Glen Echo Park [MD]

Description

Begun in 1891 as an idealistic attempt to create a National Chautauqua Assembly "to promote liberal and practical education," the park became instead the area's premier amusement park from 1898–1968. Today, the park has come full circle, offering year-round educational activities, while two amusement-era destinations (the Spanish Ballroom and Dentzel Carousel) remain major attractions.

A second website for the park can be found here.

The park offers short films, tours, exhibits, classes, performances, educational programs, and recreational and educational events.

Gettysburg National Military Park [PA]

Description

The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War, the Union victory in the summer of 1863 that ended General Robert E. Lee's second and most ambitious invasion of the North. Often referred to as the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy," it was the war's bloodiest battle with 51,000 casualties. It also provided President Abraham Lincoln with the setting for his most famous address.

The park offers tours, exhibits, a film, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

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.

Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park

Description

Along the western coastline of the Island of Hawai'i lies the hot, rugged lava of Kaloko-Honokohau. Some people find it difficult to understand why the ancient Hawaiians chose to settle upon these stark lava fields. The reason was, perhaps, a spiritual one, for there was a spirit in Kaloko-Honokohau. The Hawaiians who first came to the area felt its presence in every rock and tree, in the gentle waters of shallow bays, and in the tradewinds that gently swept across the lava flow. Visitors to the park can see the ancient heiau (temple) that stands at the end of the beach, as it did in times when Hawaiian settlements thrived in the area, and the 'Aiopi'o Fishtrap, where reef fish were captured for food.

The site offers exhibits and tours.

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park

Description

Visitors can walk through one of Vermont's most beautiful landscapes, under the shade of sugar maples and 400-year-old hemlocks, across covered bridges, and alongside rambling stone walls. Ranger-guided tours of the historic 1869 Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Mansion and gardens explore the history of conservation; the stewardship ethic of the Marsh, Billings, and Rockefeller families' and community-based conservation in a more modern context. In addition to original furnishings and personal items, the mansion displays works of art that include some of America's finest landscape paintings, highlighting the influence painting and photography had on the conservation movement.

The site offers exhibits, research library access, tours, and educational and recreational programs.

Fort Frederica National Monument [GA]

Description

Georgia's fate was decided in 1742 when Spanish and British forces clashed on St. Simons Island. Fort Frederica's troops defeated the Spanish, ensuring Georgia's future as a British colony. Today, the archaeological remnants of Frederica are protected by the National Park Service.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, educational programs, and occasional educational and recreational events (including living history events).

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.

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee National Memorial [VA]

Description

Arlington House was the home of Robert E. Lee and his family for 30 years and is uniquely associated with the Washington and Custis families. George Washington Parke Custis built the house to be his home and a memorial to George Washington, his step-grandfather. It is now preserved as a memorial to General Lee, who gained the respect of Americans in both the North and the South.

The house offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.