NewMexiKen

… was proclaimed on this date in 1924 (December 9, 1924).

Wupatki National Monument was established by President Calvin Coolidge on December 9, 1924, to preserve Citadel and Wupatki pueblos. Monument boundaries have been adjusted several times since then, and now include additional pueblos and other archeological resources on a total of 35,422 acres.

Wupatki represents a cultural crossroads, home to numerous groups of people over thousands of years. Understanding of earlier people comes from multiple perspectives, including the traditional history of the people themselves and interpretations by archeologists of structures and artifacts that remain. …

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Today, Wupatki National Monument protects 56 square miles … of high desert directly west of the Little Colorado River and the Navajo Reservation. Its vistas preserve clues to geologic history, ecological change, and human settlement. All are intertwined.

Wupatki National Monument

… was established by President Theodore Roosevelt under the Antiquities Act 106 years ago today (December 8, 1906).

Paso por aqui . . . A reliable waterhole hidden at the base of a massive sandstone bluff made El Morro (the bluff) a popular campsite. Ancestral Puebloans settled on the mesa top over 700 years ago. Spanish and American travelers rested, drank from the pool and carved their signatures, dates and messages for hundreds of years. Today, El Morro National Monument protects over 2,000 inscriptions and petroglyphs, as well as Ancestral Puebloan ruins.

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Explorers and travelers have known of the pool by the great rock for centuries. A valuable water source and resting place, many who passed by inscribed their names and messages in the rock next to petroglyphs left by ancient Puebloans. The ruins of a large pueblo located on top of El Morro were vacated by the time the Spaniards arrived in the late 1500s, and its inhabitants may have moved to the nearby pueblos in Zuni and Acoma. As the American West grew in population, El Morro became a break along the trail for those passing through and a destination for sightseers. As the popularity of the area increased, so did the tradition of carving inscriptions on the rock. To preserve the historical importance of the area and initiate preservation efforts on the old inscriptions, El Morro was established as a national monument by a presidential proclamation on December 8, 1906.

El Morro National Monument

… was designated on December 8, 1982.

Harry S Truman National Historic Site includes the Truman Home in Independence, Missouri, and the Truman Farm Home in Grandview, Missouri.

Harry S Truman (1884-1972), 33rd President of the United States, lived here from 1919 until his death. The white Victorian style house at 219 North Delaware Street was built by the maternal grandfather of Bess Wallace Truman (1885-1982), and was known as the “Summer White House” during the Truman administration (1945-1953).

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After serving nearly eight years as President, Truman went home in 1953. For Harry and Bess, the love of his life, home meant 219 North Delaware Street in Independence, where they had lived together since their marriage in 1919. Mr. Truman lived more like a retired mayor than a former President. Upon leaving the White House, he had no Secret Service protection, often drove his own car, and sometimes helped with the dishes. Ordinary citizens lined the front gate each morning hoping for an autograph, a handshake, or just a tip of his hat. Mr. Truman obliged them. “I realize they’ve come to see the striped mule of Missouri, and I don’t want them to be disappointed.”

Travelers to Independence can still experience Truman’s town and follow in his footsteps on a neighborhood walking tour, smell the concord grapes ripening on his back porch, and even read the oral histories of his friends and family.

219 North Delaware is the heart of Harry S Truman National Historic Site. The National Park Service also cares for four other Truman related homes that, along with the Delaware Street neighborhood, help tell the story of this “People’s President.”

Harry S Truman National Historic Site.

… was first proclaimed a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt under the Antiquities Act 106 years ago today (December 8, 1906). It became a national park in 1962.

With one of the world’s largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, multi-hued badlands of the Painted Desert, historic structures, archeological sites, and displays of 225 million year old fossils, this is a surprising land of scenic wonders and fascinating science.

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Petrified Forest was set aside as a national monument in 1906 to preserve and protect the petrified wood for its scientific value. It is recognized today for having so much more, including a broad representation of the Late Triassic paleo-ecosystem, significant human history, clear night skies, fragile grasslands ecosystem, and unspoiled scenic vistas.

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Petrified Forest is one of the national parks that has Class I air. Class I National Park Service areas have the highest level of air quality protection under the law. These areas are defined as national parks larger than 6,000 acres or wilderness areas over 5,000 acres that were in existence when the Clean Air Act was amended in 1977.

Petrified Forest National Park

… was established by President Theodore Roosevelt under the Antiquities Act 106 years ago today (December 8, 1906).

Nestled into a limestone recess high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley stands one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. The five-story, 20-room cliff dwelling served as a “high-rise apartment building” for prehistoric Sinagua Indians over 600 years ago. Early settlers to the area assumed that the imposing structure was associated with the Aztec emperor Montezuma, but the castle was abandoned almost a century before Montezuma was born.

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Montezuma Castle National Monument encompasses 826 acres and lies in the Verde Valley at the junction of the Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range physiographic provinces. Although the climate is arid with less than 12 inches of rainfall annually, several perennial streams thread their way from upland headwaters to the Verde Valley below, creating lush riparian ribbons of green against an otherwise parched landscape of rolling, juniper-covered hills.

Montezuma Castle National Monument

… was designated on December 6, 1955. The following July the nearby Edison Laboratory National Monument was proclaimed. The sites were combined in 1962 and then renamed and designated Thomas Edison National Historical Park in 2009. That is Glenmont, the Edison home, pictured.

Thomas Edison National Historical Park was established “to commemorate the outstanding achievements of the great American inventor, Thomas Alva Edison” (Presidential Proclamation 3148). The site was conveyed to the National Park Service through a series of legal agreements between the government and Thomas A. Edison, Inc. (later McGraw Edison Company) between 1955 and 1962. It is located within the township of West Orange in New Jersey. Containing 21.25 acres, the park preserves Thomas Alva Edison’s laboratory, his estate Glenmont, and collections in perpetuity and makes this valuable part of America’s heritage available to over 60,000 visitors each year for their enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation.

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Spend an afternoon exploring Glenmont, the estate of Thomas and Mina Edison. Thomas Edison purchased this grand estate for his new bride, Mina Miller Edison, in 1886. It is here that the Edisons raised their children and entertained friends, family, and Edison business associates.

Thomas Edison National Historical Park

… was authorized in 1934 but finally established 65 years ago today (1947).

This national park is the 3rd largest in the lower 48 states, covering 2358 square miles (1.5 million acres). There are a number of locations you can begin your adventure here in south Florida from Everglades City to Homestead to Key Largo.

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With the dedication of Everglades National Park in 1947, a new precedent was set in the growing conservation movement. For the first time in American history, a large tract of wilderness was permanently protected not for its scenic value, but for the benefit of the unique diversity of life it sustained.

The mosaic of habitats found within the Greater Everglades Ecosystem supports an assemblage of plant and animal species not found elsewhere on the planet. While nine distinct habitats have been identified, the landscape remains dynamic. Ecosystems remain in a constant state of flux, subject to the elements of south Florida.

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The boundaries of Everglades National Park protect only the southern one-fifth of the historic Everglades ecosystem. In its entirety, this massive watershed boasts a multitude of habitats that provide a subtropical refuge to a unique assemblage of wildlife.

With the passage of time and the growth of human population centers in south Florida, the park serves a new role — serving as a touchstone against which to gauge the impacts of man on the natural world. Scientific study is the key to better understanding, and managing, the resources entrusted to our care and protection.

Everglades National Park

… was proclaimed on this date, December 5th, four years ago (2008).

This monument comprises nine historic sites representing various aspects of World War II history in the Pacific. Five sites are in the Pearl Harbor area: the USS Arizona Memorial and visitor center; the USS Utah Memorial; the USS Oklahoma Memorial; the six chief petty officer bungalows on Ford Island; and mooring quays F6, F7, and F8, which constituted part of Battleship Row. Three sites are located in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands: the crash site of a consolidated B-24D liberator bomber on Atka Island, the Kiska Island site of Imperial Japan’s occupation that began in June 1942; and Attu Island, the site of the only land battle fought in North America during World War II. The last of the nine designations is the Tule Lake Segregation Center National Historic Landmark and nearby Camp Tule Lake in California—both of which housed Japanese Americans relocated from the west coast of the United States.

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Contrary to popular belief, the USS Arizona is no longer in commission. As a special tribute to the ship and her lost crew, the United States flag flies from the flagpole, which is attached to the severed mainmast of the sunken battleship. The USS Arizona Memorial has come to commemorate all military personnel killed in the Pearl Harbor attack.

World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument

… was proclaimed on November 30, 1915.

Come gaze across the curved canyon walls! Among the remarkable geological cliff formations of the canyon itself, the shapes of the former homes of ancient inhabitants of Walnut Canyon are easily evident. On a hike along the Rim or Island Trails you can imagine what life was like along and within Walnut Canyon while visiting actual pueblos and walking in the steps of those who came before us.

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In the pine forests near Flagstaff, Arizona, a steep canyon severs the rolling plateau. Twenty miles long, 400 feet deep and ¼-mile wide, it was carved by Walnut Creek over a period of 6 million years. Within its winding walls are natural riches – an abundant mix of plants and animals drawn there by water and varied topography. It seems a timeless place.

Walls of buff sandstone form the canyon’s inner gorge; the rock contours reveal their origins in the wind-scoured dunes of an ancient desert. The limestone ledges of the upper canyon contain delicate marine fossils, remnants of a later sea. Much later, the people of this canyon built their sturdy homes in shallow alcoves along these ledges.

For a brief time, from about 1100 to 1250, the canyon echoed with the rhythmic beat of a stone axe, the voice of an aged storyteller, children laughing on the rocky slopes. Masonry walls hint of this past, of a time when 100 or more people made their homes and livings here. …

Walnut Canyon National Monument

… was authorized on this date in 1999.

The Cold War lives on at Minuteman Missile NHS! Minuteman missiles held the power to destroy civilization. Yet the same destructive force acted as a nuclear deterrent which kept the peace for three decades. At Minuteman Missile it is possible to learn how the threat of nuclear war came to haunt the world.

Launch Control Facility Delta-01

This building functioned as topside support for the underground launch control center. It acted as a multi purpose facility to help personnel perform their mission.

Its primary purpose was to assist the missileers stationed underground in carrying out their mission. Mechanical implements such as a backup generator for auxiliary power and environmental control equipment provided backup support in the event of an emergency. The building contained a security control center where all security activities were coordinated from and personnel would be processed when coming on site.

The structure also included living quarters, a day room, dining area and recreational room that Air Force personnel used during three day duty shifts.

Launch Facility missile silo Delta-09

There is no better place to witness the Minuteman’s role in the Cold War then at Launch Facility Delta-09. From 1963 until 1991 Delta-09 contained a fully operational Minuteman Missile. The Delta-09 silo was one of 150 spread across western South Dakota. In total there were 1,000 Minuteman’s deployed at the height of the Cold War. These nuclear sentinels waited silent and deadly to perform their destructive duty at a moment’s notice.

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.

… was authorized November 28, 1990.

An oasis in the desert, Amistad National Recreation Area is located on the US portion of the International Amistad Reservoir. Amistad, whose name comes from the Spanish word meaning friendship is best known for excellent water-based recreation, camping, hiking, rock art viewing and its rich cultural history. Amistad is also home to a wide variety of plant and animal life above and below the water.

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People use Amistad Reservoir year round. In contrast, some animals utilize the area only during seasonal migrations. In the fall, thousands of Monarch butterflies roost on park lands before continuing their journey south to wintering sites in Mexico. Many waterfowl species spend the winter on the lake before returning north in the spring. Even endangered and threatened species, such as the Interior least tern, use the lake to nest and raise young.

The National Park Service and state agencies have implemented several projects in order to monitor the natural resources of the lake and surrounding areas. Extensive inventories of flora and fauna, yearly Monarch butterfly tagging, and monthly water quality testing provide invaluable data. By monitoring changes, park staff can quickly take measures to conserve the natural resources and beauty of Amistad National Recreation Area.

Amistad National Recreation Area

… was designated 45 years ago today (1967). It is the only home Eisenhower ever owned.

Eisenhower National Historic Site is the home and farm of General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Located adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield, the farm served the President as a weekend retreat and a meeting place for world leaders. With its peaceful setting and view of South Mountain, it was a much needed respite from Washington and a backdrop for efforts to reduce Cold War tensions.

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Eisenhower National Historic Site comprises 690 acres and includes four farms, three of which were used by President Eisenhower for his show herd of black Angus cattle. Today the farm is maintained as it was during the Eisenhower years and the President’s home retains nearly all its original furnishings. You are invited to tour the home and grounds, and take a walk to the cattle barns and skeet range.

Eisenhower National Historic Site