National Historic Sites

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site

November 11, 2017parksandlex@gmail.com

As an add on to our Great Smoky Mountains trip, we stopped in at Carl Sandburg’s estate in Flat Rock, NC before flying out of the Asheville airport (or not, as it were). The house itself was undergoing renovation, but probably all as well with the time we had and with a toddler. The estate itself was worth the stop even if we skimped on learning more about the famous author. From the parking lot, you walk around a reflective lake toward the house at the top of the hill (more of a rugged climb than I anticipated when I opted to bring the stroller — we had sent the hiking carrier home with Dad). From there, little guy had fun spending time in the goat barn with some kitties and the descendants of Mrs. Sandburg’s goats. In the late summer, we watched goats frolicking in the field with the sun hitting the first of the falling leaves like flecks of gold ~ poetry!

San Juan Island National Historic Park

June 18, 2017parksandlex@gmail.com

I realized I never posted Park #7 from 2016, a visit to San Juan Island National Historic Park on San Juan Island in WA last Sept. This was the final unique park I visited in 2016, but if I count repeat visits to Golden Gate National Recreation Area and NPS-affiliated sites (such as the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in Seattle where we saw a temporary Bruce Lee exhibit on this same trip), I think I could claim to have met my goal of 12 parks last year 🙂

After visiting some friends in the Seattle area and visiting the local volcanoes, we hopped a ferry to the San Juan Islands. The ferry rides alone provided awesome scenery, and we arrived in Friday Harbor on a picturesque day — and were greeted by a friendly harbor seal, who I suspect makes a regular appearance near the fish market.

The historic park commemorates a mid 19th century stand-off between British and American garrisons on the island involving the matter of a pig. The two sections of the park encompass the English Camp on the north end of the island, and the American Camp further South. We first stopped at the English Camp on a drizzly afternoon. We walked up the officer’s hill, checked out the recreated English garden, and watched some more adventurous hikers head off around the point.

We next drove down to American Camp, of course spotting a bald eagle along the way. Spent some time checking out a red fox foraging on the side of the road as well. Our little dude fell asleep in the car and it was still raining, so I popped into the visitor center to get my passport cancellations and watch the video about the incident of the pig. We decided to come back the next day to explore the rolling hillsides and reconstructed camp, a lovely walk with some great views.

I had read that nearby Salt Point State Park is a good place to spot orcas from shore, so we decided to head there before returning to American Camp. We noticed a few cars stopped at a pullout on our way into the park, and sure enough, there were several orcas active in the water, just offshore, close enough that we could hear the snorts and splashes as the surfaced! Don’t tell little guy, who slept through the whole thing.

After that, it was appropriately time to hop the ferry to Orcas Island, where we made a brief stop in Moran State Park, before heading back to the mainland. We had great views of Mt. Baker from the ferry.

This site had several passport stamps, including some bonus stamps which are cool except when you’re rapidly using up all the extra space in your passport book!

Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front NHP

September 30, 2016January 5, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

In August, we utilized one of our local Bay Area parks to check off #5 for the year. The Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond honors the work of the women who worked in the Kaiser Shipyards during WWII.

This was actually my second visit to the site, both times tacking the visit onto a trip to the Mountain Hardware Employee Store after scoring an entry pass to stock up on some good activewear. The Rosie the Riveter Visitor’s Center is located at the site of a 1930 Ford Assembly Plant, a great old building that now houses businesses such as Mountain Hardware and a restaurant.

In the Visitor’s Center, there are great interpretive exhibits about the shipyards, the role of women in the workforce, and the town of Richmond. It was interesting to learn about how the town of Richmond expanded almost overnight and became a booming, diverse community, although not without its issues of discrimination. In addition to the main Visitor Center, there are a few other historical sites scattered throughout Richmond, including an original ship, that are a part of the Park.

The Richmond shipyards, owned by Henry Kaiser whose previous projects included the Hoover Dam, produced more than 700 ships during WWII. For those of us who have had health insurance through Kaiser Permanente, an interesting fact is that it started as the employee health plan for those who worked in the Kaiser shipyards. In the Visitor Center, you can try out a (bolted down) rivet gun, although it was broken this past visit.

I also enjoyed looking at all of the copies of wartime propaganda, including an example by Walt Disney and another that will make you think twice about not carpooling!

Unfortunately, both times I have been to the Rosie the Riveter site, I have had to leave before the talk given by Ranger Betty Soskin, the oldest NPS park ranger who shares her experience in the local community during WWII. I have heard it is a great talk from an amazing woman and hope to make it one day! We also just missed this year’s Rosie Rally, a community gathering of >2000 individuals in their best Rosie gear in a friendly competition with a town in MI to secure the Guinness World Record. Too bad because I’m not opposed to dressing my baby in a Rosie outfit for the cause!

Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site

May 28, 2016January 5, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

Well, it appears I’m not doing a very good job of keeping up with my theme this year. It’s a good thing I termed it “12 Parks/12 Months” because not only did I miss March, but I’m quite late on this post from April! In March, we had reservations at Furnace Creek in Death Valley to check out the superbloom, but battling baby’s first cold made us rethink the long drive. I did at least get a passport cancellation in March (more on that later), but we’ll have to catch up on national park visits later this year.

In April, we were back in the Johnstown area of Pennsylvania. On our last visit, we visited the Flight 93 and Johnstown Flood Memorials. This time, we hit up the one remaining NPS site in the area, the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site in Gallatzin, PA, about 25-30 min northeast of Johnstown. Much less depressing than the other sites, the Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS is fun tribute to historical infrastructure and engineering.

The “Main Line” of the Public Works system was a series of canals and rail segments that connected Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and was intended to compete with the Erie Canal. The rail sections and inclines provided means by which to cross the Allegheny Mountains. In the Visitor’s Center, they have displays showing how sectional canal boats would be loaded onto railcar platforms then towed by horses or steam engines for the overland sections. Ten inclines used cables and pulleys powered by engine rooms to pull cargo and passenger cars up and down the mountain.

The portage, opened in 1834, served both as a means to transport goods and people, although it fell out of vogue within about 20 years. From the Visitor’s Center, you can walk down a boardwalk to Engine House #6 to look at reproductions of the Engine Room and cables. The current Engine House is built slightly larger to preserve the original foundation still visible inside the building. There are models of the braking system for runaway cars as well as some interesting firsthand accounts to read.

From the Engine House, you have the option to walk down to see the Skew Arch Bridge, so named because the arch of the bridge had to be built at an angle to accommodate a non-right-angled intersection of the rail and road. In the other direction was the Cotton House, a popular tavern and residence serving passengers awaiting the continuation of their travels. From there, it’s a short walk up a service road back to the parking lot. We headed on our way after that little loop, but greatly enjoyed our stop. As a bonus, the volunteer in the Visitor’s Center gave us a bit of the local history, including who Prince Gallatizin is and where to find the summer home (now a friary) of Charles M. Schwab.

John Muir National Historic Site

March 11, 2016January 5, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

Well, I keep taking it down to the wire, but we did manage to get out to a National Park Service site the last weekend in February (even if I’m writing about it in March). Somewhat fitting for the NPS Centennial this year, we visited the home of one of the pivotal figures in the founding of the National Parks, John Muir. The site preserves the historic home of John Muir, Muir’s fruit orchards, and the Martinez adobe. Across the street, there are trails up “Mount Wanda”, named after one of Muir’s daughters, if you need to get your hiking fix.

The John Muir NHS is just off of Highway 4 in Martinez, CA. A bit ironic that this tribute to one of the great naturalists is right across from a gas station and adjacent to a highway, but on the bright side, great to have his legacy preserved in this little patch of land. You enter the estate through the visitor’s center, where the rangers were very friendly and will play a video upon request (as will likely be a theme this year, we skipped the video since the baby was strapped in the carrier). On the timeline display, you can see some of Muir’s achievements (and “could-have-beens” – cool to see a small photo of Hetch Hetchy Valley).

From there, it’s a short walk up the hill to Muir’s 3-story (+ bell tower!) home, which offers exhibits about Muir and the NPS on every floor. The rangers also lead a tour through the house (we were there on Sunday, and the talk was at 2). I learned that Muir was originally from Scotland and attended the University of Wisconsin before moving out West. He was relatively well-off and reportedly ran a good business off his orchards, which he inherited from his father-in-law. He spent several years in Martinez, later in life returning to spend more and more time in the Sierras with his conservation efforts. An older exhibit in the attic showcased his relationship with Teddy Roosevelt, cemented during one fateful camping trip together in Yosemite.

jomu02 The grounds are well-kept and include not only the fruit trees, but a little patch of redwoods and a giant sequoia planted by Muir himself. It is not quite as giant as the ones in their prime climate (or perhaps because it’s only ~100 years old?), but that didn’t stop one other visitor we saw hugging it 🙂 Many of the trees were blossoming on the day we visited, and according to the website, you’re free to pick a piece of fruit or two other times of the year. We packed a picnic and had a lovely lunch under the redwoods.

At the end of the estate, there is the Martinez adobe, built in 1849 and the oldest structure in Martinez. Inside, there is an exhibit about the Anza expedition (traced by the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail). Sometimes you don’t really appreciate how historical events like this line up chronologically – the expedition, which was an attempt by the Spanish to gain a foothold in Alta California, coincided with the American Revolution in the 1776! Juan Bautista de Anza started in Mexico, crossed the Sonoran Dessert, and made his way to San Francisco. I don’t believe he made it up to Martinez, but the adobe highlights the influence of the expedition on local building styles.
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Stamp Hunting in DC: The National Mall & Memorial Parks

May 15, 2014January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

If you want to tour the White House, make a request through your local member of Congress at least 30 days in advance. There’s likely a link on your Congressperson’s official website

If you are looking to collect cancellations in your National Parks Passport book, there is truly no better location than Washington, D.C. in the National Mall area. While I didn’t have my Fitbit at the time, we certainly got some good walking in hopping from monument to memorial to museum. Here were some of the stops on our tour of the National Mall and surrounding area:

Constitution Gardens is the area just East of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and North of the reflecting pool. There is a small lake to walk around, and in a plaza on the lake, you will find the memorial to the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, such as John Hancock, of course!

View of the Capitol from the Old Post Office Tower, now closed for renovations until 2016

Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site encompasses the stretch of Pennsylvania Ave. leading from the White House to the Capitol Building. There are a number of sites of interest along the way, including the National Archives, the National Gallery of Art, the FBI building, and the Old Post Office Tower. The Old Post Office Tower’s main attraction was the view from the top, but the tower closed for renovation a few weeks ago. I wonder if they will have updated exhibits when they reopen in 2016?

In a great example of why I like the Passport program, when I picked up the cancellation for West Potomac Park, I had to ask the person behind the kiosk what “West Potomac Park” actually is. In addition to getting my answer (basically, the entire western section of the larger National Mall & Memorial Parks, including the area around the Tidal Basin), I got a great history on the building of our nation’s capital and the National Mall from how it was first envisioned by Pierre Charles L’Enfant in 1791 through the addition of West Potomac Park and the Tidal Basin later. It’s amazing what you can learn from people when you have a simple conversation starter!

San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park

May 9, 2014January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

While I’m always scheming my next national park getaway, the truth is I still have NPS sites to visit here in my own backyard in the Bay Area. Earlier this spring, I took advantage of a nice sunny day to check out the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park in the Fisherman’s Wharf area. This part of town caters to the tourist crowd, but crowds and T-shirt shops aside, I do enjoy the occasional cable car ride or visit to Ghirardelli Square for an over-the-top ice cream sundae 🙂

The main visitor center for the historic park is in a brick cannery building on the corner of Hyde and Jefferson. Inside, they have multimedia exhibits highlighting the importance of maritime trade and travel in the city’s history and some fun facts about the city. For example, I learned that the MUNI tunnel under Market St. actually goes right through the middle of a Gold Rush-era ship, one of many buried under the financial district. The visitor’s center also has information on other Bay Area and CA national park sites if San Francisco is just your first stop. Across the street from the visitor’s center is the historic Hyde Street Pier, where you can tour historic ships and other exhibits.

1907 steam tug Hercules with Alcatraz in the background

Before hopping on that cable car, it’s nice to walk along the beachfront around to the municipal pier side of the park. Across from Ghirardelli Square is the Aquatic Park Boathouse and Maritime Museum. This Depression-era building is used for events and as a senior center in addition to being a small museum associated with the park. It’s worth poking your head in to check out the art deco design, the WPA murals, and the model ships (and there is a bonus stamp of a ship for your Passport book in addition to the park stamp).

If you continue past the municipal pier, you can take the Bay Trail around (or go up and over the hill) to Fort Mason. Fort Mason is technically part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, but it also houses the Maritime Park Library (open weekdays). It seems like there’s almost always something going on whenever I’m there, whether it is a farmers market, a food truck meet-up, or a craft [beer/chocolate/distilling] expo, and the buildings also house shops & restaurants (including the famous vegetarian restaurant Greens).

San Juan National Historic Site

April 27, 2014January 3, 2018parksandlex@gmail.com

Since my work schedule prevented me from getting out and enjoying National Parks Week, here’s a post about my first two Passport cancellations:

San Juan NHS in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, consists of 2 sites, the fortresses of El Morro, located on a point above San Juan Bay, and Castillo San Cristobal, located on the Eastern side of Old San Juan. As San Juan was a strategic position in the Caribbean, the initial structures were first laid by the Spanish in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, and the sites were utilized by the U.S. even through WWII. I thought it was cool to be standing in a modern city in structures with origins dating back to the earliest days of European settlement in the Americas, predating the Jamestown colony. The fact that you can still see shrapnel in the walls from the Spanish-American War drives home the importance of this port in the region’s history.

In addition to getting your history fix, El Morro and its large grassy bluff appeared to be a popular spot for picnicking and flying kites. Paseo del Morro, which can be accessed from gates within the city, is a nice walk (and stray cat repository, apparently) that passes along the water at bottom of the structure. San Juan deftly caters to tourism while maintaining the charm of the old city and a vibrant culture, so the city is well worth a visit. We stayed at Hotel El Convento, a charming hotel that used to be a convent, and ate a lot of good food, in spite of one major stomachache for this vegetarian after a seemingly innocuous (and admittedly delicious) breakfast mallorca (a sweet bun that is apparently chock full of lard).

Penguins on a catboat, of course. — Statue near our hotel. Enjoy strolling the flower- and tree-lined streets of Old San Juan.

Lardy yumminess. — Mallorca. Don’t eat this if you avoid pig… (or ask first as some bakeries may use butter or shortening).

Two cancellations are available, one at each of the San Juan sites. When I was there in 2011, the Passport 25^th anniversary cancellation was also available.

San Juan NHS Cancellations — Clearly I needed to work on my stamping technique.