The smallest island in Manhattan is a manmade landfill dominated by a Buddhist peace arch.

The longest continuous underwater road in North America was built at the insistence of Franklin Roosevelt.

A playground inspired by differential calculus dangles from the ceiling of the Liberty Science Center.

Now abandoned, the first public health hospital in the U.S. saw more than one million immigrants from around the world.

Lady Liberty's first beacon of enlightenment is now displayed in a museum near the statue.

In its day this historic fort held 100 cannons pointed in almost every direction to protect New York.

Lie in a hammock where George Washington stood.

You can still ride this 100-year-old work of art in Brooklyn's largest public park.

One of the most enjoyable bits of history at Coney Island and “the most romantic ride in the world.”

New York's southernmost subway station is whimsically wavy.

Featuring the the longest lift span of any vertical-lift bridge in the world.

Vacant Beaux-Arts buildings that serve as reminders of a beach town’s glory days.

The first dish to bounce radio signals off the Moon, it was the forerunner to the U.S. Space Program.

A convincing little bit of ancient Egypt smack dab in Richmond, Virginia.

A lightship turned museum, outfitted with artifacts from the vessel's past as part of the U.S. Lighthouse Service.

Get up close and personal at this Fresnel Lens.

South Carolina's last remaining slavery auction house is now a museum devoted to its own tragic history.

Thirteen pastel palaces in downtown Charleston add a gorgeous splash of color to the city.

An early-19th-century hotel with a past that is steeped in the Civil War.

A once-groundbreaking power plant turned into a hotel and mini-museum of archeological and geological wonders.

A pink and gray pair of pachyderms advertise a fireworks shop.

A town filled with hot chocolate, dazzling lights, and lots of Christmas cheer.

History is hiding at the Morean Center for Clay.

An 18th-century Spanish watchtower made entirely of seashell and concrete.