The CN Tower is the symbol of Toronto in the same way that the Eiffel Tower symbolizes Paris and the Statue of Liberty means New York to most people. Its original name was the Canadian National Tower, after the railway company that built it; it has also been referred to as Canada’s National Tower, but this name is less frequently used. The tower was built by the Canadian National Railway as a radio and TV facility, but when the railway was privatized in 1995 it divested itself of non-rail assets and the tower was transferred to the Canada Lands Company, a federal government real estate development entity.
Category: North America Attractions
Hoover Dam
Building Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam is one of the great tourist sites of America’s south west, and was one of the 20th century’s greatest engineering projects. Originally called Boulder Dam, it was renamed for Herbert Hoover, President when construction was begun and himself a famous engineer. The dam created Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, and is today visited by more than a million people a year. Hoover Dam is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior, which maintains a Visitor Center and offers tours of the dam and power plant.
Corning Glass Museum
The Corning Museum of Glass is one of the world’s largest collections related to glass history, technology and art. Located in Corning, New York, approximately 250 miles from New York City and 125 miles from Buffalo, the museum was opened in 1951 in celebration of the centennial of the famous glass works that was founded in that city, and that is now a world-wide presence in the glass and ceramics industries under the name of Corning International. The museum originally occupied a low-slung glass-walled building designed in the International Style by Wallace Harrison, famous for Lincoln Center, LaGuardia Airport and the Museum of Modern Art.
Statue of Liberty Cruises
History of Lady Liberty
The Statue of Liberty symbolizes New York City in the way that the Eiffel Tower means Paris and Big Ben instantly evokes London. The figure of “Liberty Enlightening the World” was a gift from the people of France, although the American people were expected to pay for and erect the pedestal. Construction of the statue began in 1876 in France, and in 1884 work commenced on the pedestal on Bedloe’s Island in New York harbor. The statue was presented to U.S. Minister Levi P. Morton on July 4, 1884 and then disassembled and shipped to New York; it arrived about a year before the pedestal was ready, but the statue was rapidly erected when that was finished, and the dedication on October 28, 1886 was marked by cannon salutes, fireworks and the cheers of a million New Yorkers despite fog and drizzle.
The Thousand Islands
Geography and Geology
The Thousand Islands were called “the garden of the great spirit” by their original native inhabitants. There are actually almost two thousand of them (1,864), and more recent visitors have considered them to be among the most beautiful places on earth. This archipelago of tiny islands at the emergence of the St. Lawrence River into Lake Ontario represents the intersection of the Canadian Shield and the Adirondack Mountains. The Canadian Shield is the ancient geological core of the North American continent, extremely ancient igneous rocks from long-gone volcanoes active in the Precambrian period. The Precambrian age began at the probable formation of the earth 4.6 billion years ago, and lasted until the Cambrian period that began about 540 million years ago; creatures with shells were first preserved as fossils in the Cambrian age and were found in Wales, the ancient name for which was “Cambria”.
Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum
How the Museum Started
Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum has been an iconic tourist attraction, first in France and then in London, since the end of the 18th century. Now a worldwide chain of 14 museums and growing, the museums are entitled Madame Tussauds without the apostrophe, and are part of Merlin Entertainments, the largest amusement company in the world except for Disney. The first Tussaud wax exhibits opened in Paris in 1795 and moved to London in 1802; in addition to the London museum, the Tussauds group has opened museums in Amsterdam, Bangkok, Berlin, Blackpool, Hollywood, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, New York City, Shanghai, Sydney, Vienna, Washington, D.C., Wuhan, Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, Prague, Singapore, Orlando, San Francisco. The Tussauds portfolio includes about 50 other attractions, including Legoland, Sea Life Centers, Gardaland in Italy, The Dungeons, The London and Orlando Eye rides and Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, and Chessington World of Adventures in Britain.
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The Grand Canyon
History
The Colorado River has been at work on the Grand Canyon for about 17 million years, and has eroded a chasm 277 miles long, 18 miles wide and more than a mile deep. This part of northern Arizona was settled in about the 13th century BC by the Ancestral Puebloans, a Native American culture referred to by the present-day Navajo people as Anasazi or “Ancient Ones”. Several additional ancient native cultures migrated into the area between about 500 and 1500 AD. Several aboriginal nations were found when Europeans first arrived in the 15th century AD, chiefly the Navajo and also the Hopi, Havasupai, Halupai and Paiute.
Yellowstone National Park
The First National Park
Yellowstone was the first of America’s national park, and the first reserve in the Western world established to preserve an area of natural beauty in its pristine state. Every park and wildlife refuge and natural preservation area that has come later is the result of Yellowstone. To almost the same extent as the Statue of Liberty, the Old Faithful geyser in the park is a symbol of America and its natural wonders.
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls is located at the border between the two countries of Canada and the United States. On the Canadian side there is Ontario Province and on the United States side visitors will find the State of New York through which Niagara River flows before forming the falls. The name Niagara is used to identify three falls that are located close to one another. The biggest one is the Horseshoe Falls and the next is the American Falls. The smallest one is called the Bridal Veil Falls. Niagara River is the one that carries water from Lake Eerie to Lake Ontario which carries the water to form the falls.