The United States has many historically significant towns in every state. These cities, towns or villages serve as places with significant historical or cultural events. Travel Pulse, a travel magazine, only documented one town per state.
This article will discuss the Southeastern states.
Of course, Charleston, SC is one of our most historic towns. Charleston was 350 years old in 2020 so has had many firsts. Among them, hosting the first opera in the US, opening the first golf club in the US, introducing the first regularly scheduled rail passenger service and having our county’s first historic district.
Athens, Georgia is home to the University of Georgia, the first state-chartered public university in 1785. They have 31 sites on the National Registry of Historic Places and 21 historic districts.
St. Augustine, Florida is the nation’s oldest city with over 450 years of history. One of it’s attractions is the Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fort in the continental US.
Kill Devil Hills in the NC Outer Banks in North Carolina is where the Wright brothers made the first controlled airplane flight in 1903. (As a fun aside, NC is home to the development of the UPC code, Cheerwine, Pepsi Cola, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Texas Pete, BC Headache Powder, Goodys, and Vicks VapoRub.)
The Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia is made up of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. Jamestown was the first permanent settlement in the Americas and was the colonial capital for more than 80 years prior to the start of the 18th century.
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is one of the most scenic and historically significant town in the Shenandoah Valley. It is remembered as being the site of abolitionist John Brown’s pivotal raid in October, 1859.
Montgomery, Alabama, the first capital of the Confederate States of America in 1861, was the setting of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-1956 and the Selma to Montgomery protest marches in 1965.
Vicksburg, Mississippi has much Civil War history. Jefferson Davis gave his first address as the first President of the Confederate States of America in 1861 and the Siege of Vicksburg two years later would be the turning point in the war. Vicksburg is the final resting place for some 17,000 Union soldiers.
New Orleans, Louisiana was purchased by the US from Napoleon as part of the Louisiana Purchase. They celebrated their tricentennial two years ago. Lots of unique history in this city.
Louisville, Kentucky was founded almost 250 years ago. It was a major stronghold of the Union forces in the Civil War. The first Kentucky Derby was held in 1875. Also the first city in the US to introduce the secret ballot.
Jonesborough, Tennessee was founded in 1779, 17 years before Tennessee became a state. In 1820, The Emancipator published from Jonesborough became the first periodical dedicated exclusively to the issue of the abolition of slavery.
Washington, Arkansas served as the Confederate capital of Arkansas from 1863-1865. There’s also a strong case to be made for nearby Little Rock, which played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement.
There are many other historically significant towns in each state.