Some of world-class heritage — over in US
MOST likely, you have been to a Unesco World Heritage site in the United States without knowing it. Remember that Griswoldian summer vacation to the Grand Canyon? The high school field trip to Independence Hall in Philadelphia? The college tour of the University of Virginia? Congratulations! That’s three in your pocket. But don’t stop now. You can collect all 23, intentionally or accidentally.
For more than 40 years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and its nearly 200 member states have been preserving, protecting and promoting the most valuable heritage places in the world. At last count, the organisation has crowned 1,073 sites in more than 170 countries. Of those, 832 are cultural, 206 are natural and 35 are a mix of both categories. The chosen ones vary tremendously: The Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino in Mexico; the Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania; and the Engelsberg Ironworks in Sweden were all part of the class of 1993, for instance. But the diverse sites also meet the convention’s strict criterion of possessing outstanding universal value.
“It’s a beautiful thing - the shared heritage of the world,” said Mechtild Rossler, the Parisbased director of the Division for Heritage and the Unesco World Heritage Center. “We are transmitting these sites for future generations.”
Italy claims the highest number of sites ( 53), but the United States isn’t too far behind.
And not to rub it in, but we do have two more than Japan, despite the Land of the Rising Sun’s cultural head start by several centuries.
The United States supported the World Heritage Convention in its development and adoption in 1972, and was one of 193 countries to have ratified the treaty.
“This means the US has all the responsibilities and benefits associated with being a state party” member, explained George Papagiannis, Unesco’s chief of media services.
“World Heritage sites in the US remain World Heritage, and the US can submit nominations for consideration of new sites in the coming years.”
To show our gratitude, we should give the gift of going. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Illinois
Why it’s Unesco-worthy: Considered America’s first city, the largest prehistoric Native American settlement north of Mexico once covered 3,500 acres and numbered 10,000 to 20,000 residents.
Today, 80 out of 120 earthen mounds dating from A.D. 1050 to 1200 still exist, including the 100-foot-tall Monks Mound, the largest earthwork in North America and the only mound visitors can climb. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
Why it’s Unesco-worthy: More than 119 limestone caves beneath the Chihuahuan Desert, including Carlsbad Cavern and Lechuguilla Cave, dazzle and delight with speleothems (for example, stalagmites and stalactites), sculptural reef and rock formations, gypsum chandeliers and geologic features partly shaped by bacteria.
The park also contains a section of the Capitan Reef from the Permian Age ( 299 to 251 million years ago), one of the world’s best-preserved and most accessible fossilised reefs. Approximately 400,000 Brazilian free-tailed bats vacation in Carlsbad Cavern from late May through late October. Chaco Culture, New Mexico
Why it’s Unesco-worthy: The potpourri of archaeological destinations here - Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Aztec Ruins National Monument and five Chaco Culture Archaeological Protection Sites - illustrates the architectural and engineering smarts of the Chacoan people, who inhabited the region from the middle 9th to the early 13th century.
Many of the structures and artworks have endured, including ceremonial buildings, great houses, kivas and petroglyphs.
How to reach it: The closest major city to Chaco Culture National Historical Park is Farmington, New Mexico, about 90 minutes away by car. (Albuquerque lies 180 miles to the southeast.) Aztec Ruins is in Aztec, New Mexico, 20 minutes from Farmington. Everglades National Park, Florida
Why it’s Unesco-worthy: Let us list the ways: The park is the largest subtropical wilderness reserve (1,509,000 acres, if we’re talking numbers) with the most significant breeding ground for wading birds and the biggest continuous stand of saw grass prairie in North America. It also earns crowing rights for having the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere and for being the preferred Zip code for such rare and endangered wildlife as the Florida panther, American alligator and manatee. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Why it’s Unesco-worthy: At 18 miles wide and a mile deep, the gorge is a history book writ in rock.
Its geologic layers tell a tale that goes back more than 1.8 billion years, including the period six million years ago when the Colorado River first raised its carving knives. The landscape is a study in
For more than 40 years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and its nearly 200 member states have been preserving, protecting and promoting the most valuable heritage places in the world.
maximalism, with a frozen lava flow, waterfalls and a whitewater river rushing through its veins.
How to reach it: The South Rim, which is open year-round, is about 80 miles from Flagstaff, Arizona, and 212 miles from the North Rim. Shuttles run between Flagstaff or Las Vegas and Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim, and between the rims, depending on the season. The Grand Canyon Railway offers daily train service between Williams, Arizona, and the park. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho
Why it’s Unesco-worthy: Yellowstone corners the market on geothermal features, with more than 10,000 examples, plus the world’s largest concentration of geysers (more than 500).
The park also excels in the fossilized plants department, with nearly 150 species, and accommodates robust populations of burly animals, including bison and bears. Redwood National and State Parks, California
Why it’s Uniesco-worthy: The 131,983- acre sanctuary for coast redwoods protects nearly half of the tallest trees in the world.
The Pacific coastline and coastal mountains round out the surf- and-turf landscape, which attracts Roosevelt elk, sea lions, gray whales and salmon when the fish are running. Statue of Liberty, New York
Why it’s Unesco-worthy: Lady Liberty has been greeting newcomers at the entrance of New York Harbor since 1886. However, the Statue of Liberty is more than just a symbol of freedom; she’s also a work of art by French sculptor FredericAuguste Bartholdi and engineer Gustave Eiffel.
Unesco describes the landmark as a “masterpiece of the human spirit.”
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina
Why it’s Unesco-worthy: The lush temperate zone is home to a wildly diverse assortment of plants, bugs and animals, including 130 tree species, 65 mammal species, synchronous fireflies and 30 salamander species. ( Hence, the park’s nickname, “Salamander Capital of the World.”)
The park extols the virtues of age: Many of the rocks were formed hundreds of millions of years ago.