New York
17 historic landmarks in New York, across five eras of American history. Start with Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Brooklyn Bridge.
- Landmarks
- 17
- Eras
- 5
- World Heritage
- 1
Pictured Statue of Liberty
Christian David · CC BY-SA · via Wikimedia Commons
Landmarks in New York
- Gilded Age
Statue of Liberty
New York (Liberty Island), NY
The Statue of Liberty — formally Liberty Enlightening the World — was a gift from the people of France to the United States, dedicated on October 28, 1886.
Gilded AgeEllis Island
New York, NY
For more than six decades, Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the front door to America.
Gilded AgeBrooklyn Bridge
New York, NY
When it opened in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world and an engineering marvel that stitched together Manhattan and Brooklyn across the East River.
The 20th CenturyEmpire State Building
New York, NY
The Empire State Building is the most famous skyscraper in the world and an enduring symbol of New York City and the American 20th century.
The 20th CenturyGrand Central Terminal
New York, NY
Grand Central Terminal is one of the world's great railroad stations and a Beaux-Arts masterpiece at the heart of Manhattan.
The 20th CenturyHome of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Hyde Park, NY
Springwood is the only place in America where a president was born, kept a lifelong home, and was laid to rest.
The 20th CenturySagamore Hill
Oyster Bay, NY
Sagamore Hill was the home of Theodore Roosevelt's heart.
The 20th CenturyStonewall Inn
New York, NY
In the early hours of June 28, 1969, patrons of a small Greenwich Village bar fought back against a police raid, and the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement was born.
The 19th CenturyWomen's Rights National Historical Park
Seneca Falls, NY
In a small chapel in upstate New York in July 1848, a gathering of women and men issued a declaration that would take more than seventy years to fully redeem: that women deserved the same rights as men, including the vote.
Revolutionary WarFort Ticonderoga
Ticonderoga, NY
Perched where Lake Champlain narrows toward Lake George, Fort Ticonderoga commanded the water highway between Canada and the Hudson Valley — making it one of the most fought-over pieces of ground in colonial North America.
Early RepublicUnited States Military Academy
West Point, NY
West Point occupies a bend of the Hudson so strategically vital that George Washington called it 'the key to America' and fortified it against the British during the Revolution.
Early RepublicFederal Hall
New York, NY
On this spot on Wall Street, the American experiment in self-government began in earnest.
The 20th CenturyCarnegie Hall
New York, NY
"How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice" — the old joke captures the venue's outsized place in American musical life.
The 20th CenturyApollo Theater
New York, NY
No stage did more to launch the careers that shaped 20th-century American popular music than the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
The 19th CenturyNiagara Reservation
Niagara Falls, NY
The country's oldest state park, created when artists and preservationists forced New York to reclaim Niagara Falls from private operators who had walled off the view and charged admission — the first American land set aside purely to keep a natural wonder free for everyone.
The 20th CenturyUnited Nations Headquarters
New York, NY
Built on land donated by an American oil dynasty and designed by architects from a dozen countries, the UN Headquarters gave a fragile postwar experiment in international cooperation a permanent home overlooking the East River.
The 19th CenturyCentral Park
New York, NY
America's first great landscaped public park, built by displacing a thriving African American community called Seneca Village, Central Park became the model for the idea that every city needed green space set aside purely for its residents' well-being.
Historical Essays
Revolutionary WarWashington's War in Four Places: Ticonderoga to Yorktown
Cannon dragged through a New England winter, a desperate January counterstroke, a starving encampment and a surrender on the York River — the Revolution's turning points, and where to stand on them.
Old USA Editors · 2 min read · September 28, 2026
- Gilded Age
Three Openings: New York Harbor, 1883 to 1892
In less than a decade New York Harbor gained a bridge, a statue and an island that would define it — the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Old USA Editors · 2 min read · September 28, 2026
The 20th CenturyEngineering the American Century
From twelve seconds aloft on the Outer Banks to a steel arch on the Mississippi, five landmarks record how American engineers remade the twentieth century — and where you can see their work today.
Old USA Editors · 2 min read · September 28, 2026