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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. The United States of America ratified the convention on December 7, 1973, making its historical sites eligible for inclusion on the list.
Contents
The first sites in the United States added to the list were Mesa Verde National Park and Yellowstone National Park, both at the Second Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Washington, D.C. from September 5–8, 1978. In total, 23 sites have been included, the most recent being the San Antonio Missions in 2015. The twenty-three sites are located in nineteen different states and two territories. California, Hawaii, Montana, and New Mexico each contain multiple sites, while two sites (Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and Kluane / Wrangell – St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek) are transboundary sites shared with Canada—Alberta, then Yukon and B.C., respectively.
List of sites
The table lists information about each World Heritage Site:
Name: as listed by the World Heritage Committee Location: city or location of site State: one of the 50 U.S. states Period: time period of significance, such as construction for buildings; purely natural sites do not have a time period UNESCO data: the site's reference number; the year the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List; the criteria it was listed under: criteria i through vi are cultural, while vii through x are natural; (the column sorts by year added to the list) Description: brief description of the siteSites by state
Exclusive sites refer to sites locating in a single community. Shared sites refers to sites with entries in multiple states or shared with another country.
Tentative list
The following sites have been added to the United States' tentative list of inclusion on the World Heritage List. The tentative list for sites within the United States was last updated in 2008. In addition to sites within the 50 states, the tentative list includes one site in American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States.
- Civil Rights Movement Sites (Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church, 16th Street Baptist Church)
- Dayton Aviation Sites (Huffman Prairie Flying Field, Wright Cycle Company and Wright & Wright Printing, Wright Hall, Hawthorn Hill)
- Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary
- Key Works of Modern Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright (Unity Temple, Frederick C. Robie House, Hollyhock House, Taliesin, Fallingwater, Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House, Taliesin West, Price Tower, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Marin County Civic Center). The Jacobs House was added to the 2016 bid, while the S. C. Johnson & Son Inc. Administration Building and Research Tower was removed. The World Heritage Committee referred the bid at its 2016 meeting.
- Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks (Fort Ancient State Memorial, Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, Newark Earthworks State Memorial)
- Mount Vernon
- Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
- Petrified Forest National Park
- Serpent Mound
- Thomas Jefferson Buildings (Poplar Forest, Virginia State Capitol) — proposed extension of Monticello and the University of Virginia listing
- White Sands National Monument