Autumn Years Summer 2023

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World Heritage Sites on Your Bucket List? Why Not Start with a Few Homegrown Ones Anyone who pages through a travel guide, regardless of what part of the world it covers, will find special attention given to that region’s World Heritage Site(s). A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area, selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance, which is legally protected by international treaties and intended for conservation for posterity. The list of sites was first adopted by UNESCO in 1972 and formally took effect in 1975 after having been ratified by 20 countries.

draws explorers and scientists from around the world to search its enormous subterranean vaults and extensive series of passages. Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville reflect Thomas Jefferson’s study of the architecture of late 18th-century Europe. Monticello was Jefferson’s plantation home, which he designed along with his Academical Village located close to Charlottesville. The village forms the heart of the University of Virginia, and its neoclassical design reflects Jefferson’s aspirations for the character of the new American republic. Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point is located in the parish of West Carroll, Louisiana. Primarily constructed about 3000 years ago, it comprises five mounds, six concentric semi-elliptical ridges separated by shallow depressions, and a central plaza and was created and used for residential and ceremonial purposes by a society of hunter fisher gatherers. Mound A is one of the largest constructed earthen mounds in North America. The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright consists of a selection of eight buildings that were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, whose work had an international influence on the develop ment of architecture in the 20th century. The buildings include: Unity Temple (Oak Park, Illinois), Frederick C. Robie House (Chicago), Taliesin (Spring Green, Wiscon sin), Hollyhock House (Los Angeles), Fall ingwater (Mill Run, Pennsylvania), Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House (Madison, Wisconsin), Taliesin West (Scottsdale) and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York City).

A s of this past January, there were a total of 1,157 World Heritage Sites lo cated across 167 countries, of which 900 are cultural, 218 are natural and 39 are mixed properties. In the United States and the territory of Puerto Rico, there are cur rently 24 sites (sites may be one property or a collection reflecting the work of a culture or an individual). Here is a sampling of World Heritage Sites in the United States, some of which might make great destinations for a road trip. (For more information about World Heritage Sites, including the full list of those in the United States and beyond, go to www.worldheritagesite.org) Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site preserves the central section of the largest prehistoric Native American city north of Mexico. It is located in Illinois, several miles east of the Mississippi River and St. Louis. The mounds are considered the preeminent example of a religious and economic center of the Mississippian culture, which extended throughout the Mississippi Valley and the southeastern United States and flourished between 1000 and 1350AD. Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a collection of archaeological sites in northwestern New Mexico encompassing elements of a pre-Columbian complex that was the focus of ceremonials, trade and political activity of the Pueblo culture

between 850 and 1250AD. Chaco is noted for its monumental public and ceremonial buildings and its distinctive architecture— its ceremonial center is considered unlike anything constructed before or since. Everglades National Park in southern Florida is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and six threatened or protected species inhabit the park, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile, and the West Indian manatee, along with 350 species of birds, 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish, 40 species of mammals and 50 species of reptiles. Great Smoky National Park is located in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. It contains some of the highest mountains in eastern North America, including Clingmans Dome, Mount Guyot and Mount Le Conte and is the most visited national park in the United States. The Appalachian Trail passes through the park’s center on its route from Georgia to Maine. Mammoth Cave National Park , near Brownsville, Kentucky, is the longest known cave system in the world with 412 miles surveyed to date. It was first explored more than 5,000 years ago, then rediscovered by European settlers at the turn of the 19th century and still the largest wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi River. Thirty

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AUTUMN YEARS I SUMMER 2023