How Many U.S. World Heritage Sites Have You Visited?

Many of our planet’s most iconic sights — the Egyptian pyramids, Roman Colosseum, Stonehenge and those giant heads on Easter Islands — are enshrined as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

There are nearly 1,200 of them worldwide, places and things that the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization deems to have cultural, natural or historical significance of outstanding value to humanity.

The sites are spread across 168 countries and every continent. Italy tops the chart with 59 designations, followed by China, France, Germany, Spain and India.

And even though many Americans don’t realize it, the United States is no slouch when it comes to world heritage sites.

As of 2024, the U.S. boasts 25 sites in 21 different states and Puerto Rico. They fall into four main categories: nature, history, Native American and a very special architecture category that includes the work of a single individual.

How many of these have you visited?

Natural Attractions

From Wrangell-St Elias in Alaska to the Everglades in Florida, Hawaii Volcanoes to the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee, 14 U.S. national parks are World Heritage Sites.

Shortly after the program kicked off in the 1970s, Yellowstone and Mesa Verde were among the first sites anywhere on the globe to earn the distinction.

UNESCO lauded Yellowstone for “showcasing significant geological phenomena and processes” as well as a “unique manifestation of geothermal forces, natural beauty, and wild ecosystems where rare and endangered species thrive.”

Although it’s also a place of outstanding natural beauty, Mesa Verde was chosen for exceptional archaeological sites that “provide eloquent testimony to the ancient cultural traditions of Native American tribes. They represent a graphic link between the past and present ways of life of the Puebloan Peoples of the American Southwest.”

Several national parks are on UNESCO’s tentative list for World Heritage status including Big Bend in Texas, White Sands in New Mexico and Petrified Forest in Arizona.

American History

Several of the nation’s most iconic structures are World Heritage Sites including Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were debated, drafted and signed on either side of the American Revolution.

France marked a century of American independence — and one of the inspirations for its own revolution — by gifting a colossal metal sculpture called Liberty Enlightening the World to the city of New York. More commonly called the Statue of Liberty, the green goddess was named a World Heritage Site in 1984.

Thomas Jefferson’s elegant Monticello home and the “Academic Village” he designed for the nearby University of Virginia are a combined heritage site that UNESCO praises for the “originality of their plans and designs and for the refinement of their proportions and décor” and how the architecture invokes “freedom, nobility, self-determination, and prosperity.”

Reflecting several centuries of Spanish colonial rule in the American Southwest, the five San Antonio Missions and a bygone hacienda south of the Texas city are combined into another history focused site. Puerto Rico’s La Fortaleza and Old San Juan world heritage site was also created by Spanish colonists.

Native American Heritage

Native American relics comprise a quarter of the nation’s UNESCO sites.

The cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde might have been the first to earn World Heritage Status, but others are equally impressive in terms of architecture and cultural significance.

Far and away the most famous is Taos Pueblo, which has been continuously occupied for more than 500 years and is still home to around 150 full-time residents.

Farther west in New Mexico, are impressive ruins associated with the Chaco Culture that flourished in the region between 850 and 1250 A.D.

On the other hand, the Hopewell Mounds in Ohio, the semicircular earthworks at Poverty Point in Louisiana, and the great pyramid of Cahokia near St. Louis were created by complex and highly sophisticated Native American cultures that flourished in the Mississippi watershed for centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Rarely is a single individual responsible for creating an entire World Heritage Site. But when that person is legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the choice seems like a no-brainer.

Eight of his masterpieces in six states are enshrined in the 20^th Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright site, which stretches across the entire nation from California to New York.

Several are well-known including the swirling Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, the incredible Fallingwater house in Pennsylvania, and the monumental Taliesin West in Arizona, where Wright spent more than 20 winters.

Others are more obscure, but just as astounding: The Mayan Revival-style Hollyhock House in Los Angeles and the simple yet elegant brick-and-wood design of the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House in Wisconsin.