Descriptive information about America’s national parks, monuments and memorials, often with a photo or two.
. . . was designated such on this date in 1988.
Come journey through five Pennsylvania counties bursting with heritage and brimming with outdoor adventure. You will find something for everyone. Follow a history trail marked with stories about hearty lumberjacks, coal miners, lock tenders, and railroaders. Explore quiet canal paths, challenging bike trails and the rippling waters of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers.
. . . was authorized on this date in 1988.
This unique geologic area became a landmark in 1843 for California-bound emigrants. They left wagon ruts across the landscape and their signatures in axle grease on Register Rock, Camp Rock and many others.
A few granite pinnacles and monoliths are in excess of sixty stories tall and 2.5 billion years old. The smooth granite faces offer exceptional rock climbing. Today, over 500 climbing routes have been identified.
The Reserve is managed by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation under a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service.
… was proclaimed a national monument 103 years ago today by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument offers a glimpse of the homes and lives of the people of the Mogollon culture who lived in the Gila Wilderness from the 1280s through the early 1300s. The surroundings probably look today very much like they did when the cliff dwellings were inhabited.
. . . was authorized on this date in 1996. It is one of three National Park Service sites in Oklahoma.
The park commemorates the November 27, 1868, attack where the 7th U.S. Cavalry under Lt. Col. George A. Custer destroyed Peace Chief Black Kettle’s Cheyenne village. Black Kettle and over 100 Cheyenne were captured or killed. The controversial attack has been described as both a battle and a massacre.
… was redesignated from national monument to national park on this date in 1971.
Arches National Park preserves over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, like the world-famous Delicate Arch, as well as many other unusual rock formations. In some areas, the forces of nature have exposed millions of years of geologic history. The extraordinary features of the park create a landscape of contrasting colors, landforms and textures that is unlike any other in the world.
For there is a cloud on my horizon. A small dark cloud no bigger than my hand. Its name is Progress.
The ease and relative freedom of this lovely job at Arches follow from the comparative absence of the motorized tourists, who stay away by the millions. And they stay away because of the unpaved entrance road, the unflushable toilets in the campgrounds, and the fact that most of them have never even heard of Arches National Monument.
…The Master Plan has been fulfilled. Where once a few adventurous people came on weekends to camp for a night or two and enjoy a taste of the primitive and remote, you will now find serpentine streams of baroque automobiles pouring in and out, all through the spring and summer, in numbers that would have seemed fantastic when I worked there: from 3,000 to 30,000 to 300,000 per year, the “visitation,” as they call it, mounts ever upward.
…Progress has come at last to Arches, after a million years of neglect. Industrial Tourism has arrived.
Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire (1968)
There were 860,181 visitors in 2007. Arches is magnificent and should be on any list of must-see national parks.
… was established on this date in 1978.
Established in 1978 for the preservation, protection and interpretation of traditional native Hawaiian activities and culture, Kaloko-Honokohau NHP is an 1160 acre park full of incredible cultural and historical significance. It is the site of an ancient Hawaiian settlement which encompasses portions of four different ahupua’a, or traditional sea to mountain land divisions. Resources include fishponds, kahua (house site platforms), ki’i pohaku (petroglyphs), holua (stone slide), and heiau (religious site).
… was authorized on this date in 1978.
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve was established to preserve significant examples of the rich natural and cultural resources of Louisiana’s Mississippi Delta region. The park seeks to illustrate the influence of environment and history on the development of a unique regional culture.
The park consists of six physically separate sites and a park headquarters located in southeastern Louisiana. The sites in Lafayette, Thibodaux, and Eunice interpret the Acadian culture of the area. The Barataria Preserve (in Marrero) interprets the natural and cultural history of the uplands, swamps, and marshlands of the region. Six miles southeast of New Orleans is the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery, site of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans and the final resting place for soldiers from the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam. At 419 Decatur Street in the historic French Quarter is the park’s visitor center for New Orleans. This center interprets the history of New Orleans and the diverse cultures of Louisiana’s Mississippi Delta region. The Park Headquarters is located in New Orleans.
… was authorized on this date in 1978.
Richmond, VA. is home to many famous Americans including one of the nation’s great entrepreneurial spirits, Maggie Lena Walker. Come visit her home in the Jackson Ward community. Through exhibits and guided tours you will experience the life of this great African American woman, who was born during slavery and achieved success despite segregation and the limited opportunities offered to her race.
… was upgraded from national monument to national park on this date in 1978.
Located in southwestern South Dakota, Badlands National Park consists of 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. The Badlands Wilderness Area covers 64,000 acres and is the site of the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret, the most endangered land mammal in North America. The Stronghold Unit is co-managed with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and includes sites of 1890s Ghost Dances. Established as Badlands National Monument in 1939, the area was redesignated “National Park” in 1978. Over 11,000 years of human history pale to the ages old paleontological resources. Badlands National Park contains the world’s richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating 23 to 35 million years old. Scientists can study the evolution of mammal species such as the horse, sheep, rhinoceros and pig in the Badlands formations.
… was established on this date in 1978.
Four Spanish frontier missions, part of a colonization system that stretched across the Spanish Southwest in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries, are preserved here. They include Missions San Jose, San Juan, Espada, and Concepcion. The park, containing many cultural sites along with some natural areas, was established in 1978. The park covers about 819 acres.
. . . was authorized 10 years ago today.
On November 29, 1864, Colonel John M. Chivington led approximately 700 U.S. volunteer soldiers to a village of about 500 Cheyenne and Arapaho people camped along the banks of Big Sandy Creek in southeastern Colorado. Although the Cheyenne and Arapaho people believed they were under the protection of the U.S. Army, Chivington’s troops attacked and killed about 150 people, mainly women, children, and the elderly.
… was authorized 44 years ago today. It is one of just three National Park Service sites in Indiana.
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is a treasure of diverse natural resources located within an urban setting. The national lakeshore features communities that have both scientific and historic significance to the field of ecology. In addition, four National Natural Landmarks and one National Historical Landmark are located within its boundaries.
The park is comprised of over 15,000 acres of dunes, oak savannas, swamps, bogs, marshes, prairies, rivers, and forests. It contains 15 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline spanning the distance from Gary to Michigan City. Lake Michigan is part of the largest complex of freshwater lakes in the world. The national lakeshore’s beaches are the park’s most significant recreational resource.
. . . was proclaimed on October 25th, 1949. It is one of two National Park Service sites in Iowa (the other being Herbert Hoover National Historic Site).
An “Effigy Mound” American Indian culture developed over 1,000 years ago placing thousands of earthen mounds across the landscape of what (today) includes parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois.
Over 200 mounds are preserved intact within the Monument; 31 are effigies in the shape of bears and birds – commemorating the passing of loved ones and the sacred beliefs of these ancient peoples.
The mounds preserved here are considered ceremonial and sacred sites by many Americans, especially the Monument’s 12 affiliated American Indian tribes. A visit offers opportunities to contemplate the meanings of the mounds, the peoples who built them and the relationships to their modern descendants. The 2,526 acre Monument includes 206 American Indian mounds situated in a natural setting, and located within the one of the most picturesque sections within Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area and along the “Great River Road” of the Mississippi River – a National Scenic Byway.
Eight-seven years ago today President Calvin Coolidge signed a proclamation creating Carlsbad Cave National Monument and its “extraordinary proportions and… unusual beauty and variety of natural decoration…” It became a national park in 1930.
As you pass through the Chihuahuan Desert and Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas—filled with prickly pear, chollas, sotols and agaves—you might never guess there are more than 300 known caves beneath the surface. The park contains 113 of these caves, formed when sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone, creating some of the largest caves in North America.
… was authorized 10 years ago today.
Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park, located in the wartime boomtown of Richmond, California, preserves and interprets the stories and places of our nation’s home front response to World War II.
— Rosie the Riveter / WWII Home Front National Historical Park
… became Saguaro National Park on this date in 1994.
This unique desert is home to the most recognizable cactus in the world, the majestic saguaro. Visitors of all ages are fascinated and enchanted by these desert giants, especially their many interesting and complex interrelationships with other desert life. Saguaro cacti provide their sweet fruits to hungry desert animals. They also provide homes to a variety of birds, such as the Harris’ hawk, Gila woodpecker and the tiny elf owl. Yet, the saguaro requires other desert plants for its very survival. During the first few years of a very long life, a young saguaro needs the shade and protection of a nurse plant such as the palo verde tree. With an average life span of 150 years, a mature saguaro may grow to a height of 50 feet and weigh over 10 tons.
. . . was established on this date in 1986.
The 1877 flight of the Nez Perce from their homelands while pursued by U.S. Army Generals Howard, Sturgis, and Miles, is one of the most fascinating and sorrowful events in Western U.S. history. Chief Joseph, Chief Looking Glass, Chief White Bird, Chief Ollokot, Chief Lean Elk, and others led nearly 750 Nez Perce men, women, and children and twice that many horses over 1,170 miles through the mountains, on a trip that lasted from June to October of 1877.
Forced to abandon hopes for a peaceful move to the Lapwai reservation, the Nez Perce chiefs saw flight to Canada as their last promise for peace. The flight of the Nez Perce began on June 15, 1877. Pursued by the Army, they intended initially to seek safety with their Crow allies on the plains to the east. Their desperate and circuitous route as they tried to escape the pursuing white forces is what we now call the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.
. . . was established on this date in 1968.
Stand at the base of a coast redwood and even the huckleberry bushes tower over you. Watch bronze Roosevelt elk grazing in the prairies. Observe the tail of a female Chinook salmon heave skyward as she makes a nest for her eggs. Whether a morning or night person, you can hear the threatened marbled murrelets’ keer across the treetops as they fly from sea to mossy nest.
. . . was established 42 years ago today.
Jagged peaks, deep valleys, cascading waterfalls, and over 300 glaciers adorn the North Cascades National Park Complex. Three park units in this mountainous region are managed as one and include North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas. These complementary protected lands are united by a contiguous overlay of Stephen Mather Wilderness.
. . . was established 120 years ago today (1890).
Not just a great Valley…
but a shrine to human foresight, strength of granite, power of glaciers, the persistence of life, and the tranquility of the High Sierra.
Yosemite National Park, one of the first wilderness parks in the United States, is best known for its waterfalls, but within its nearly 1,200 square miles, you can find deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness area, and much more.
Today’s photo was taken Saturday at sunset at Delicate Arch, Arches National Park. Delicate Arch is Entrada sandstone. It’s 52 feet high. This vantage point is reached via 1½-mile trail with an elevation change of about 500 feet. There were approximately 200 people there Saturday, all with the courtesy to stay away from the arch during sunset (prime time for photographers). Six-, soon to be seven-, year-old Sofie made the trek with ease. Grandpa made the trek.
Click the image for a larger version.
This photo was taken with a Nikon D70. The wider-angle photo now in the masthead was taken with an iPhone 4.
… was authorized by Congress on this date in 1962.
Padre Island National Seashore, encompassing 130,434 acres, is the longest remaining undeveloped stretch of barrier island in the world, and offers a wide variety of flora and fauna as well as recreation.
. . . but have surely appreciated innumerable times.
“Stephen Mather, father of the National Park system, hired artists to decide where the roads in all the parks should be placed. He wanted you to see them as artists would paint or photograph them.”
The North Rim Chronicles, Part II
It’s a fine essay about visiting the Grand Canyon, if I haven’t already made your homework reading list too long for today.
Some of the ruins, Hovenweep National Monument, Utah. Taken with an iPhone. Unedited.
Hovenweep was the 10th least visited national monument in 2009.
Sunset, Saturday evening, Delicate Arch, Arches National Park. Taken with an iPhone. Unedited.
