Southeast Region
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
Alabama
- Not yet: Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument
- Not yet: Horseshoe Bend National Military Park
- Not yet: Little River Canyon National Preserve
- Visited: Russell Cave National Monument
- Not yet: Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail
- Not yet: Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site
- Visited: Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site
Florida
- Visited: Big Cypress National Preserve
- Visited: Biscayne National Park
- Not yet: Canaveral National Seashore
- Not yet: Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
- Visited: De Soto National Memorial
- Visited: Dry Tortugas National Park
- Visited: Everglades National Park
- Not yet: Fort Caroline National Memorial
- Not yet: Fort Matanzas National Monument
- Not yet: Gulf Islands National Seashore
- Not yet: Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve
Georgia
- Not yet: Andersonville National Historic Site
- Visited: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
- Not yet: Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park
- Visited: Cumberland Island National Seashore
- Not yet: Fort Frederica National Monument
- Visited: Fort Pulaski National Monument
- Not yet: Jimmy Carter National Historical Park
- Visited: Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park
- Visited: Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park
- Visited: Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park
Kentucky
- Visited: Abraham Lincoln Birthplace
- Visited: Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
- Not yet: Mammoth Cave National Park
Mississippi
- Not yet: Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site
- Not yet: Gulf Islands National Seashore
- Not yet: Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument
- Visited: Natchez National Historical Park
- Visited: Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail
- Not yet: Tupelo National Battlefield
- Not yet: Vicksburg National Military Park
North Carolina
- Not yet: Blue Ridge Parkway
- Visited: Cape Hatteras National Seashore
- Visited: Cape Lookout National Seashore
- Not yet: Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
- Not yet: Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
- Not yet: Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
- Not yet: Moores Creek National Battlefield
- Visited: Wright Brothers National Memorial
Puerto Rico
- Visited: San Juan National Historic Site
South Carolina
- Visited: Charles Pinckney National Historic Site
- Visited: Congaree National Park
- Visited: Cowpens National Battlefield
- Visited: Fort Sumter
- Not yet: Kings Mountain National Military Park
- Not yet: Ninety Six National Historic Site
- Not yet: Reconstruction Era National Historical Park
Tennessee
- Visited: Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
- Not yet: Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area
- Not yet: Fort Donelson National Battlefield
- Visited: Great Smoky Mountains National Park
- Not yet: Manhattan Project National Historical Park
- Visited: Obed Wild & Scenic River
- Not yet: Shiloh National Military Park
- Not yet: Stones River National Battlefield
U.S. Virgin Islands
- Visited: Buck Island Reef National Monument
- Visited: Christiansted National Historic Site
- Not yet: Salt River Bay National Historical Park
- Visited: Virgin Islands National Park
- Not yet: Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument
Recent Posts
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is another special national park, one that holds some of my fondest memories. It was here that Marty and I traveled for our first honeymoon, after our student wedding while still at Life University. I have visited again since then, but it is that first trip, exploring this beautiful area […]
Fort Pulaski National Monument
Fort Pulaski National Monument is just outside of Savannah, GA and was once considered nearly impenetrable, a masterpiece of early American coastal defense. Construction of Fort Pulaski began in 1829 as part of the United States Third System of fortifications, designed to protect the nation’s coastline following the War of 1812. It was named after Casimir Pulaski, a Polish […]
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace
The Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park preserves the early beginnings of Abraham Lincoln in Hodgenville, Kentucky. On February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in a one room cabin. The cabin was built of native hardwood logs and chinked with local clay. It measured 16 by 18 feet and was heated by a tone lined fireplace. […]
Fort Sumter
In the harbor of Charleston stands a place where the course of American history changed in a single moment: Fort Sumter. Built after the War of 1812 as part of a coastal defense system, the fort was still unfinished when tenstions between North and South reached their breaking point. By early 1861, South Carolina had […]
Congaree National Park
Located just outside Columbia, South Carolina, Congaree National Park protects one of the largest remaining tracts of old growth bottomland hardwood forest in the United States. This is a floodplain, shaped by the seasonal rise and fall of the Congaree River, which brings nutrients into the soil and allows the trees here to grow exceptionally tall. These […]
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
At the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, located at the intersection of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, high atop Cumberland Mountain sits the Hensley Settlement, a restored early 20th century mountain community. To understand this place, you first must understand the Cumberland Gap itself. The gap is a natural pass through the Appalachian Mountains, one of the few […]
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park
We have visited Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park many times over the years, and each visit unfolds a little differently. Originally, this area was established in 1980 as an Historic Site by Jimmy Carter. It was later redesignated as a National Historical Park in 2018, expanding its recognition and preserving the broader legacy of Dr […]
Biscayne National Park
Just south of Miami’s skyline lies a park that is nearly entirely water. Biscayne National Park was established in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter to protect one of the most fragile ecosystems in the country: mangrove shorelines, seagrass beds, coral reefs and the northernmost keys of the Florida Reef Tract. Nearly 95% of the park is […]
Cape Lookout National Seashore
Cape Lookout National Seashore stretches along the southern Outer Banks of North Carolina, protecting 56 miles of underdeveloped barrier islands. It feels wonderfully remote where ocean, dunes and marsh create a landscape that moves with the wind and tide. The seashore was authorized by Congress in 1966 and officially established in 1976, preserving the fragile barrier […]
Wright Brothers National Memorial
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, […]
San Juan National Historic Site
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 […]
Dry Tortugas National Park
What an adventure it was to reach Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. I made this journey with Erin in 2012, as a way to celebrate our birthdays. This was an unforgettable trip to one of the most remote places in the National Park System. Located about 70 miles west of Key West, the Dry Tortugas sit […]
