See America

Charters of Freedom

There's one room on this earth that I have walked into that left me more humbled than any other. More proud and inspired. More happy and afraid and joyful. In one, oval-shaped room, the full weight of our nation and the American experience takes hold of you and doesn't let go. No. Not that oval room.

This week, the hallowed Rotunda at the National Archives in Washington D.C.

Chicago Sculpture

Chicago, Illinois. The Windy City. The City of Big Shoulders. The City in a Garden. The City That Works. This week, three sculptures that define three different stages of Chicago, and indeed America.

The Hoover Dam, and Its Mascot

In the desert of the southwest sits a looming, concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was a massive effort involving thousands of workers, many who lost their lives. Originally known as Boulder Dam, today it provides power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California, and is a major tourist attraction; nearly a million people tour the dam each year.

This week, the Hoover Dam.

The Wave Organ

Along the eastern edge of San Francisco’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area sits a jetty, constructed from an assortment of granite and marbel pieces taken from the demolition of the Laurel Hill Cemetery. Upon it, an art installation like no other. This week, the wave-activated acoustic sculpture known as The Wave Organ, one of many pieces created on-site at San Francisco’s Exploratorium.

Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle

Hollywood,1928. One of the biggest movie stars of the silent era sets out to build herself a gorgeous dream home, sparing no expense and employing a talented legion of industry colleagues to design and build it. But this house wasn't destined for the Hollywood Hills, nor would any human ever live in it. This was the original tiny house, long before tiny houses were cool. This week, Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle, which now resides in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois.

Biltmore

The U.S. isn't really known for its vast estates, but a few were built by some of the most prominent families of the industrial revolution. One of those families seemed to be on a quest to outdo each other, building some of America's most famous homes, culminating in the country's largest, in Ashville, North Carolina.

This week on See America, the Biltmore Estate.

The Market Theater Gum Wall

Overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington sits one of the oldest continuously operating farmers' markets in the united states - the 112-year-old Pike Place Market, where small farmers, craftspeople and merchants hawk their wares. Pike Place boasts more than 10 million visitors annually. It's the 33rd most visited tourist attraction in the world, and for good reason. Here, you'll find fishmongers at the Pike Place Fish Market, the first Starbucks, a bronze cast piggy bank named Rachel that weighs 550 pounds, buskers of all sorts, and at the Market Theater, Seattle's longest-running improv, Unexpected Productions. It's here, on the walls outside the theater, where you'll find one of the weirder attractions in the world.

Welcome to season two of the See America Podcast. This week: the famed Market Theater Gum Wall.

River Cities Speedway

On the western banks of the Red River of the North is a flat region known as the Red River Valley, and a town that owes its existence to a flatboat race down the Red River in the late fall of 1870, in which the steamboat of Alexander Griggs came up short to the Winship's crew. The result was that Griggs spent the 1871 winter here, and founded the city of Grand Forks. This town was born with racing in its blood. It's a tradition that continues to this very day, but in a much more modern way.

This week, on the season one finale of the See America Podcast, something as American as the clichéd apple pie — dirt track races at the River Cities Speedway.

The International UFO Museum & Research Center

In July 1947, something happened in Eastern New Mexica during a severe thunderstorm. Was it a flying saucer? Was it a weather balloon? What happened? Whatever it was, it sparked an alien fever that continues to this day. This week, Roswell, New Mexico, and the International UFO Museum and Research Center.

Bellingrath Gardens & Home

Mobile, Alabama doesn't get the street cred of other historic southern tourism towns like Savannah, New Orleans, and Charleston. Perhaps it's the massive shipping industry that lends an industrial vibe to some, but consider that Mobile is steeped in history. It was founded in 1702 by the French as the first capital of Louisiana. It's host to a massive concentration of historic architecture. And even though New Orleans somehow became the Mardi Gras capital of the world, Mobile invented the Mardis Gras parade and has been running an organized Carnival longer than anyone else in the US. Its French Catholic colonial settlers celebrated this festival from the first decade of the 18th century.

You could easily spend a week soaking in the Mobile area. We did that earlier this year, and on the outskirts of town, we found one attraction that rose above all the rest. 65 acres of year-round floral pageantry in a Southern estate garden like no other: The Bellingrath Gardens & Home.