Landmarks

Most people think of a specific place when they are calling something a landmark. In giving directions, a landmark can be something as simple as Bob’s Gas Station at the corner of Main and Sixth streets, or as complex as the third house on the left after the blue penguin.

Originally, however, the term was meant to use features of geography to give directions. Pioneers might have been able to find safe spots to camp or directions to a water source via landmarks, like a table rock or a cliff shaped like a face. Even a river or stream could be used as a landmark to define how far a person had traveled or what direction they might need to travel in, as in turn north at the Mississippi River.

The key to a useful landmark was that it was something that could be added to a map and that travelers would be unlikely to miss. These were among the first things added to early maps, as it was difficult to measure exact distances. For example, a large cave on the Ohio River was added to maps in the earliest explorations of the continent, long before there was a nation on the North American continent.

Cave-In-Rock, named by a French explorer, was a way for people heading down the river to know how close they were to the juncture of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Later in westward expansion in American history, Pikes Peak in what would become Colorado became an important landmark, as it was the first of the Rocky Mountains visible from the Great Plains.

Landmarks were most important in the days before street signs as a way of finding someplace. In the modern context, landmarks have become defined two ways: First, they are still used to give directions, as in turn left at the fire station and then go to the third driveway on the right.

Second, the term has been modified to mean places of interest. A modern landmark could be anything from a geological formation of great interest, like the Grand Canyon, to a modern art museum. Generally, places designated as a landmark have some historical or geographical importance, but not always.

And, the designation as landmark usually varies by region. A well-known golf course that has been in the same location for fifty years may be a landmark in some regions or some cities may unofficially designate certain buildings as landmarks, perhaps long after they have ceased to be used for the purpose that they once were. These regional designations are most often used when landmarks are being used for the purposes of giving directions not increasing tourism dollars.