If you have a yen for history and Americana, listen up! The National Park Service, and the National Archives and Records Administration oversee a slew of fascinating sites where you can be immersed in eras past, focusing on the captivating lives of American Presidents, their wives, and families. A few of these sites are a mere day’s drive from Colorado Springs.

I have had the opportunity to visit many of these locations. There are 16 official presidential libraries and museums, and more than 20 sites dedicated to presidential birthplaces, childhood homes and private residences. That’s a lot of exploring to do with bountiful dividends.

In May, my husband Ron and I traveled to Abilene, Kan., and perused the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home. Go there – it’s great! Abilene is celebrated as a former wild west cowtown that is now anchored by everything Eisenhower. The 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, known to all as “Ike”, spent his formative years here. Included on the campus is the home the Eisenhower family moved into in 1898, the library, and a very fine museum chronicling Ike’s rise from small-town-boy, to supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in WWII, and on to world leader. With his popular wife, Mamie, at his side, Ike influenced complicated times. Also on the campus is the Place of Meditation, burial site of both Eisenhowers, and their young son, Doud.

When visiting the Harry S. Truman Library, Museum, and Home in Independence, Mo., I was particularly taken with the modest home that he and his wife Bess lived in from 1919 to 1972. Bess continued to live there until her death in 1982, and the home has been lovingly preserved, showcasing the common lives of its famous occupants. Alas, I can’t remember much about the library and museum, but Independence is also the site of the jumping-off-point for 1800s pioneers, and a center of Mormon history.

Over the years, Ron and I have stopped in Springfield, Ill., many times to visit the sites focused on 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. At different times we have visited the excellent presidential library and museum, Lincoln Home National Historic Site, The Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site, and Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site. The land of Lincoln is totally worth multiple visits, or one comprehensive trip lasting several days. History comes alive at this museum. The Lincoln Tomb is a stunning monument as the final resting places for Abraham, his wife Mary Todd, and three of their sons. The Lincoln Home and New Salem give striking glimpses into how citizens in Midwest America lived during the early and mid-1800s.

One year while staying in Fredericksburg, Texas, we spent a day at the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and National Historic Site in Stonewall, Texas. Some of the highlights are the sites of Johnson’s birthplace, first school, family cemetery (where he and his wife Lady Bird are buried), and Johnson’s beloved LBJ Ranch – site of the Texas White House. Although the impressive white ranch home was closed when we were there, we enjoyed viewing the site of historic presidential barbecues adjacent to the scenic Pedernales River, the airplane hanger, swimming pool, and some of the Johnson family cars. The State Park features a living history museum highlighting late 1800s and early 1900s Texas farm life.

Visits made to three early-American presidential estates were a delightful dive into pre-Civil War lifestyles of well-to-do landowners. I highly recommend Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage in Nashville, Tenn., George Washington’s Mount Vernon in Fairfax County, Va., near Washington D.C., and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, Va..

Be sure to check out websites prior to visits as schedules, renovations, and closures are in an ongoing state of flux.