Exploring US historic sites is a memorable way for families to combine travel with learning. Walk among the oldest ruins in North America, see some United States UNESCO United States sites, and climb Indian mounds. Your US road trip can bring history to life; learn beyond homeschool curriculum with a visit to ruins of the oldest US cities. Family travel to these locations sparks curiosity and inspires interest in archaeology and American history.
Ancient history is a must in your homeschool curriculum, often focusing on Greeks and Romans and Egyptians. I get it. This history education is easy, and there are tons of information to be found in homeschool groups, fun learning games, and fabulous history books for children. As a homeschool family using Classical Conversations, we love learning all the classical history!
However, for families dreaming of homeschool travel, an international family trip to these exotic places can seem like a family vacation dream and not reality. You don’t have to leave the US to see some amazing ancient places!
Quick Jumps
- Mesa Verde National Monument – southwestern Colorado
- Bandelier National Monument – northern New Mexico
- Dinosaur National Monument – northern Colorado-Utah border
- Petrified Forest National Park – northeastern Arizona; 3 hours east of Grand Canyon
- Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site – western Illinois on border with St. Louis, MO
- Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park – middle Georgia in Macon, GA
- Etowah Indian Mounds – northwestern Georgia, north of Atlanta, GA
- Emerald Mound on Natchez Trace Parkway – western Mississippi
Travel with a purpose – learning! Places like Mesa Verde, Cahokia Mounds, and Ocmulgee Mounds, let kids see how Native Americans built complex societies out of earth long before European settlers arrived. Visiting these Native American heritage sites add amazing real-life learning to homeschool and educational travel. Homeschool families can connect lessons in social studies and history with real-world experiences by seeing these important US historical places firsthand.
Create meaningful educational experiences that make history engaging and tangible for kids. Keep reading and add these amazing places to your list.
Mesa Verde National Park
Set in Southwest Colorado, Mesa Verde NP in Colorado may be the most popular US National Park for Native American ruins. This ancient civilization built houses into the sides of cliffs which were accessible only through ladders. People occupied these Indian sites from 550 AD to 1300 AD.
Plan to spend a whole day exploring Mesa Verde and the Colorado Native American ruins. Set far back from the highway and the Mesa Verde Visitor Center, you need to plan for about a thirty minute drive before you get to the actual ruins. There’s another loop road that takes you out to see some close up ruins on the ground and mountain views. From across the cliff, you will be able to see cliff dwellings built into the sides of the mountains.
You’ll encounter some crowds at the main sites and visitor center, but there are fewer people out on the loop. Don’t forget your binoculars to see off into the distance. Some of these stops become an “I Spy” game to find the houses in the cliffs across from your lookout.
Some adobe ruins like the Cliff Palace are easily seen from the Visitor Center; check the schedule to see about booking a tour in advance. Check before your trip to see if some of the ruins are back open and accessible for you to explore. Some of these tickets have to be reserved in advance, and you don’t want them to sell out. If this is a last minute trip or you can’t get tickets, there is plenty to see and learn.
Although we didn’t see them during our visit, there are petroglyphs visible on a canyon trail. Read here for more Petroglyph Point Trail info.
~~~> Headed to Colorado? Check out my blog posts about our family-favorite small town in Colorado, and add some relaxation to your family Colorado vacation. Read all about the visiting the small town of Creede, Colorado and Railbiking in South Fork here.
Bandelier National Monument
Bandelier National Monument has several cliffhouses in the southwest US but on a smaller scale than Mesa Verde, As a smaller – and much less crowded US National Park – Bandelier is much more accessible for younger families and for people without an entire day to explore. Here, you’ll find flat land, close-up parking lots, and short trails.
As these Bandelier cliff houses weren’t built into towering mesa walls, you can hike right up to them. For an easy Bandelier National Monument trail, take the 1.4 mile, mostly flat Pueblo Loop trail; it’s easy enough for kids of all ages. There are some ruins you will be able to walk right past on your way to the cliff wall where you can scale really tall ladders to climb into the caves and houses. I will warn, these ladders can be quite tall, so warn children accordingly! This is a lovely peaceful area with a nice flat hike after visiting the Bandelier Visitor Center and picking up a Junior Ranger Packet for the kids.
If you’re up for a longer hike, you can visit the additional Tsankawi site down the road and visit the remains of a Pueblo village and see petroglyphs. We weren’t able to do this during our visit, so let me know if you’ve been there.
Dinosaur National Monument
Set right along the border of northern Utah and Colorado, Dinosaur National Monument is is seriously an amazing place for dinosaur kids as the bones are still in situ climbing up the wall of the visitor center. However, its beauty amazed me, and there’s so much more here than an amazing place in the US to see dinosaur bones. The lands of Dinosaur National Park are beautiful with a flowing river and colorful canyon walls. and the perfect setting for learning Native American history.
After visiting the main attraction at the visitor center, plan for an afternoon drive to see some of these Colorado petroglyphs and pictograph sites of Dinosaur National Park. Take a short hike from multiple places to see the carvings up close; make sure you talk to your kids about how to treat them! There are multiple places along the canyon walls at Dinosaur Monument for you to view these carvings made by the Fremont people which have been dated to 300 to 1300 AD.
~~~> The Dinosaur Monument petroglyphs are just one of my stops on my epic Yellowstone Road Trip itinerary; head to this comprehensive post and add other places to your family road trip.
Petrified Forest National Park
Located in the beautiful Painted Desert of Arizona, Petrified Forest National Park is an amazing place for some natural history learning as well as to see some Native American carvings. Although set in the middle of the desert, this land used to be covered in forests during the Triassic Period. Scattered all throughout the land are these preserved fossils of all sizes; I never knew petrified wood could be so beautiful. The colors of these logs from the chemical processes are fascinating.
After visiting the Petrified Forest Visitor Center at the Rainbow Forest Museum, take the one hour driving loop around the park. Look for the short road right off the main loop pointing to Newspaper Rock. Although you cannot walk up close to Newspaper Rock, there is an overlook for viewing from a distance and some telescopes to help. Pull out your binoculars and look at the more than 650 distinct carvings that were made between 650 and 2000 years ago.
Before our trip, I never really understood why it was called the painted desert. But now, I can tell you that those colors of the desert are some of my favorite views in the US. Leave time to explore and see them. With many trails throughout the park, a visit to Petrified Forest NP in Arizona could easily be a half-day family adventure. We were only able to do the short Crystal Forest trail right behind the VC, but there’s even a trail to some Pueblo ruins and more petroglyphs.
Although you can’t take any of these petrified pieces home, check out DoBell Ranch nearby. This is a small family operation, but my kids loved getting down in the dirt and taking home some real pieces of petrified wood. Read all about DoBell Ranch here.
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Park
Set right across the border from St. Louis, Missouri in Illinois, the Cahokia Mounds are a great reminder that places don’t have to be US National Parks to be amazing. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the largest Indian mound complex north of Mexico – impressive right?! These Illinois Indians mounds are located right on the Mississippi River, and there were originally 120 mounds built by the Missippian Cahokia tribes from about 700 to 1400 AD. At more than 20,000 inhabitants estimated as its peak in about 1100 AD, this was a bigger city than London!
Visit the well-done visitor center (which is closed in 2025) to learn all about the archeological digs and see the Cahokia Mound artifacts. Then, drive across the road to the largest mound – Monks Mound. This largest earthwork in North American gives a great view out across the 2000 acres of the park to be able to pick out the many smaller mounds throughout. Leave time to head to “Woodhenge” which is thought to have been used by the Native Americans to chart seasons similar to Stonehenge. Here’s a map of Cahokia to help you plan your day.
Read this in-depth Cahokia blog post (mine) with lots of extra information to help you plan your day.
~~~> If you’re visiting Cahokia in combination with a St. Louis trip – you should; St. Louis is amazing! – real “St Louis: How to Explore This City for Free”. I’m ready to go back and see it again. Love this walkable city.
Ocmulgee Mounds NHP
Set in in the middle of Georgia in Macon, Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park is another must-see spot for North American history. With a combination of lovely trails and historic significance, it’s been in discussion for years about becoming the next US National Park. As of today, this is the closest things to a national park in Georgia!
These Macon Indian mounds date back over 1,000 years to the Mississippian culture, though evidence of human presence in the area stretches as far back as 17,000 years. The Great Temple Mound, the largest at the site, was built around 900–1100 AD and rises more than 55 feet above the surrounding landscape. These mounds served as ceremonial, political, and religious centers, reflecting the advanced societies that once thrived along the Ocmulgee River.
The Ocmulgee Mounds also features a museum with archaeological finds, exhibits about Native cultures, and interactive displays that bring the site’s history to life. Check their calendar for seasonal events, like the Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration, to add another layer of cultural richness from Native American communities.
Add these Georgia mounds to your Georgia travel list and combine this with a visit to the Etowah Mounds only two hours south. Although I haven’t gotten to visit yet, the Kolomoki Mounds near the Alabama border are on my list too!
~~> If you’re planning a Georgia road trip, here’s my ultimate Georgia travel list with lots of family travel ideas all around the state of Georgia.
Etowah Indian Mounds
The Etowah Indian Mounds in Cartersville, Georgia in northwest Georgia are some of the best-preserved Mississippian culture sites in the Southeast. Built between 1000 and 1550 AD, the six earthen mounds once formed the center of a thriving Native American community. The tallest, Mound A, rises 63 feet high and likely supported temples or chiefs’ homes, reflecting the importance of this ancient city along the Etowah River.
Visitors can climb the Etowah Mounds for sweeping views, walk interpretive trails, and explore the onsite museum filled with artifacts from the excavations. The site also includes a reconstructed defensive ditch and borrow pits, showing how the community protected and shaped the land.
This is a smaller site than Ocmulgee NHP, and it makes a great add-on to visiting the Tellus Museum. Georgia homeschool road trip!
~~~> Check out my in-depth Etowah post to help you plan a visit to the Etowah Mounds with tons of extra information.
Emerald Mound on Natchez Trace
Emerald Mound on the Natchez Trace Parkway is one of the largest Native American mounds in the United States. As one of the many history stops along the Natchez Trace, this road adventure is perfect for families looking to get away from crowds and drive into lots of beauty and history. The parkway itself, which goes from Natchez, Missippi to Nashville, Tennessee is built upon an original north-to-south travel and trade corridor used by Native Americans, settlers, and soldiers. It’s a true US historical site!
Built around 1200–1730 AD by the Mississippian culture, Emerald Mound covers eight acres and stands 35 feet high. Unlike single-platform mounds, Emerald Mound in Mississippi features multiple smaller mounds built on top, which were used for ceremonial and political purposes. This massive earthwork reflects the advanced engineering and social organization of the Natchez people, who used it as a central gathering place. This is the second largest Missippian ceremonial mound in the US; it’s second only to Cahokia in Illinois (above).
During this quick visit, visitors can walk up the grassy slopes, explore the broad summit, and take in views of the surrounding countryside. Interpretive signs along the site explain its history and connection to the Natchez culture, making it both educational and awe-inspiring.
If you’re doing the Natchez Trace, start at the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians for small mounds and a thorough history museum. Then, keep heading on up to Memphis and check out the Chucalissa Indian Mounds on this Memphis post.
Other Ancient Places in the US to Consider:
- Poverty Point, Louisiana – Why haven’t we seen this UNESCO site yet with Indian mounds? It’s close to our route between Georgia and Texas at the top of Louisiana.
- Chaco Canyon – Haven’t made it to this off-road New Mexico ruins site yet, but it’s been on my list for years!
- Serpent Mounds, Ohio – This huge Native American effigy is unique and needs a visit!
Thanks for stopping by my little corner! Here’s to your next adventure.
I’m Bobbie. As transplants from Texas, my family of six is on a mission to discover all of Georgia’s amazing places, experience amazing road trips across the United States, and create a homeschool life along the way.
Want to adventure like me? Reach out! I’d love to chat. Stop by my Instagram or Pinterest page to discover more of our adventures.
Want to work with me? I’d love to work with your destination and tourism board to help other family travelers see all you have to offer.
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