*/ Discover the Third Coast ONE OF THE MOST diverse sites in the NPS, northwest Michigan’s sleeping bear dunes national lakeshore features a little of everything: 450-foot dunes, unrivaled stargazing, hemlock and sugar maple forests, the occasional cougar. In the fall, crowds thin, but the foliage pops against Lake Michigan.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVEN GREAVES/GETTY IMAGES
* Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
HISTORY
* castillo de san marcos national monument, florida The oldest masonry fort in the continental U.S. was completed in 1695 by the Spanish using coquina, a sedimentary rock made almost entirely of seashells.
* vanderbilt mansion national historic site, new york Its Beaux-Arts architecture is a premier example of Gilded Age opulence, but the sweeping views of New York’s Hudson Valley are equally indulgent. The mansion comes to life at Christmas, while summer is ideal for ambling through the acres of lavish gardens.
* first ladies national historic site, ohio Tucked into the childhood home of Ida Saxton McKinley, the museum is the country’s most complete tribute to presidential spouses, from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama.
* touro synagogue national historic site, rhode island The oldest synagogue in the country was born from a classic American tale: The congregation was founded in 1658 by descendants of Jewish families who fled the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions, crossed the Atlantic to Barbados, and eventually found freedom from persecution
in Rhode Island. Every August, congregants gather for a reading of a 1790 letter on religious freedom from George Washington to the Hebrew congregations of Newport. july 2016 southwest 63
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