Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Despite the many ways it has been parodied on screen from “Mars Attacks!” to Family Guy, Mount Rushmore National Memorial near Keystone, South Dakota continues to stand as an important tribute to the American forefathers that attracts 2 million visitors per year.

The giant granite carving that cost almost $1 million and took more than a decade to complete features the heads and busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The site initially generated controversy, as it was seized from the Native American Lakota tribe and sculpted by Gutson Borglum, an active member of the Ku Klux Klan; but today the monument is considered a tribute to American history and leadership.

Get inside the presidents’ heads with a trip up into the chamber carved into the rock behind their faces, which contains copies of the Constitution and other documents. Hike along the Presidential Trail, pause to watch a movie about the monument’s history at the amphitheater at the Lincoln Borglum Museum and stick around till dusk for the evening lighting ceremony.