Niagara Falls is the quintessential tourist trap. But before the honeymooners and the tacky t- shirts, the Falls were a monument ot the unspoiled beauty of the New World. From Niagara Falls to the Little Big Horn in this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, The Monument is part of our special series "The Storied Land."

We're off to Niagara Falls! Ernest Benedict, a Mohawk elder and spiritual leader tells the story of the Thunder Beings who lived under the Falls. Also, environmental historian Al Runte is the author of "National Parks: The American Experience." He tells Judith Strasser what Niagara meant to the first European settlers and how popular culture dominates the scene today.

Ed Linenthal is a cultural historian at the University of Wisconsin. He tells Steve Paulson that people choose a wide variety of ways to memorialize the dead. He describes several of the proposals for a monument in Oklahoma City; and also recounts some of the controversies faced by the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. and national park at Little Big Horn. Also, Mas Masumoto, a third generation Japanese American, provides a commentary about Manzanar -- the National Historic Site where peple like him were incarcerated during the second world war. Masumoto is a farmer and the author of "Epitaph for a Peach."

Put Graceland on the list of historic homes. The University of Minnesota's Karal Anne Marling - author of "Graceland: Going Home with Elvis" - says it has as much right to be there as Mt. Vernon. She tells Jim Fleming why Graceland is unique and why it's so meaningful to many Americans.

Distribution dates:

• week of 04/26/98 - hour 3
• week of 03/21/99 - hour 3