Nez Perce National Historical Park [Multiple]

Description

Since time immemorial, the Nimiipuu or Nez Perce have lived among the rivers, canyons, and prairies of the inland northwest. Despite the cataclysmic change of the past two centuries, the Nez Perce are still here. Visitors can explore the park's 38 sites—in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington&#8212and experience the story of a people who are still part of this landscape.

At its visitor center in Spalding, ID, the site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, demonstrations, and educational programs.

Montezuma Castle National Monument [AZ]

Description

Visitors to the Monument can gaze through the windows of the past into one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. This 20-room high-rise apartment, nestled into a towering limestone cliff, tells a 1,000-year-old story of ingenuity and survival in an unforgiving desert landscape. Marveling at this enduring legacy of the Sinagua culture reveals a people surprisingly similar to modern peoples today.

The site offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.

Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site [HI]

Description

Built between 1790–91 by Kamehameha I, Pu'ukohola Heiau displays the skill of chiefs, men, women, and children under the astute leadership of Kamehameha I. With the assistance of two stranded European sailors, John Young and Isaac Davis, Kamehameha I extended his reign over all Hawaiian Islands. The remains of John Young’s homestead may be toured at the site.

The site offers tours, exhibits, educational programs, demonstrations, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument [AZ]

Description

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument preserves an ancient Hohokam farming community and "Great House." Created as the nation's first archeological reserve in 1892, the site was declared a National Monument in 1918 "in order that better provision may be made for the protection, preservation, and care of the ruins and the ancient buildings and other objects of prehistoric interest thereon."

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, and educational programs.

Grand Portage National Monument [MN]

Description

For over 400 years Ojibwe families of Grand Portage have tapped maples every spring on a ridge located just off Lake Superior. During the summer, Ojibwe fishermen harvest in the same areas their forefathers have. Before the United States and Canada existed, the trading of furs, ideas, and genes between the Ojibwe and French and English fur traders flourished. From 1778 until 1802, welcomed by the Grand Portage Ojibwe, the North West Company located their headquarters and western supply depot here for business and a summer rendezvous. Today, Grand Portage National Monument and Indian Reservation form a bridge between people, time and culture.

The site offers short films; tours; exhibits; educational programs; demonstrations; and educational and recreational events, including living history events.

Big Hole National Battlefield [MT]

Description

On August 9, 1877, gun shots shattered a chilly dawn on a sleeping camp of Nez Perce. Colonel John Gibbon and 163 men of the 7th Infantry and 34 Bitterroot Volunteers had orders to stop the non-treaty Nez Perce and return them to Idaho. The nearly 800 Nez Perce men, women, and children had fled their native lands when being forced onto a smaller reservation.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, and lectures.

Pipestone National Monument [MN]

Description

The Pipestone National Monument was established by Congress in 1937 in order to protect historic pipestone quarries, considered sacred by many American Indians. Today, visitors can tour the quarries, where American Indians continue to quarry stone for sacred pipes today.

The park offers tours and interpretive events during the spring, summer, and fall months. The website offers a history of the site as well as visitor information.

Joseph Ellis: American Creation

Description

Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis tells six stories from the early years of the American Republic, looking at the choices the Founding Fathers faced and the choices they made. Ellis examines the impact these decisions had on U.S. history and how they relate to current situations and life.