Question of the Week: What is your favorite National Park Service Site?
Over the weekend, Emerging Civil War historian Ryan Quint shared with us a reminder of the importance of the National Park Service, including the rangers and other employees who keep it running — many of whom were fired last week.
In the same spirit, our question for this week is: What is your favorite National Park Service site?
My favorite is the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (just south of Cleveland, OH). But only because it is a half-hour drive to serenity. My favorite HISTORICAL Park is Philadelphia. My favorites Civil War site is Antietam.
White Haven, aka the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. It’s next to Grant’s Trail, my favorite biking route, and the National Park Service rangers are outstanding. Every tour group we’ve been part of has been blown away by the rangers’ knowledge and courtesy.
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is my favorite because it has a legacy that is still active, the nature trails are awesome, AND it is an Network To Freedom (Underground Railroad ) site.
My wife and I are bigs fans of the missions.
Battlefields it is Shiloh, Manassas, and Gettysburg. National Park sites it would be Devil’s Tower, The Badlands, and Yellowstone.
My wife and I were discussing this very question over the weekend. Our top four would have to be Yellowstone, Crater Lake, the Grand Canyon, and the Dry Tortugas.
Antietam
Independence Hall, Philadelphia (of course).
Theodore Roosevelt National Park is my spirit park.
Battlefields would be Saratoga, Cowpens and Antietam. National park would be Glacier Nat’l in Montana.
Going to the Sun road, Glacier National Park
I’m using this current post to respond to a disturbing aspect of the commentary surrounding Ryan Quint’s post about layoffs in the National Park Service. Stan Killian commented that the NPS should consider user fees to cover some of its costs in this period of budget cutting. In response, he was subjected to vicious personal insults from John Corona, who, among other things, called Mr. Killian a “coward”, a “bully”, and a follower of the “Anti Christ.” Aside from the fact that there is a good faith argument in favor of fees (which are already being used in some locations), the personal insults were completely inappropriate.
When Mr. Killian responded with what I viewed as a lighthearted response to personal attack by saying he had stirred up “the libs”, Chris Mackowski rebuked him for stereotyping. Was that your main concern, Chris? One of your commenters was just called a coward, a bully, and a follower of the Anti Christ and your response was to rebuke the victim for stereotyping.
Mr. Killian is an adult and he can defend himself, but I found the tenor of the discussion grossly inappropriate. Words matter. It’s your website and your organization, but I have attended five or so conferences and have commented on this website because apparently it helps if more people comment. After this, though, count me out.
As far as Civil War-relevant sites go, I have a soft spot for Monocacy and Fort Union. More widely, Gunnison or Bandelier.
I always enjoy the Blue Ridge Parkway. The NPS does a great job. I’ve been to so many of their sites in my lifetime. We will be checking out more of them, as well as revisiting ones I and we have been to before.
As far as battlefields administered by the NPS, Antietam is always a favorite. Chattanooga is another one.
There have been several posts here lately that have spouted pro-Trump verbiage — always inappropriately and usually subject others (me included) to personal attacks based on my apparent political beliefs when I have countered the authors. None of the personnel cuts will make a dent in the federal deficit (which didn’t seem to matter from 2017-2021), and are apparently designed to cause pain. Reagan tried user fees in the 1980s — didn’t work then; it drove attendance down.
Can we get back to the Civil War — the real one?
Sorry — this reply was sUPPOSED to be attached to bill Henck’s comment above.
Afraid to comment anymore- too much hate speech!!
Flight 93 National Memorial
Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Beautiful and out in the middle of nowhere. Plan on camping there to really enjoy it.
Gettysburg National Military Park.
Yikes! So much to choose from. For National parks I would have to say Yellowstone and Sequoia (with Rocky Mountain and Death Valley a close second). Regarding battlefields I would say Stones River, The Wilderness, and The Little Big Horn (those coming in second are too numerous to list).
Oops! Meant The Little Bighorn.
Good call, Ed Root. I had forgotten the Flite 93 Memorial. My wife & I have seen it twice(and it’s a long way from us!). It is a very, very emotional experience and just really gut-wrenching.