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What do these places have in common: George Washington’s Virginia birthplace; the fossil beds of the South Dakota Badlands; the geyser Old Faithful; Alaska’s Kenai fjords; the site of the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York; and a history of New Orleans jazz?
All of them are—or are located in—one of the hundreds of parks managed by the U.S. National Park Service. When people think of national parks, they may think of places with beautiful vistas or impressive landforms. As you can see from the gallery images, geographic features of national parks include canyons, glaciers, islands, lakes, mountains, and volcanoes. But the image of the Pueblo ruins at Mesa Verde demonstrates the greater variety of the parks and their purpose.
National Park Service properties are a treasure of more than 400 precious places, including 59 national parks and many other protected areas such as Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore along Lake Michigan, or Boston National Historical Park in Massachusetts. Some have been preserved for their natural beauty, some for their unique ecosystems, some for their archaeological value, and others because of historic significance.
Yellowstone became the first national park in 1872. Yosemite and Rock Creek Park soon followed, as did the creation of military parks at the Civil War battlefields of Chickamauga & Chattanooga and Gettysburg. President Theodore Roosevelt signed an act in 1906 that allowed presidents to establish national monuments without having to pass legislation in Congress. Devils Tower in Wyoming became the first national monument that same year. In 1916, the government established the National Park Service to conserve and protect the parks. In 2009, more than 285 million people visited national parks to experience nature’s beauty and learn about our nation’s history. Camping, hiking, boating, skiing, swimming, and watching wildlife are just some of the many recreational activities the parks offer.
Satellite images in the gallery are courtesy of GeoEye Foundation.
- One of the deepest caves in the United States drops to nearly 488 meters (1,600 feet) below the surface at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. The longest cave system in the world is in Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.
- The life and works of great American writers, artists, activists, and inventors are preserved in national parks honoring Clara Barton, Oliver Brown (the successful plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education), Thomas Edison, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Eugene O'Neill, Edgar Allen Poe, and Wilbur and Orville Wright, among others.
- The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II is commemorated at Manzanar National Historic Site in California.
- Thanks to efforts of the National Park Service and many volunteers, endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles have a protected nesting beach: Padre Island National Seashore in Texas. After the turtles lay their eggs, Park Service employees dig them up and care for them in a lab where they are safe from people and predators. The hatchlings are returned to the beach where they make their way into the Gulf of Mexico.
- The most visited stretch of parkland is the Blue Ridge Parkway. This scenic highway runs for 755 kilometers (469 miles) through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina.
active volcano
Noun
volcano that has had a recorded eruption since the last glacial period, about 10,000 years ago.
archaeological site
Noun
place where evidence of the past is being studied by scientists.
Carlsbad Caverns
Noun
network of caves in the U.S. state of New Mexico.
Cascade Range
Noun
mountains extending along the northwest coast of North America.
cave
Noun
underground chamber that opens to the surface. Cave entrances can be on land or in water.
cavern
Noun
large cave.
coral reef
Noun
rocky ocean features made up of millions of coral skeletons.
dwelling
Noun
a place to live.
Florida Keys
Noun
chain of small islands off the southern coast of the U.S. state of Florida.
Grand Canyon
Noun
large gorge made by the Colorado River in the U.S. state of Arizona.
hot spring
Noun
small flow of water flowing naturally from an underground water source heated by hot or molten rock.
internment
Noun
confinement.
national monument
Noun
federal land set aside to protect objects of scientific and historical interest.
national park
Noun
geographic area protected by the national government of a country.
peak
Noun
the very top.
uplift
Noun
elevation of the Earth's surface due to tectonic or other natural activity.
Noun
an opening in the Earth's crust, through which lava, ash, and gases erupt, and also the cone built by eruptions.
Yellowstone National Park
Noun
large national park in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.
