Travel
Get to know a city by its gardens, see the oldest Fourth of July parade in the country, and learn the stories of survivors from America’s last known slave ship.
ByKatie Lockhart
Published June 30, 2023
• 6 min read
With summer in full swing across the United States, freshly cut grass scents carefree days and the roar of firecrackers rocks warm nights. Calendars fill with outdoor activities as Independence Day celebrations, music festivals, and county fairs get underway. Here’s what to see and do now.
New York’s best free summer garden tour
Buffalo, New York’s second-largest city, blooms into a literal garden of delights. The annual self-guided Garden Walk (July 29-30) tours more than 300 public and private grounds, including historic sites such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House. Meanwhile, the more low-key Open Gardens (Thursdays and Fridays all month) offers a glimpse of a hundred private displays, from whimsical backyard wonderlands to zen-inspired oases.
July also marks the completion of Buffalo AKG Art Museum, after a three-year, $200 million renovation and expansion. On July 20, the city’s oldest museum opens the doors to the Gundlach Building, which houses a new sculpture terrace, Ronnen Glass Box Theater, and more than a dozen galleries featuring works by Degas, Kahlo, Van Gogh, and others.
Responsible travel tip: Dig deeper and consider a return trip next month for Urban Farm Day, when you can tour a mushroom farm, learn about composting, and shop from farmers. You can also support a myriad of farm-to-table restaurants, such as local favorites Marble + Rye and Craving.
(These are the 10 best destinations for flower lovers.)
The South’s must-visit museum exhibit
On July 8, 1860, shipbuilder William Foster brought 110 men, women, and children stolen from West Africa into Mobile Bay, in Alabama, more than 50 years after slavery was abolished in America. “Clotilda: The Exhibition,” opening July 8 at Africatown Heritage House, dives into that tragic voyage. Curated by the History Museum of Mobile and Clotilda descendants, the multisensory exhibit uses documents and artifacts, including pieces of the ship recovered in 2019, to reveal the harrowing accounts of the enslaved people on board America’s last known slave ship.
Responsible travel tip: Africatown Heritage House is located in Africatown, a self-governing refuge founded by Clotilda survivors just north of downtown Mobile, Alabama. This unique community was listed on World Monuments Fund’s 2022 Monuments Watch list, which highlights historically significant, yet endangered, sites around the world. Travelers can help by supporting organizations like Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
(America’s last slave ship is more intact than anyone thought.)
Montana’s first dude ranch
Through August 12, travelers can saddle up in Big Sky Country for a good cause. Local preservationists and Montana’s Custer Gallatin National Forest are opening the historic O.T.O Dude Ranch to visitors through the Yellowstone Pop-Up Ranch program, started last year. Proceeds support the preservation of the ranch, the state’s first “dude,” or guest, ranch built in the late 1890s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
Three- and six-night packages have guests staying in the original cabins—located just 10 miles from Yellowstone National Park’s north gates—with activities like horseback riding in the woods, fishing in Paradise Valley, and even white water rafting and archery.
Those who can’t stay overnight can still experience ranch life at Big Sky’s Lone Mountain Ranch. For the first time in its 108-year history, visitors can stop in for the day to ride horses, learn archery, and fly fish.
Responsible travel tip: In Montana, lake trout (aka Mackinaw) is an invasive species harming native fishes like bull trout. Travelers can help by learning more about harmful species and where to fish for them. You can also support local fishers, such as Native Fish Keepers, a tribal company that supplies gillnetted lake trout to local restaurants, including at Lone Mountain Ranch.
Longest running Fourth of July parade
Founded in 1639, Newport, Rhode Island, goes all out on Independence Day. On the schedule? A 21-gun salute, reading of the Declaration of Independence, concerts, and fireworks shows that you can watch from the postcard harbor. Across the bridge in Bristol, the Fourth of July parade has been a beloved tradition since 1785—the country’s longest continuously running procession. Expect all the fanfare: bands, classic cars, floats, and Minutemen re-enactors.
Newport Folk Festival (July 28-30) tunes up at Fort Adams State Park, where musicians have been taking the stage for nearly 65 years. This year, fans can clap along with more than 70 acts amplifying not just folk, but alternative, country, and bluegrass from big names like Jon Batiste & Friends, Lana Del Ray, and Orville Peck.
(Can songs save an endangered language?)
Responsible travel tip: Clean Ocean Access works to keep Newport County’s shores pristine with beach cleanups throughout the summer on Tuesdays and Saturdays (twice a month).
Katie Lockhart is a travel and food journalist. Follow her on Instagram.
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Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : National Geographic – https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/where-to-travel-us-july
