Meet the 50 People Who Bring America to Life
A new Condé Nast Traveler series spotlights one person in each U.S. state who embodies their home's defining character—from historians preserving Civil Rights legacy to pilots navigating Alaska's wilderness.
Condé Nast Traveler set out to find the one person behind a defining experience in each U.S. state. Not the landmarks themselves, but the people who animate them.
Barry McNealy, a historic content expert at Birmingham's Civil Rights Institute, carries the weight of the Civil Rights Movement's untold stories. Since 1993, he has guided thousands through Kelly Ingram Park, weaving details of resistance and resilience into walking tours that make the past feel present. He also teaches history at a local high school and at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. McNealy describes his role as "a responsibility, an honor, and a pleasure." To decompress from the emotional labor, he rides his Yamaha motorcycle out of town, letting "the broken line in the highway make everything melt away."
In Alaska, Paul Swanstrom operates differently. A former river guide in Moab, Utah, he co-founded Mountain Flying Service after a spontaneous flight with a high school friend using a rental plane and just 75 hours of flying experience. Today, he leads visitors through Glacier Bay National Park and Alaska's vast wilderness via bush plane—terrain best seen from the air.
The project reflects a deliberate editorial choice. Rather than list unforgettable landmarks, Condé Nast Traveler chose to reveal the faces behind them. The roster includes Barry McNealy in Alabama, Paul Swanstrom in Alaska, and personalities spanning from Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers mascot, to an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas, to Doug L. Micko, a U.S. District Court judge who has presided over hundreds of naturalization ceremonies at the Minnesota State Fair.
Some, like Kevin Cook (the drag queen Poison Waters in Oregon), actively reshape historical narratives by bringing marginalized stories to light. Others, like Micko, embody American openness by welcoming new citizens. Together, they represent the diversity that underpins the nation—and the human side of travel that postcards rarely capture.
As the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary, these individuals offer a different way to mark the milestone: not through landmarks, but through the people who make journeys unforgettable.
