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You can climb to the crown of the Statue of Liberty, but the torch has been closed to visitors for more than a century. At Mount Rushmore, a chamber carved into the granite sits behind the presidential faces. And beneath a New Mexico national park famous for its cave tours lies another cave where access is limited to approved research and exploration.
Some of these places are entirely closed to ordinary visitors. Others are restricted sections of landmarks you can still visit. This list covers the United States and several areas under U.S. jurisdiction, including Puerto Rico and remote Pacific atolls.
1. Area 51, Nevada
Near the dry bed of Groom Lake, the United States tested aircraft that were once among its most closely guarded secrets. Declassified records tie the site to the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, giving Area 51 a documented history every bit as interesting as the folklore that surrounds it.
The installation is part of a restricted military range and offers no public tours. The story you can actually verify is about Cold War engineers developing aircraft that could fly higher or faster than most people at the time could imagine.
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2. North Brother Island, New York
An abandoned hospital complex sits on a wooded island in New York City’s East River. Riverside Hospital once isolated people with infectious diseases, including Mary Mallon, the cook remembered as “Typhoid Mary.” Trees and vines have since grown around the surviving structures.
The city manages North Brother and neighboring South Brother as wildlife habitat. Public access to North Brother Island is prohibited, including landings from the water. Its most striking feature may be how close it sits to a city of millions.
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3. The Statue of Liberty’s Torch, New York
Visitors can still climb to the crown with an advance reservation. The torch is a different story. Public access ended after the 1916 Black Tom explosion damaged the statue, and the torch has remained closed to visitors ever since.
There is a way to see the original up close. The torch you see today from the harbor is a replacement, while the original is displayed inside the Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island.
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4. The Hall of Records at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum planned a chamber in the mountain to hold records explaining who the presidents were and why the monument was built. Workers began cutting into the granite behind the sculpture, but the hall was never completed as envisioned.
A repository placed at the entrance in 1998 holds porcelain panels documenting the monument and aspects of American history. The chamber is closed to the public. The usual memorial visit takes place on the other side of the mountain face.
5. The Fort Knox Bullion Depository, Kentucky
The U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox holds approximately 147.3 million fine troy ounces of gold, according to the U.S. Mint. The first gold arrived in 1937, and the facility has stored government bullion reserves ever since.
The Mint says visitors are prohibited at the depository. Fort Knox is also the name of the larger Army installation, so references to visiting Fort Knox can mean something quite different from setting foot in the building that holds the gold.
6. Lechuguilla Cave, New Mexico
Lechuguilla lies within Carlsbad Caverns National Park, but its rooms look different from the ones most park visitors know. Photographs from authorized expeditions show long gypsum crystals hanging in clusters like chandeliers. Underground lakes and delicate mineral formations make the cave especially valuable to researchers.
Access is limited to approved research and exploration. A reservation for Carlsbad Cavern covers the public cave experience, with routes such as the Big Room and Natural Entrance. Lechuguilla is a separate cave with its own access rules.
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7. Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Colorado
During the Cold War, workers excavated a command center inside a granite mountain near Colorado Springs. The facility became operational in 1966 and was designed to protect military command and control functions inside the rock.
NORAD says public tours are currently unavailable. The site’s unusual feature is its scale. Cheyenne Mountain houses an operations complex, with multiple interior structures, inside the mountain itself.
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8. The Pool at Devils Hole, Nevada
In the Nevada desert, a narrow opening in the rock drops into a warm, water-filled cave. A shallow underwater shelf provides critical habitat for the Devils Hole pupfish, a species whose only natural home is this one pool.
Visitors can look into Devils Hole from a fenced viewing platform. The protected pool and cave are off-limits. Although the site is in Nevada’s Ash Meadows area, Devils Hole is administered as a detached part of Death Valley National Park.
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9. Camp David, Maryland
Officially called Naval Support Facility Thurmont, Camp David is a presidential retreat in the wooded Catoctin Mountains. Its secluded setting has served both as a private getaway and as a place to host foreign leaders.
The retreat is closed to ordinary visitors. Catoctin Mountain Park has public trails and recreation areas, with access governed separately. You can spend a day in the same mountain landscape while the presidential facility remains out of public view.
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10. Plum Island, New York
Off the eastern end of Long Island’s North Fork, Plum Island contains the remains of a military fort and the federal research complex built to study animal diseases. Most human activity during the research era was concentrated in a relatively small part of the island, leaving considerable space for wildlife.
Public access is prohibited. Conservation proposals have envisioned ways people might someday visit parts of the island, but those plans are separate from the access rules in force today.
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11. Kahoʻolawe, Hawaiʻi
Kahoʻolawe was used for military training, and unexploded ordnance remains a danger. The island also has deep cultural significance, and authorized groups continue to work on restoring its land and protecting its cultural sites.
The reserve is closed to casual visits. Access is limited to authorized activities, which can include restoration work and organized cultural access. Its restrictions extend beyond the shoreline into the surrounding reserve waters.
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12. Midway Atoll, Central Pacific
Midway is both a World War II battlefield and one of the great seabird refuges of the Pacific. Albatrosses share the islands with remnants of the former military presence. The combination makes Midway unusually compelling from both a historical and a wildlife perspective.
The national wildlife refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial are currently closed to public visitation. Access supports functions such as airfield operations and conservation. The designation as a national memorial does not come with an open visitor program.
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13. Cincinnati’s Unfinished Subway, Ohio
Cincinnati has a subway that never carried a paying passenger. The city began building it in the early 20th century, and substantial stretches of tunnel survived after the project was abandoned. The city you see at street level eventually moved on while the unfinished project remained beneath it.
There is no regular public access to the tunnels. Entrances have been sealed and sections blocked, leaving the subway as a piece of infrastructure that exists almost entirely outside most residents’ everyday experience.
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14. The Smallpox Hospital Ruins, Roosevelt Island, New York
Near the southern tip of Roosevelt Island stands the shell of an 1850s hospital designed in the Gothic Revival style. Its tall window openings and crenellated stonework give it the appearance of a ruined castle, with modern New York visible beyond it.
The public can see the exterior from the surrounding park area. The interior is closed. The fence marks the difference between a landmark you can admire and a fragile structure you can enter only with authorization.
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15. The Farallon Islands, California
Far off San Francisco, these rocky islands support breeding seabirds and marine mammals. The surrounding ocean is habitat for whales and white sharks. On a clear day, the islands can look surprisingly close to shore.
The wildlife refuge is closed to public landings because of the sensitivity of its wildlife. An offshore wildlife trip offers a view from the water, with the islands themselves reserved for conservation, research, and authorized work.
16. Johnston Atoll, Central Pacific
Johnston Atoll’s history includes a bird refuge, military occupation, high-altitude nuclear testing, and chemical weapons disposal. Its islands were altered by dredging and construction, yet seabirds still use them. Few places combine such an industrial past with such an isolated natural setting.
The refuge is closed to the general public. Entry requires a special-use permit for an approved activity, with federal review. The rules leave room for work tied to managing the refuge and its unusual legacy.
17. The Vehicle Assembly Building’s Interior, Florida
NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center rises 525 feet above the Florida landscape. It was built to handle rockets on a scale that makes the surrounding buildings look small, and it continues to serve as a working spacecraft integration facility.
Visitor Complex tours can provide an exterior view. The Explore Tour includes opportunities to photograph spaceflight landmarks along its route. Access to the working interior is controlled and falls outside the standard public visitor experience.
18. Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico
Desecheo rises steeply from the Mona Passage off Puerto Rico’s west coast. Its ridges and rocky slopes make it look like an inviting island to explore. The land itself is a national wildlife refuge with an important restriction left over from military use.
The refuge is closed to the public because unexploded ordnance remains on the island. The surrounding waters fall under separate management. Seeing boats near Desecheo gives no indication that anyone is allowed to go ashore.
19. The Restricted Zone Around Halemaʻumaʻu, Hawaiʻi
At Kīlauea’s summit, Halemaʻumaʻu can put on an extraordinary display when the volcano erupts. It can also change quickly, with volcanic gas, unstable ground, and eruptive activity shaping which areas are safe to approach.
The zone around the crater is closed to general visitors. The park may authorize access for specific scientific research or cultural practices. Public viewing takes place at designated overlooks when they’re open, with conditions determining what visitors can see on any given day.
20. Año Nuevo Island, California
Just offshore from Año Nuevo State Park, a small island holds the remains of an old light station. Wildlife now occupies the landscape around the former buildings, giving the island a very different appearance from the days when people staffed the station.
Año Nuevo Island is closed to the general public and managed as part of a natural preserve. The mainland park offers a separate visitor experience, including opportunities to see elephant seals under seasonal access rules.
21. Dugway Proving Ground, Utah
Dugway is an Army installation in Utah’s West Desert where work focuses on chemical and biological defense. Its remote setting gives the installation space for testing and training that could never take place in an ordinary public park.
The Army describes Dugway as a closed post. Official visitors enter under controlled procedures. The surrounding desert can appear continuous on a map, but public land and the military installation have very different access rules.
22. The Test Areas at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico
White Sands Missile Range is an active military installation used for testing and evaluation. Its size and history make it one of the most striking restricted landscapes in the Southwest. It also sits near a national park with a remarkably similar name.
The operational test areas are generally closed to visitors. The range’s museum and missile park have their own controlled access, and any special public event applies only to the designated site. White Sands National Park is a separate destination with its own entrance and rules.
23. Hospital Key and the Closed Nesting Islands, Florida
Most visitors to Dry Tortugas National Park head to Garden Key and Fort Jefferson. Elsewhere in the same waters, small islands such as Hospital Key and Long Key are reserved for nesting wildlife. From a boat, they can look like ordinary beaches.
Hospital Key, Long Key, East Key, and Middle Key are closed year-round under current park rules. The contrast is striking in a park reached mainly by boat or seaplane. On one key you can walk through a huge brick fort, while other islands in the group have no public landings.
24. Wake Atoll, Western Pacific
Wake is a low coral atoll with a military airfield and an extensive marine refuge. Its remoteness is part of what makes it remarkable. The inhabited facilities occupy a tiny area compared with the surrounding expanse of ocean.
The wildlife refuge is inaccessible to the general public. Special-use permits are reserved for compatible, approved activities. An operational airfield on the map indicates that aircraft can land there under authorized circumstances.
25. The Beta-3 Building at Y-12, Tennessee
During the Manhattan Project, workers in Oak Ridge operated machines called calutrons to separate uranium isotopes. Beta-3 was one of the buildings where that work took place. Its surviving equipment offers a rare physical link to the industrial scale of the project.
The building stands within the secured Y-12 National Security Complex and is closed to the public. You can learn about the work through historical exhibits and virtual materials, while the original machinery remains inside the restricted site.