Our National Parks
Every National Park tells a story, from breathtaking landscapes and ancient forests to historic landmarks that preserve our shared past. Each visit offers a chance to pause and reflect, to feel gratitude for what endures and to witness how nature and history together remind us of the beauty worth protecting.
Recent Posts
Wright Brothers National Memorial – North Carolina
When visiting the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Erin and I spent a day at the Wright Brothers National Memorial, the very place where powered flight first lifted off the plane and changed human history. Set in Kill Devil Hills, the memorial preserves the windswept dunes where Wilbur and Oliver Wright achieved the world’s first successful, […]
White Sands National Park – New Mexico
White Sands is one of those landscapes that feels almost otherworldly as there is wave after wave of white dunes stretching across the Tularosa Basin in southern New Mexico. What surprised us most was these dunes are not sand but are made of gypsum. Gypsum is a soft mineral that usually dissolves in water, but here, because of the […]
Tuzigoot National Monument – Arizona
Rising above the Verde Valley in Central Arizona, Tuzigoot National Monument is one of those places where the land and the past feel inseparable. Tuzigoot preserves the remains of a large prehistoric settlement constructed by the Sinagua people, who lived in this region between the 1100s and early 1400s. Over time, what began as a smaller cluster of […]
Sandy Hook Lighthouse/Gateway Recreation – New Jersey
The Sandy Hook Lighthouse is an extraordinary landmark along the Atlanta coast because of its age and the countless ships it has guided safely past the shoreline for more than two and a half centuries. Standing at the tip of Sandy Hook in New Jersey, within Gateway National Recreation Area, the lighthouse was first lit in 1764, […]
Pony Express National Historic Trail – Nebraska
In the wide-open landscapes of the American West, communication was once slow, uncertain, and often perilous. Long before telegraph wires stretched across the continent, letters were the only way to stay connected across the plains, deserts and mountain ranges. Carrying the mail by horseback became one of the boldest experiments in frontier logistics ever attempted. This […]
Morristown National Historical Park – New Jersey
The Morristown National Historical Park is a Revolutionary War landscape, not a single battle but a place of endurance and survival. Located in Morristown, New Jersey, the park preserves land and structures tied to three winter encampments of the Continental Army between 1777 and 1780. Most famously, it includes Jockey Hollow, where thousands of soldiers endured the brutal […]
De Soto National Memo – Florida
While vacationing in Florida, I took a quiet morning drive to the De Soto National Memorial, which is a peaceful stretch of shoreline along Tampa Bay. While in this quiet spot, it is hard to imagine the historical weight of what unfolded here five centuries ago. Located in Bradenton, the memorial marks the area where Spanish […]
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site – Pennsylvania
While traveling in southeastern Pennsylvania, we visited this early industrial landscape of American history: Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. Walking around this site brings us back two centuries with stone furnace stacks, workers’ houses and the ironmaster’s mansion. Hopewell Furnace began operation in 1771, founded by ironmaster Mark Bird at the time when the colonies were […]
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area – Georgia
Hewett Lodge sits among the trees in the Chattahoochee River corridor. This building is nestled into the forest, overlooking the river that has shaped this region for centuries. Inside the lodge, there are exhibits that speak of the historic and current importance of this river. By the 1970s, rapid development around Atlanta threatened to overtake the Chattahoochee […]
African Burial Ground National Monument – New York
In the very center of New York City, surrounded by federal buildings and urban motion, sites the powerful historic space: African Burial Ground National Monument. This sacred ground came into view in the early 1990s during excavation for a new federal office building. What construction crews uncovered stopped the project in its tracks: hundreds of burial remains dating from the 17th […]
Pea Ridge National Military Park – Arkansas
Many of our National Historic Sites preserve the landscapes of America’s military past, especially Civil War battlefields. So many of these places are found in Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas, but Pea Ridge stands as one of the important Civil War sites in the West. Here a pivotal chapter of the conflict is found in the […]
Old San Juan Historic Site – Puerto Rico
Walking through the San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico feels like stepping into four centuries of Atlantic world history. Perched above the waters of San Juan Bay, these massive stone fortifications stand as reminders of an era when empires fought to control the New World. Spain poured enormous resources into protecting this small island […]
