America’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites include sprawling national parks, unique nature reserves, groundbreaking feats of human ingenuity and historic monuments that have come to define the modern US. From the Pacific Northwest to Puerto Rico and everything in between, discover the significance of these 24 majestic marvels.

Created by Frederic Bartholdi and Gustave Eiffel, the Statue of Liberty was gifted to the US by France to celebrate one hundred years of American independence. It was made in Paris before being shipped to the US, where it has stood at the entrance to New York Harbor since 1886. ‘Lady Liberty’ – clutching a tablet inscribed with the date the Declaration of Independence was adopted – was the first thing millions of immigrants and refugees saw on arriving in the US over the following century. She was designated by UNESCO in 1984.

At over 400 miles (644km), Mammoth Cave National Park is the world’s largest natural cave system. Its 10 million years of cave-forming action have seen almost every kind of limestone formation known to science occur through its chambers and passageways, and the caves are still changing even now. To protect 21,380 valuable hectares of subterranean space, as well as the flora and fauna that call the caves home, the park was taken under UNESCO’s wing in 1981.

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Cahokia Mounds is the largest Native American archaeological site north of Mexico, and was first inhabited during the Mississippian period (circa 800 AD). Cahokia was added to the UNESCO catalogue in 1982 for being the greatest and earliest example of surviving Mississippian settlement in the US. In its prime, there would have been around 120 mounds within the community, although less than half now remain. The mounds mainly formed the foundations of buildings, but also covered grave sites.

With over 373,000 hectares of glaciated mountains, lakes, ancient woodland, alpine meadows, rivers and rambling coastline, Olympic National Park is one of the most diverse national parks in the US. It's home to one of the world’s most significant expanses of virgin temperate rainforest – one of many reasons Olympic achieved UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1981. The park also contains critical populations of endangered animals, such as the northern spotted owl, and fascinating endemic wildlife that has thrived here largely undisturbed.

The best National Park in every state

Think of the Everglades and you’ll most likely picture manatees and crocodiles drifting through mangroves. But did you know these mangroves comprise the largest continuous ecosystem of their kind in the Western hemisphere? The vast majority of this national park has been UNESCO-inscribed since 1979. Characterised by marshes and meandering wetlands, the Everglades are where fresh and saltwater meet – resulting in huge biodiversity that is entirely unique within the US.

Spanning two countries and nearly 10 million hectares, this collective of national parks has been grouped together on the basis of shared tectonic activity and topography, as well as their common flora and fauna. Defined by towering peaks, moraines, canyons, fjord-like inlets and glaciers so large they reach all the way to the sea, they are a magnificent sight to behold. The most recent addition to the collective is Tatshenshini-Alsek, which was added to this wider UNESCO property in 1994.

Centred around Chaco Canyon in what is today New Mexico, the Chaco Culture site is a network of several pre-Columbian archaeological remains that were occupied by Pueblo peoples. Chacoans built their communities around the canyon due to its ceremonial, economic and political importance, and it thrived from approximately 850 AD to 1250 AD. Containing many remarkable feats of engineering, this World Heritage property was listed in 1987.

Incredible places to celebrate Native American heritage

The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright is the most recent addition to America’s list of World Heritage Sites, and it was recognised in 2019. It celebrates eight visionary buildings across six states – examples include Fallingwater house in Pennsylvania (pictured) and New York’s Guggenheim Museum. Frank Lloyd Wright was a pioneer of ‘organic architecture’ – open-plan layouts, abstract spaces informed by nature, and the use of stark materials like concrete and steel. His legacy remains an inspiration to modern designers around the world.

One of the most iconic sights on Earth, the Grand Canyon got its UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1979. Formed over six million years, the famous canyon was gradually carved out by the Colorado River as it etched a channel into the rock. The park has otherworldly topography; a landscape defined by the deep gorge at its heart and surrounded by high plateaus, deserts, waterfalls, plains, lava flows and forests.

Located in Philadelphia, Independence Hall may look fairly unremarkable at a glance, but this 18th-century building is of timeless importance. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were both debated and signed within its hallowed walls, in 1776 and 1787 respectively. The two history-making documents represent the cornerstones of freedom and democracy in the US, providing the blueprint for many other nations to implement their own governmental charters. Independence Hall added World Heritage Site status to its inventory in 1979.

Established in 1872 and ushered into UNESCO’s books in 1978, Yellowstone is widely renowned as a hotbed of geothermal activity. Possessing countless geysers and all sorts of other geothermal features, this park provides a monumental study of the Earth’s primeval power. Despite its volatile and often-dangerous geology, Yellowstone supports a huge ecosystem, with grizzly bears, bison and wolves all roaming wild.

Incredible images of Yellowstone through the decades

Sitting on a plateau 8,530 feet (2,600m) above sea level, the ancient dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park are believed to have been inhabited by the Puebloan civilisation for over 700 years. There are thousands of individual sites within the park, including mesa-top villages and vast sandstone 'cliff palaces' with 150 rooms. Mesa Verde became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. Fun fact: in 2021, it was also made an International Dark Sky Park.

La Fortaleza and other defensive structures such as those at Castillo San Felipe del Morro, Castillo San Cristóbal and the San Juan de la Cruz fort are some of North America’s finest examples of military architecture, constructed between the 16th and 20th centuries under Spanish colonial rule. Inscribed in 1983, UNESCO says these represent a fascinating transfer of technology from Europe to the Americas, utilising military designs from the Italian Renaissance and the French Enlightenment.

Named the Great Smoky Mountains due to the mist that settles atop them, this mountain range forms the focal point of a 200,000-hectare national park stamped with UNESCO’s World Heritage seal in 1983 for its unspoilt natural beauty and ecological value. A survivor of the glacial Pleistocene period, the park holds almost as many plant species in its old-growth forests as there are on the entire European continent, in addition to a vast array of salamanders.

A World Heritage Site since 2010 and one of the planet’s largest marine protected areas, Papahānaumokuākea is a splatter of islets and atolls lying off the main Hawaiian archipelago. Aside from being of exceptional interest to marine biologists and wildlife enthusiasts, the area is of immense cultural significance to Native Hawaiian peoples: it is an ancestral land that epitomises the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature. Traditional Hawaiian lore also dictates that life originated here, and that it's where spirits come to rest after death.

America's most beautiful islands you can visit

Designed by the third US president and main author of the Declaration of Independence, Monticello was the home of Thomas Jefferson. While the plantation he owned no longer exists, his ‘Academical Village’, built in the Neoclassical style, became the central part of the University of Virginia. The UNESCO site comprises this village, with its rotunda, pavilions, student facilities and gardens, plus Jefferson’s grand former house, which is open to the public for tours.

Redwood National and State Parks take their names from the forests of leafy giants that cover this mountainous region of America’s Pacific coast. Redwoods are the tallest species of tree in the world. 160 million-year-old coastal redwood forests once covered many of the planet’s wet temperate zones, but can now only be found in this corner of the US, which has been under the stewardship of UNESCO since 1980. In addition to rare ancient redwoods, the parks are home to bald eagles, sea lions and the endangered California brown pelican.

With more than 120 caves as well as flowering cacti, cougars, Brazilian free-tailed bats and other desert wildlife, Carlsbad Caverns National Park is both geologically and ecologically beguiling, and its karst landscape became a UNESCO property in 1995. The caves, famed for their decorative speleothems (mineral deposits), have been naturally sculpted out of dissolving limestone and are some of the few places in the world where rock formations continue to tangibly take shape. 

The world's most beautiful caverns and caves

Engineered by a society of Native American hunter-fisher-gatherers more than 3,000 years ago, the Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point are "the product of five million hours of labour", according to the National Park Service. The site (inscribed by UNESCO in 2014) served as a pioneering residential, ceremonial and mercantile base that went unsurpassed for two millennia. It comprises five mounds that surround a central flat plaza, plus six well-preserved concentric ridges that fan out from the edge in the shape of a rainbow.

The first of the world’s 'International Peace Parks' was established in 1932, when Glacier National Park in Montana was merged with the Waterton Lakes National Park in the Canadian province of Alberta to mark the meaningful relationship between the two neighbours. Recognised by UNESCO in 1995 for its distinctive climate and mountain-prairie landscape, the Peace Park is not only beautiful, but incredibly biodiverse. Ecosystems exist here that cannot be found anywhere else on Earth.

Incorporating a collection of early 18th-century frontier missions and ranches, the San Antonio Missions exemplify the colonisation of the Americas by Spain. Built by Franciscan missionaries as a demonstration of Catholicism to the Coahuiltecan and other Indigenous peoples, the buildings contain nods to both cultures, with churches featuring Catholic iconography alongside Native American designs. UNESCO brought the individual plots under one banner in 2015.

Home to two of the most active volcanoes in the world, Mauna Loa and Kilauea, Volcanoes National Park charts the geological heritage and ever-evolving landscapes of Hawaii’s Big Island. Shaped by both ancient eruptions and ongoing lava flows, the park became a World Heritage Site in 1987 in recognition of how its powerful natural processes helped build the island of Hawaii. 73% of the park’s original 88,000-hectare expanse is designated wilderness, with rare birds, endemic species and fern forests in abundance.

Yosemite's unique geology includes cliffs, mountains, moraines, valleys, lakes and waterfalls, making this national park a dramatic and dynamic destination for nature and adventure buffs. Granite domes and jagged walls give way to alpine meadows and groves of giant sequoia trees, with flourishing flora and fauna adding extra beauty. All of this, and more, is why UNESCO honoured it with World Heritage Site status in 1984.

Unlike the other two Puebloan sites on UNESCO’s books, Taos Pueblo (inscribed in 1992) is still inhabited, and has continuously been so since the late-13th century. Located against the Rocky Mountains, it's an adobe settlement – unique to this region – comprising underground ceremonial chambers (kivas) and multi-storey terraced dwellings laid out in tiers. Today, the Taos Pueblo community maintains their own dedicated wilderness area, which is vital to their livelihood and agricultural sustainability.

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