Last April we got a good response when we asked you how many of the 58 National Park-designated NPS units have you visited?. Let's expand the scope of this thing. Here's a list of all 392 units of the National Park System, listed by designation type. How many have you visited?
National Battlefields (11)
Antietam (VA)
Big Hole (MT)
Cowpens (SC)
Fort Donelson (TN/KY)
Fort Necessity (PA)
Monocacy (MD)
Moores Creek (NC)
Petersburg (VA)
Stones River (TN)
Tupelo (MS)
Wilson's Creek (MO)
National Battlefield Parks (3)
Kennesaw Mountain (GA)
Manassas (VA)
Richmond (VA)
National Battlefield Site (1)
Brices Cross Roads MS)
National Military Parks (9)
Chickamauga and Chattanooga (GA/TN)
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial (VA)
Gettysburg (PA)
Guilford Courthouse (NC)
Horseshoe Bend (AL)
Kings Mountain (SC)
Pea Ridge (AR)
Shiloh (TN)
Vicksburg (MS)
National Historical Parks (45)
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace (KY)
Adams (MA)
Appomattox Court House (VA)
Boston, Massachusetts
Cane River Creole NHP and Heritage Area (LA)
Cedar Creek & Belle Grove (VA)
Chaco Culture (NM)
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (MD/WV/DC)
Colonial (VA) 30, 2007
Cumberland Gap (KY/TN/VA)
Dayton Aviation Heritage (OH)
George Rogers Clark (IN)
Harpers Ferry (WV/MD)
Hopewell Culture (OH)
Independence (PA)
Jean Lafitte NHP and Preserve (LA)
Kalaupapa (HI)
Kaloko-Honokohau (HI)
Keweenaw (MI)
Klondike Gold Rush (AK/WA)
Lewis & Clark, Oregon (WA)
Lowell (MA)
Lyndon B. Johnson (TX)
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller (VT)
Minute Man (MA)
Morristown (NJ)
Natchez (MS)
New Bedford Whaling (MA)
New Orleans Jazz (LA)
Nez Perce (ID)
Palo Alto Battlefield (TX)
Pecos (NM)
Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau (formerly, City of Refuge) (HI)
Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front (CA)
Salt River Bay NHP & Ecological Preserve (Virgin Islands)
San Antonio Missions (TX)
San Francisco Maritime (CA)
San Juan Island (WA)
Saratoga (NY)
Sitka (AK)
Thomas Edison (NJ)
Tumacacori (AZ)
Valley Forge (PA)
War in the Pacific (Guam)
Women's Rights (NY)
National Historic Sites (76)
Allegheny Portage Railroad (PA)
Andersonville (GA)
Andrew Johnson (TN)
Bent's Old Fort (CO)
Boston African American (MA)
Brown v. Board of Education (KS)
Carl Sandburg Home (NC)
Carter G. Woodson Home (DC)
Charles Pinckney (SC)
Christiansted (Virgin Islands)
Clara Barton (MD)
Edgar Allan Poe (PA)
Eisenhower (PA)
Eleanor Roosevelt (NY)
Eugene O'Neill (CA)
First Ladies, Canton (OH)
Ford's Theatre (DC)
Fort Bowie (AZ)
Fort Davis (TX)
Fort Laramie (WY)
Fort Larned (KS)
Fort Point (CA)
Fort Raleigh (NC)
Fort Scott (KS)
Fort Smith (AR/OK)
Fort Union Trading Post (MT/ND)
Fort Vancouver (WA)
Frederick Douglass (DC)
Frederick Law Olmsted (MA)
Friendship Hill (PA)
Golden Spike (UT)
Grant-Kohrs Ranch (MT)
Hampton (MD)
Harry S Truman (MO)
Herbert Hoover (IA)
Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt (NY)
Hopewell Furnace (PA)
Hubbell Trading Post (AZ)
James A. Garfield (OH)
Jimmy Carter (GA)
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (MA)
John Muir (CA)
Knife River Indian Villages (ND)
Lincoln Home (IL)
Little Rock Central High School (AR)
Longfellow (MA)
Maggie L. Walker (VA)
Manzanar (CA)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (GA)
Martin Van Buren (NY)
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House (DC)
Minuteman Missile (SD)
Nicodemus (KS)
Ninety Six (SC)
Pennsylvania Avenue (DC)
Puukoholā Heiau (HI)
Sagamore Hill (NY)
Saint-Gaudens (NH)
Saint Paul's Church (NY)
Salem Maritime (MA)
San Juan (Puerto Rico)
Sand Creek Massacre (CO)
Saugus Iron Works (MA)
Springfield Armory (MA)
Steamtown (PA)
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace (NY)
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural (NY)
Thomas Stone (MD)
Tuskegee Airmen (AL)
Tuskegee Institute (AL)
Ulysses S. Grant (MO)
Vanderbilt Mansion (NY)
Washita Battlefield (OK)
Weir Farm (CO)
Whitman Mission (WA)
William Howard Taft (OH)
International Historic Sites (1)
Saint Croix Island (ME)
National Lakeshores (4)
Apostle Islands (WI)
Indiana Dunes (IN)
Pictured Rocks (MI)
Sleeping Bear Dunes (MI)
National Memorials (28)
Arkansas Post (AR)
Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial (VA)
Chamizal (TX)
Coronado (AZ)
De Soto (FL)
Federal Hall (NY)
Flight 93 (PA)
Fort Caroline (FL)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (DC)
General Grant (NY)
Hamilton Grange (NY)
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (IL/MO)
Korean War Veterans (DC)
Johnstown Flood (PA)
Lincoln Boyhood (IN)
Lincoln Memorial (DC)
Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac (DC)
Mount Rushmore (SD)
Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial (OH)
Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial (CA)
Roger Williams, Rhode Island
Thaddeus Kosciuszko (PA)
Theodore Roosevelt Island (DC)
Thomas Jefferson Memorial (DC)
Vietnam Veterans Memorial (DC)
Washington Monument (DC)
World War II Memorial (DC)
Wright Brothers (NC)
National Monuments (75)
African Burial Ground (NY)
Agate Fossil Beds (NE)
Alibates Flint Quarries (TX)
Aniakchak (AK)
Aztec Ruins (NM)
Bandelier (NM)
Booker T. Washington (VA)
Buck Island Reef (Virgin Islands)
Cabrillo (CA)
Canyon de Chelly (AZ)
Cape Krusenstern (AK)
Capulin Volcano (NM)
Casa Grande Ruins (AZ)
Castillo de San Marcos (FL)
Castle Clinton (NY)
Cedar Breaks (UT)
Chiricahua (AZ)
Colorado (CO)
Craters of the Moon (ID)
Devils Postpile (CA)
Devils Tower (WY)
Dinosaur (CO/UT)
Effigy Mounds (IA), April 30, 2007
El Malpais (NM)
El Morro (NM)
Florissant Fossil Beds (CO)
Fort Frederica (GA)
Fort Matanzas (FL)
Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine (MD)
Fort Pulaski (GA)
Fort Stanwix (NY)
Fort Sumter (SC)
Fort Union (NM)
Fossil Butte, Wyoming
George Washington Birthplace (VA)
George Washington Carver (MO)
Gila Cliff Dwellings (NM)
Governors Island, Governors Island (NY)
Grand Portage, Minnesota
Hagerman Fossil Beds (ID)
Hohokam Pima (AZ)
Homestead NM of America, Nebraska
Hovenweep (CO/UT)
Jewel Cave (SD)
John Day Fossil Beds (OR)
Lava Beds (CA)
Little Bighorn Battlefield (MT)
Minidoka Internment (ID)
Montezuma Castle (AZ)
Muir Woods (CA)
Natural Bridges (UT)
Navajo (AZ)
Ocmulgee (GA)
Oregon Caves (OR)
Organ Pipe Cactus (AZ)
Petroglyph (NM)
Pinnacles (CA)
Pipe Spring (AZ)
Pipestone (MN)
Poverty Point (LA)
Rainbow Bridge (UT)
Russell Cave (AL)
Salinas Pueblo Missions (NM)
Scotts Bluff (NE)
Statue of Liberty (NY/NJ)
Sunset Crater Volcano (AZ)
Timpanogos Cave (UT)
Tonto (AZ)
Tuzigoot (AZ)
Virgin Islands Coral Reef, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
Walnut Canyon (AZ)
White Sands (NM)
World War II Valor in the Pacific (AK/HI/CA)
Wupatki (AZ)
Yucca House (CO)
National Parks (58)
Acadia, Maine
Arches (UT)
Badlands (SD)
Big Bend (TX)
Biscayne (FL)
Black Canyon of the Gunnison (CO)
Bryce Canyon (UT)
Canyonlands (UT)
Capitol Reef (UT)
Carlsbad Caverns (NM)
Channel Islands (CA)
Congaree (SC)
Crater Lake (OR)
Cuyahoga Valley (OH)
Death Valley (CA/NV)
Denali (AK)
Dry Tortugas (FL)
Everglades (FL)
Gates of the Arctic (AK)
Glacier Bay (AK)
Glacier, Montana
Grand Canyon (AZ)
Grand Teton (WY)
Great Basin (NV)
Great Sand Dunes NP & Preserve (CO)
Great Smoky Mountains (TN/NC)
Guadalupe Mountains (TX)
Haleakalā (HI)
Hawai‘i Volcanoes (HI)
Hot Springs (AR)
Isle Royale (MI)
Joshua Tree (CA)
Katmai (AK)
Kenai Fjords (AK)
Kings Canyon (CA)
Kobuk Valley (AK)
Lake Clark (AK)
Lassen Volcanic (CA)April 30, 2007
Mammoth Cave (KY)
Mesa Verde (CO)
Mount Rainier (WA)
North Cascades (WA)
Olympic (WA)
Petrified Forest (AZ)
Redwood (CA)
Rocky Mountain (CO)
Saguaro (AZ)
National Park of Samoa (American Samoa)
Sequoia (CA)
Shenandoah (VA)
Theodore Roosevelt (ND)
Virgin Islands (Virgin Islands)
Voyageurs (MN)
Wind Cave (SD)
Wrangell-St. Elias (AK)
Yellowstone (WY/MT/ID)
Yosemite (CA)
Zion (UT)
Parkways (4)
Blue Ridge Parkway (NC)
George Washington Memorial Parkway (MD/VA)
John D. Rockefeller Jr., Memorial Parkway (WY)
Natchez Trace Parkway (MS)
National Preserves (18)
Aniakchak (AK)
Bering Land Bridge (AK)
Big Cypress (FL)
Big Thicket (TX)
Craters of the Moon (ID)
Denali (AK)
Gates of the Arctic (AK)
Glacier Bay (AK)
Great Sand Dunes (CO)
Katmai (AK)
Lake Clark (AK)
Little River Canyon (AL)
Mojave (CA)
Noatak (AK)
Tallgrass Prairie (KS)
Timucuan Ecological and Historic (FL) April 30, 2007
Wrangell-St. Elias (AK)
Yukon-Charley Rivers (AK)
National Reserves (2)
City of Rocks (ID)
Ebey's Landing NH Reserve (WA)
National Recreation Areas (18)
Amistad (TX)
Bighorn Canyon (MT/WY)
Boston Harbor Islands (MA)
Chattahoochee River (GA)
Chickasaw (OK)
Curecanti (CO)
Delaware Water Gap (PA/NJ)
Gateway (NY/NJ)
Gauley River (WV)
Glen Canyon (AZ/UT)
Golden Gate (CA)
Lake Chelan (WA)
Lake Mead (NV/AZ)
Lake Meredith (TX)
Lake Roosevelt (formerly Coulee Dam) (WA)
Ross Lake (WA)
Santa Monica Mountains (CA)
Whiskeytown Unit, Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity (CA)
National Rivers (5)
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (TN/KY)
Buffalo National River (AR)
New River Gorge National River (WV)
Mississippi National River and Recreation Areas (MN)
Ozark National Scenic Riverways (MO)
National Wild And Scenic Rivers (10)
Alagnak Wild River (AK)
Bluestone National Scenic River (WV)
Delaware National Scenic River (PA/NJ/NY)
Great Egg Harbor National Scenic and Recreational River (NJ)
Missouri National Recreational River (NE/SD)
Niobrara National Scenic River, (NE/SD)
Obed Wild and Scenic River (TN)
Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River (TX)
Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway (MN/WI)
Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreation River (NY/PA)
National Scenic Trails (3)
Appalachian National Scenic Trail (Maine to Georgia)
Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail (MS/TN)
Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail (VA/PA)
National Seashores (10)
Assateague Island (MD/VA)
Canaveral (FL)
Cape Cod (MA)
Cape Hatteras (NC)
Cape Lookout (NC)
Cumberland Island (GA)
Fire Island (NY)
Gulf Islands (FL/MS)
Padre Island (TX)
Point Reyes (CA)
Other Designations (11)
Catoctin Mountain Park (MD)
Constitution Gardens (DC)
Fort Washington Park (MD)
Greenbelt Park (MD)
National Capital Parks (DC)
National Mall (DC)
Piscataway Park (MD)
Prince William Forest Park (VA)
Rock Creek Park (DC)
White House (DC)
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (VA)
Comments
130 NPS units so far and we're headed for Maui in August and the Boston area in Sept.
I have visited two on your list: the Lincoln Home in IL and Yosemite National Park (which I just visited earlier this month!).
I have also visited one you missed on your list: the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in WI. My husband and I hike it regularly - we can access it just a few miles out of the town where we live.
My ultimate goal is to visit them all!
Laura: The Ice Age National Scenic Trail has been a component of the National Trails System since 1980. However, it is not now, and never has been, a unit of the National Park System. The three listed National Scenic Trails (Appalachian, Natchez Trace, and Potomac Heritage) are the only National Scenic Trails that are National Park System units. Don't ask me why.
Bob, interesting thing - if you look at the recent legislation designating the New Ice Age Floods Geologic Trail, it has a specific provision saying it should not count as a unit of the park system. No clue why, as it otherwise seems like it might be involved enough to be a unit.
The national scenic trails are a different story and we've talked about it at the national park travelers club. Seems to me Natchez Trace is not like the other trails. It's more of a historic trail with a few hiking segments managed by the park service. The Appalachian Trail has a lot of federally owned land I believe. Not sure about Potomac Heritage - it may have some federal land too? Otherwise it seems more like the other trails, which are largely volunteer-org managed with oversight from a particular agency such as NPS (e.g., Ice Age, North Country) or USFS (Florida, Pacific Crest).
As for the units, I consider myself at 51 (went to Keweenaw and Isle Royale this weekend). But as you know, the counting of the 391 can get pretty wacky (some units overlap others or are essentially unvisitable) and units that have multiple designations (i.e., park and preserve) are treated as 2 units. Some members at the club try to do something specifically in both the park and preserve portions, but to me it's one big area. The transfer of land to Big Bend in the Christmas Mts., for example, has some debate because the land has been used for hunting. I think NPS noted in a report that continuing to allow hunting would be tricky as it would require congressional designation of a national preserve, making the land acquisition more complicated (NPS would rather just not allow hunting).
My wife and I have done 83 of the units, including 27 National Parks. I also find the counting of the different units to be interesting. For example, you can walk about five miles around the National Mall and pick up about 12-13 indivual units; more if you want to trek across the river. However, if you walk the freedom trail in Boston you will visit 17 different sites, but it counts only once; as the Boston National Historical Park. I do realize that many of the sites in Boston are not maintained by the NPS; maybe that is why they do not count separately. By the way, for what it is worth, I believe that every American needs to walk the Boston Freedom Trail. This walk, and the study of each of the sites, will give a person a true sense of the origins of our country and what we stand for. You can't help but get goosebumps when you stand on the decks of the USS Constitution and realize that the fastenings in the ship were made by Paul Revere. Here is an excellent site about the trail: http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/index.html. Back in DC, the George Washington Memorial Parkway counts as one unit; a few of its units, such as Theodore Roosevelt Island, also count as a unit; but several of its other units, such as the Marine Corps War Memorial (the Iwo Jima Statue), do not. By the way, if you are in Washington on Tuesdays during the summer, do not miss the Sunset Parade at the Marine Corps War Memorial. It starts at 1900 and consists of a marching concert by the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps, the Commandant's Own, followed by a demonstration by the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. Very moving. Here you can get the full information: http://www.mbw.usmc.mil/parade_sunsetdefault.asp. Here is a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Fi_Ed7ISg
I've visited 80 sites and realize I'm very weak in the eastern and historic sites. Also have worked at three. Will try to add some new on this fall's journey and also revisit a few.
Now comes other questions.
How is visiting defined?
Is it going to the Visitor Center and getting your passport stamped?
Do you have to drive through the main road?
Do you have to do the main activity, such as hiking, snorkeling, walking the battlefield?
Do you have to understand why it became a national park unit?
Danny
Danny,
Hard question to answer. One answer might be that a visit is setting foot on the precise land of the unit. But if that's it, then what about a scenic fly-over or enjoying the sights of that land (without setting foot in it)? I'd tend to be pretty liberal in my definition, but I do think you have to experience the park somehow.
The visitors centers of course are usually located on park property (but not always). I'd tend to say it counts as a visit, but most units are far more than a particular building (but see Klondike Gold Rush NHP in Seattle).
FYI - for some parks, like Dry Tortugas and Isle Royale, you can get a passport stamp for the unit many many miles away from it. I have no trouble saying I don't think that counts as a visit.
You could also ask what constitutes a visit for handicapped people who are unable to visit a site in a typical way, if at all.