Richard C. duPont

Albemarle County, VA

Among the final projects of Thomas Jefferson's life was the University of Virginia, and his vision for it extended beyond the famous Rotunda and Lawn. On this site once stood the Anatomical Theater, a small building Jefferson designed to be devoted entirely to the study of human anatomy. Completed in 1826, the year of his death, it served generations of medical students with its tiered seating and skylit dissection space until it was demolished in 1939.

Hampshire County, WV

This wrought-iron span is a rare surviving example of the Whipple truss, the bowstring bridge design that American engineer Squire Whipple patented in the mid-19th century and that helped carry the nation's roads and railroads across its rivers. Prefabricated iron trusses like this one could be shipped in pieces and bolted together on-site, letting even remote crossings replace timber bridges that rotted or burned. Bridges of this type once dotted the countryside, but few remain; this one was preserved and moved to Capon Lake rather than being scrapped, as most were once heavier traffic outgrew them.

Woodbridge, VA

In February and March of 1945, U.S. Marines stormed the volcanic island of Iwo Jima in one of the Pacific War's bloodiest battles, fought to secure airfields within striking range of the Japanese home islands. The famous flag-raising atop Mount Suribachi became one of the most enduring images of World War II. This Virginia memorial echoes Admiral Chester Nimitz's tribute to the fighting there — "Uncommon valor was a common virtue" — and the Marine Corps motto, "Semper fidelis," always faithful.

Falls Church, VA

In 1791, surveyors set out to mark the boundaries of the new federal district that would become Washington, D.C., placing stones at one-mile intervals around its diamond-shaped perimeter. Benjamin Banneker — a free African American astronomer, mathematician, and almanac author — assisted Andrew Ellicott in the survey, making the precise celestial observations that anchored the work. This stone, SW-9, is one of the surviving original boundary markers, and its association with Banneker earned it National Historic Landmark designation in 1980.