Tour All of These Historical Sites That Have Inspired Great American Literature

For more than a year, reading was our safest way to "travel." Now that we're turning a new page, consider a rich—and very real—escape. Across the country, there are countless landscapes that have inspired works of literature, and visiting them means you can bring children's classics to life, soak up inspiration at our national parks, and pay (over)due respect to several legendary women.

It's fun for the whole family, too: Read stories, see book illustrations (hello, Very Hungry Caterpillar), and let kids make their own at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Splash with Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins in the Beverly Cleary Sculpture Garden's spray fountain; it's inside Portland, Oregon's, Grant Park, a quick walk from real-life Klickitat Street. Or hoist yourself up into a New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad car, tricked out like the home of the Alden siblings in the Boxcar Children series, at the Gertrude Chandler Warner Boxcar Children Museum, in Putnam, Connecticut.

There's plenty in modern works, too: Brooklyn's Books Are Magic, co-owned by novelist Emma Straub, hosts events with debut authors like former employee Liv Stratman, whose romantic dark comedy Cheat Day is out now. Look out for co-owner Ann Patchett, the author of The Dutch House, at Parnassus Books in Nashville. Booked Up stocks "fine, rare, and scholarly books" in Archer City, Texas, the town its late owner, native son Larry McMurtry, fictionalized in The Last Picture Show. Beastly Books, in Santa Fe, owned by Game of Thrones overlord George R. R. Martin, stands next door to his indie movie theater, Jean Cocteau Cinema.

To explore more of these iconic sites, check out our itinerary and don't forget to pack a bit of reading for the trip.