10 Most Relaxing Spas in America

By Daniel Bortz
February 20, 2019
View of a spa pool with a woman relaxing with flowers in her hair.
Darya Petrenko
From the Atlantic to the Pacific, affordable luxury is just a vacation away.

Need a little R&R? Say no more! We’ve scoured the country to find the 10 most relaxing spas in the U.S. If you’re ready to unwind, pack a bag and head to one of these sanctuaries.

1. Acqualina Resort & Spa in Sunny Isles Beach, FL

Acqualina-Resort-Spa.jpg?mtime=20190228132833#asset:105036(Courtesy @acqualinaresort/Instagram)

Take in breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean from one of the 98 impeccable guest rooms at this five-star resort and spa located on 4.5 beachfront acres in Sunny Isles Beach, Miami (one of our favorite cities for foodie adventures and more). Enjoy a soak in one of the resort’s three oceanfront swimming pools before retreating indoors to the property’s world-class, 20,000-square-foot spa. Its signature spa treatments include a full-body massage using hot volcanic stones, a hot salt stone massage, and a detoxifying body wrap and advanced body massage that targets cellulite, fluid retention, and skin tonicity. The spa also has a Finnish sauna, a crystal steam room, and a shower room with cool Arctic and warm Caribbean mists.

2. Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, TX

Built on a secluded lakefront, this sprawling Texas getaway is the perfect place to go if you’re looking for a luxury resort with waterfront views. The resort offers more than 100 spa treatments and services, from seaweed body wraps and collagen-boosting facials to Thai massages and acupuncture. Guests can also enjoy any of the resort’s wide range of activities that are included in their stay such as a Mediterranean cooking class, outdoor yoga session, or canyon preserve hike.

3. Auberge du Soleil in Napa, CA

Budget Travelers have always loved California wine country. Secluded inside a terraced, sun-kissed hillside amid 33-acres of heritage olive and oak trees, this Napa Valley resort has a spa surrounded by sweeping views of the wine country. Its “best of Auberge facial” uses advanced ingredients rich in marine collagen, powerful antioxidants, and exfoliating enzymes to provide immediate firming and facial contour results. Traveling with your significant other? Get a joint full-body exfoliation using crushed grape seeds, followed by a fragrant bath for two in a private garden where you’ll enjoy fresh fruit and wine before receiving side-by-side scalp and foot treatments, followed by full-body massages.

4. Encore spa at Wynn resort and casino in Las Vegas

Sin City tops many traveler’s must-see list. This hotel spa may just be the definition of opulence. Featuring designer treatment rooms, the Wynn’s Encore spa sets a tranquil mood with glowing gold lanterns, life-size Buddhas, and blossoming orchids. For a relaxing full-body treatment order the Good Luck Ritual, which combines a custom massage, invigorating peppermint foot treatment, ultra-moisturizing hand therapy, and botanical scalp treatment. Have tired, achy feet? The Encore Foot Surrender will revitalize them by incorporating the use of steamed herbal poultices, reflex point therapy and a cooling peppermint foot treatment.

5. Shibui Spa at the Greenwich Hotel in New York City

This Japanese-inspired wellness center is the perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. Lanterns that softly illuminate the heated swimming pool set a soft ambience that will put your mind at ease. Consider getting the Bamboo Glow, a bamboo and lemongrass body scrub followed by a private shower with yuzu sea algae wash, a mint mineral bath, and a 60-minute, moisture-binding massage infused with bergamot, vetiver, and wild, Japanese lime. Spa guests also enjoy complimentary tea and dried fruits.

6. The Lodge at Woodloch in Hawley, PA

A two-hour drive from New York City, this resort’s luxurious spa draws guests with its selection of creative body treatments, massages, facials, and salon services. Enjoy a soak in the facility’s activity pool with floor to ceiling windows, surrounded by nature, before retiring to one of the 27 treatment rooms for a European deep cleansing facial, Swedish magnesium massage, or Thai bodywork—a technique that uses stretching, point therapy, and breath work to create a sense of balance throughout the body. In addition, the spa specializes in pre-natal treatments that focus on rehydrating skin and promoting circulation.

7. Mii Amo in Sedona, AZ

You’ll fall under Sedona’s spell at this ultra-private spa retreat nestled in a red-rock canyon that’s sacred to Native Americans. Guests can choose from a 3-, 4- or 7-night all-inclusive program that includes scheduled fitness classes, lectures, and two spa services per day. Opt for one of its indigenous-inspired therapies, such as the Soul Seeker treatment, where a master therapist uses guided imagery, energy soul journeying, emotional release, and breath work to help you achieve heightened awareness.

8. Sundara Inn & Spa in Wisconsin Dells, WI

Tucked in a pine forest on the scenic outskirts of Wisconsin Dells, this resort’s spa is the perfect spot to disconnect and enjoy spa treatments that blend ancient wisdom with modern wellness techniques. Guests can choose from a wide range of spa treatments, including a coffee bean firming body wrap, exfoliating wrinkle reduction facial, or warm oil scalp massage. Also, the indoor bathhouse features an essential oil-infused hot pool with hydro jets, a cool plunge pool that improves circulation, a rainfall shower, and a steam room with aromas of rose and sandalwood.

9. Sunrise Springs Spa Resort in Santa Fe, NM

Sunrise-Springs-Spa-Resort-Santa-Fe-NM.jpg?mtime=20190228133155#asset:105037(Courtesy @sunrisespringsnm/Instagram)

With 70 tranquil acres of gardens, walking paths, and a scenic high desert landscape, this Santa Fe resort attracts guests from around the world to its wellness spa, which offers the best of Eastern and Western therapies. One of the spa’s cutting-edge treatments is a CBD full-body massage therapy that uses CBD oils and products grown and processed in Colorado to release tension in sore muscles and reduce inflammation in joints. The spa also offers—among many treatments—a facial that uses hot herbal towels and wild-crafted local herbs to gently soothe and tone skin.

10. The Spa at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, NY

Founded in 1869, this Hudson Valley destination serves up skin and body treatments in a 30,000-square-foot eco-friendly spa, which includes 16 treatment rooms, relaxation verandas, solarium, 60-foot long indoor heated pool, and outdoor heated mineral pool. The spa offers more than 80 unique treatments, including a deep-heat massage with arnica oil helps calm the nerves and provides relief to over-used muscles. A nice bonus: both men’s and women’s changing rooms have a eucalyptus steam room and dry rock sauna.

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Budget Travel Lists

8 U.S. Aviation Destinations That Belong on Your Bucket List

Whether you’re a hard-core aviation enthusiast (yes, #avgeeks is a thing) or just intrigued by the miracle of flight, there's a lot in store for in 2019. Step back in time to get inside the heads of the pioneers of aviation, like the Wright Brothers, then let your own dreams of flight take wing in a high-flying biplane ride. You can even spend the night at a new hotel that harkens back to the glamorous golden age of air travel. Here are eight bucket list experiences for today’s #avgeeks. 1. TWA Hotel: Jamaica, New York (Max Touhey) The stylish 512-room TWA Hotel (twahotel.com) at JFK’s Terminal 5, in New York City's most populous and diverse borough, Queens, is on track to preserve the romance and excitement of the Jet Age when it opens this spring. You’ll feel as though you’ve stepped into 1962, or at the very least, like an extra in the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie Catch Me If You Can. Guest rooms boast floor-to-ceiling windows, mid-century modern furnishings, and vintage rotary phones. Order an old-fashioned inside Connie, a 1958 Lockheed Constellation that’s been made over into a swanky cocktail lounge, or settle in at Paris Café, the latest restaurant by celebrated chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, featuring a menu inspired by TWA in-flight menus from the 1960s. 2. EAA AirVenture: Oshkosh, Wisconsin (EAA/Connor Madison) Known as the "World's Greatest Aviation Celebration," EAA AirVenture (eaa.org/en/airventure) soars over Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for seven days in July, attracting around 600,000 aviation enthusiasts. The annual fly-in convention features upwards of 3,000 showplanes, making Wittman Regional Airport the world’s busiest airport, if only for a few days. There are so many planes, in fact, that dozens of air traffic controllers are brought in to ensure smooth take-offs and landings. Daily air shows, a veterans' parade, and a 5K race on the runway, as well as dazzling aerobatics displays and parachute team demos, make EAA AirVenture a must for enthusiasts of the Golden Age of Aviation. 3. Wright Brothers National Memorial: Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (Outer Banks Visitors Bureau) Closed for renovations since winter 2016, the Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center (nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm) on North Carolina’s Outer Banks reopened this past September to share the story of flight with new hands-on exhibits and artifacts, some on display for the first time—among them, a large piece of cloth from the 1903 Wright Flyer that was donated in 1960 by the Wright Family. Also new: a two-minute video that tells the story and science behind the Wright Brothers’ advances in flight. Meanwhile, a kid-friendly interactive Aspiration Wall invites visitors to share how they’ve overcome personal obstacles and the dreams they hope to make possible one day. 4. Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum: Mesa, Arizona (Visit Mesa) A hangar filled with historic military combat planes is just one of the attractions at the Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum at Falcon Field (azcaf.org) in Mesa, a town with a strong draw for foodies, just outside Phoenix. After you tour the hangar, an education in military history, you can climb into the cockpit of a warbird, like a N2S-3 Stearman biplane, and take to the skies with a professional pilot. Can’t make it to Mesa? During the summer, look for the Flying Legends of Victory Tour between June and October, when three of the seven combat planes travel to 50 cities across the country to educate on the history of air combat and the role of these warbirds. 5. The Boneyard at Pima Air and Space Museum: Tucson, Arizona (Visit Tucson) The Pima Air & Space Museum’s Boneyard (pimaair.org) is home to more than 4,000 military aircraft. However, because the Boneyard is actually located on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, advance reservations and a security clearance are required at least 10 days in advance for a narrated bus tour around the property. On the museum’s central grounds, explore the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame, see planes in several hangars, and criss-cross the grounds to check out another 150 planes parked on the museum’s 80 acres. Sign up for a tram tour or one of two docent-guided walking tours. 6. Kansas Aviation Museum: Wichita, Kansas As the Air Capital of the World, Wichita, Kansas, should be a top priority on anyone’s list—whether you're an aviation geek or just someone interested in American history. It's the city where iconic aviation brands like Cessna and Stearman were born, and where Bombardier and Airbus Americas still design aircraft. Start at the Kansas Aviation Museum (kansasaviationmuseum.org), housed in the original Wichita Airport and showcasing Wichita’s aviation history, including the debut of B-47 and B-52 bombers. Next, brush up on the city’s aviation leaders at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum before stopping for a pint at Aero Plains Brewing, where the bar is made from the wing of a Beechcraft Model 18. 7. Wings & Waves Waterpark: McMinnville, Oregon (Visit McMinnville) Cool off and make a big splash at Wings & Waves Waterpark in McMinnville, Oregon (wingsandwaveswaterpark.com). At possibly the only educational waterpark in the U.S., you’ll find 10 waterslides, including four that exit from the fuselage of a real Boeing 747, as well as a hands-on science center on the role of water in everyday life. The waterpark is just one part of a larger museum campus, which also includes the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum where you’ll find World War II artifacts, booster rockets, and high-speed reconnaissance aircraft. Air Force Two, the aircraft used by first ladies and vice presidents, touches down at the museum for guided tours this spring. 8. Aviation Trail: Dayton, Ohio (TourismOhio) Take a walk or ride your bike along the Aviation Trail (aviationtrailinc.org) in Dayton, Ohio, the birthplace of aviation. Along the trail, you’ll find 17 flight-related museums and historical sites, including the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, home to a space shuttle and four of nine presidential aircrafts, including the Air Force One that returned President John F. Kennedy’s body from Dallas. The trail begins at the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center, where visitors learn about the early years of the Wright Brothers, and meanders its way across Dayton, making stops at the Aviation Trail Parachute Museum, the Wright Brothers Memorial, and the Tri-State Warbird Museum, which focuses on the history of aircraft used during war throughout history.

Budget Travel Lists

Travel News: 10 Most Welcoming Countries on Earth

Our friends at Booking.com (who power Budget Travel’s lodging-booking page) recently announced their annual Guest Review Awards, honoring more than 750,000 properties around the globe that deliver exceptional guest experiences. When a huge booking site crunches tons of user-provided data, some trends tend to emerge. Here, some of Booking.com’s findings, including some of the most welcoming places around the globe and in the U.S. TRAVELERS VALUE APARTMENTS AND OTHER UNIQUE LODGINGS In yet another sign of a significant paradigm shift in the way people travel, apartments were the top awarded accommodation category, comprising 36 percent of Booking.com’s award-winning properties worldwide in 2018. Hotels came in second. But perhaps most significantly, a full 73 percent of all award-winning properties were “unique properties,” including not only apartments but also private homes, bed and breakfasts, farmstays, riads, boats, and even igloos. 10 MOST WELCOMING COUNTRIES ON EARTH A significant number of travelers, more than 70 percent of those surveyed, reported that “friendly and interesting locals” are among the criteria they value most when choosing a destination. With that in mind, Booking.com for the first time compiled a list of the “most welcoming” countries in the world. We couldn’t help noticing that eight of the top 10 are affordable European destinations—let them inspire your next hop across the pond (or beyond): Austria Czech Republic Poland New Zealand Taiwan Romania Hungary Ireland Serbia Greece 10 MOST WELCOMING CITIES IN THE U.S. Further fuel for your wanderlust can be found in Booking.com’s most welcoming cities in the U.S., a good number of which Budget Travel has covered in recent years in our Locals Know Best and 51 Affordable Discoveries series: Newport, RISedona, AZOklahoma City, OKPittsburgh, PAFort Worth, TXBaltimore, MDLouisville, KYArlington, VAAnaheim, CAJacksonville, FL

Budget Travel Lists

7 Great Places to Eat in San Juan, Puerto Rico

With its beautiful white-sand beaches, a picturesque, colorful old town, and tropical Caribbean climes, Puerto Rico’s capital city has plenty to recommend it. But if you visit San Juan and don’t do some serious eating, you’re really missing out. From rich coffee (some of the best in the world) and stellar pastries (be sure to try the quesito, a tangy-cheese-filled treat with a crisp, sugary exterior) to snacks (the stuffed fritters known as alcapurrias are especially addictive) and fine dining, you really can’t go wrong. Here are seven delicious, budget-friendly bites from my last trip—each one $18 or less. 1. Jose Enrique (Maya Stanton) A chance to support a local civic-minded chef who also happens to be a James Beard award semi-finalist, and one of the island's most lauded culinary ambassadors to boot? Yes, please. Chef José Enrique offered up his restaurant as the initial base of operations for the disaster-relief work his friend José Andrés’s organization, World Central Kitchen, did in the wake of Hurricane Maria, and on top of that, his food is really something special. Though it’s a casual spot located in the neighborhood of Santurce, in a humble building sans signage, Jose Enrique is hardly nondescript. Between the bright-green exterior and the reasonably priced, ever-changing menu of traditional Puerto Rican favorites, it’s one for the highlight reels. For starters, try the poppers ($12), battered and fried chunks of fish in a creamy, spicy sauce, or the crab (above; $14), served cold with tomatoes, red onions, and herbs, doused with lime, and layered with a slice of avocado on a platter of crispy green plantains. Though they're equally good, the mains are pricier, so consider making a meal of the appetizers, and you'll walk away happy. (Pro tip: The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, so arrive early and prepare to queue up. Lunch is a great option, especially mid-week—I went on a Wednesday, got there when it opened, and had my pick of the tables.)176 Calle Duffaut, San Juan; 787.725.3518; joseenriquepr.com. 2. Lote 23 (Maya Stanton) Launched in late 2016, Santurce’s Lote 23 is equal parts food park and community center: Its kiosks and Airstream trailers feed locals and tourists alike, and it’s a destination for yoga, music, and dancing too. If you’re coming to eat, you can fill up on hearty plates of pernil or fried chicken, go light with a poke bowl, snack on an order of croquettes, perk up with an iced Puerto Rican cold-brew coffee, and fill in the remaining cracks with a handmade popsicle from Señor Paleta. These are not the vaguely fruity concoctions you may remember from your childhood—we’re talking vibrant, full-bodied flavors here, from gelato-style varieties like peanut, pistachio, nutella, and dulce de leche to tropical sorbets like mango, guava, soursop, and passionfruit (above). They all ring in around $3 a pop (...pun intended), and you can’t go wrong with any of them.1552-1558 Avenida Juan Ponce de León, San Juan; lote23.com. 3. Santaella (Maya Stanton) With a chic, industrial-meets-contemporary dining room facing a lush, interior garden and a chef who’s worked with famous names like Ferran Adría and Eric Ripert, this fine-dining space in Santurce has the potential to be a real budget-buster. The smart bet is to swing by at lunch to sample chef José Santaella’s upscale, market-driven cocina criolla for less than $20, or belly up to the bar in the evening for a cocktail and a small plate or two. Drinks-wise, the spicy paloma ($15), with smoky mezcal, grapefruit juice, crushed red pepper, and a ginger-tahini salted rim, is an exceptional accompaniment to the empanadillas (above; $14), a plate of snack-sized empanadas with fillings that change from day to day. (Mine were stuffed with chorizo and cheese, a basic-sounding combination that tasted anything but.) Planning a splurge meal to kick off or wrap up your trip? This is the place to go big. 219 Calle Canals, San Juan; 787.725.1611; josesantaella.com. 4. Verde Mesa (Courtesy @VerdeMesa/Instagram) In the heart of Old San Juan (one of our 51 Affordable Discoveries for 2019!), this small restaurant features pressed-tin ceilings, eye-catching mason-jar light fixtures, a hodgepodge of vintage furniture, friendly service, and superb Mediterranean-Caribbean fusion cuisine. Vegetarian-friendly dishes are a rarity on the island, but here they’re more than just an afterthought—case in point, a refreshing ceviche-style chayote salad spiked with mango, lime, and cilantro; a hearty pumpkin and barley porridge with kale, pecorino, and roasted eggplant; and a vegetable-laced mound of rice, a signature dish. On the meatier side, the Moroccan-spiced lamb stew is a stand-out, bones and all, but the real winner is the octopus appetizer ($18), a pile of perfectly charred tentacles showered with pea shoots and served on a bed of smoky piquillo-pepper puree. They don't take reservations and there's usually a wait, but you won’t regret putting in the time.107 Calle Tetuan, San Juan; 787.390.4662; facebook.com/verdemesa. 5. La Bombonera (Maya Stanton) This circa-1902 Old San Juan bakery and café teases passersby with a tempting window display of assorted pastries, but don’t succumb—at least not ‘til later. You’re here for one singular sandwich: the Mallorca, a sweet roll layered with your choice of fillings, pressed until the edges are warm and crisp, and dusted with a heap of powdered sugar. You can have it with simple accompaniments like butter or chocolate, but I can never turn down a savory-sweet combination and chose the egg, ham, and Swiss ($7). The yolk was still soft, the cheese wasn’t quite melted, and the rich, salty filling just about stood up to the sugary roll. But it was the hot sauce that brought things into balance. I would’ve paid the fees to check a bag so I could bring home a bottle of the tangy, garlicky, house-made concoction, and I am an avid never-checker. Order a cortado ($3), a strong little cup of coffee with a touch of milk, to go with your sandwich, and pick up a few of those pastries on your way out, too. 259 Calle San Francisco, San Juan; 787.705.3370; facebook.com/labombonerasanjuan. 6. Kiosko El Boricua (Maya Stanton) For a taste of real-deal Puerto Rican snack food, jump in the car (or grab an Uber) and head out of town. Some 10 miles east of Old San Juan on the island’s north shore, the Piñones area boasts an array of roadside kiosks hawking local bites against a backdrop of postcard-perfect beaches. There’s always a line at Kiosko El Boricua, and for good reason: Everything's made to order, and it's all delicious. Try the pastelillos (turnovers with a shatteringly crisp exterior and a thin, soft layer of dough underneath) with crab (above; $5), the alcapurrias (fritters made from taro root and green plantains) with salt cod ($3.50), or the piononos (stuffed sweet plantains that are often rolled around the filling, but here it's more like a plantain sandwich) with beef ($4.50). The seafood tacos are also great, but this is where I should note that Puerto Rican tacos and Mexican tacos are not the same thing—the Puerto Rican version is yet another a deep-fried turnover-style snack, so don’t go in expecting a soft corn or flour tortilla. Come hungry, spring for a cheap beer to wash it down, and carry your haul across the street to tuck in on the sand.PR-187 km 8.0, Bo Torrecilla Baja, Loíza; 787.596.1684; facebook.com/kioskoelboricua. 7. Chocobar Cortés (Maya Stanton) A fourth-generation chocolate-making operation dating to 1929, Chocolate Cortés originated in the Dominican Republic before expanding production to the founder’s native Puerto Rico, and today, the bean-to-bar company’s locally and sustainably grown cacao varieties are starting to earn worldwide recognition. You can taste the goods at Chocobar Cortés, a cocoa-focused café in Old San Juan. Visit at brunch for sweet dishes like chocolate pancakes and French toast, or try the equally tasty, if a bit unconventional, savory preparations: roasted pumpkin soup with a white chocolate and wasabi crostini, perhaps, or a crispy chicken roulade with blood sausage and caramelized chocolate tomato sauce. My friend and I stopped by just after sunset and opted for pre-dinner drinks, a chocolate martini ($12) laced with Baileys for her, and a frozen mocha hot chocolate ($5) with whipped cream and chocolate nibs for me. Both were luscious and refreshing, and the quality of the chocolate was unmistakable. Ground chocolate is for sale, so yes, you can try this all at home. 210 Calle San Francisco, San Juan; 787.722.0499; chocobarcortes.com.

Budget Travel Lists

10 National Historic Landmarks You Won't Believe Are Actually Landmarks

Of the 90,000-some sites on the National Register of Historic Places, a list determined by the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service, only about 2,500 are deemed to have enough historical and cultural significance to be recognized as National Historic Landmarks. Churches, forts, historic homes, banks, bridges, and even boats are a dime a dozen. Lesser known, however, are the mining sites, landfills, and zany statues. Here are a few of the more unlikely sites that have had an impact on our culture and influenced who we are as Americans. 1. Lynch Knife River Flint Quarry: Stanton, North Dakota Several thousands of years before North Dakota’s oil mines triggered a Gold Rush-style blitz of industry, the Plains Indians in the area were mining flint, a resource so valuable to them that archaeologists insist that you can’t talk about the native culture without mentioning it. They mined over 150,000 pounds of the stuff to make arrowheads and other tools. One of the biggest quarries, the Lynch Quarry site, which spans over 690 acres, has, thanks to the efforts of local landowners, staved off development and infiltration by coal companies. It’s remained intact to the point that the anvils used to sharpen arrows and such are still there. Arguably the nation's most overlooked natural resource, it became a landmark in 2012. 2. Peavy-Hagline Experimental Concrete Grain Elevator: St. Lewis Park, Minnesota (McGhiever/Wikimedia Commons) Before there were skyscrapers and Space Needles or, for that matter, telephone poles, there were grain elevators. The Peavy-Hagline Experimental Concrete Grain Elevator, a rural tower that stretches 125 feet into the air, is the first of its kind in the United States and, it’s presumed, the world. Before it was built in 1900, elevators were made of wood, but this one was an architectural marvel of its time. According to the Minnesota Historical Society, it served as a model for future concrete structures built around the United States, satisfying the builders’ intention to prove that concrete could indeed be used in elevator construction. French architect LeCorbusier praised it as "the magnificent First Fruits of the new age." 3. Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill: Fresno, California For the most part, we take garbage pickup for granted these days: You put it out on your curb and it disappears. But regional sanitation systems are part of a tremendous, complex industry, and it’s come a long, long way as cities have expanded and developed. The Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill is ground zero for innovation in the sanitation industry. The creators of the landfill, which operated from 1935 to 1989, at which point it spanned 145 acres, are known for pioneering trenching, compacting, and daily burial techniques to tamp down on rodent issues and other problems. Urban problem-solving at its finest. 4. Lucy the Elephant: Margate City, New Jersey (Mary Katherine Wynn/Dreamstime) Dumbo notwithstanding, Lucy, located five miles from Atlantic City, is easily the most famous elephant in the United States. The six-story, nine-ton quadruped, originally made of wood and tin sheeting (she was buttressed with steel in 1970), has appeared in movies, television dramas, comic strips, various History Channel and Travel Channel specials, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and more. She's been a restaurant, offices, and a tavern. And as a testament to her endurance, she was virtually unscathed during Hurricane Sandy. Tourists visit her to climb the spiral staircase inside her to a hodwah on her back that delivers 360-degree views of the Jersey Shore. The National Park Service, which declared her a landmark in 1976, notes her as being a prime example of novelty architecture, an oversize structure designed in an unorthodox shape. 5. Howard High School: Wilmington, Delaware In 2005, when Howard High School in Wilmington, Delaware, became a National Historic Landmark, then state senator Joe Biden said in a statement, “The selection of Howard High School as a historic landmark is fitting because it encompasses both the struggles of our past and the promise of our future. Our hope is that this recognition will serve as a very visible and powerful reminder of just how far we have come and how much further we must still go." The school played a critical role in the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared it unconstitutional to segregate public schools. (The Brown case was actually a combination of five cases, including one that contested black students be bused to Howard, a black school, when a white high school was closer to their home.) Students here learn history not just from the books, but from their everyday surrounds. 6. American Flag Raising Site: Sitka, Alaska (Sphraner/Dreamstime) Really? A flagpole? Rest assured, it’s not just any old flagpole. The flagpole that marks Castle Hill, which was later renamed Baranof Castle State Historic Site, is where, in 1867, the Russians relinquished Alaska to the United States and, soon after, where the 49-star American flag was raised to commemorate Alaska’s new statehood for the first time. The pole is perched on a rock ridge that’s nearly 60 feet in the air, a prime perch for observing Sitka's gorgeous and historic cityscape. 7. Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1: Arco, Idaho Idaho is one of the 11 states that Lewis and Clark crossed during their epic expedition from 1804 to 1806, so, accordingly, the landscape is dotted with an assortment of landmarks marking their path. But there is one among them that has nothing to do with that dynamic duo: Declared a landmark in 1965, you might say the Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 is where nuclear energy was born. The desert-situated decommissioned reactor was the world’s first nuclear power plant to generate electricity when, in 1951, it illuminated four 200-watt bulbs. This relic of the past is commemorated as a harbinger of the atomic-energy-driven future. 8. Fireproof Building: Charleston, South Carolina Many buildings are declared landmarks because they're where a historical person lived or died, a monumental event happened, or a company set up its manufacturing operation. There are loads of landmark banks, courts, jails, hotels, and churches. But only the grand Greek Revival-style County Records Building in Charleston carried the superlative classification of most fire-protected building when it was built in 1829, making it oldest fire-resistant building in all the land today. The structure is solid masonry and stucco, with iron shutters on triple windows, which allowed for more light, which meant less need for candles. These and other architectural features made it so sound that it survived the 1886 earthquake. In recent decades, it housed the South Carolina Historical Society, which renovated the building and opened it as a museum last summer. 9. Davis-Ferris Organ: Round Lake, New York (Courtesy Grace Mayo/Wikimedia Commons) The stately, massive Davis-Ferris Organ was built in 1847 for $2,500 and sat in Manhattan’s Calvary Episcopal Church until 1888, when it was purchased by a Methodist camp for $1,500 and moved to a town auditorium in Round Lake, a village in upstate New York that has been on the National Register of Historic Places itself since 1975. The instrument features pipes wide enough for a small child to crawl through, earned the approval of the National Parks Service in 2016. It’s said to be the oldest and largest organ of its type. (For any organ aficionados out there, that’s a three-manual organ, to be specific.) 10. Baltusrol Golf Club: Springfield, New Jersey A.W. Tillinghast, who passed away in 1942, is the Frank Gehry of golf courses. He designed more than 265 of them throughout his prolific career, and the 36-hole golf course at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey, which was completed in 1918, is often seen as one of his greatest achievements. In 1919, Golf Illustrated wrote, "What they are planning at Baltusrol is on a vaster scale than anything that has ever been attempted in American Golf.” It’s since played host to numerous professional tournaments, including seven U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships.