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.
"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 ParkSpringfield Armory
National Historic SiteLowell
National Historical ParkNew Bedford Whaling
National Historical ParkSalem Maritime
National Historic SiteLongfellow House Washington's Headquarters
National Historic SiteVanderbilt Mansion
National Historic SiteHome of Franklin D. Roosevelt
National Historic SiteEleanor Roosevelt
National Historic SiteGeneral Grant
National MemorialFort Stanwix
National MonumentWomen's Rights
National Historical ParkSaratoga National
Historical ParkMartin Van Buren
National Historic SiteEllis Island
Statue of Liberty
National MonumentAcadia
National ParkWeir Farm
National HistoricCape Cod
National Seashore
National Capital
Lincoln Memorial
Korean War Veterans Memorial
World War II Memorial
Ford's Theatre
Vietnam Veterans
Western
Grand Canyon
National ParkDeath Valley
National Park
Rocky Mountain
Yellowstone
National ParkJohn D. Rockefeller, Jr.
Memorial ParkwayDevils Tower
National MonumentBadlands
National ParkMount Rushmore
National MemorialCedar Breaks
National MonumentZion
National ParkBryce Canyon
National ParkPecos
National Historical ParkMinuteman Missile
National Historic Site
Mid-Atlantic
Harpers Ferry
National Historical ParkAntietam
National BattlefieldSteamtown
National Historic SiteDelaware Water Gap
National Recreation AreaIndependence
National Historical ParkValley Forge
National Historical ParkHopewell Furnace
National Historic SiteUpper Delaware
Scenic & Recreational RiverMorristown
National Historical ParkGettysburg
National Military ParkPaterson Great Falls
National Historical ParkThomas Edison
National Historical Park
Southeast
Great Smokey Mountains
National Park
Southwest
Jean Lafitte
National Historical Park and Preserve
“Without love of the land, conservation lacks meaning or purpose, for only in a deep and inherent feeling for the land can there be dedication in preserving it.” - Sigurd F. Olson
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.
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. That said, all these parks are amazing and I'm glad the areas are now protected in perpatuity.