When it comes to patriotic tourism, the presidential sculpture on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota is only the beginning.
The United States is filled with sites that celebrate its citizens' patriotism, heritage, cultural diversity and pre-European history. Here are 30 of the best:
Appomattox, Va.: A national historical park marks the location where Gen. Ulysses S. Grant accepted the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee to end the Civil War. The Union defeat of the Confederacy guaranteed the end of slavery.
Arlington, Va.: Many of the soldiers who fought in America's wars are buried in Arlington National Cemetery next to presidents, Supreme Court justices and other famous Americans. Nearby is one of the country's great bronze statues -- the Iwo Jima U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial.
Atlanta: The city is the birthplace and boyhood home of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who gave his life while working to bring racial equality to America. The King home is a National Historic Site.
Baltimore: Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, at the entrance to Baltimore's Inner Harbor, provided the inspiration for Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner" after the British attacked the fort in 1814.
Boston: The Old North Church, Bunker Hill Monument and Old State House are part of Boston National Historical Park. Bostonians provided much of the inspiration for America to seek its freedom from Britain.
Boulder City, Nev.: Hoover Dam on the Colorado River is still one of man's most impressive creations. Its reservoir is part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Along with Bonneville and Grand Coulee dams on the Columbia, Hoover Dam helped lift America out of the Great Depression and provided the industrial power to win World War II.
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: The launch site for America's manned space missions symbolizes the nation's technological triumphs, including the first moon landing in 1969. It has also brought the nation together in tragedy -- in 1986 and again in 2002 when disasters killed seven astronauts each time. The John F. Kennedy Space Center abuts the Canaveral National Seashore.
Collinsville, Ill.: A United Nations World Heritage Site, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site preserves one of the largest pre-Columbian cities in North America. The site includes Monks Mound, the largest human-made earthen mound in North America (estimated at 1,037 feet long, 790 feet wide and 100 feet high).
Gettysburg, Pa.: Following one of the major battles of the Civil War, President Lincoln tried to heal the nation's wounds by delivering his Gettysburg Address. Other national Civil War battlefields and cemeteries include Manassas, Va.; Shiloh, Tenn.; and Antietam, Md. Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation to free the slaves five days after the battle of Antietam.
Hardin, Mont.: The Plains tribes, fighting to preserve their nomadic way of life, united to inflict the most decisive single battle defeat on the U.S. Army, leaving no survivors. Their victory over Gen. George Custer is memorialized at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
Honolulu: When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, it brought the United States into World War II on the side of the Allies. The momentous event is remembered at the USS Arizona Memorial.
Jamestown, Va.: Site of the first permanent English settlement in North America in 1607, Jamestown is part of the Colonial National Historical Park, which also includes Yorktown, site of the culminating battle of the Revolutionary War, and Colonial Williamsburg. Virginia's "Historic Triangle" is a living museum that symbolizes the beginning and end of British colonization.
Mesa Verde, Colo.: The southwest Colorado cliff dwellings, home to ancestors of two-dozen pueblo tribes, are a World Heritage Site and national park. Other pre-Columbian relics can be found at Chaco Canyon, N.M., also a World Heritage Site, and throughout the Southwest, where dry conditions aid preservation.
Monticello, Va.: The home of Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, both World Heritage Sites, Monticello was the intellectual capital of the new nation. Jefferson schooled Capt. Meriwether Lewis in the sciences to prepare him for the Lewis and Corp Expedition of 1803-06 that crossed the continent.
New Orleans: The city is home to the French Quarter, symbolizing the French contribution to America, and the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, the birthplace of America's most indigenous musical art form.
New York City: The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, is the symbol of the United States. The statue is both a national monument and World Heritage Site. The city's Ellis Island National Monument is where many European immigrants first landed in North America. A memorial honors those who died Sept. 11, 2001, in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Oklahoma City: The Oklahoma City National Memorial honors victims, survivors, rescuers and others whose lives were changed April 19, 1995, when a truck bomb exploded outside the Murrah Federal Building.
Oregon City: The destination for the migration on the Oregon Trail 150 years ago, Oregon City is home to the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. Museums at The Dalles, Pendleton and Baker City in Oregon, and in Independence, Mo., and Casper, Wyo., also interpret the impact of the Oregon National Historic Trail on native peoples.
Philadelphia: The nation's first capital is the site of Independence Hall, a World Heritage Site where the United States was created with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. A $12.6 million glass Liberty Bell Center allows visitors to see the bell in front of a backdrop of Independence Hall silhouetted against the sky.
Salt Lake City: Temple Square is testimony to the hardworking Mormons who migrated to Utah and made a desert bloom at the end of the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail.
San Antonio: Texas became a republic in 1836, but not until after the Battle of the Alamo when the Mexican army overran the famed fort and killed all 189 defenders. . Six weeks later Texans won their independence at the Battle of San Jacinto, eventually joining the nation as the largest state in 1845. The Alamo is a state shrine managed by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
San Francisco: The city is world famous for its Golden Gate, which served as the nation's early gateway for immigration from Asia. The Golden Gate Bridge is the symbol of the West Coast and helps draw 14 million visitors annually to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
San Juan, Puerto Rico: Founded by the Spanish in 1521, the capital of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico is the oldest European settlement on U.S. soil. La Fortaleza military fortifications and Old San Juan are World Heritage and National Historic sites. Cobblestone streets and hanging balconies in the old city exude a European air.
Selma, Ala.: A 54-mile Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail marks the route of three attempts to conduct a march for civil rights in 1965, between Selma and the state capital of Montgomery. The marches galvanized the attention of the nation and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act that summer.
Seneca Falls, N.Y.: Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the country's first women's rights convention in 1848, eventually resulting in voting rights and reforms in property ownership and educational opportunities for women. The movement is honored as the Women's Rights National Historical Park.
St. Augustine, Fla.: The oldest European city in a U.S. state was founded by the Spanish on Aug. 28, 1565, predating the English settlement in Virginia by 42 years and by 55 years the Pilgrims' landing in Massachusetts. Its Colonial Spanish Quarter is a living museum, famous for its old house, jail, school and store. The city's Castillo de San Marcos National Monument dates to the 1670s.
St. Louis: The magnificent Gateway Arch is the symbol of America's westward expansion and Manifest Destiny. The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, beneath the arch on the west bank of the Mississippi River, celebrates the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and the opening of the West that followed.
Taos and Santa Fe, N.M.: The cities are about an hour apart in northern New Mexico. The ancient pueblo at Taos, a World Heritage Site, has been inhabited continuously for 1,000 years by Native Americans. According to historians, New Mexico's capital of Santa Fe was founded in 1610 by the Spanish. It was the terminus of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail.
Valley Forge, Pa.: The site of a winter encampment by Gen. George Washington and the Revolutionary Army, Valley Forge National Historical Park symbolizes the collective courage and dedication of those who fought to found the United States.
Washington, D.C.: The District of Columbia is filled with patriotic shrines, including the monument to Washington and the memorials to Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The National Mall is the setting for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and the National World War II Memorial.