40 facts across the U.S.
Little River Canyon National Preserve in northeast Alabama is carved by one of the longest mountaintop rivers in the Uni…
The Turnagain Arm of Alaska's Cook Inlet in the southern part of the state experiences a natural phenomenon known as a t…
Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska is the largest national park in the United States at 13.2 millio…
Southern Arizona is known for its deserts and extreme heat while Northern Arizona contains forests of pine, douglas fir,…
With 39.5 million people (according to July 2025 estimates), California is the nation’s most populous state. Its populat…
Tulare Lake, on the western edge of California's San Joaquin Valley, was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mi…
The "Goal Coast" is a term given to the affluent region of Southwestern Connecticut. Located about 50 miles northeast of…
Delaware shares a semi-circular border with Pennsylvania at the top of the state. The border was drawn at the time of th…
With no dams or impediments on the river's main stem, the Delaware is one of the few remaining large free-flowing rivers…
Hells Canyon on the Idaho-Oregon border is the deepest river gorge in North America, plunging 7,913 feet from the peaks…
The Chicago River is one of the few rivers in the world to have been permanently reversed. In 1900, city engineers compl…
The geographic center of the contiguous 48 states is marked by a small monument in a field near Lebanon, Kansas, a town…
Louisiana loses approximately 25 to 35 square miles of land to coastal erosion every year, the fastest rate of land loss…
Maine is the only state in the continental United States that shares a border with just one other state, New Hampshire t…
West Quoddy Head in Lubec, Maine is the easternmost point in the United States, the first place in the country to see th…
Maine's Acadia National Park, established in 1919, was the first national park east of the Mississippi River. Its Cadill…
The Chesapeake Bay, which cuts Maryland nearly in half, is the largest estuary in the United States and one of the most…
The Mason-Dixon Line, the famous boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland that came to symbolize the divide between No…
Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy — a Cape Cod native. It…
Michigan has more freshwater coastline than any state except Alaska, with 3,288 miles of shoreline along four of the fiv…
Minnesota has 11,842 lakes that are 10 acres or larger, more than California, Florida, and Hawaii combined. The state's…
The headwaters of the Mississippi River, the third longest river in North America, are at Lake Itasca in northern Minnes…
Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota is one of the few national parks best experienced on the water — roughly 4…
The word "Mississippi" comes from the Ojibwe name "Misi-ziibi," meaning simply "Great River", and it earns the title. Th…
Missouri was the starting point for three of the most important westward migration routes in American history: the Orego…
Chimney Rock in western Nebraska is a narrow spire of volcanic ash and clay rising 325 feet from a conical base on the s…
Nevada is the most mountainous state in the contiguous United States, with over 300 named mountain ranges. The popular i…
New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the United States, with over 1,200 people per square mile, more than t…
The Erie Canal, completed in 1825 after eight years of construction, connected the Hudson River to Lake Erie and opened…
Niagara Falls on the New York-Canada border is not the tallest waterfall in the world, or even the tallest in North Amer…
The Oklahoma Land Run of April 22, 1889 was one of the most chaotic and extraordinary events in American history. At pre…
Oregon is the only state in the United States with a two-sided state flag. The front features the state seal with the wo…
Rhode Island is the smallest state in the United States at 1,214 square miles, small enough that you could fit 425 Rhode…
Texas produces more wind energy than any other state in the United States and more than most countries in the world. The…
The Great Salt Lake in northern Utah is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, but it has lost roughly 73…
Montpelier, Vermont is the smallest state capital in the United States by population, with roughly 8,000 residents, and…
West Virginia is the only state in the United States to have been formed by seceding from another state. When Virginia v…
West Virginia has the highest mean elevation of any state east of the Mississippi River, a mountainous terrain that hist…
New River Gorge became the United States' 63rd national park in December 2020. Despite the name, the New River is one of…
Wyoming is the least populous state in the United States, with fewer than 600,000 residents, and has been the least popu…