Fort Scott National Historic Site [KS]

Description

Fort Scott National Historic Site presents resources related to the opening of the West, the Permanent Indian Frontier, the Mexican American War, Bleeding Kansas, the Civil War, and the expansion of railroads. The site consists of 20 historic structures (11 open to the public), three separate exhibit areas, 31 rooms furnished as they might have been in the 1840s, a parade ground, and five acres of restored tallgrass prairie. The fort was established in 1842 to protect the Permanent Indian Frontier and housed soldiers until 1853, after which point it became the nucleus of a growing town. The site focuses on the years between 1842 and 1873.

The site offers a 12-minute audiovisual orientation; exhibits; guided and self-guided tours for school groups; exhibits; in-classroom speakers; and on-site educational programs for school groups, including self-guided scavenger and history hunts (available online), interpreters in period dress, interactive activities, pre- and post-visit materials (available online), student roleplaying, and plays.

Timucuan Historical and Ecological Preserve and Fort Caroline National Memorial [FL]

Description

The Timucuan Historical and Ecological Preserve and Fort Caroline National Memorial is a 46,000-acre National Park Site consisting of several historical sites. The 1564 Fort Caroline Memorial recalls a brief period of French occupation during the 16th-century; and includes the Timucuan Preserve Visitor Center, which recounts area environmental history and human interaction with the environment. Visitors to the memorial can compare French fort and traditional Timucuan life. Other sites include the Theodore Roosevelt Area shell middens and nature trails; the 1814 through 1837 Kingsley Plantation; the 1935 American Beach, founded to provide African Americans access to the beach despite segregation; the Cedar Point nature area; and the 1928 Ribauldt Club, once a wintertime resort.

The memorial offers exhibits, activities to complete while viewing the exhibits, Junior Ranger activities, interpretive programs, and ranger-led student programs. Other sites offers opportunities for hiking, nature watching, water activities, and camping; other Junior Ranger activities; interpretive programs; exhibits; and ranger-led student programs at the Kingsley Plantations. The website offers site specific activity pages, mp3 tours, videos on kayaking and making tabby, slide shows, and curriculum materials for the Kingsley Plantation and Fort Caroline.

The Ceder Point boat ramp and Kingsley Plantation residence are currently closed for renovation. Other park and plantation structures remain accessible to the public.

Maine Acadian Culture

Description

Maine Acadian Culture is a National Park Service project in which the NPS supports the efforts of the Maine Acadian Heritage Council to preserve Acadian culture in Maine. The Acadians were 17th-century French settlers who colonized parts of Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island—the latter three being Canadian regions. These settlers arrived from different areas within France.

The National Park Service does not maintain any relevant sites. However, they do support 11 sites within Maine's St. John Valley. These sites are the Acadian Landing and Tante Blanche Museum, Acadian Village, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, B and A Caboose and Green Water Tank, B and A Railroad Turntable, Fort Kent Blockhouse, Fort Kent Railroad Station, Historic Governor Brann Schoolhouse, Le Club Français, Musée culturel du Mont-Carmel, and Pelletier-Marquis House.

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial [OH]

Description

The Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial commemorates the long-standing peace among Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, as well as Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry's victory in the War of 1812's Battle of Lake Erie. The battle occurred September 10, 1813; and ensured that both Ohio and Michigan would remain under the control of the United States. Six officers killed during the battle—three American and three British—are interred on site.

The memorial offers an observation deck, talks, and musket and carronade firing demonstrations. Talks are offered between mid-June and August, and the demonstrations take place on weekends.

Governors Island National Monument [NY]

Description

The Governors Island National Monument presents the history of Governors Island, New York. The island started as a colonial outpost in 1776, and last served as an U.S. Army and Coast Guard regional administrative center until 1996.

The monument offers 90-minute guided walking tours, children's programs, lectures, living history events, and Junior Ranger activities. Visitors are welcome to bring picnic lunches. The website offers Web Ranger activities.

Keweenaw National Historical Park [MI]

Description

Keweenaw National Historical Park presents the history of mining Keweenaw copper reserves between 7,000 years ago and the 1900s. Long used by the Native American populations such as the Ojibwa to create tools and beads, the copper mines were targeted by immigrants in the mineral rushes of the 1800s.

The park offers an information desk, outdoor activities, 90-minute guided Junior Ranger programs, 90-minute guided Calumet walking tours, 90-minute guided walking tours of the Quincy Copper Mining Company surface ruins, self-guided tours, monthly history presentations, and archival access. Appointments are required for archival access, and the historic building housing the archives is not wheelchair accessible. The website offers a mining timeline and a 45-minute PowerPoint park overview, available to educators upon request.

The park includes 19 sub-sites managed by partner organizations. Most activities are offered by these organizations, rather than by the National Park Service. The sub-sites are the Adventure Mining Company, A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum, Calumet Theatre, Chassell Heritage Center, Copper Range Historical Museum, Coppertown Mining Museum, Delaware Copper Mine, Finnish American Heritage Center and Historical Archive, Fort Wilkins Historic State Park, Hanka Homestead Museum, Houghton County Historical Museum, Keweenaw County Historical Society, Keweenaw Heritage Center at St. Anne's, Laurium Manor Mansion Tours, Old Victoria, Ontonagon County Historical Society, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Quincy Mine and Hoist, and Upper Peninsula Fire Fighters Memorial Museum.

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site [CO]

Description

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site consists of a reconstructed 1840s fur trade post. The structures are made of adobe, and the fort sits along the Santa Fe Trail. Built in 1833, the fort soon became central to the activities of the Bent, St.Vrain Company, particularly the trade with the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples for buffalo robes. In 1846, during the Mexican-American War, Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny used the fort to assemble his troops. Trade at the post involved U.S. citizens, Native Americans, and Mexicans.

The site offers a 20-minute introductory film, self-guided tours, tours led by costumed interpreters, demonstrations, school tours and demonstrations, living history encampments which qualify for continuing education credit, a traveling trunk, children's encampments, and Junior Ranger activities. The website offers video podcasts of trade demonstrations, a narrated virtual tour, a video presentation of the experiences of Lewis Garrard (1846-1847) at Bent's Old Fort, and lesson plans.

Vietnam Veterans National Memorial [DC]

Description

The Vietnam Veterans National Memorial offers a place for reflection and personal interaction with the memory of military personnel killed in the Vietnam War. Designed by artist and architect Maya Lin (born 1959) as a minimalist sculpture with a highly reflective surface, viewing the monument requires visitors to confront both themselves and the names of the fallen simultaneously. U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War spanned 1950 (the arrival of U.S. military advisors in Vietnam) through 1973.

The site presents the memorial only.

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site [AL]

Description

The Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site is located on Tuskegee University. Sights include the George W. Carver (circa 1864-1943) Museum and The Oaks, Booker T. Washington's (1856-1915) home. Other figures honored include Dr. Frederick W. Patterson (1901-1988), founder of the United Negro College Fund, and Dr. Robert Moton, who stressed the need for health care for African American veterans. Carver is known for his support of the peanut as an alternative to the southern cotton crop, which had been ravaged by the boll weevil. Washington founded the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers, later the Tuskegee Institute, to provide education to African American students. Due to the strength of the aeronautical engineering program at the institute, the site was selected by the military to train African American pilots for World War II.

The site offers exhibits, interpretive programs, 30-minute introductory films on George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington, guided tours of The Oaks, period rooms, tours of the historic Tuskegee University, and 2-hour curriculum-based programs. Reservations are required for curriculum-based programs. The Oaks is not fully wheelchair accessible. Films can be played with captions.

Manzanar National Historic Site [CA]

Description

The Manzanar National Historic Site preserves the history of the Manzanar War Relocation Center, an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. The site today is home to a visitor center and the Merritt Park Archaeological Dig.

The park offers guided tours, field trip programs, exhibits, and outreach programs such as educator resources boxes. The website offers detailed historical information regarding the park, as well as visitor information. In order to contact the park via email, use the "contact us" link located on the left side of the webpage.