The National Park Service (NPS) oversees a variety of lands, recreational areas, historical sites, and more. And until I was using their website to identify points of interest for our itinerary, I hadn't realized how vast the NPS's collection is.
- National Park
- National Monument
- National Historic Site
- National Historic Park
- National Historic Trail
- National Scenic Trail
- National Preserve
- National Parkway
- National Military Park
- National Battlefield Site
- National Seashore
- National Lakeshore
- and more!
We have several NPS places on our itinerary - and in preparing the list for this post, I discovered two more to add! Each place is listed below by state; while we will visit some states more than once on our trip, I am including all NPS sites regardless of whether they are on the way north or the return leg south.
Mississippi - Natchez Trace Parkway. This is really a crossing of the Parkway, but we plan to stop at the visitor center.
Arkansas - You can guess! Hot Springs National Park.
Oklahoma - Washita National Battlefield. This is one of the two that were added. It is only four miles off the highway from Quartz Mountain State Park to Dodge City, Kansas.
Kansas - This state has the most sites that we will encounter. Fort Larned and Fort Dodge are both along the Santa Fe National Historic Trail on the way to Marysville. And the Oregon Trail crosses the Pony Express route just west of Marysville. [I hope we don't get dysentery.]
The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail belongs in Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa.
Nebraska - Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice is the second addition to our NPS list. We planned to be in Beatrice on a Sunday morning for church services, so when I saw this was located in Beatrice, it only made sense to add it!
Iowa - Herbert Hoover National Historic Site will be a day trip from Le Claire.
Michigan - I didn't know there was such a thing as a National Lakeshore until some Michigan friends suggested we not skip the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We also plan to visit the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and if weather conditions permit, we want to take a boat tour while there.
Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky have the NPS stops along the Abraham Lincoln portion of our trip, from the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park in Kentucky, the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Indiana, and the Lincoln Home in Illinois. We'll be starting in Illinois, so it may be that our Lincoln leg seems to have a Benjamin Button effect.
Missouri - St. Louis is home to the Gateway Arch and to the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site.
Tennessee - The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is our last NPS stop on our journey. While there, I really want to hike a teeny tiny portion of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail that goes through. I know it's not really hiking the Appalachian Trail, but it's probably as close as I'll ever get.
The NPS links are useful for planning, but in addition to checking there for information about hours, fees, and general operations, it's a good idea to follow their social media feeds for up-to-date information that you might have missed or is evolving. You can find their social media links at the bottom of their website.
And for your entertainment, follow National Park Service LEGO Vignettes on Facebook or Instagram.
Have you been to any of these NPS sites on our itinerary? If so, let us know which ones and if you had a favorite thing about it.
~ Cindy D.
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