of continental expansion still
resonates with the young, the restless, the bold. In the 19th
century, pioneers in wagon trains opened the Great Plains,
forging a new nation that truly did stretch from sea to shining
sea. Space-age architect Eero Saarinen's 630-foot-high arch
of stainless steel soars above the Mississippi River in downtown
St. Louis, memorializing westward expansion and our ongoing
national love affair with open spaces. A highlight of any
visit is a tram ride to the top of the arch for a panoramic
view of the city and the surrounding landscape in Missouri
and Illinois. On a clear day, you can see for 30 miles. Directly
beneath the arch lies the football-field-size Museum of National
Expansion, a repository of American Indian and pioneer-era
artifacts. Among the exhibits is an in-depth examination of
the Lewis and Clark expedition, which left from a camp near
St. Louis in 1804 to explore Thomas Jefferson's new Louisiana
Purchase. On June 30, July 1 and July 4, as part of the Fair
St. Louis, the National Park Service presents "National Parks:
Uncover the Treasures," a range of concerts, interpretive
programs and living-history demonstrations.
For more information, visit www.stlouisarch.com
or call 314-655-1700.
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 Statue
of Liberty
In this great nation of immigrants, no monument stands more
proudly than the Statue of Liberty. A gift to the United States
from the people of France in 1886, Lady Liberty is revered
the world over as the embodiment of American freedom and democracy.
To fully understand the landmark's universal reach, one must
look as far away as Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where in
1989 Chinese students erected a scale-model tribute. To see
the real 151-foot statue is to feel the awe, the dreams of
the 12 million immigrants who sailed by her on their way to
Ellis Island and new lives in their chosen country. It has
been estimated that two in five Americans are descended from
someone who passed through Ellis Island. For them, for all
of us, the statue's inscription will always resonate: "Give
me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to
breathe free." This is America at its most open and generous,
a place of boundless hope and possibility.
For more information, call 212-363-3200 or visit www.nps.gov/stli.
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 National
Civil Rights Museum
The words ring clear and pure: "We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal." And yet almost
two centuries would pass from the framing of the Constitution
until America finally guaranteed equal rights to all of her
citizens. Housed in the Lorraine Motel, where the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, the National Civil
Rights Museum thrusts visitors face to face with the seminal,
often excruciating, and still ongoing struggle to build a
fair society. The museum speaks to our commitment as a nation
to going back and getting things right -- and our capacity,
no matter how long it takes, to do so. The focus is on the
African-American struggle of the 1950s and '60s, but the spirit
extends to every social group that has felt the sting of discrimination
and had the courage to stand up for what is right. The tradition
of civil disobedience celebrated in more than 10,000 square
feet of exhibition space is as American as apple pie, traceable
through Henry David Thoreau all the way back to the Boston
Tea Party. Meanwhile, the specific techniques of protest --
organized marches, sit-ins -- are still practiced wherever
discrimination is found.
For more information, visit civilrightsmuseum.org
or call 901-521-9699.
 Brooklyn
Bridge
In the graceful neo-Gothic arches and elegant steel-cable
lacework of the Brooklyn Bridge are wed two great American
preoccupations: old-fashioned ingenuity and newfangled technology.
On opening in 1883, John A. Roebling's 1,595-foot span across
New York's East River was hailed as the Eighth Wonder of the
World. More than twice the length of any previous suspension
bridge, it took 14 years to build and cost the lives of 27
men. And, by virtue of joining Manhattan and Brooklyn, it
created America's first megacity. The apotheosis of the "can-do"
spirit of 19th-century America, it was also, symbolically,
the bridge to the 20th.
For more information, call 212-484-1222 or visit nyctourist.com/bridge1.
Go to top
 Acoma
Indian Pueblo
Centuries before the first Europeans arrived in America, it
was home to a dynamic native civilization. At New Mexico's
Acoma Indian Pueblo, the ancient traditions remain vibrant.
Considered the oldest continuously occupied village in what
is now the United States, the thousand-year-old pueblo sits
atop a sheer 367-foot-high sandstone mesa, a site that has
earned it the nickname Sky City. On encountering Acoma in
1540, the Spanish conquistador Coronado described it as the
strongest defensive settlement in the world. Today, the village
and its stunning 1641 mission church, San Esteban del Rey,
are National Historic Landmarks. History echoes down its narrow
lanes, even as current residents write new chapters in the
ongoing saga of Native American life. Tours, festivals and
ceremonial dances occur through the summer at Acoma and 18
other New Mexico pueblos.
For more information, visit newmexico.org or call 1-800-747-0181.
Go to top
 USS
Arizona Memorial
Straddling the sunken hull of the USS Arizona, where 1,177
crewmen perished, the Pearl Harbor memorial commemorates one
of the most painful episodes in American history. More than
4,700 military personnel and civilians died in the surprise
Japanese attack that catapulted the United States into World
War II. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stirringly and
correctly predicted that the date -- Dec. 7, 1941 -- would
live in infamy. Sixty years later, we understand that more
than infamy resides here. For if the attack shook the United
States to its core, it also set the country in motion. From
a standstill, the nation mobilized seemingly overnight. Four
years later, with totalitarianism defeated in Japan and Germany,
we could look with pride on our capacity as a nation to stand
shoulder to shoulder against a common foe and emerge victorious.
A somber reminder of the fragility of peace and the ultimate
sacrifice America asks of her men and women in uniform, the
hushed monument, seemingly floating in the harbor, also carries
an inspirational message: United as a nation, we can overcome
even the gravest crises. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/usar
or call 808-422-2771.
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 "Hollywood"
sign
If
America is a land of dreamers, Hollywood is where fantasies
come to life. The movie industry as we know it today was born
here in 1907, when warm sunshine and affordable land began
drawing filmmakers to what was then a quiet area of farms
and cattle ranches. By 1911, the Nestor Film Co., the first
real studio, was churning out three features a week. A year
later, 15 companies had set up shop. The rest, as they say,
is history: From its humble origins, the Hollywood film industry
has grown into our most glamorous big business, an exporter
of adventure, drama, comedy and romance to every corner of
the globe. Erected in 1923 to advertise a real estate development,
the landmark sign (which originally read "Hollywoodland")
has long since become a beacon to would-be stars and starlets.
It perches high in the famous hills, overlooking such prime
movieland sites as Mann's Chinese Theatre and the Walk of
Fame, where the shooting stars of yesteryear achieve immortality.
For more information, visit hollywood.about.com or
call 323-469-8311.
Go to top
 Home,
sweet home
In
other countries, a family can live in the same town for centuries,
generation after generation. Here, we're more restless, more
mobile. In a very real way, mobility is what makes us American.
We all came from somewhere else -- and we continue to find
new places to go, lighting out for new territories and fresh
pastures. Our transiency leads us to re-create a sense of
family at work and among friends, but in the end our first
home -- be it Brooklyn, County Cork, Grosse Pointe or Ghana
-- remains with us in the way we think, act and experience
the world. To return to the old family home is to rediscover
the special ingredients each of us adds to the great melting
pot that is our national character. Like the mosaic on the
cover of this week's issue, America embraces the differences
her citizenry offers and turns them into a dazzling self-image.
Here, when we say there's no place like home, we equally mean
our backyard and our nation.
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to top
People in high places
When we asked our distinguished contributing editors for
their top 10 travel destinations in America, we got back some
very personal and provocative lists. While we couldn't include
every entry, we wanted to share with you some of their favorite
places to feel American.
Steve and Cokie Roberts, political commentators: The
U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. ("Cokie's parents served a
combined total of almost 50 years in Congress, so this building
has a special meaning to our family.") Yankee Stadium, New
York City. ("Steve came here as a boy with his father, giving
him a lifelong love for baseball and the team that plays in
The House That Ruth Built.") Preservation Hall, New Orleans.
("This rundown storefront in the heart of the French Quarter
still showcases the most authentic version of the most authentic
American art form, jazz.")
Drew Pinsky, "Ask Dr. Drew" columnist: Wall Drug, Wall,
S.D. ("Pure Americana.") Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Mass. Cowboy
Bar, at Jackson Hole in Wyoming. ("Last remnant of the Old
West. Don't forget to catch a rodeo after the bar.")
Jeffrey Zaslow, writer: Elvis Presley's Graceland (left),
in Memphis. Niagara Falls. ("Proof of nature's endless power.")
The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. ("Proof that America
was built by brilliant minds, great businessmen and hard workers
on the assembly line.")
Tavis Smiley, BET commentator: Martin Luther King Jr.
Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta. ("We all
owe King a debt we can never repay. Visit his crypt for a
moment of silence.") South Beach, Miami Beach, Fla. ("The
best people-watching place in America.") Las Vegas.
Stephanie Oakes, FitSmart columnist: New York's Central
Park. ("An oasis amid the concrete jungle.") Telluride, Colo.
("A living example of a boom-bust-boom mining community in
a most picturesque setting.")
Ken Burns, filmmaker: California's Muir Woods and Death
Valley. Florida's Everglades. Arizona's Grand Canyon.
Stephen Covey, author: Freedom Trail, Boston. Liberty
Bell, Philadelphia. Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.
Tedd Mitchell, M.D., HealthSmart columnist: Johnson
Space Center in Houston. ("American ingenuity at its best.")
The Alamo (left), San Antonio. ("Indomitable spirit.") Lincoln
Memorial, Washington, D.C. ("A memorial to the man who inspires
us to be better than we are, leading by example -- a truly
American ideal.")
Dennie Hughes, RelationTips columnist: Disney World.
("I get to be a kid again in the Magic Kingdom, a student
at Epcot, and par-tay like it's New Year's every night in
Downtown Disney clubs? Takes the jaded right out of this New
Yorker.")
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Gettysburg
National Military Park