Perhaps you're familiar with the Nation's 59 national parks, but did you know the National Park Service also manages 124 historical parks or sites, 78 national monuments, 25 battlefields or
military parks, 18 preserves, 18 recreational areas, 10 seashores, 4 parkways, 4 lakeshores and 2 reserves?
How many have you visited? Next week will be a good time to cover a few more! On Saturday, April 19 and Sunday, April 20, our national parks are offering free
admission. Many also have special events planned for the entire week (National Park Week, April 19-27, 2014). Why not make plans to visit a park, explore nature, and/or learn history?
In National Parks you'll find:
- The highest point in North America - Mt. McKinley at 20,320 feet (Denali National Park and Preserve, AK).
- The lowest point in the Western Hemisphere (Death Valley National Park, CA).
- The longest cave system in the world with more than 3,454 miles mapped (Mammoth Cave National Park, KY).
- The nation's deepest cave at 1,593 feet deep (Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM).
- The world's largest gypsum dunefield rising 60 feet high and covering 275 square miles (White Sands National Monument, NM).
- The world's most massive Doric Column (Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial, OH).
- The deepest lake in the United States at 1,932 feet (Crater Lake National Park, OR).
- The second and third largest natural bridges in the world (Natural Bridges National Monument, UT).
National Parks also preserve the works of great American artists and writers such as:
- Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site (CA).
- John Muir National Historic Site (CA).
- American impressionist John Alden Weir (Weir Farm National Historic Site, CT).
- Conservationist, landscape architect and founder of city planning Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (MA).
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Longfellow National Historic Site, MA).
- Augustus St. Gaudens America's foremost sculptor of the late 19th and early 20th century (Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, NH).
- Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site (NC).
- Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site (PA). Source: National Park Service
Did you know Park rangers provide special talks, walks, biking tours, and more for Cherry Blossom Festival and for the National Mall "the landscape of our nation's history?" Best of all, a visit to the National Mall and its iconic Memorial Parks is always free. Can't visit during Cherry Blossom Season? No problem, enjoy a few of our photographs below, or view the beautiful blossoms via the Cherry Blossom Webcam.
