# If you had to pick the iconic American landscape, what would it be? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 15, 2014, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386 "2014-10-15T08:49:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/21 "2014-10-16T09:14:56Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > nothing anywhere else in the world looks like that Personally, I’m not convinced that is true. Here is an example from [Morocco](https://www.google.com/search?q=Anti+Atlas:+Saghro+Massif&safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-Address&tbm=isch&imgil=73N9Km9SWXyldM%253A%253BR7AabGRwwIn4JM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.mont-sahara-trekking.com%25252FMASSIF-OF-SIRWA%25252Fhiking-to-jebel-siroua.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=73N9Km9SWXyldM%253A%252CR7AabGRwwIn4JM%252C_&usg=__gj2IUf3TAb1K5-3gfLjAulQKSnI%3D&biw=1253&bih=854&ved=0CCkQyjc&ei=6Yg_VMXLMpD7oQTahoCABg#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=73N9Km9SWXyldM%253A%3BR7AabGRwwIn4JM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mont-sahara-trekking.com%252Fimages%252Fsiroua-trekking.JPG%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mont-sahara-trekking.com%252FMASSIF-OF-SIRWA%252Fhiking-to-jebel-siroua.html%3B753%3B300) and another from [Australia](https://www.google.com/search?q=Arckaringa&safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-Address&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=eYs_VJm8BJGoogSWoYDoAQ&ved=0CAsQ_AUoBA&biw=1253&bih=854#safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-Address&tbm=isch&q=Arckaringa+hills&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=yvbtP6jV8vx84M%253A%3BTgeA4WhlzClrqM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fyy1.staticflickr.com%252F6029%252F5980749139_9b84e5bf07_z.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.flickr.com%252Fphotos%252Fedenink%252F5980749139%252F%3B640%3B480) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/22 "2014-10-16T09:23:25Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > Is Mt. Rushmore too specific? Not exactly a landscape with “minimal human construction” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/23 "2014-10-16T10:02:16Z")
> [@slaphead](#): > > Personally, I’m not convinced that is true. Here is an example from [Morocco](https://www.google.com/search?q=Anti+Atlas:+Saghro+Massif&safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-Address&tbm=isch&imgil=73N9Km9SWXyldM%253A%253BR7AabGRwwIn4JM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.mont-sahara-trekking.com%25252FMASSIF-OF-SIRWA%25252Fhiking-to-jebel-siroua.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=73N9Km9SWXyldM%253A%252CR7AabGRwwIn4JM%252C_&usg=__gj2IUf3TAb1K5-3gfLjAulQKSnI%3D&biw=1253&bih=854&ved=0CCkQyjc&ei=6Yg_VMXLMpD7oQTahoCABg#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=73N9Km9SWXyldM%253A%3BR7AabGRwwIn4JM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mont-sahara-trekking.com%252Fimages%252Fsiroua-trekking.JPG%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mont-sahara-trekking.com%252FMASSIF-OF-SIRWA%252Fhiking-to-jebel-siroua.html%3B753%3B300) and another from [Australia](https://www.google.com/search?q=Arckaringa&safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-Address&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=eYs_VJm8BJGoogSWoYDoAQ&ved=0CAsQ_AUoBA&biw=1253&bih=854#safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-Address&tbm=isch&q=Arckaringa+hills&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=yvbtP6jV8vx84M%253A%3BTgeA4WhlzClrqM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fyy1.staticflickr.com%252F6029%252F5980749139_9b84e5bf07_z.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.flickr.com%252Fphotos%252Fedenink%252F5980749139%252F%3B640%3B480) Interesting, but neither of these seems to have features closely resembling Monument Valley’s two “Mitten Buttes.” (Surely SOMEWHERE on Earth, or even Mars, there are two Mitten Butte-like features in mirror-image placement. Dopers?) ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/24 "2014-10-16T15:33:38Z")
The limitation implicit in this question is that your views as Americans are coloured by what you think is America. Completely understandable. As an outsider my thoughts flickered through the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion National Park, and the Kansas plains. The trouble is that none of these are unique and photos could readily be ascribed to other scenic nations. To be honest I’m struggling to think of an image which isn’t man-made. Personally Monument Valley (been there twice) is the winner but I’m not sure the average European/Russian/Chinese would even recognise it. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/25 "2014-10-16T17:04:50Z")
My immediate thought is Monument Valley. Thanks to John Ford and others, it’s come to symbolize the Western Frontier. And what’s more American than that? Coincidence: I happen to be editing a photo I took of Monument Valley, standing exactly in the center of that one road that leads to it. Of course for the OP, I’d have to Photoshop out the road. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/26 "2014-10-16T17:41:32Z")
My first thought was somewhere in Arches or Zion National Park but then I saw **Terminus Est’s** submission and thought, “That’s it!” Where is the Yosemite love? With El Capitan and Half Dome and and the view looking up the valley like that, well that’s pretty darn unique to the ol’ U.S. Maybe (possibly) there’s something similar on the Kamchatka Peninsula or the Rockies of northern British Columbia or such, but I doubt it. Even if there were, they’d be too remote for many people to know well. Yosemite is much more familiar. So, that’s my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/27 "2014-10-16T17:51:35Z")
Nothing is more American than [this.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Vasquez_Rocks_April_2005.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/28 "2014-10-16T20:09:52Z")
I tried a Google Image search for [“アメリカ 風景”](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AA%E3%82%AB&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS566US566&espv=2&biw=1047&bih=582&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=qyRAVKqGKdLLgwSRyoHQDA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg#safe=off&tbm=isch&q=%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AA%E3%82%AB+%E9%A2%A8%E6%99%AF&imgdii=_)(Japanese for “America scenery;” there’s no direct translation for “landscape”). Most are cityscapes, but of the landscape photos, Monument Valley is more common than any other recognizable place. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/29 "2014-10-16T20:50:45Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Let’s say you were an art director and you had to chose a single static nature shot that had to represent the idea of America, what would you choose? The shot has to be one of nature with no or minimal signs of human construction and has to be instantly recognizable to anyone across the globe as representing “Americanness”. > > While there are obvious choices when it comes to cityscapes, landscapes seem a lot harder to me due to how diverse the US is. After a lot of racking my brains, my personal choice would be > > [something like this shot](http://www.imgbase.info/images/safe-wallpapers/photography/landscape/30452_landscape_red_rock_desert.jpg) (spoiled to avoid biasing anyone else) > > What would your shot be of the iconic American landscape? Isn’t that in Australia? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/30 "2014-10-16T23:50:33Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Nothing is more American than [this.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Vasquez_Rocks_April_2005.jpg) Is that Chimney Bluffs, New York? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/31 "2014-10-17T00:10:42Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > The limitation implicit in this question is that your views as Americans are coloured by what you think is America. Completely understandable. > > As an outsider my thoughts flickered through the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion National Park, \*\*and the Kansas plains. The trouble is that none of these are unique and photos could readily be ascribed to other scenic nations. \*\* > > To be honest I’m struggling to think of an image which isn’t man-made. Personally Monument Valley (been there twice) is the winner but I’m not sure the average European/Russian/Chinese would even recognise it. Do they burn the prairie in other countries? Because something like [this](http://www.louiscopt.com/original_art/prairie_fire/prairie_fire.php) was the first thing I thought of. (Also, I wasn’t sure if the OP was asking for photos or if paintings were acceptable.) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/32 "2014-10-17T02:14:54Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Is that Chimney Bluffs, New York? Vasquez Rocks. In the hills just northeast of Los Angeles. Lots of Western movies and TV shows filmes scenes there. Even Star Trek, I think. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/33 "2014-10-17T03:32:26Z")
The factors that made America unique in the world, enabling virtually unlimited economic development, was the presence of temperate deciduous forest and navigable waterways. All this would habe beein impossible without theml. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/The_Ohio_river_running_between_Ohio_and_West_Virginia.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/The_Ohio_river_running_between_Ohio_and_West_Virginia.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/34 "2014-10-17T03:48:28Z")
My first thought is a Midwest farm field, something like the couple in [American Gothic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic) might be tending. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/35 "2014-10-17T04:30:57Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Interesting, but neither of these seems to have features closely resembling Monument Valley’s two “Mitten Buttes.” (Surely SOMEWHERE on Earth, or even Mars, there are two Mitten Butte-like features in mirror-image placement. Dopers?) You get those kind of buttes[in Namibia](http://static.squarespace.com/static/536c623ee4b043cc08765094/t/536fc8cbe4b07a2ef475407f/1399834835157/mesas.jpg). Not _exactly_ the same, but similar. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/36 "2014-10-17T04:33:16Z")
As alien as it is to my way of life, [I’d vote for a New England village, with pointy-steeple church, perhaps in the autumn with all the fall colors](http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/978674/102271153/stock-photo-new-england-village-102271153.jpg). (Shutterstock image with watermark.) Such a picture doesn’t make me happy. It isn’t my line of country. (All of the other pics in this thread so far are much more home to me. I’ve been to Yosemite, Monument Valley, and even Vasquez Rocks!) But a little New Hampshire town says “America” to me more than the glories of the west. These are the towns that the framers and founding fathers came from, where the Revolutionary War was fought, and where the philosophy of America was forged. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/37 "2014-10-17T05:46:02Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > As alien as it is to my way of life, [I’d vote for a New England village, with pointy-steeple church, perhaps in the autumn with all the fall colors](http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/978674/102271153/stock-photo-new-england-village-102271153.jpg). > > (Shutterstock image with watermark.) > > Such a picture doesn’t make me happy. It isn’t my line of country. (All of the other pics in this thread so far are much more home to me. I’ve been to Yosemite, Monument Valley, and even Vasquez Rocks!) But a little New Hampshire town says “America” to me more than the glories of the west. These are the towns that the framers and founding fathers came from, where the Revolutionary War was fought, and where the philosophy of America was forged. OP specified no or minimal signs of human construction. A village is very much human construction. Similarly, “amber waves of grain” may be quite American, but I think a farm still qualifies as human construction. ---
**Author:** ![Bouncer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@Bouncer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bouncer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/38 "2014-10-17T05:58:00Z")
I was originally going to go with this as the image that is uniquely and worldwide identifiable as America. [Clicky1](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Route66-Watch-For-Rocks.jpg) BUT, the OP specified certain parameters that disqualify it. Boo. 😕 So I went with this instead. It is a landscape and nature, there’s nothing man made in it, and it’s instantly identifiable as being a symbol of America. [Clicky2](http://entreedestinations.com/slideshow/bald-eagle.jpg) Regards, -Bouncer- ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/39 "2014-10-17T12:56:40Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > As alien as it is to my way of life, [I’d vote for a New England village, with pointy-steeple church, perhaps in the autumn with all the fall colors](http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/978674/102271153/stock-photo-new-england-village-102271153.jpg). > > (Shutterstock image with watermark.) > > Such a picture doesn’t make me happy. It isn’t my line of country. (All of the other pics in this thread so far are much more home to me. I’ve been to Yosemite, Monument Valley, and even Vasquez Rocks!) But a little New Hampshire town says “America” to me more than the glories of the west. These are the towns that the framers and founding fathers came from, where the Revolutionary War was fought, and where the philosophy of America was forged. George Washington & Thomas Jefferson came from Virginia. Benjamin Franklin came from Boston, then moved to Philadelphia–he preferred _cities_. John Adams was definitely a Yankee–but the rabble were roused in the cities. Lexington & Concord were definitely important–but they aren’t in New Hampshire. Alexander Hamilton came from the West Indies & became a New Yorker. Which battles were fought in New Hampshire? No offense–I was born there. But in an old mill town, not one of those quaint places. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/40 "2014-10-17T16:38:10Z")
I’m going to go outside the box and say there is no single landscape photograph more indicative of the idea of America or recognizable across the globe than [this one](http://geology.isu.edu/wapi/Geo_Pgt/Mod06_Moon_a_b/images/Earthrise.jpg). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386.md?page=3)