National Parks
I am a passionate believer in the American National Park System - truly they are “America’s best idea.” The American Park System contains some of the most diversified eco-systems on the planet. Around the world, our example for creating National Parks to educate and inspire visitors through environmental and historical conservation has been copied to preserve heritage sites. The National Parks System far reaching mission protects everything from the oceans to the mountain, all for the benefit of present and future generations.
Learn more…about me!
Bryce Canyon National Park
There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred. President Theodore Roosevelt
Places
Below is a list of park units I have been fortunate enough to visit. Some I have only been to once, while others I have been to so often that I know them as well as I know my own home. Each one leaves me with a yearning to come back. Whether it be beautiful scenery, or learning about the history of our great county, there is always reason to go back. It never gets boring.
The list is in no particular order, it's just divided up by region according to Eastern National's Passport To Your National Parks program. Myself, and my family are avid collectors of the cancelation stamps as a great way to record and remember when we visited each park.
North Atlantic
- Minute Man
National Historical Park - Springfield Armory
National Historic Site - Lowell
National Historical Park - New Bedford Whaling
National Historical Park - Salem Maritime
National Historic Site - Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters
National Historic Site - Vanderbilt Mansion
National Historic Site - Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt
National Historic Site - Eleanor Roosevelt
National Historic Site - General Grant
National Memorial - Fort Stanwix
National Monument - Women's Rights
National Historical Park - Saratoga National
Historical Park - Martin Van Buren
National Historic Site - Ellis Island
- Statue of Liberty
National Monument - Acadia
National Park - Weir Farm
National Historic - Cape Cod
National Seashore
National Capital
- Lincoln Memorial
- Korean War Veterans Memorial
- World War II Memorial
- Ford's Theatre
- Vietnam Veterans
Southeast
- Great Smokey Mountains
National Park
Southwest
- Jean Lafitte
National Historical Park and Preserve
Western
- Grand Canyon
National Park - Death Valley
National Park
Rocky Mountain
- Yellowstone
National Park - John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
Memorial Parkway - Devils Tower
National Monument - Badlands
National Park - Mount Rushmore
National Memorial - Cedar Breaks
National Monument - Zion
National Park - Bryce Canyon
National Park - Pecos
National Historical Park - Minuteman Missile
National Historic Site
Mid-Atlantic
- Harpers Ferry
National Historical Park - Antietam
National Battlefield - Steamtown
National Historic Site - Delaware Water Gap
National Recreation Area - Independence
National Historical Park - Valley Forge
National Historical Park - Hopewell Furnace
National Historic Site - Upper Delaware
Scenic & Recreational River - Morristown
National Historical Park - Gettysburg
National Military Park - Paterson Great Falls
National Historical Park - Thomas Edison
National Historical Park
Yellowstone National Park- Wyoming
Firsts...
Not that it started out as a goal, but my family now knows that when we travel, I will make a concerted effort to make it to that respective country’s first national park. Below is my list of first national parks I have been to. The two parks I would love to get back to… Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe for it’s wildlife and Þingvellir National Park in Iceland for the geology and history. Þingvellir just felt magical to me.
Hwange National Park - Zimbabwe
Yellowstone National Park - United States
Killarney National Park - Ireland
Þingvellir National Park - Iceland
Photos
Stewardship
If you want to support our National Parks and it's truly noble mission, then donate to National Park Foundation, or the National Parks Conservation Association, or Eastern National. Alternatively if you have a park that you particularly want to support, check with a NPS ranger in that park to see if they have a 'friends of' organization associated with the park that you can donate to.
You may also want to consider supporting the younger sibling of the the NPS and donate to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
