1. True or false? Alaska’s Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve is so large that both the largest and second-largest National Park System units in the Lower 48 could fit inside it.
2. True or false? Roger Williams National Memorial and St. Croix Island International Historic Site are both the only National Park System units in their respective states.
3. True or false? Both Wind Cave National Park and Mesa Verde National Park were formerly designated National Monuments.
4. True or false? Both Joshua Tree National Park and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore have interstate highways passing through them.
5. True or false? Both Benjamin Franklin National Memorial and Jamestown National Historic Site are Affiliated Areas, not National Park System units.
6. True or false? Old Kasaan National Monument and Chicago Portage National Historic Site are both National Park System units.
7. True or false? Mount Rainer National Park and Crater Lake National Park were both created before Congress created the National Park Service.
8. True or false? Private property donations played a key role in the establishment of both Muir Woods National Monument and Acadia National Park.
9. True or false? The USS Arizona Memorial is a component of both the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument and the War in the Pacific National Historical Park.
10. True or false? The use of metal detectors is prohibited in both Gettysburg National Military Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Extra Credit Question:
11. True or false? If you were to remain long enough in both the North and South units of both Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Badlands National Park, you would be able to photograph both longhorn steers and black-footed ferrets.
Super Bonus Question:
12. The Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, both of which are commemorated at the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site near downtown Brownsville, Texas, are associated with which important innovation in newspaper reporting?
a. The use of war correspondents for news gathering.
b. The use of photographs with newspaper articles.
c. The use of trains for transporting mobile printing presses.
d. The use of telegraph equipment to transmit news reports.
Unfair Question:
13. What Big Ten university is the alma mater of both the first person to walk on the moon and the last person to walk on the moon?
Answers:
(1) True. In fact, the roadless 8.47 million-acre Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (counted as two separate units of the National Park System) is so big that it could hold the Lower 48’s two biggest National Park System units – the 3.37 million-acre Death Valley National Park and the 2.2 million-acre Yellowstone National Park -- with enough room left over to fit in Grand Canyon National Park, Yosemite National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Shenandoah National Park, and Zion National Park.
(2) False. While it's true that Roger Williams National Memorial is the only National Park System unit in Rhode Island, Saint Croix Island International Historic Site is not the only Natonal Park System unit in Maine. Acadia National Park is also in Maine.
(3) False. Wind Cave National Park (established 1903) has always gone by its present name. Mesa Verde was designated a National Park when established by Congress in 1906. (President Theodore Roosevelt had been all set to proclaim Mesa Verde National Monument, but never got the chance.
(4) False. Although Joshua Tree National Park and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore are both close to interstate highways, neither has an interstate highway penetrating its authorized boundaries.
(5) True. The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, which is a huge statue in the rotunda of Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute, is an Affiliated Area. So is the Jamestown National Historic Site, an Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities property adjacent to Colonial National Historical Park property on the James River in Virginia.
(6) False. The National Park System acquired a property called Old Kasaan National Monument in 1916, but Congress abolished the site in 1955 and there is no longer a national monument by that name. Chicago Portage National Historic Site, an Affiliated Area administered by Cook County, Illinois, has never been a National Park System property.
(7) True. (established 1899) and Crater Lake National Park (established 1902) both existed before the Organic Act created the National Park System and the National Park Service in 1916.
(8) True. California’s Muir Woods National Monument was created in 1908 from land donated by wealthy businessman/philanthropist (and U.S. Representative) William Kent. It was the first national monument to be created with land donated by a private individual. Maine’s Acadia National Park, which was originally established as Sieur de Monts National Monument in 1916, was the first American national park created entirely from private property, nearly all of which was donated by wealthy families.
(9) False. Although the USS Arizona Memorial is a component of World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, it is not part of Guam’s War in the Pacific National Historical Park.
(10) True. The Code of Federal Regulations -- 36 CFR 2.1(a)(7), to put a finer point on it -- prohibits the use of metal detectors in all national parks.
(11) False. Theodore Roosevelt National Park has longhorn steers, but no black-footed ferrets. Badlands National Park has black-footed ferrets, but no longhorn steers. Both parks do have a North Unit and a South Unit.
(12) a -- Following the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle Resaca de la Palma (May 8-9, 1846), many newspapers sent reporters to the Rio Grande area to gather news about the rapidly developing Mexican-American War, thus making systematic use of war correspondents for the first time in American newspaper history.
(13) Purdue University is the alma mater of both Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, and Gene Cernan, the last person to walk on the moon.
Grading: 9 or 10 correct, rest on your laurels; 7 or 8 correct, pretty darn good; 6 correct, passable fair; 5 or fewer correct, nothing to brag about.
Comments
about #2: isn't Touro Synagogue another NPS unit in Rhode Island?
Touro Synagogue, America's oldest synagogue, is indeed in Rhode Island (Newport). However, Touro Synagogue National Historic Site is an Affiliated Area, not an NPS unit.