Meet the American who wrote 'America the Beautiful'
(FOX NEWS) -- Patriotic poet Katharine Lee Bates was born and raised on Cape Cod, a narrow wisp of seaside sand where the only elevation comes from dunes that shift with wind and tide.
Later a professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Bates traveled 2,000 miles across the vast continent to teach in Colorado in the summer of 1893.
She was stunned by the eternal solidity of the Rocky Mountains and inspired almost instantly to record the incredible experience of seeing the United States from new heights.