Presidents are called by their title long after they’ve left office as a sign of respect, but many who left a lasting legacy also have namesakes dedicated in their honor. Presidents have monuments, landmarks, buildings, streets, schools, and more named after them all around the country, but a few former presidents top the list.
According to CBS News, these are the top three presidents with places named after them.
Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt
As one of the four presidents with his likeness etched into Mount Rushmore, self-proclaimed cowboy and 26th President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt got around. That’s to say, the man made his mark across the country.
Today, visitors can explore and enjoy a number of destinations donning his name. The Theodore Roosevelt Dam is located on the Salt River in Arizona. Once the largest masonry dam in the world, stretching to a height of over 350 feet, the Theodore Roosevelt Dam is a destination for outdoor and water sports as well as architectural enthusiasts. Visitors can fish and boat on the reservoir created by the dam (Theodore Roosevelt Lake) or begin/end hiking excursions at the dam from the nearby Apache Trail.
Visitors to Colorado can take in the vastness of Roosevelt National Forest. The nearly 814,000-acre forest was renamed in Roosevelt’s honor in 1932 and continues to serve as a popular outdoor destination for campers, hikers, cyclists, anglers, and snowshoers.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln’s name is attached to countless landmarks, memorials, and historical monuments all over the United States. Listing them all could fuel a traveler’s wanderlust for decades. Here are a couple worth visiting:
Bearing his likeness and named in his honor, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., is probably the most recognizable namesake to the 16th president in the world. As a result, approximately 7.8 million people visited the Lincoln Memorial in 2018, and the memorial continues to be one of the most popular destinations at the National Mall.
President Lincoln’s final resting place (alongside his wife Mary and three sons) is the Lincoln Tomb inside the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. The tomb’s 117-foot obelisk is supported by four stone staircases and is the backdrop for a large bronze bust sculpture of the president. Visitors to the tomb can enter through a rotunda and proceed down hallways to the burial chamber and gravesite.
George Washington
In addition to the 31 counties named after George Washington, an entire state with his namesake, and numerous monuments spread across more than half of the states in the country, President Washington has the following must-visit places and points of interest named after him:
Washington Place in Honolulu was first built in 1841 and later famously served as the home of the Kingdom of Hawaii’s Queen Lili’uokalani for more than half a century. Today, Washington Place is the official residence of the governor of Hawaii, but visitors can join weekly guided tours to explore the building’s Greek-Revival architecture.
Washington Square Park is arguably the most famous of the more than 1,900 public parks scattered throughout New York City. The park covers nearly 10 acres of land in Lower Manhattan and is home to the Washington Park Arch, which was erected to celebrate the centennial of Washington’s presidential inauguration.
The Washington Monument is an iconic obelisk rising skyward in the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It’s the world’s tallest stone structure, stretching approximately 555 feet from base to tip. Renovated and slated to reopen in September 2019, the monument gives thousands of daily visitors an opportunity to ascend via elevator to take in the sites from the observation deck.
Presidents both new and old continue to have places and things named after them, and there’s a good chance presidential namesakes will always be part of the country’s history. These oft-visited memorials continue to be popular travel destinations as long as travelers feel the call of the wild (Roosevelt), a sense of remembrance (Lincoln), or a wanderlust for national firsts (Washington). Did you favorite presidential destination make the list?