First Washington Monument
Middletown, Maryland
On July 4, 1827, the citizens of Boonsboro, seized with a patriotic frenzy, climbed nearby South Mountain and spent four hours building a vaguely bottle-shaped 15-foot-high tower of rocks. It was "erected in memory of [George] Washington," according to its small marble dedication slab, and has survived to become the USA's oldest monument to a President.
Erected without mortar, the tower -- which had grown through subsequent patriotic outbursts to 30 feet high -- gradually fell into disrepair. Several efforts to restore the monument began in 1882, and the final makeover was completed in 1936. The tower has remained pretty much unchanged since then.
Compared with the famous Washington Monument, the one on South Mountain is much less stressful to visit, and the view from its base (at 1,200 feet) is more than twice as high as the one in DC.