Most Americans Can’t Properly Identify These Iconic U.S. Monuments

Monuments play an important role in promoting national identity and preserving history. However, according to a recent survey, it was revealed that most Americans can’t properly identify these iconic U.S. monuments. This lack of knowledge raises concerns about the preservation of American history and the importance of teaching future generations about these monuments. These monuments protect a wide variety of historic and natural resources, including marine, archaeological, geologic, and cultural importance. Take the quiz and see if you can or cannot properly identify these iconic U.S. sites.

Alaska

This monument was established in 1978. It has an area of 4,264.1 km², 35 miles wide, and 90 miles long, making it the 132^nd largest island in the world and the seventh largest island in the U.S.

Admiralty Island

This beautiful island is located in the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska.  Here, these forests offer the ultimate habitat to species such as bald eagles, brown bears, and Sitka black-tailed deer.

Texas

This monument was established in 1965. Native Americans of the Ice Age Colvis culture hunted the Columbian mammoth here.

Alibates Flint Quarries

People used to go to the red bluffs above the Canadian River in search of flint, which was important for their survival. Native Americans of the Ice Age Colvis culture hunted the Columbian mammoth with spear points made of Alibates flint.

Nebraska

This monument was established in 1997 and features full-skeleton exhibits.

Agate Fossil Beds

Agate Fossil Beds features full-skeleton exhibits of Miocene mammals. Many of these mammals were found on Carnegie and University Hills.

New Mexico

This monument was established in 1916. From about 1150 CE to 1550 CE, the Ancestral Pueblo people lived here. They planted crops in the mesa top fields and carved their homes from the volcanic tuff.

Bandelier

The Ancestral Pueblo people mostly ate squash, corn, and beans with the addition of native plants. The meat came from squirrels, rabbits, and deer. If you enjoy hiking, you may be fortunate to see mountain lions and black bears.

US Virgin Islands

This monument was established in 1961. In approximately 400 A.D., Amerindians who had lived on St. Croix used to come here to hunt for giant land crabs, fish, and lobsters. They would also gather bird’s eggs and sea turtles.

Buck Island Reef

On the eastern tip, there is a designated underwater trail for snorkelers to follow. Furthermore, it is one of just three underwater trails in the U.S. 

Kentucky

It turned into a recruitment site for enslaved people and new soldiers from Tennessee.

Camp Nelson

Many of these people left their horrible living conditions to become soldiers. President Donald Trump proclaimed the site on October 26, 2018.

Alaska

This monument was established in 1978. During the Ice Age, herds of large animals like muskox, wooly mammoths, and Arctic camels would walk across the rich plain in search of food.

Cape Krusenstern

Here you can experience a variety of wildlife found in the ecosystems. Notable mammals include black and brown grizzly bears, moose, red and Arctic foxes, musk oxen, and Dall sheep.

Florida

This monument was established in 1924 and is the oldest masonry construction fort in the United States. Furthermore, it is one of two forts built of coquina, which is limestone made of broken shells.

Castillo de San Marcos

Castillo de San Marcos was designed by Ignacio Daza, a Spanish engineer. Construction began in 1672, 107 years after the city was founded by conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés when Florida was part of the Spanish Empire.

Utah

This monument was established in 1933 and is known as “the place where the rocks are sliding down all the time.” This large natural amphitheater has a diameter of more than 3 miles. Franklin D. Roosevelt set up a program here to help lift the United States out of the Great Depression.

Cedar Breaks

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) allowed young single men aged 18–25 to sign up for work programs to improve the public lands, parks, and forests in America. This was often their first job, as work and income were very scarce. They would make $30 per month and $25 of it was sent to their families. Lodging and meals were provided in military camp fashion.

Arizona

This monument was established in 1924. It is noted by its capricious rock gardens, including sky-high pinnacles. Before 1861, nomadic people traveled with the seasons and lived off the land.

Chiricahua

The Chiricahua Apache lived in huts called wickiups. These huts were made out of branches, grass, and other materials.

Wyoming

Established in 1906, indigenous people and Northan Plains Indians regard this tower as sacred.

Devils Tower

Also known as Bear Lodge, there are various stories passed down about the tower through American Indian culture. For example, some of the first stories are told by the Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa, and Lakota.

Iowa

Established in 1949, there are more than 200 prehistoric mounds here.

Effigy Mounds

These mounds are considered sacred by many Americans, especially the American Indian tribes. These earthworks can be found in the shapes of water spirits, bears, turtles, deer, birds, lynx, panthers, and bison. These mounds were built for burial purposes.

Colorado

Established in 1969, here you will find an old lake deposit that preserves the terrestrial biota that lived in this area 34 million years ago.

Florissant Fossil Beds

Under the grassy mountain valley, you will find some of the world’s biggest and most diverse fossil deposits. Preserved 14-foot-wide redwood stumps and thousands of fossils of plants and insects tell a story of prehistoric Colorado.

Maryland

Something encouraged Francis Scott Key to write the words that became the United States of America’s national anthem.

Fort McHenry

In September 1814, the courageous defense of the fort during the Battle of Baltimore was his inspiration.

Alabama

This monument was established in 2017. In 1961, a small multiracial group rode buses and challenged the customs and laws requesting the separation of races while interstate traveling.

Freedom Riders

Sadly, the group was attacked, and the bus was firebombed by white segregationists.

Virginia

This iconic U.S. monument was established in 1930; the first President of the United States was born here. Do you know who he was and when he was born?

George Washington Birthplace

In 1657, George Washington’s great-grandfather John Washington settled on this plantation. On February 22, 1732, the first President of the United States, George Washington, was born here. He lived here until he was three years old and returned when he was a teenager.

Ohio

This monument commemorates the life of an escaped slave who became a soldier in the U.S. Army.

Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers

Born into slavery in 1864, Charles Young rose to become a Buffalo Soldier and the army’s first African-American colonel. In addition, he was the highest-ranking black officer until he died in 1922.

Louisiana

Between 1700 and 1100 BCE, indigenous people built mounds and earthen ridges.

Poverty Point

This almost forgotten culture left behind one of North America’s most important archaeological sites.

Utah

This natural arch is one of the largest in the world.

Rainbow Bridge

Rainbow Bridge measures 275 feet wide and 290 feet high. Furthermore, it is 42 feet thick and 33 feet wide at the top. 

Guam

Our final monument protects 95,216 square miles of water and submerged lands but contains no dry land.

Mariana Trench Marine

It includes three units: the islands, volcanic, and trench. How did you do in the most Americans can’t properly identify these iconic U.S. monuments quiz?

The image featured at the top of this post is ©canadastock / Shutterstock.com.