Fifteen US State Capitals from Honolulu to Boston

Honolulu is both the capital of Hawaii and the county seat of a consolidated city and county on the southeast coast of Oahu, in the Pacific Ocean. The 1941 attack on nearby Pearl Harbor brought it worldwide recognition.

Juneau became the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the territorial government moved from Sitka. No roads connect it to the rest of the state, and its 1970 merger with Douglas and the surrounding borough made it the second largest city in the country by land area.

Olympia is Washington's capital on Budd Inlet in the South Puget Sound region, about fifty miles southwest of Seattle. It is the county seat of Thurston County and home to the Evergreen State College, and in the 1990s it became known as a center of grunge and riot grrrl punk music.

Phoenix sits in the Salt River Valley of the Sonoran Desert. It began as an agricultural settlement in 1867 and was incorporated in 1881, then grew into a major metropolis after the Second World War, and it is now the fifth most populous city in the United States.

Denver lies on the western edge of the High Plains, just east of the Rocky Mountain Front Range. Its nickname, the Mile High City, comes from an official elevation of exactly one mile, and it anchors a metropolitan area of about 3.1 million people.

Cheyenne was established in 1867 as a junction on the Union Pacific Railroad and named after the Cheyenne people. It is Wyoming's capital and most populous city, and it hosts Cheyenne Frontier Days, described as the largest outdoor rodeo and western festival in the world.

Lincoln was settled in 1856 as Lancaster and renamed for Abraham Lincoln in 1869, the year it became Nebraska's capital in place of Omaha. The University of Nebraska was founded there the same year.

Saint Paul has the Minnesota State Capitol overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River. It is the county seat of Ramsey County and, with neighboring Minneapolis, forms the Twin Cities metropolitan area of around 3.7 million residents.

Des Moines takes its name from the Des Moines River, probably from a French phrase meaning River of the Monks. It is a hub of the insurance industry and, as Iowa's capital, hosts the first caucuses of the presidential primary cycle.

Little Rock lies on the south bank of the Arkansas River near the geographic center of the state. It was named for a rock formation that French explorer Jean-Baptiste Benard de la Harpe identified in 1722, and it drew international attention in 1957 over the desegregation of Central High School.

Indianapolis stands on the west fork of the White River in central Indiana. Its official slogan, the Crossroads of America, reflects its place as a transportation hub, and at the 2020 census it was the fourth largest state capital by population.

Montgomery stands beside the Alabama River and is named for Major General Richard Montgomery of the Continental Army. It was the first capital of the Confederate States of America in 1861 and later a center of the Civil Rights Movement, hosting the bus boycott and the Selma to Montgomery marches.

Atlanta began as a railroad terminus in the mid-nineteenth century in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. It became a crucial Confederate hub during the Civil War, then an industrial and commercial center during Reconstruction.

Providence was established by the Reformed Baptist theologian Roger Williams, who named it for God's merciful Providence. It grew as a port and became one of America's earliest industrial centers, known for textiles and later machine tools, jewelry and silverware.

Boston is the capital of Massachusetts and the cultural and financial hub of New England, with a metropolitan area of about 5 million people. The path ends on the Atlantic coast in a city whose economy rests on higher education, research, biotechnology and finance.