Issue Date: May 19, 2002

Annual Travel Report

Ellis Island, New York and New Jersey Independence National Historic Park, Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. Jamestown, VA Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Ala. Esther Morris Statue, Cheyenne, Wyo. Haymarket Riot Statue, Forest Park, Ill. Saxman Native Totem Park, Saxman, Alaska Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla. Walden Pond, Concord, Mass. Our contributing editors' favorite places A mini-golf champ shares his favorite courses

1. Ellis Island, New York and New Jersey

Ellis Island represents immigration, which in a very real sense is the defining American experience. As such, it earns the top spot in the 2002 report. Between 1892 and 1924, 22 million immigrants passed through New York Harbor's front door to freedom. They came from across the globe, spoke a Babel of languages and practiced a variety of faiths. But all were united by a single belief: that in America they would find the freedoms of speech, religion and economic opportunity that eluded them elsewhere. No other nation in history has ever opened its doors that way. And none benefited from the industry, ideas and talents of so many grateful new citizens as did America. Today, one American in three can claim an ancestor who passed through Ellis Island. Every day, more immigrants seek our shores. In these challenging times, it is worth remembering that the vast majority come to share our freedoms, not to assail them. For more information, visit ellisisland.com. Call 212-269-5755 for ferry information.

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2. Independence National Historic Park, Philadelphia

If our democracy can be said to have an actual wellspring, Philadelphia's Independence Hall is surely it. Here our nation came into being when the founding fathers framed the Declaration of Independence, followed by the Constitution. Without these documents, America would not exist. Other great moments in the building's history: George Washington is made commander in chief of the Continental Army, 1775; the American flag is adopted, 1777; and the Articles of Confederation are promulgated, 1781. Directly across the street from Independence Hall rests the Liberty Bell, whose glorious tolling in July 1776 signaled the rise of a new nation dedicated to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The bell's time-worn inscription, taken from the Bible, remains vital today: "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." For more information, call 215-597-8974 or go to www.nps.gov/inde/visit.html.

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3. Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

America claims no greater shrine to liberty than the Lincoln Memorial. Inscribed like holy writ on its north wall, his 1863 Gettysburg Address perfectly expresses Abraham Lincoln's devotion to democracy. "Four score and seven years ago," the speech famously begins, "our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." The last phrase is key, both to Lincoln and to all of us who came after him. In defense of liberty and equality, Lincoln went to war, steering the nation through its most violent cataclysm. The effort nearly broke his heart and ultimately cost him his life. Assassinated five days after the Civil War ended, a casualty of the conflict he had prayed would never come to pass, Lincoln didn't survive to see his beloved republic heal and prosper. Healing is what he desired more than anything; in his second inaugural address, also written in stone at the memorial, he vowed to end the fighting and achieve a lasting peace "with malice toward none, with charity for all." His words and spirit live on wherever freedom is loved. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/linc or call 202-426-6895.

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4. Jamestown, Va.

Storied Jamestown, home of John Smith and Pocahontas, is neither America's oldest city nor its earliest European settlement. Forty years before England established a foothold in Tidewater Virginia in 1607, the Spanish founded St. Augustine in Florida. And Indians, of course, were here long before either European power. What distinguishes Jamestown is the government it produced. In 1619, the village became the seat of the Virginia General Assembly, colonial America's first representative government. Other, darker building blocks of the republic were simultaneously being laid, including aggressive territorial expansion and institutionalized slavery; English settlers wrested land from the native population, then used African labor to help cultivate it. For all its contradictions, Jamestown is the seedbed of the United States. The idea of representation was planted there; with time and care, it bloomed into the full flower of inclusive American democracy. For more about the original archeological site, visit apva.org. Get information on Jamestown Settlement, a modern re-creation near Williamsburg, by calling 1-888-593-4682 or by going to historyisfun.org.

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5. Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Ala.

Landmark of the civil rights movement, this modest bridge over the Alabama River represents a vital chapter in our long struggle against racism. Here, in 1965, activists made a stand for the rights of all Americans, regardless of color, to vote; battles for fairness in housing, education and employment were simultaneously being waged by leaders like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. On Sunday, March 7, several hundred blacks attempted to cross the bridge at the start of a proposed march to the statehouse in Montgomery, 50 miles away. Unarmed and orderly, many having come directly from church, they never got close: A battalion of state troopers set upon them with clubs and tear gas, inflicting carnage that was broadcast across the nation on the evening news. The demonstrators' stoic ability to meet raw violence without striking back stirred the hearts and consciences of their countrymen, black and white. Congress responded to Bloody Sunday by passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which aimed to lay waste the systemic corruption by which blacks were routinely denied the right to vote in the South. (Near the bridge is the National Voting Rights Museum.) Decades later, the civil rights movement's dedication to non-violence looks increasingly impressive. For more information, call 334-418-0800 or go to SelmaAlabama.com.

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6. Esther Morris Statue, Cheyenne, Wyo.

Throughout its history, America has been blessed with strong individuals who take it upon themselves to expand and perfect our democracy. One of these was suffragist Esther Morris. Born in Oswego, N.Y., she followed her saloon-keeping husband to Wyoming in 1869, less than a year after the wilderness area had been declared a U.S. territory. Recognizing opportunity in the very lawlessness of the place, she allegedly buttonholed state senator William Bright at a tea party and persuaded him to sponsor a suffrage bill. No record of the conversation exists, but this much is clear: Bright did introduce a bill, it did pass the legislature, and in 1869 Wyoming did become the first place in the United States -- and one of the first anywhere in the world -- to enfranchise women. Soon the territory further distinguished itself by granting equal pay to female teachers, extending property rights to women and making Morris a justice of the peace. With her 1870 appointment, she became the first woman in American history to hold judicial office. It took until 1920 and the ratification of the 19th Amendment for the rest of the country to catch up. For more information, call 307-777-2883.

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7. Haymarket Riot Statue, Forest Park, Ill.

A galvanizing event in the bitter history of the American labor movement, the Haymarket Riot, like the events at Edmund Pettus Bridge and the efforts of Esther Morris, underscores a most vital civics lessons: Regardless of what it says on paper, society is not fair until we make it so. The Haymarket donnybrook began at Chicago's McCormick Reaper factory on May 3, 1886, when police killed two workers while intervening in a fight between strikers (demonstrating for an eight-hour day) and strike breakers. During a rally at Haymarket Square the next night, a melee broke out when someone lobbed a bomb and police began shooting. Scores were injured and at least 10 people died, including police officers. In a clear abrogation of their constitutional right to free speech, eight activists were convicted of inciting the riot through "inflammatory speeches and publications." Four were hanged and another committed suicide in jail. The remaining three eventually received full pardons. The Haymarket statue stands above the martyrs' common grave in German Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park, a reminder that the protections we take for granted -- fair pay, safe working conditions, weekends off -- were earned the old-fashioned way: with blood, sweat and great sacrifice. They must be defended in the same way. 863 S. Des Plaines Ave., Forest Park. For more information, call 708-366-1900 or go to graveyards.com/foresthome.

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8. Saxman Native Totem Park, Saxman, Alaska

A traditional native village on the stunningly beautiful Alaskan panhandle, Saxman, population 400, is home to the world's largest collection of totem poles. Among 24 ornately carved and painted specimens is the Rock Oyster Man Pole, a poignant memorial to a young fisherman. His story reads almost as a metaphor of the Tlingit nation to which he belonged: While fishing near home, he caught his arm in the shell of a giant oyster and drowned on the incoming tide. Incoming tides have threatened to swamp the Tlingits ever since Russian adventurers arrived on their shores in 1799. Through land grabs, gold rushes and oil booms, Tlingits have clung to a proud and ancient culture. The old ways survive at Saxman, whose existence honors the struggle and spirit of all of America's first peoples. For more information, call 1-800-770-3300 or visit everythingalaska.com/eta.saxtp.html.

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9. Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Launch site of the world's first flight to the moon and base of America's space shuttle, the John F. Kennedy Space Center preserves history even as it shapes the future. Since 1949, Cape Canaveral has been the headquarters of American rocketry and the capital of an indomitable national will to break barriers. Americans always have identified challenges and then invented the technologies to master them, from the prairie schooner to the steamboat to the Apollo space missions. Call it destiny or simple Yankee ingenuity, the drive to get from here to there is essential to the American character. In the public galleries and theaters of the Kennedy Space Center, this quality is made manifest in the mightiest rockets and the humblest lunar rocks. For more information, call 1-800-572-4636 or go to kennedyspacecenter.com.

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10. Walden Pond, Concord, Mass.

The American conservation movement was born in spirit on July 4, 1845, when Henry David Thoreau walked into the woods beside Walden Pond for a two-year experiment in self-reliance. Living close to the land (but not so close as to preclude strolls into town for supplies and gossip), he set up house in a one-room cabin, cultivated vegetables and observed nature. Most important for posterity, Thoreau recorded his reflections in "Walden". "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately," he wrote, "to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, learn that I had not lived." To ensure that future generations always would be able to experience nature's majesty, the government created the National Park Service in 1916 and began setting aside large tracts of wilderness. Today, all 50 states maintain preserves where contemporary Thoreaus can go off, if only for an afternoon picnic, and learn what the woods have to teach. For more information, visit www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/wldn.htm or call 978-369-3254.

George Washington graces Independence Hall, where the founding fathers devised America's greatest documents.

Left: Alabama's Edmund Pettus Bridge is a highlight of the Selma-to-Montgomery national historic trail. Below: Wyoming's monument to pioneering suffragist Esther Morris.

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Our contributing editors' favorite places to see where the American spirit has prevailed

Jim Louderback: California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento. The railroad opened up America and paved the way toward civilizing the heartland and the wild West. ... Manzanar National Historic Site, right, in Independence, Calif. This is the best-preserved of the Japanese-American relocation settlements of World War II, and it is a chilling reminder of what happens when we forget our proud heritage as a melting pot of personal liberty and freedom.

Kenneth C. Davis: Harpers Ferry, W.Va. The scene of abolitionist John Brown's raid on a federal arsenal, which helped precipitate the Civil War. A martyr to some and a villain to others, Brown reminds us that in every history, one man's hero may be another's murderer.

Drew Pinsky: A walk on the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, based in Norfolk, Va. More than the sheer massiveness, the spirit and pride of the personnel impress. ... Watch a Little League game. I mean it. This is the American spirit in action. Add a little more of a thrill for your Little Leaguers by visiting the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. ... Attend a service at the First AME Church in South Central Los Angeles. The spirit of the African American in the history of America is the spirit of America. Nowhere is the hope of freedom, community and spirituality more vibrantly alive.

Ken Burns: Valley Forge, Pa., to see how Gen. George Washington and his threadbare troops persevered through the harsh winter of 1777-78. ... Abraham Lincoln's home, office and grave in Springfield, Ill., to better understand what formed the character of this great American.

Steve and Cokie Roberts: Ground Zero in Manhattan now belongs to everyone -- but it is a burial ground, not a theme park, and should not be commercialized. As an alternative, visitors can go by the many firehouses around the city that have created small shrines to the heroic crew members they lost on Sept. 11. They're good places to pause, remember and pray. ... The FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C., celebrates a president who fought and defeated an earlier threat to our security. He is depicted in a wheelchair. During his life, President Roosevelt's paralysis often was hidden from public view. Now we recognize that overcoming a significant disability made his life and achievement that much greater.

From the archive:
Travel Report 2001: America's 10 must-see sights