Go on a cultural journey across America as Smithsonian.com explores some of the country's most remarkable places. Learn why the Kentucky Derby is called "the most exciting two minutes in sports," experience what it was like to be a prison guard at Alcatraz and discover how people spend Saturday nights in Cajun country.

"During Derby Week, Louisville is the capital of the world," wrote John Steinbeck in 1956.

Derby Days

Thoroughbreds, mint juleps, big hats—the Kentucky Derby's place in American history
By Amy Crawford

Barbaro's Legacy »
A sailboat floats at the dock

Life Aquatic

The sailing world docks in Annapolis
By Whitney Dangerfield

The first Chicago Blues Festival

Blues Alley

How Chicago became the blues capital of the world
By Katy June-Friesen

Thats Alcatraz

Breaking into Alcatraz

A former guard's inside look at America's most famous prison
By Eric Jaffe

Explore More

Crazy Horse Memorial
  • Mount Rushmore
    With a Native American superintendent, the South Dakota monument is becoming much more than a shrine to four presidents.
American Revolution to the Civil War
  • Hallowed Highway
    From Gettysburg to Monticello, a 175 mile thoroughfare leads through a rich concentration of national history
Tombstones dusty streets
  • Tombstone
    In this Arizona outpost, residents revere the Wild West—and live it.
town of Sitka
  • Sitka
    A tradition-rich village lies at the doorstep of a vast Alaskan wilderness






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    Destination America 2006

    Explore a Mount Rushmore makeover, the New Guthrie Theater, Tombstone Arizona and more

    Destination America 2005

    From Custer's Little Bighorn battlefield, to Eudora Welty's Mississippi garden, to an underwater wonderland in the Florida Keys--seven destinations to entice our ever-discerning readers

    Travel with Smithsonian