13 Hidden American Gems You Never Knew About
America’s most famous buildings, iconic monuments, and popular attractions often hide intriguing secrets. A nondescript door might lead to a members-only club, historic buildings can house secret floors, and iconic structures may boast ultra-secret apartments.
Before the age of social media, places like the Brooklyn Bridge, the Gateway Arch, and Mount Rushmore managed to keep their secrets well hidden in plain sight. Many of these secret spaces remain off-limits to the general public, but some intrepid visitors may have the chance to explore them.
We’ve dug into the best hidden gems across the U.S. and are excited to share these intriguing discoveries with you.
1. 103rd Floor of the Empire State Building, New York City
The 1,250-foot Empire State Building has a not-so-hidden secret: a hidden view from the 103rd floor. Originally intended as a mooring mast for airships, the 200-foot metal tip of this iconic building now serves as a vantage point for VIPs and celebrities.
The 103rd floor, located just above the glassed-in Top Deck Observatory on the 102nd floor, offers an open-air experience with a short ledge and breathtaking views of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania on a clear day.
2. Hidden Hatch Inside the William Penn Statue, Philadelphia
The bronze William Penn statue, perched 500 feet above the street atop City Hall in Philadelphia, stands as a sight to behold. Alexander Milne Calder cast this 37-foot, 53,000-pound statue.
A hidden hatch at the top of Billy Penn’s hat is large enough for workers to crawl inside when they clean the statue every decade. Inside, workers have scribbled their names, leaving their mark on the tallest statue atop any building in the world.
3. Basketball Court at the Supreme Court, Washington d.c.
The fifth floor of The Supreme Court Building, originally designed as a storage room, now features a basketball court where Supreme Court justices and their clerks play hoops. This hardwood court, equipped with plexiglass backboards, is smaller than a regulation basketball court and has the Supreme Court’s eagle seal at midcourt.
Adjacent to the basketball court, you’ll find a gym and weight room. Due to noise disruption, games aren’t allowed when ‘the highest court in the land’ is in session one floor below.
4. Hotel Room in Cinderella’s Castle in Disney World, Orlando
Above Cinderella’s Royal Table restaurant in Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom, you’ll find small stained glass windows on the fourth floor that light up a particular hotel room. This suite, available only to special guests through rarely offered contests, was initially intended as an apartment for Walt Disney and his family when they visited Florida.
After its debut in 2006 as part of the Year of a Million Dreams promotion, the 650-square-foot suite transformed from a storage space and telephone operators’ area into an ultra-exclusive hotel room. The lavishly decorated French chateau-style studio features a foyer, two queen beds, a fireplace, and a bathroom with a spa tub and a starry sky ceiling.
5. Wine Cellars at the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City
Vaulted chambers for wine storage were intentionally added to the Brooklyn Bridge’s design despite its unlikely location. Builders included these cellars to help offset the construction costs of the iconic 6,016-foot bridge connecting lower Manhattan and Brooklyn Heights. They also designed the cellars to accommodate a wine company on the Brooklyn side and a liquor store on the Manhattan side.
Located at each granite entrance of the bridge, the two wine cellars provided consistently cool and dark conditions, perfect for storing wine. Today, the city uses these cavernous spaces for storage.
6. Time Capsule on the Gateway Arch, St. Louis
Since its completion in 1965, the 630-foot Gateway Arch, the tallest manufactured monument in the U.S., has held a secret. Constructed to honor Thomas Jefferson and St. Louis’ roles in the westward expansion of the country, this catenary curve structure contains a time capsule.
Welded to the top of the 17,246-ton steel arch, the time capsule holds over 700,000 signatures from locals, including schoolchildren.
7. B-29 Dive Site at the Hoover Dam, Clark County, NV
Completed in 1936, Hoover Dam stands as the highest concrete arch dam in the U.S. Located on the Nevada-Arizona border, it impounds Lake Mead, the largest manmade reservoir in the country. While Hoover Dam is impressive on its own, it has also become a popular scuba diving spot due to a submerged B-29 bomber that crashed into Lake Mead in 1948.
Only a few dozen divers get the chance to explore this underwater site each year. Authorized guided tours from Las Vegas Scuba and Scuba Training & Technology Inc. allow divers to reserve these unique dives in advance.
8. Catacombs Underneath City Market, Indianapolis
Beneath City Market’s Whistler Plaza, an expansive farmers market in downtown Indianapolis, lies the historic Catacombs. These underground tunnels are the remnants of Tomlinson Hall, a public building constructed in 1886 that burned down in 1958.
What remains today are the Roman-style ruins, which do not contain crypts or bones and feature a series of beautiful brick arches. Visitors can explore them through 30-minute group walking tours.
9. Club 33 at Disneyland, Anaheim
Disneyland’s most exclusive spot is the members-only Club 33, where memberships reportedly cost $25,000 or more, plus annual fees. Located at 33 Royal Street in New Orleans Square, Walt Disney conceived the club to entertain special guests after the 1964 World’s Fair, though he passed away before its 1967 opening.
Members swipe a key card to enter, passing through the Court of Angels before enjoying cocktails at Salon Nouveau and multi-course meals at Le Grande Salon. They can also shop for exclusive Club 33 merchandise. Additional Club 33 locations exist at Shanghai Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and all four parks in Orlando, Florida, each requiring a separate membership that can take years to obtain.
10. Tennis Courts in Grand Central Station, New York
A train station might seem like an unlikely spot for a tennis match, but players can find just that on the fourth floor of Grand Central Terminal. Open daily from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., Vanderbilt Tennis offers instructional and recreational tennis for all ages on one regulation hardcourt and two automated practice courts.
The space originally served as an art gallery, then became a CBS recording studio, and in 1966, it was transformed into a tennis center. After changing ownership several times, the current operation is now open to the public by reservation only.
11. Hall of Records at Mount Rushmore, Keystone
The 60-foot faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln on Mount Rushmore attract many tourists, but behind Lincoln’s head, a hidden repository holds records. Inside, at the entryway, a teakwood box sits within a titanium vault covered by a granite capstone.
This repository contains 16 porcelain enamel tablets with information about Mount Rushmore, including the reasons for its carving, the sculptor, the selection of the four presidents depicted, and a brief history of the U.S.
12. Washington Square Arch Attic, New York City
Located at the northern end of Washington Square Park, the Washington Square Arch was first conceived in 1889 to celebrate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration in New York in 1789. Locals favored the temporary wooden structure so much that they built the permanent marble Washington Arch a few years later.
Although the arch’s interior is generally off-limits to the public, journalists occasionally gain access. A narrow spiral staircase of Guastavino tile leads to the top, where a 17-foot-tall attic with three skylights offers access to the roof and enviable views of Manhattan.
13. Undercroft Beneath the Lincoln Memorial, Washington d.c.
Since 1922, the Lincoln Memorial has stood as an iconic landmark. This neoclassical monument features a 19-foot-high statue of Abraham Lincoln, created by Daniel Chester French. Beneath the memorial’s marble floor lies a three-story undercroft with stalactites formed by water dripping through the monument’s 87 steps.
However, in 2023, the National Parks Service announced it would turn the 15,000-square-foot space into an underground museum exploring the history of Lincoln’s presidency and the memorial that honors him. It is scheduled to be completed in 2026, in time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
With a passion for travel, great food, and beautiful art, Julie put aside her 15-year career in the tech industry and dove head-first into a more creative sphere. Utilizing her degree in Communications, she is pursuing freelance writing. An avid traveler, Julie has experience writing and documenting the amazing spots she has visited and explored, the delicious food she has tasted, and the incredible art she has admired and purchased! When she’s not writing, she can be spotted around Austin, TX, at various art gallery openings, having a delicious meal with her husband and friends, and playing with her two dogs.
