From the World Heritage inscription for Great Smoky Mountains National Park: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a major North American refuge of temperate zone flora and fauna that survived the Pleistocene glaciations. The park includes the largest remnant of the diverse Arcto-Tertiary geoflora era left in the world and provides an indication of …
From the World Heritage inscription for Mammoth Cave National Park: Mammoth Cave is the most extensive cave system in the world, with over 285 miles (456 km) of surveyed cave passageways within the property (and at least another 80 miles [128 km] outside the property). The park illustrates a number of stages of the Earth’s …
The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site World Heritage inscription : Cahokia Mounds is the largest and earliest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico. It was occupied primarily during the Mississippian period (800–1350) when it covered over 1,600 hectares (3,950 acres) and included some 120 mounds. It is the pre-eminent example of a cultural, religious, and economic …
From the World Heritage inscription for Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville: Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), author of the American Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, was also a talented architect of neoclassical buildings. He designed Monticello (1769–1809), his plantation home, and his ideal ‘academical village’ (1817–26), which is still …
From the World Heritage inscription for Independence Hall: The Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776 in this fine 18th-century building in Philadelphia, to be followed in 1787 by the framing of the Constitution of the United States of America. Although conceived in a national framework and hence of fundamental importance to American history, the …
From the Joggins Fossil Cliffs World Heritage inscription for Joggins Fossil Cliffs: The Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a 689 ha palaeontological site along the coast of Nova Scotia (eastern Canada), has been described as the “coal age Galápagos” due to their wealth of fossils from the Carboniferous period (354 to 290 million years ago). The rocks …
From the Gros Morne National Park World Heritage inscription for Gros Morne National Park: Gros Morne National Park illustrates some of the world’s best examples of the process of plate tectonics. Within a relatively small area are textbook examples of monumental earth-building and modifying forces that are unique in terms of their clarity, expression, and …
From the World Heritage inscription for L’Anse aux Meadows: This archaeological site at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland contains the excavated remains of an 11th century Viking settlement consisting of timber-framed turf buildings (houses, workshops, etc.) that are identical with those found in Norse Greenland and Iceland at …
From the Old Town Lunenburg World Heritage inscription for Old Town Lunenburg: Old Town Lunenburg is the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. Established in 1753, it has retained its original layout and overall appearance, based on a rectangular grid pattern drawn up in the home country. The inhabitants …