Kruger National Park, South Africa

For those of us who work, travel, and/or volunteer in our national parks there can be a tendency to think of our park system as a unique phenomenon.  It is helpful to be reminded that there are others working globally to protect and interpret the world’s natural and historic treasures.  These individuals are often toiling under the most extraordinary political, economic, and social circumstances.  This is one of their stories.

(Image/Gerald Wiblin)

Fort Monroe (center right)

The list of national monuments will grow by one after President Obama signs the legislation designating Fortress Monroe as such later today.  Presidents are able to classify historic and culturally significant structures monuments under the Antiquities Act of 1906.  Fort Monroe certainly qualifies.  It was through this waterway that slaves were first brought to the United States in 1619.  The area played a role in the American Revolution and War of 1812 as well.  The current Vauban-style fort was completed in the 1830s; contraband slaves found protection here during the Civil War, and it was of course where President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned after the war.  Like other forts rendered obsolete in recent years, such as New York’s Governors Island, Fort Monroe was deemed superfluous and closed.  After nearly two centuries it shut down as a military base last year.  Though Monroe had already been on the National Register of Historic Places and registered a historic landmark, the new classification will give the fortress even more protection and save it from development.

(U.S. Army photograph)

When the first Civil War military parks were established in the 1890s one of their primary functions was to train active military personnel.  Indeed, until 1933 those Civil War battlefields protected by federal legislation were administered by the War Department, not the Department of the Interior as they are today.  “Training” meant two things. First well into the 20th century these battlefields quite literally served as training grounds for American soldiers.  A young Dwight Eisenhower, just three years out of West Point, commanded the tank training facility at Gettysburg’s Camp Colt in 1918.  Many of the men in his command would later fight in France. Today, basic and other training is not done in this manner.  However, battlefields like Gettysburg do offer lessons in leadership where today’s military learn how and why commanders like Lee, Sherman, and Grant made the decisions they did.  Visit Chickamauga, Antietam, or Shiloh today and chances are good that you will see a platoon or even an entire company of military personel on such an excursion.  My wife and I have seen it dozens of times.  One of the most pristine battlefields is Pea Ridge National Military Park, located in north Arkansas just outside of Bentonville.  A captain in the Arkansas National Guard made this short clip of one such excursion at that site.

(Image of Pea Ridge courtesy NPS)

Indian rock shelter, Carlsbad Caverns

You could not tell by the record breaking crowds at Governors Island this summer, but attendance is down this year at the National Parks.  High gas prices and a stronger dollar in relation to the euro seem to be the main culprits.  I imagine this overall drop does not include the Civil War battlefields, where attendance has increased in recent years and is skyrocketing now that the sesquicentennial is in full swing.  When I volunteered in the Interpretation Division at Ellis Island a sizable portion of our visitors came from Europe. This afternoon the Hayfoot and I are having lunch in Little India with one of the Ellis rangers.  I have not seen him in several months and am curious to know if he saw an attendance drop off over the summer.

Fall is a great time to visit your parks.

(Image/Daniel Mayer)

Image courtesy Chris Light

Today is the 95^th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson’s signing of the Organic Act, the legislation that created the National Park Service.  Like all large organizations the NPS is not perfect.  Still, our nation would be a smaller place culturally and intellectually were it not for the existence of our national parks and the people who work in them.  Right now rangers are working harder than ever to ensure that visitors have a rewarding and meaningful experience.  Nowhere is this truer than at the Civil War battlefields and dozens of other sites related to the War of the Rebellion and the era.  It remains to be seen how the country’s economic problems will effect the parks in the long term.  Given the serious challenges we face today it is unlikely that the NPS will be able to undertake the types of projects it did in the 1950s and 1960s as it prepared for its 50^th anniversary in 1966.  The parks are especially vulnerable because they are not seen as essential services necessary in the course of our daily lives.  Still, there are encouraging signs.  Visitation has never been higher at the Civil War related sites and is only expected to grow in the next few years.  The Park has also embraced social media, such as podcasting, in a big way.  We will see what the future brings.  One thing seems certain: the best way to protect our parks is to visit them.

(Photo/Maria Azzurra Mugnai)

You may recall way back in February when the Hayfoot and I took a subway trip to Grant’s Tomb.  In recognition of Harlem Week blogger and chef Marcus Samuelsson posts this entry about the final resting place of our eighteenth president.  And yes, the wife and I are still hoping to see the Jazzmobile this summer.