Historic Landmarks and Buildings

From July 1 through July 3, 1863, Union and Confederate soldiers fought a fierce battle in the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, near the Maryland state line. When the battle ended, 8,900 soldiers lay dead on the field. 22,000 wounded soldiers were treated in homes, schools, and a hospital nearby. Today…

Established in 1607 by the Virginia Company under a charter given by King James I, Jamestown was the first English settlement in North America. Unfortunately, it was doomed to fail, but it can be remembered as America’s birthplace. Learn More England was a relatively poor country in the late 1500s…

The Crazy Horse Memorial, in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, memorializes Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Chief. The project is funded by private donation, not the government, and has taken almost 100 years. Fun Facts In 1931, Luther Standing Bear wrote a letter to Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of…

Fun Facts The African American fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha first began discussing the idea for a memorial in the 1980s. Martin Luther King Jr. joined the fraternity in 1952 when he was studying theology at Boston University. In 1996, the House and Senate approved the idea and in 1998, President…

On June 16, 1775, the colonial militia in Boston received word that British soldiers, who were stationed in Boston, planned to place troops in the surrounding countryside of the Charlestown peninsula, which would give them even greater control over Boston Harbor. The militia stole to the peninsula at night, built…

Near the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. sits the National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian Institution, and the largest museum for African American culture in the country. Fun Facts Leaders began discussing the idea for a national museum on African American culture in 1915,…