# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/41 "2014-10-17T16:49:34Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Not exactly a landscape with “minimal human construction” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/42 "2014-10-17T19:49:16Z")
I’ll go with [this one](http://www.magazineusa.com/images_st2/ut/Dead-Horse-Point-State-Park/Dead_Horse_Point_Utah_780_m1gg.jpg) or a close equivalent. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/43 "2014-10-17T19:51:20Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > [Something like this](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Yosemite_Valley_from_Wawona_Tunnel_view%2C_vista_point..JPG) came to mind. Cool, I just downloaded that update earlier today [😃](http://www.apple.com/osx/) ---
**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, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/44 "2014-10-17T20:49:47Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > 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. Oh, boogers, I missed that bit. Still, that just makes me want to reject the premise. Without human influence, it isn’t “American.” It’s just earthlike. America is what we have made of it. ---
**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, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/45 "2014-10-17T20:52:13Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > . . . 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. I started by saying “New England,” where a handful of important battles were fought. Agreed that Virginia is important also. And mill towns are also very definitely part of Americana. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/46 "2014-10-17T21:02:37Z")
nevermind ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/47 "2014-10-17T23:16:14Z")
How about Old Faithful erupting. [http://www.sheridanmedia.com/news/yellowstone-considering-old-faithful-lodging-improvement-plan21299](http://www.sheridanmedia.com/news/yellowstone-considering-old-faithful-lodging-improvement-plan21299) ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/48 "2014-10-17T23:46:32Z")
> [@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”. Animals would be a good visual clue. Any Plains/Rockies/Southwest landscape with a herd of buffalo, bald eagle or armadillo would work. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/49 "2014-10-17T23:47:11Z")
Same as the OPs. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/50 "2014-10-18T00:49:03Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Nothing is more American than [this.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Vasquez_Rocks_April_2005.jpg) I dunno…that looks like Cestus III to me ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/51 "2014-10-18T04:05:54Z")
> [@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). Looks like Germany to me. Eg. [http://www.colourbox.com/preview/3632855-176403-german-village-at-the-river-weser.jpg](http://www.colourbox.com/preview/3632855-176403-german-village-at-the-river-weser.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/52 "2014-10-18T04:23:18Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > 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. Is that different from [stubble burning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stubble_burning)? It used to be common in many countries. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/53 "2014-10-18T05:10:34Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > How about Old Faithful erupting. > > [http://www.sheridanmedia.com/news/yellowstone-considering-old-faithful-lodging-improvement-plan21299](http://www.sheridanmedia.com/news/yellowstone-considering-old-faithful-lodging-improvement-plan21299) Geysers make me think of Iceland, not America. ---
**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 18, 2014, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386/54 "2014-10-18T05:19:47Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Animals would be a good visual clue. Any Plains/Rockies/Southwest landscape with a herd of buffalo, bald eagle or armadillo would work. I was watching the National Parks series on PBS when it occurred to me that a herd of bison grazing on the plains, perhaps with the Rockies in the background, would be perfect. Though I’m sure Canada has its share of bison, I’m sure more people think, “America” when they see them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-to-pick-the-iconic-american-landscape-what-would-it-be/701386.md?page=2)