South
By Travelog Editorial Team ยท Updated August 8, 2026
The South is one of the US Census Bureau's four official regions, made up of Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, District of Columbia, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. On Travelog it's anchored by Washington, D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial, open 24 hours with no ticket required, and the US Capitol, which offers free but reservation-recommended tours.
Washington, D.C., Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky anchor this region's Tier 1 and Tier 2 states. Every South Tier 3 state, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, is now complete, making the South the first fully built USA Census region.
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- District of Columbia The Lincoln Memorial, free and open 24 hours, and the US Capitol, free but reservation-recommended, both National Historic Landmarks.
- Florida Everglades National Park, UNESCO-listed in 1979 and currently on the Danger List since 2010 over ongoing water-quality threats.
- Louisiana New Orleans' French Quarter (National Historic Landmark since 1965) and Poverty Point, the state's actual UNESCO site, 300 miles away.
- Texas The San Antonio Missions, UNESCO-listed in 2015, including the Alamo and the NPS-managed Mission San Jose.
- Virginia Monticello and the University of Virginia, UNESCO-listed in 1987, the only paired home-and-university listing in the world.
- Georgia Savannah's Historic District, a National Historic Landmark since 1966, built on a 1733 city plan of public squares.
- South Carolina Charleston's Historic District, a National Historic Landmark since 1960, home to the privately owned but freely viewable Rainbow Row.
- Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains National Park, UNESCO-listed in 1983, the only US national park with no entrance fee at all.
- Kentucky Mammoth Cave National Park, UNESCO-listed in 1981, the longest known cave system in the world at over 426 surveyed miles.
- Alabama Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, free to visit, home to Kelly Ingram Park and the documented 1963 history of the Children's Crusade.
- Arkansas Hot Springs National Park, federally protected since 1832, 40 years before Yellowstone, though not officially a national park until 1921.
- Delaware New Castle's free 1732 Court House, where Delaware voted in 1776 to separate from both England and Pennsylvania at once.
- Maryland Fort McHenry, where a 25-hour 1814 British bombardment inspired the flag now known as the Star-Spangled Banner.
- Mississippi Vicksburg National Military Park, a 47-day 1863 siege, and the USS Cairo, the first armored warship sunk by an electrically detonated mine.
- North Carolina Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kitty Hawk, where the first powered flight in 1903 lasted just 12 seconds and covered 120 feet.
- Oklahoma The Oklahoma City National Memorial, free and open 24 hours a day, with a Field of Empty Chairs honoring the 168 people killed in 1995.
- West Virginia Harpers Ferry, where Robert E. Lee, then a US Army colonel, helped end John Brown's 1859 raid on the federal armory.
