Tag Archives: film

African Burial Ground National Monument

February 9, 2021 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

When excavating a federal office building in New York City in 1991, construction workers came upon a massive cemetery forgotten since it closed in 1794. Archaeologists eventually found the remains of 419 bodies from a time when Africans were not allowed to be buried inside the walls of the Dutch city of New Amsterdam. There are believed to be about 15,000 people buried in the original six-acre cemetery.

Highlights

Museum, film, Circle of the Diaspora, Ancestral Libation Chamber

Must-Do Activity

After passing through security, check out the National Park Service (NPS) visitor center that opened in 2010. It has interactive exhibits about the thousands of captive and freed Africans that lived in the city in the eighteenth century. Outside, a memorial made of Verde Fontaine green granite from Africa was completed in 2007 with the 24-foot high Ancestral Libation Chamber symbolizing the depth at which the bodies were discovered. Nearby the 419 bodies were ceremonially reinterred in 2003. Call ahead to schedule your place on an NPS ranger-led tour of the site.

Best Trail

None

Instagram-worthy Photo

The symbolic “Door of Return” is part of the outdoor memorial, which was entirely covered by scaffolding to protect it from a construction project during our visit in 2019.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/afbg/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None

Road Conditions

Take public transportation!

Camping

Check out our blog post on Gateway National Recreation Area for information on camping in the New York City area.

Stonewall National Monument (New York)

Boston African American National Historic Site (Massachusetts)

Tiff outside the Ancestral Libation Chamber

Explore More – What does the Sankofa (a West African heart-shaped symbol) mean?

Missouri

George Washington Carver National Monument

February 4, 2021 Raven About The Parks 2 Comments

Overview

In southwestern Missouri is 210-acre George Washington Carver National Monument where the artist and inventor was born into slavery. Near the end of the Civil War, raiders captured he and his mother (who was never seen again), but he was returned to his older brother and they were both raised by the Carver family. He went on to earn a master’s degree in botany from Iowa State University in 1896 and work at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama for 47 years. His most influential legacy is arguably his outreach work marketing peanut and soy plants, helping to turn them into the widespread agricultural products they are today.

Highlights

Museum, films, bronze sculptures, 1881 Moses Carver House, Williams Pond

Must-Do Activity

The National Monument has an excellent museum with interactive exhibits and examples of Carver’s paintings. A self-guided 0.75-mile trail passes several bronze sculptures and interpretive signs. It leads through the forest to Williams Pond and a house that dates back to 1881. George Washington Carver’s spirit lives on at this site, inspiring future generations to great aspirations despite humble beginnings.

Best Trail

The self-guided 0.75-mile trail loops from the visitor center and is partially wheelchair accessible.

Instagram-worthy Photo

Williams Pond is a nice place to sit and contemplate what each of us can accomplish regardless of how we start.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/gwca/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None

Road Conditions

All roads paved

Camping

There are private campgrounds around Joplin, Missouri and 50 miles away is Roaring River State Park.

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site (Alabama)

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield (Missouri)

This replica schoolroom is inside the outstanding museum

Explore More – When was the year the National Monument was dedicated, which was the same year Carver died?

Florida

Big Cypress National Preserve

January 14, 2021 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

Big Cypress National Preserve was originally planned to be a part of Everglades National Park (established in 1947), but this wild area to the north did not gain federal protection until 1974. There are few roads and trails in the 729,000-acre preserve, which makes it ideal habitat for the endangered Florida panther. The easiest access points are along Alligator Alley (Interstate 75) or the Tamiami Trail (Highway 41). While many of the “trails” require route-finding and slogging through deep water, there are also designated ATV and canoe trails located throughout the park.

Highlights

Kirby Storter Roadside Park, Big Cypress Bend Trail, canoeing

Must-Do Activity

Many of the baldcypress and pond cypress trees that once stood here were logged in the 1930s and 1940s. At the Kirby Storter Roadside Park, you can still see some large examples of these trees famous for their buttressed boles and root nodules, or “knees,” that stand above the high water level. We previously reported on these unique deciduous conifers at Congaree National Park in South Carolina, but here they grow right alongside tall palm trees that we typically associate with sandy beaches.

Best Trail

Many of the trails in the park are underwater and require slogging. Two exceptions with boardwalks are at Kirby Storter Roadside Park and Big Cypress Bend (technically within Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park).

Instagram-worthy Photo

Wherever you look, you are likely to spot an alligator or two in this wild section of south Florida. An extra photo-op can be found at the smallest post office in the United States, a former irrigation pipe shed located in Ochopee, Florida since 1953.

Peak Season

Winter

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None (except for off-road vehicle permits)

Road Conditions

Highway 41 and Interstate 75 are paved, but just about every other road in the park is sandy (and/or submerged) and should only be attempted with an ATV or swamp buggy.

Camping

The NPS offers two campgrounds along Highway 41 (there is also one in Collier-Seminole State Park), as well as designated primitive wilderness sites.

Related Sites

Everglades National Park (Florida)

De Soto National Memorial (Florida)

Big Thicket National Preserve (Texas)

Explore More – What are the five main habitat types protected within the preserve?

California

Mojave National Preserve

December 29, 2020 Raven About The Parks 3 Comments

Overview

Mojave National Preserve is a massive 1.6-million acres of desert bounded by Interstate 15 to the north and Interstate 40 to the south. Passed by millions of commuters every year, it does not take many miles of driving to leave behind the bustling freeways for a quiet landscape. Species diversity is high here given its elevation range from 800 to 7,929 feet and its place at the intersection of three deserts: the Mojave, Great Basin, and Sonoran. Watch for desert tortoises, Mojave rattlesnakes, roadrunners, ravens, kangaroo rats, mountain lions, mule deer, and some of the 1,000 bighorn sheep that reside in the preserve.

Highlights

Kelso Depot, film, Kelso Dunes, Hole-in-the-Wall Nature Trail, Rings Loop Trail

Must-Do Activity

If you are driving on I-15 between California and Nevada consider entering the preserve via the Cima Road exit, with a first stop at its gas station’s interesting waterfall urinal in the men’s restroom. From there drive south on a paved road into a dense Joshua tree forest on the gently sloping flanks of the enormous Cima Dome (an extinct volcano) and then stop at Kelso Depot where the National Park Service (NPS) operates a visitor center and museum. From there you can continue south to the beautiful Kelso Dunes or take the paved Kelbaker Road back to Interstate 15 at Baker, home of the world’s tallest thermometer.

Best Trail

The one-mile Rings Loop Trail has metal rings cemented into its canyon walls in some places to help you ascend and descend steep portions. Hole-in-the-Wall Nature Trail and the six-mile Barber Peak Loop Trail are also found in this area near the NPS campgrounds.

Instagram-worthy Photo

We love sand dunes (see our Top 10 list) and one of our favorites is the nearly 700-foot tall Kelso Dunes, which create a booming sound when the sand shifts and moisture conditions are right.

Peak Season

Spring and fall

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/moja/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None

Road Conditions

The main roads are paved, however, most of the 1,000 miles of roads are unpaved and some of them require a high-clearance vehicle, especially if you want to access neighboring Castle Mountains National Monument.

Camping

Dispersed camping is allowed throughout most of the preserve, but there are also NPS campgrounds around the Hole-in-the-Wall Ranger Station.

Joshua Tree National Park (California)

Death Valley National Park (California)

Explore More – How many acres of Wilderness are designated within Mojave National Preserve?

New Mexico

Aztec Ruins National Monument

December 22, 2020 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

Aztec, New Mexico is home to the incredible Ancestral Puebloan ruins of a three-story, 400-room ancient apartment building near the Animas River. Only partially excavated, Aztec Ruins National Monument has a variety of rock walls that display a change in building styles over the centuries. Similar to Montezuma Castle National Monument in Arizona, Aztec was named for the Central Mexican culture mistakenly believed by earlier archaeologists to have had influence in this region.

Highlights

Museum, film, reconstructed great kiva, ruins

Must-Do Activity

Aztec Ruins National Monument boasts a great kiva that was rebuilt to appear as it may have 800 years ago. We especially recommend a visit before or after seeing the extensive ceremonial structures at nearby Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Reconstruction is not appropriate at all National Park Service (NPS) sites, but here it helps the past come alive. It is easy to imagine costumed dancers coming down the stairs into the smoky kiva to celebrate a religious ritual.

Best Trail

The half-mile self-guided trail leads through ruins where wooden roofs have been partially reconstructed. Aztec Ruins also has the same T-shaped doorways you may have seen at Mesa Verde National Park and Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

Instagram-worthy Photo

Darker stripes in the walls were decorative, and evidence of several architectural styles are evident at this site.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/azru/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None

Road Conditions

All roads paved

Camping

There is an NPS campground at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, but we recommend the free campground in Angel Peak Recreation Area run by the Bureau of Land Management east of Highway 550.

Pecos National Historical Park (New Mexico)

Bandelier National Monument (New Mexico)