Abandoned mining gear, homes and shops mark Bodie State Historic Park in California, a ghost town in arrested decay

The old mining hall and former post office, now a museum at Bodie east of the Sierra Mountains

Illiteracy ran high at Bodie, some of which carries down through today

Covered bridges, the inland equivalent of lighthouses along the coast

This covered bridge spans a creek in the Flume State Park near Franconia Notch, NH

Hatteras Lighthouse at the south end of the Outer Banks, NC

Pt. Reyes Lighthouse, one of the most frequently visited along the California coast, sits above San Francisco

Monticello, the Thomas Jefferson Mansion in Virginia, shows its best colors in the spring.

Shelburne (NH) Museum sprawls over 40 acres and recreates many elements of American lifestyles from the 19th and early 20th centuries

Historic cemetaries like this one in Bethlehem (NH) feature Civil War remembrances

Salem -- the one in North Carolina -- recreates its historic past, too.