Often, the stories behind the names of America’s most famous landmarks are just as fascinating as the sites themselves — because not every name is as straightforward as the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument. From the surprising figure who inspired the name of Mount Rushmore to the original, full name of the Statue of Liberty, discover the stories behind the names of 10 iconic U.S. landmarks.

Alcatraz Island – San Francisco, California

Alcatraz Island didn’t always hold the most infamous prison in the United States. In 1775, when the Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala first sailed into San Francisco, he named the three islands Isla de Los Alcatraces. Over time, the name was shortened to Alcatraz, which translates to “pelican” or “strange bird.” After the island became the site for the country’s most isolated federal prison years later, it earned the nickname “The Rock” due to its remote location in San Francisco Bay and for the way the island juts prominently out of the water.

Mount Rushmore – Black Hills, South Dakota

The iconic mountain that bears the giant stone faces of four U.S. Presidents is named after a lawyer from New York. In 1884, Charles E. Rushmore was sent to the Black Hills in South Dakota to secure land for tin mining (on lands considered sacred by the Lakota Sioux). He spent many weeks exploring the area with guides, and at one point, he inquired as to the name of an impressive peak nearby. Since the mountain had no name, a prospector with him replied, “We will name it now, and name it Rushmore Peak.” From then on, it was referred to as Rushmore Peak, Rushmore Mountain, or Rushmore Rock. When the national memorial was finished in 1927, it officially became known as Mount Rushmore.

White House – Washington, D.C.

Although it may seem obvious as to why the presidential mansion is referred to as the White House, there’s more to the story than the paint color. Before President Theodore Roosevelt began calling his residence the White House in 1901, it was more often referred to as the “President’s House” or the “Executive Mansion.” However, since the homes of U.S. governors were also called executive mansions, Roosevelt named his home the “White House” in order to distinguish it above all others. The house’s color resulted from a lime-based whitewash that was applied in 1798 to protect the exterior from cracking.

Cloud Gate – Chicago, Illinois

Although it’s most commonly called “The Bean,” in reference to its distinctive shape, the actual name of Chicago’s most famous sculpture is Cloud Gate. It was unveiled in Millennium Park in 2006 and has since become one of the city’s most popular attractions. Designed by British sculptor Anish Kapoor, Cloud Gate remains his most famous work to date. Although the piece is magnificent, the name is deceptively simple: Kapoor chose Cloud Gate for the clouds that can be seen in the sculpture’s reflective surface and for the way the curved underside serves as a gate to the park.

Devils Tower – Black Hills, Wyoming

Devils Tower is an impressive rock formation that stands 867 feet high above the Black Hills of northeastern Wyoming and is considered sacred by Indigenous cultures. When settlers first arrived in this part of the country, the rock was labeled on maps as “Bear Lodge,” a translation for the common Lakota name Mato Tipila. However, the name changed when Colonel Richard Irving Dodge led a geology and mapmaking expedition to the site. Dodge wrote that the Indigenous people called the place “bad god’s tower,” which eventually led to the adoption of the name Devils Tower. However, this is believed to be a bad translation, as no records have ever shown that Native Americans considered the tower to be associated with evil spirits.

Statue of Liberty – New York, New York

The Statue of Liberty has long stood as a symbol of freedom and hope for U.S. residents and newcomers, but when first built, Lady Liberty went by a different name. Designed by the French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi and gifted from France to the U.S. in honor of the centennial celebration, the Statue of Liberty was originally entitled “Liberty Enlightening the World.” The 305-foot statue was unveiled on Liberty Island in New York’s Upper Bay on October 28, 1886, but eventually the statue’s lengthy title was dropped in favor of the simpler “Statue of Liberty.”

Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco, California

Easily San Francisco’s most recognizable landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge is named not for its reddish-orange hue but rather for the body of water it crosses, the Golden Gate Strait. The mile-wide strait, which connects San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, was named in 1846, a few years before the California Gold Rush. It was at this time that the explorer John C. Fremont came across the strait and recalled the Golden Horn of the Bosporus in Constantinople (now Istanbul). He named the strait the “Golden Gate,” translated from the Greek word Chrysopyla, in honor of another body of water halfway around the world.

Hoover Dam – Arizona/Nevada

Before it was officially declared the Hoover Dam, this marvel of modern engineering went by a few different monikers. Originally, it was known as the Boulder Canyon Project, which changed to the Black Canyon Project when the location was moved. It was then referred to as the Boulder Dam on legislation, and many assumed that to be the official name until the Secretary of Interior declared it the Hoover Dam in honor of the acting president, Herbert Hoover. The new name was controversial since Hoover was incredibly unpopular at the time due to the Great Depression. It wasn’t until 12 years later that it formally became the Hoover Dam, after a House Resolution passed to certify the name.

Old Faithful – Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Located in America’s first national park, Yellowstone, Old Faithful draws around 4 million visitors annually. The powerful geyser was named by the members of the Washburn Expedition of 1870, who discovered that it erupted with reliable regularity. It was the first geyser to be given a title in the park, and the nickname stuck — today, the geyser still erupts every 91 minutes. As for Yellowstone National Park itself, it was named for the Yellowstone River, which runs through the park and flows into Yellowstone Lake. The Yellowstone River’s first incantation was Mi tse a-da-zi, which translates to “Yellow Rock River” in the language of the Minnetaree people.

Liberty Bell – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

Although the famously cracked bell is widely known as a symbol of independence, Liberty Bell wasn’t always its name. After it was cast in London and hung in Philadelphia’s State House, it was originally referred to as the “State House Bell.” It was rung on July 8, 1776, to celebrate the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, and it later became a powerful symbol of the anti-slavery movement in the 1830s. With an inscription bearing the motto, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,” the iconic landmark represented the ideal of freedom to the abolitionists who coined the name Liberty Bell.

As the seat of government, capital cities are filled with history and significance, and they are often seen as a symbolic representation of a country itself. So it’s not often that countries change their capitals, and when they do, they have a compelling reason to do so — whether it be a more centralized location, the need for newer infrastructure, or political motivations. Other times, a newly independent country chooses an interim capital while plans are established for a permanent seat of government. From Brazil to the United States, discover why the following six countries have relocated their capitals. 

Brazil

As the cultural hub of Brazil, the sprawling coastal city of Rio de Janeiro was the nation’s official capital for nearly 200 years. Unfortunately, it was also crowded, with congested roadways that made it difficult to travel to the administrative buildings spread across the city. This issue was amended in 1960 when the country officially relocated the capital to Brasília — a city that was designed specifically for its purpose as the governing seat. Engineers, architects, and city planners worked together to create a capital city that was beautiful to visit and effortless to navigate, with numbered blocks and divided sectors for hotels, embassies, and banks. The capital of Brasília is such an achievement of modern architecture that it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.

Myanmar

Rangoon (also known as Yangon) was the capital of Myanmar (also known as Burma) for over 50 years — from the time the independent country was established in 1948 until the mid-aughts. But on November 6, 2005, something strange occurred. The country’s military rulers decided to switch the seat of the government with no explanation. Government employees and civil servants had to suddenly move 200 miles from Rangoon to Pyinmana, a town primarily known for its logging and sugarcane refinery. The town of Pyinmana was renamed Naypyidaw, which remains the capital to this day, and is described by many as a ghost town. Purportedly, nearly a million people live in the city’s capital, but with empty highways and city streets, some believe that number to be false.

Kazakhstan

From 1929 to 1991, Almaty was the capital of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Once Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union, this southeastern city remained the capital for six more years. In 1997, the decision was made to move the capital elsewhere; Astana was unveiled as the new capital of Kazakhstan one year later. Officials revealed that they believed Almaty’s earthquake-prone location to be too volatile for a capital city, although President Nursultan Nazarbayev revealed that he hoped the move would stimulate the northern region’s economic wealth. Astana literally translates to the word “capital,” which was a fitting name, until it was changed to Nursultan in 2019, after Kazakhstan’s first president, who remained in office for 19 years.

Nigeria

Before 1991, the coastal metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, had long been the country’s capital. It was first declared the capital in 1914 when Nigeria was under British rule, and it remained so after Nigeria’s independence in 1960. Over time, however, government officials found it unsuitable as a capital city, particularly because Lagos was hot, crowded, and filled with political upheaval. As a result, government officials began developing a new capital north of Lagos during the 1980s. This city was called Abuja, and in addition to being in a more centralized location, it was located in neutral territory in regards to the country’s various religious and ethnic groups. The open land also provided abundant room for expansion. Abuja was officially named the new capital of Nigeria on December 12, 1991, although a few government offices remain in the original capital city of Lagos.

Bolivia

When Bolivia became independent in 1825, Sucre was named the country’s official capital city. Named for the revolutionary leader Antonio José de Sucre, the city was chosen due to its proximity to silver mines, which was the country’s chief industry at the time. However, when the mines dried up in the late 1800s, all the workers moved to the city of La Paz, located 250 miles to the north. As it was closer to the tin mines, La Paz’s economic importance grew, and it eventually became the seat for the executive and legislative branches of the government. Despite this, Sucre remains the seat for the government’s judicial branch and the official capital, even though La Paz is the country’s de facto capital.

United States

Everyone knows Washington, D.C., to be the capital of the United States, but that wasn’t always the case. The first U.S. capital was New York City, and it was there that President George Washington took office in 1789. A year later, Philadelphia was chosen as the nation’s interim capital from 1790 until 1800, while Washington, D.C., was being built. The precise location of Washington, D.C., was chosen by President Washington himself — he staked out a spot along on the Potomac River, and the land was ceded from both Maryland and Virginia. However, the general location of the nation’s capital was a compromise between two well-known nemeses — Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. The deal resulted in Hamilton getting the federal government to take on debts from the Revolutionary War. At the same time, Jefferson negotiated a southern capital city, which was a more convenient location to Monticello, his plantation home in Virginia.

Though many visitors to Paris are drawn to iconic landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, beneath the city’s bustling streets lies a hidden world that holds important pieces of the city’s past. The Catacombs of Paris — originally quarries dating back to the Roman era — are an extensive network of tunnels beneath the city that became a solution to Paris’ overcrowded cemeteries in the 18th century, housing the remains of some 6 million Parisians. Over the years, this unique underground site played a part in the French Revolution and World War II, served as a link in the food chain, and today, has become a secret playground for the adventurous. Discover the fascinating history of one of the City of Light’s most unique attractions with this in-depth guide to the Catacombs of Paris.

When the Catacombs Were Quarries

Approximately 45 million years ago, the site of modern-day Paris was submerged underwater, leaving sediment that, over time, turned to limestone. When Romans occupied the banks of the Seine River and founded the settlement of Lutetia around 52 BCE, they dug open-pit quarries and used the rock for monuments and other structures. Over time, these quarries were abandoned — but not forever.

By the Middle Ages, Paris was expanding, and its development once again relied heavily on the limestone from the quarries. By that time, they snaked far underground in networks that totaled over 200 miles of subterranean tunnels. As the city continued to grow, mining moved to the outskirts. The Paris mines, abandoned once again, began to pose structural risks to the urban landscape.

In December 1774, a stretch of street almost 1,000 feet long collapsed, taking homes and buildings with it. To stabilize the hollow grounds and save more of the city from sinking, King Louis XVI hired architect Charles Axel Guillaumot to inspect, map, and stabilize the quarries. Ceilings were raised, walls were reinforced, and even more tunnels were dug to connect the existing networks. It was a major undertaking, but Guillaumot and his team’s work underneath the city streets was far from finished.

Solving a Cemetary Crisis

By the mid-1700s, the Les Halles neighborhood of Paris faced a particularly disturbing issue. The largest cemetery in the city — the nearby Holy Innocents cemetery (also known as Saints Innocents) — had run out of space for the deceased. Overcrowded and often shallow graves caused corpses to resurface, exposing the living to not only unwelcome sights and smells but also the potential spread of disease. 

In 1763, King Louis XV attempted to slow the overcrowding by banning burials within the city. However, resistance from the Catholic Church hindered any further progress in dealing with the growing public health problem. The issue lingered for years before coming to a head in 1780. After heavy spring rains destroyed a portion of a wall around Les Innocents, decomposing corpses spilled onto nearby properties. King Louis XVI closed the cemetery for good — it was now crucial that the city find a solution. 

Remains Go Subterranean

In the wake of the cemetery crisis, the city decided to rehome its former residents’ remains in the empty underground quarries. Beginning in 1785, the bones from Holy Innocents’ tombs, mass graves, and charnel house were moved through a mine shaft in the Tombe-Issoire region to the new ossuaries located 65 feet underground. The remains were transported discreetly, primarily at night, to avoid public outcry and further church opposition. 

The process of transferring remains from various cemeteries continued over the following years. They were deposited by wagon into quarry wells, and quarry workers loosely organized them within the underground galleries. (Later, under the leadership of Paris mine inspector Héricart de Thury, they were rearranged into the artful displays seen today.) During the French Revolution, bodies were even buried directly underground. The transfers from the city’s cemeteries continued throughout the 1800s; remains ceased being moved into the ossuaries in 1860.

Though the new underground graveyard was formally dubbed the Paris Municipal Ossuary in 1786, the site adopted its now-iconic name shortly after, drawing inspiration from the Roman catacombs. In total, the remains of 6 to 7 million individuals were methodically moved to their final resting place in the Catacombs of Paris. 

Stories, Secrets, and Secondary Uses

For at least as long as the Catacombs have been open to the public, the site has been the subject of mystery and intrigue. Over the years, myths and legends about secret societies, talking walls, and missing people have circulated, contributing to the allure of this eerie historical site.

One enduring tale involves the fairly recent discovery of a video camera. In 2010, the device was found with footage from the 1990s of a man who became lost while wandering through the tunnels.  Another legend suggests that a man named Philibert Aspairt haunts the Catacombs. In 1793, he was working as a hospital doorman during the French Revolution when he allegedly disappeared into the catacombs without a trace. 

The mazes of tunnels have also been a hiding spot for the French Resistance during World War II, a brewery, a mushroom farm, a Hollywood movie set, and the site of illegal dinner parties, concerts, and film screenings. In 2015, vacation home rental company Airbnb even offered a Halloween night stay in the ossuary. 

How to Visit the Catacombs Today

While the Catacombs of Paris initially opened to the public in 1809 by appointment only, today they’re one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, welcoming over 500,000 visitors every year. Tickets can only be purchased online, up to seven days in advance and by reserving a specific time slot. 

The entrance to the Catacombs can be found in a small, green building at Place Denfert-Rochereau. To start, you’ll descend 131 steps, then proceed with a 15-minute walk to the ossuary. As you make your way through the dimly lit, narrow hall, you’ll be able to see street names, sculptures, and historical information, before finally making it to the remains, which are artfully arranged into several sections of awe-inspiring skeleton sculptures. The tour lasts about an hour, after which you’ll walk back up 112 stairs to resurface on Avenue René-Coty. 

The Catacombs are kept at a constant temperature of 57 degrees Fahrenheit. It is recommended to dress in light layers that can be carried easily if need be (there is no coat check). Due to the small, dark, and damp nature of the space, the Catacombs are not wheelchair accessible and are not recommended for people with motor ability constraints, cardiac or respiratory issues, or for pregnant individuals. Children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult, and no strollers can be taken in. 

And of course, touching the bones is expressly forbidden. They’re not only fragile — but they are also human remains, not decorations, and warrant respect and care. Indeed, the Catacombs and its inhabitants are a testament to the history and geology of Paris and a reminder of the transience of life. A visit should be on every tourist’s agenda.