World history is filled with breathtaking historical locations that fascinate and impress every year’s visitors. Be they national treasures, significant landmarks or even ancient relics – these sights capture people’s hearts around the globe and provoke profound feelings.
Here are 10 historical spots near home that would make great vacation destinations.
1. Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg is the world’s largest living history museum, its 301-acre Historic Area recreating 18th-century Virginia just prior to the American Revolution.
Research is behind everything you see here; historical reenacters speak, dress and act like they would have in their day.
Discover a recreated Continental Army encampment and 1780s farm, as well as watch colonists negotiate relationships with American Indian tribes through a reconstructed Indian village.
2. Jamestown
On May 14, 1607, when 104 English men and boys disembarked from three ships – Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery – on their arrival on a tiny peninsula known as St. Croix they had no idea of what lay ahead: mosquitoes carrying malaria spread by airborne vectors were abundant, while James River tides harbored deadly diseases like diarrheal disease or salt poisoning caused by drinking its waters.
Despite these challenges, this site gave birth to English society, language and democracy, including slavery. Unfortunately, however, due to climate change it now falls onto a list of threatened historic places.
3. Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu remains one of the world’s most celebrated ruins and continues to draw travelers from around the globe.
It stands as testament to Inca engineering genius as its construction was achieved without draft animals or wheels; each stone in its walls fit precisely together – something impossible today without mortar.
Religion was also an essential aspect of everyday life in these regions; including an emphasis on believing in an afterlife.
5. The Parthenon
Few structures are as iconic as the Parthenon, built as a temple to Athena during a fifth-century construction project at Acropolis Hill in Greece and widely associated with ancient Greece and democratic ideals.
It has endured centuries of bombardments, occupations, neglect and pillaging without succumbing to destruction or restoration efforts. Scholars attribute its incredible resilience to architectural refinements such as upward curvatures along the columns’ edges or an imperceptible convexity within its entablature that contributes to giving it its plastic, sculptural appearance.
6. Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza’s center is home to numerous temples and monuments, but perhaps the most celebrated structure is El Castillo: a four-sided pyramid temple featuring 365 steps representing days in an solar year – built as a sacred shrine dedicated to Kukulcan.
Between the 10th and 13th centuries, Toltec culture reached its zenith. New settlers from central Mexico brought both Mayan influence as well as Toltec beliefs and structures into Toltec territory.
7. Bimini Road
The Bimini Road is an underwater rock formation that spans half a mile of Atlantic waters. Consisting of three straight linear features comprised primarily of rectangular to subrectangular limestone blocks, its stretch spans more than 500 feet across.
After its discovery in 1968, its discovery aroused much fascination and speculation – with some suggesting it might even be part of Atlantis, an ancient city whose location had been predicted by American clairvoyant Edgar Cayce.
Scientific studies have conclusively established that roads are natural geological formations; yet their allure continues to captivate imaginations.
8. Gobekli Tepi
Gobekli Tepe was first investigated–and dismissed–by University of Chicago and Istanbul University anthropologists during the 1960s, before German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt came along in 1994 and saw something special there.
Over 13,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers in southeast Turkey created an extraordinary structure. Some call it the world’s earliest temple; others propose that it could completely alter our understanding of prehistoric civilization.
