Colonial America
The English colonies from Jamestown to the eve of revolution — meeting houses, harbours, and the first American towns.
Nine landmarks across 4 states. Start with Independence Hall, Mount Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg.
- Landmarks
- 9
- Period
- 1607–1775
- World Heritage
- 1
Pictured Independence Hall
Mys 721tx · CC BY-SA · via Wikimedia Commons
The Landmarks
- Colonial America
Independence Hall
Philadelphia, PA
Independence Hall in Philadelphia is where the United States was founded.
Colonial AmericaMount Vernon
Mount Vernon, VA
Mount Vernon was the home of George Washington — commander of the Continental Army and the first President of the United States.
Colonial AmericaColonial Williamsburg
Williamsburg, VA
Colonial Williamsburg is the restored 18th-century capital of the Virginia colony and the largest living-history museum in the United States.
Colonial AmericaPaul Revere House
Boston, MA
The Paul Revere House is the colonial home from which the silversmith and patriot Paul Revere set out on his famous midnight ride in April 1775.
Colonial AmericaHistoric Jamestowne
Jamestown, VA
Historic Jamestowne is where permanent English America began.
Colonial AmericaPlymouth Rock
Plymouth, MA
Few American landmarks carry more symbolic weight on so little historical evidence than Plymouth Rock.
Colonial AmericaSalem Maritime
Salem, MA
In the decades after the Revolution, Salem, Massachusetts became one of the richest ports in America by trading directly with the far side of the world.
Colonial AmericaSandy Hook Lighthouse
Highlands, NJ
The oldest continuously operating lighthouse in the United States, built seven years before the Revolution to guide ships into New York Harbor, has kept its light burning through a war fought over it and two and a half centuries of shifting coastline.
Colonial AmericaFort Necessity
Farmington, PA
A hastily built log fort where a 22-year-old George Washington suffered the only surrender of his military career, in a skirmish that touched off the French and Indian War and, with it, the global Seven Years' War.
Historical Essays
Revolutionary War · Colonial AmericaBoston's Road to Revolution, Street by Street
A market hall, a statehouse balcony, a church steeple and a silversmith's house — the places where Boston argued its way into a war, all within a walk of each other.
Old USA Editors · 2 min read · September 28, 2026
Colonial America · Early RepublicThe Founders at Home: Mount Vernon, Monticello and Montpelier
Three Virginia houses where Washington, Jefferson and Madison lived, planned and wrote — and where hundreds of enslaved people made their public lives possible.
Old USA Editors · 2 min read · September 28, 2026