14 Fascinating Things Most Americans Don't Even Know About the USA

The United States of America is a seriously large, diverse and impressive country. With over 333 million residents calling the nation home, its land stretches across 15 million m². 

It's a world superpower and the most culturally influential country on Earth. Yet while America is a powerhouse that we all know about - what exactly do we know about it? 

Only it turns out that the place holds many secrets. These are some of its most fascinating unknown facts. Ones that even most Americans don't know about…

1. There are more than 70 streets in Atlanta with some variation of the name 'Peachtree

According to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau (and they should know), there are more than 70 streets in the Georgia city of Atlanta that feature the name 'Peachtree' somewhere in their name. Georgia, after all, is known as 'The Peach State

2. It'd take you more than 400 years to spend a night in all the hotel rooms of Las Vegas

The Nevadan home of gambling isn't just about casinos. Okay, so it's mostly about casinos. But those people that fly in to spend their wages at the tables have to sleep somewhere. 

And there are plenty of hotels to pick from - around 300, in fact. With some 151,000 rooms. That's according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, anyway. 

They claim you could move rooms every night and have a fresh room for some forty decades before staying in the same room twice

3. More people live in New York City than in 40 of the 50 states

The Big Apple's pretty big. It stretches over 485 square miles. It needs to be big, though. Otherwise it couldn't fit in all 8.5 million people that live there. That's a lot of people. So many that it's more than the total population of a full 80% of US states

4. The Liberty Bell has a typo inscribed on it

Alright, so not everyone can spell 'Pennsylvania'. But if you can't, and you're about to have that name pressed into the Liberty Bell, you'd probably check first. Alas, that was not the case in the Liberty Bell's case. The giant cracked bell is adorned with the typo 'Pensylvania

5. Lake Superior could cover all of the land in the Americas

Lake Superior is big. Seriously big. It holds an insane three quadrillion gallons of water. That's a full 10% of all the fresh water in the world! There's also enough water in the lake to cover the whole of North and South America in a foot of water. That's according to the NOAA Minnesota Sea Grant, who very much know their water-onions

6. Only one-third of all $100 bills are actually inside the US at any one time

It may feel increasingly as if cash is dead and, while its use is waning somewhat, the Dollar is surprisingly popular abroad. As 'The World's Currency', it's sometimes even more trusted abroad than that other country's currency. So much so that, according to The Washington Post, there are significantly more $100 bills overseas than in the US right now

7. There's over a 800 miles of bookshelves in the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress building contains around 838 miles of bookshelves, with just shy of 40 million books sat on them. That's long enough - if you can believe this - to stretch all the way from Houston to Chicago

8. The Empire State Building has its own zip code

It's a big building, but is the Empire State Building big enough to necessitate its own zip code…?Apparently so, yes. Only it was assigned one back in 1980. So if you fancy sending the skyscraper a Christmas card later this year, its zip code is '10118'…

9. Independence Day didn't actually take place on July 4th

This'll blow your mind: July the 4th didn't happen on July 4th; it happened on July 2nd. By which we mean that Congress voted to free the United States from British rule on the second day of July back in 1776. For some reason, the anniversary marks John Hancock's first signature on the Declaration of Independence instead of the actual vote date

10. There's a town in Washington with special treetop bridges designed to help squirrels cross the street

The National Park Service are pleased to inform us all about a very special bridge that exists in the city of Longview in Washington state. One that exists in the treetops and exists entirely to help squirrels move about. It's been in operation since March 1963 and is called, quite charmingly, 'Nutty Narrows Bridge'

11. There are more bourbon barrels in Kentucky than people

When you think of Kentucky, you think of bourbon. Or fried chicken. But mostly bourbon. It sounds strange to hear that the state has more barrels of the stuff than it does people, but they really, really do make a lot of bourbon there. 95% of the world's bourbon, in fact. So when the Kentucky Distillers Association tells us that they are a full 12 million whisky barrels in the state, we've no reason to disbelieve them

12. You don't need a driver's licence to race in NASCAR

This fact is genuinely incredible. NASCAR drivers aren't require to hold a full driver's license. Obviously they have to be able to drive and NASCAR issues their own permits and licenses, but if you're an ace driver but just never got round to getting your license (or - more to the point - have lost it somehow…)- don't worry… NASCAR might just accept you as a driver anyway

13. There are approximately 5,000 commercial airplanes flying over the US at any given time.

This is quite a frightening fact if you think about it too much… Over 5,000 aircraft are thought to be circling the skies above the United States at any given time, which translates to an estimated 64 million commercial and private take offs annually.

14. Denver International Airport is twice the size of Manhattan

A full 53 square miles (that's 34,000 acres) of land make up the Denver International Airport's operating area. For context, that's more than is inside the city limits of Boston, Miami or San Francisco. For extra context, the airport is double the size of Manhattan. That's a pretty big airport, we think you'll agree.

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