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SORT BY DESTINATION
Korean War Veterans Memorial
When you step onto the grounds of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, you join a column of 19 American soldiers cast in stainless steel. These larger-than-life statues are on patrol, marching symbolically toward the 38th parallel. Soon you reach the marker that commemorates their sacrifice. It reads, “Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met.”
Middleton Place: Enslaved to “the Master”
When you walk onto the grounds of Middleton Place, one of Charleston’s grand plantations, it may feel like you have walked into the pages of Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone with the Wind. Being on a Civil War–era plantation invites you to experience the American South before, during, and after the Civil War. Because Middleton Place was home to people on each side of slavery, it allows sojourners to explore lessons found at the intersection of the two: the privileged as well as the enslaved.
Oxford: A Door to Narnia
Oxford, England, is a place that breeds a keen sense of community among those who walk its streets. The town teems with professors and students, townsfolk and friends — and plenty of out-of-towners who come with a longing to belong.
Notably, many find the peculiar sense of belonging they seek when they walk into the Oxford of C. S. Lewis’s day.
Runnymede, England: The Birth of the Magna Carta
On a sloped field at Runnymede, just outside London in AD 1215, English landowners (“barons”) banded together to lay the greatest stepping stone in a millenium on the path to balancing governmental power with civil liberty. Their instrument for doing so is revered as the “Great Charter,” more commonly known as the Magna Carta.
The World War II Memorial: Undying Gratitude
American involvement in World War II called 16 million citizens into military service. More than 400,000 of them went on to pay the ultimate price.
When the cost of freedom comes with so many zeroes, it’s easy to forget that each number was a son or a daughter. A brother or a sister. A husband or a wife. Each person sacrificed what their country asked of them, and we owe them our remembrance and our gratitude.
Granary Burying Ground: Heroes at Rest
Located in the heart of Boston, next to Park Street Church, lies a rich opportunity not to be missed: a visit to the city’s Granary Burying Ground. Part of Boston’s historic Freedom Trail, Granary is a two-acre cemetery containing “the remains of more famous people than any other small graveyard in America” and houses the city’s tightest grouping of memorials dedicated to American patriots.
USS Constitution
In 1794, President George Washington authorized the construction of six frigates to protect American interests against pirates and the British and French navies. Three years later the USS Constitution was launched as one of the six wooden-hull ships. More than two centuries later, with her 36 sails and 44 cannons, she stands as “the pride of our nation’s naval heritage” and as the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat today.
Sistine Chapel
Even if you’ve never visited Rome, the Sistine Chapel inside the Vatican Palace may have a familiar feel. This 13th-century chapel, built to the dimensions of Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 6), is where cardinals meet to elect a new pope. It also houses some of the most famous and widely reproduced painted scenes known to man.
Parthenon
Thought leaders come to the Parthenon not to agree with all that the ancient Greeks believed but to learn from them. They come in the spirit of Francis Bacon, who wrote, “Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.”
Grand Canyon
Traveling to the Grand Canyon with your hiking boots ready is more than an exercise that will test your physical stamina. Hiking the canyon will also exercise your worldview. You’ll be invited to compare theories that measure the canyon rock’s longevity in billions of years against the belief of creation by an eternal God.
Lincoln Memorial
Surpassing 8 million guests last year, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, welcomes more visitors annually than any other site in America. In all likelihood, you have either made your trek to the memorial that honors America’s 16th president — or you will someday.
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