About 77 miles west of Springfield, Illinois, a 42-acre parcel of land became the first U.S. town platted and registered by an African American in 1836. Back then, Illinois had stringent Black Codes that restricted African Americans and required proof they were not slaves. This did not deter “Free” Frank McWorter who was born into slavery in South Carolina and after being moved to Kentucky worked to purchase his pregnant wife’s freedom in 1817, then his own two years later. Once settled in Illinois, McWorter paid $100 for 80 acres and platted a portion of it into 144 lots that he named New Philadelphia. This was a time of racial tension in Illinois, when an abolitionist was killed while trying to protect his printing press in Alton and a violence flared after a petition to abolish slavery was signed in Griggsville only 13 miles east. It is likely that New Philadelphia served as a major stop on the Underground Railroad. The town’s population peaked in 1865 with 160 individuals, 30% of whom were black according to the census. Although the town was abandoned within a century, a major archaeological excavation in 2002 found artifacts including glass bottles, ceramics, children’s toys, possible pieces of the game Mancala, and a 1903 Illinois State Fair badge. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and became a National Historic Landmark in 2009.
Highlights
Kiosk, interpretive trail
Must-Do Activity
Where you park right off County Highway 2, there is an information kiosk that includes brochures and interpretive panels. We could not get the Augmented Reality (AR) Tour app to work when we visited, but you might have better luck if you use the public WiFi provided by the New Philadelphia Association (the WiFi password is Frank1836). You can always watch the AR videos before or after your visit on their website (http://newphiladelphiail.org/ar-website). If you want to stamp your National Parks passport, go four miles west to the Barry City Hall or public library, or visit Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield.
Best Trail
A quarter-mile-long walking trail is mowed into the grassy field where the Augmented Reality Tour has guideposts that also include written information.
Photographic Opportunity
No original structures remain on the site of New Philadelphia, but there are some old farm buildings that make interesting photographic subjects. Watch for poison-ivy if you step off the mowed trail for photographs.
There is a paved parking area right off County Highway 2 when you turn on the gravel 306th Lane, easily accessible from Interstate 72 only 27 miles east of the Mississippi River. Springfield, Illinois is 76 miles east and St. Louis, Missouri is about 115 miles south.
Camping
There is a campground at Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site and other Illinois state parks, plus several in Mark Twain’s hometown of Hannibal, Missouri.
Lassen National Forest Reserve dates back to 1905, then a decade later when Lassen Peak explosively erupted (the first eruption to be photographed in the continental U.S.), 106,589-acre Lassen Volcanic National Park was carved out. The two federal areas are connected by the 187-mile-long Lassen Scenic Byway (Highways 44 and 89) that traces the volcanic legacy of the southern Cascade Range. The 41,100-acre Ishi Wilderness was named in 1984 to honor the last surviving member of the Yahi band of Southern Yanas, taken from his native home near Oroville in 1911 and employed as a janitor at the University of California’s Anthropology Museum in San Francisco until his death from tuberculosis five years later.
Highlights
Lassen Scenic Byway, Lake Almanor, Eagle Lake, Subway Cave, Hat Creek Recreational Area, Triangle Lake, Heart Lake National Recreation Trail, Bizz Johnson Trail, Spencer Meadows National Recreation Trail, Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail
Must-Do Activity
Lassen National Forest runs campgrounds and boat ramps on both Lake Almanor and Eagle Lake, although most of their shorelines are privately owned. Between the two lakes is the town of Susanville, where a railroad bed abandoned in 1978 was converted into the Bizz Johnson Trail that follows the Susan River for 26 miles. The trail features 12 river crossings and two tunnels with scenic mountain views. Camping is restricted to specific portions of the trail. The 20,546-acre Caribou Wilderness was one of America’s first Primitive Areas designated in 1932 and along with the 16,335-acre Thousand Lakes Wilderness was established immediately following passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act. In a proposed Wilderness area on the west side of Lassen Volcanic National Park, Heart Lake National Recreation Trail is a 2.4-mile one-way hike up to a glacial lake that connects to the longer Twin Meadows Trail.
Best Trail
Subway Cave is only 1,300 feet long, but the lava tube is the main attraction in Lassen National Forest, with free guided tours offered on summer weekends. Lava flowed through here less than 2,000 years ago and interpretive signs along the 0.7-mile loop trail explain lavacicles and other geologic oddities. A flashlight is necessary to explore past the openings of the 46°F cave, which drops to four feet in some places with a maximum ceiling of 17 feet. One mile south on the Lassen Scenic Byway (Highway 44) is the 1.7-mile roundtrip Spatter Cone Trail (across from Hat Creek Campground). The trail passes a variety of volcanic formations in a forest of Jeffrey pine trees.
Watchable Wildlife
Lassen National Forest is home to black bears, pine martens, mountain lions, bobcats, red foxes, coyotes, and a few gray wolves that migrated south from Oregon. You are most likely to see mule deer or one of the variety of chipmunks or squirrels. Bird sightings include mountain chickadees, Steller’s jays, Clark’s nutcrackers (at high elevations), and eight species of woodpeckers such as pileated and white-headed.
Photographic Opportunity
Sitting at 4,505 feet in elevation, Lake Almanor stretches for 13 miles near Chester, California and is a good place for summer boating and fishing.
Peak Season
Summer
Fees
None
Road Conditions
Subway Cave is located right off Lassen Scenic Byway (Highways 44 and 89) and most of the unpaved roads we have explored in the National Forest have been maintained, probably because of the continued harvesting activities that we witnessed on our field trip from Cal Poly University in 2010.
Camping
Lassen National Forest runs campgrounds on both Lake Almanor and Eagle Lake, plus Hat Creek Recreational Area has seven campgrounds. If you are looking to disperse camp outside Lassen Volcanic National Park, take the road west outside the southern entrance (but keep a clean campsite as we saw a black bear in the area).
During General Sherman’s “march to the sea” in 1864, he dispatched troops under Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis to northern Mississippi to protect the 151-mile Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad line from Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Confederate cavalry. The two sides clashed on June 10 at this site in northern Mississippi, when a larger Union force of 8,100 men was routed by 3,500 Confederates. However, Sherman’s supply line remained intact during his march towards Atlanta.
The National Park Service site here is tiny with no facilities and only a couple interpretive signs, but a local battlefield commission owns 1,400 acres with walking trails. The nearby Mississippi Final Stands Interpretive Center is located five miles east of the battlefield in Baldwyn. For a passport stamp, stop at the Natchez Trace Parkway visitor center outside Tupelo. We arrived at Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site near sunset, but we were still able to explore the small park at the four-way stop at the crossroads of Highway 370.
Best Trail
A local battlefield commission owns 1,400 acres with miles of walking trails, with the longest located at Log Cabin Knoll.
Instagram-worthy Photo
A monument was erected where the Brice home once stood, used as a place to treat the wounded of both armies during the battle.
Explore More – Who was the Colonel that commanded several regiments of United States Colored Troops (USCT) instrumental in the defensive actions that protected the Union Army’s retreat across the Tishomingo River?
Start your trip near Sioux Falls, where pink formations of quartzite rock rise above muddy Split Rock Creek below. It is a great spot for a picnic, and you might get to watch rock climbers across the creek repelling down the steep cliffs.
Not only is Sioux Falls the largest city in the state, it is also home to Falls Park where the Big Sioux River tumbles down 100 feet of rosy quartzite in a series of photogenic cascades.
Not far off Interstate 90 in Mitchell is a great wonder of human creativity dating back to 1892. Each year a new theme is chosen by artists who design images to decorate the outside of the building completely with organic materials. By the end of the summer, the face of this unique building is covered with 275,000 ears of corn in a variety of colors. Be sure to go inside the building to see pictures of past palaces, turn a millstone to grind our own cornmeal, and learn fun facts.
Dignity sculpture
Also on Interstate 90, there is a new 50-foot sculpture of a Native American woman wearing a traditional star quilt entitled Dignity of Earth and Sky.
Visit inside the capitol to learn why the tiny town of Pierre (pronounced “peer”) was chosen as the state’s capital city in 1889 and how the building was constructed starting in 1905.
Look online for the publication South Dakota Fishing Guide to the National Grasslands, which provides information on 41 fishing ponds in the National Grassland. Originally built in 1934, Richland Dam was renovated in 2014 and now features handicapped-accessible fishing and a concrete boat ramp. Fishing ponds are generally open December 1 to August 31 to avoid overlap with hunting season.
Beyond the geologic formations and hiking trails, this is a good place to camp at the developed Cedar Pass Campground, free Sage Creek Primitive Campground (which can be crowded in the summer), or backpacking out with the bison. Bighorn sheep are also common, and porcupines, surprising for as treeless as it is. Prairie dog towns make for an endless variety of entertainment and provide habitat for burrowing owls, prairie rattlesnakes, and endangered black-footed ferrets that have been reintroduced throughout South Dakota.
Outside Badlands National Park on Interstate 90, a small museum and ranger-guided tours of the Delta-01 launch control facility. Tours have very limited space and a nominal fee, but are no longer solely first-come-first served thanks to an online reservation system.
Perhaps the greatest roadside attraction in the entire world, famous since 1936 for its “Free Ice Water” road signs. Today Interstate 90 is inundated with Wall Drug billboards for miles in each direction. Ice water is still free and the café still offers a cup of coffee for only five cents, as well as the best soft-serve ice cream we have ever tasted. In the Wall Drug Backyard, you can even ride atop a ten-foot-tall jackalope; and do not leave without a free bumper sticker.
This serves as the main interpretive site for all 20 National Grasslands (plus Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie). The exhibit hall is still under reconstruction following a flood that forced a relocation into a temporary trailer for years, but the theater is reopened showing a short film.
Admission is free to this museum (currently closed for construction) seven miles east of Rapid City on Interstate 90. It sits next to Ellsworth Air Force Base, but you do not have to pass through military security to enter. An impressive B-1B Lancer sits out front alongside other historic aircraft, with many more located inside the hangars.
This icon of South Dakota is inspiring to see during the day, but for the full patriotic effect do not miss the night lighting ceremony offered May to September.
Needles Highway
The 14-mile-long Needles Highway was completed in 1922 and is known for its narrow, one-lane tunnels that run straight through mountainsides and the natural arch aptly named the Needle’s Eye (Custer State Park admission required). Trails leave from along its length to access the Cathedral Spires, Black Elk Peak, Sylvan Lake, and Little Devil’s Tower. To the northeast, the Highway 16A section of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Highway utilizes more one-lane tunnels and fascinating corkscrew turns called “pigtail bridges” to connect Custer State Park with Mount Rushmore National Memorial (no admission fee required when simply driving through).
Under construction since 1948, this privately-funded monument continues to be carved and blasted to this day. In addition to the 563-foot-tall memorial to the legendary fighter and leader of the Oglala Lakota, the site also has the Indian Museum of North America full of outstanding artwork and artifacts. Special tours can be booked up to the 87-foot-tall head of Crazy Horse, plus, a laser-light show runs nightly in the summer. There is a pretty good view from the highway if you do not want to pay the admission fee.
World famous for its Buffalo Roundup every September, this park has so much more than bison (see Needles Highway above). Visitors can see bighorn sheep, mountain goats, pronghorn, elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, coyotes, turkeys, golden eagles, and you might even get nose-to-nose with one of the feral burros that roam free and love handouts. You may find yourself stuck waiting out a “bison jam” as the large ungulates cross a road.
The interior of Wind Cave is a constant 53°F, so bring a jacket if you sign up for the Natural Entrance Tour, which involves entering a vapor lock revolving door and descending stairs. On the Candlelight Tour you carry lightweight metal candle-lanterns, just like 19th-century tourists. It is only offered in the summer and explores an unlit section of the cave. There are several good trails that traverse the prairie and canyons and we enjoy backpacking (free permit required) on Highland Creek Trail where we always see bison.
Surrounding Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore and spilling into the state of Wyoming, it is home to a fun hike to the state’s high point at 7,242-foot tall Black Elk (formerly Harney) Peak rising in the center of the beautiful Black Elk Wilderness. We also recommend Old Baldy Trail and Buzzards Roost Trail.
Currently, Jewel Cave ranks third worldwide with over 160 miles in mapped passages, and based on air flow estimates the cave is less than 10% mapped. The namesake jewels are actually boxy calcite formations, which crystalized out of water in a manner similar to the way a bathtub ring forms. The Wild Caving Tour and Lantern Tour are our favorite ranger-guided tour options.
The only developed site of this sprawling area is located at French Creek Agate Beds, where there is a campground and rockhounding is legal for Fairburn agate (the official State Gem of South Dakota), rose quartz, and banded jasper.
This flat trail runs 109 miles from Deadwood to Edgemont along the former Burlington Northern rail line, but you can choose to hike as far as you like (day-use fee). Like many rails-to-trails projects, this route is wide enough to accommodate bikes and includes many bridges and tunnels, like those near the Mystic Trailhead.
A scenic byway follows Highway 14A south of Interstate 90 past roadside Bridal Veil Falls and Spearfish Falls. The limestone cliffs of the canyon are sprinkled with ponderosa pine trees and the creek is lined by deciduous trees that add to the beauty when changing colors in late-September (around Buffalo Roundup weekend). It is free to park at 30-foot-tall Roughlock Falls (pictured below), but this small park can get congested.
Belle Fourche is home to a 21-foot-wide monument with a visitor center and museum at the site designated by the National Geodetic Survey as the center of the 50 states after Alaska and Hawai‘i were added in 1959.
A free park filled with locally gathered petrified wood and other geological specimens. The “world’s largest collection” also has a free museum constructed out of petrified wood that is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
In southeast South Dakota, the river’s lower segment runs 59 miles from the Gavins Point Dam to Ponca State Park, plus a 39-mile stretch was added from the Fort Randall Dam to Niobrara State Park, and includes 20 miles of the Lower Niobrara River (which is itself designated a National Scenic River upstream in Nebraska).
Added to the National Park Service (NPS) system on February 15, 2024, Amache National Historic Site is the fifth unit dedicated to remembering the sad story of the forced internment of 110,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II. Operated between 1942 and 1945, at its peak the Granada Relocation Center in southeast Colorado housed 7,310 incarcerees making it the state’s tenth largest city at the time. Although it does not have a visitor center, the site of the internment camp is more developed than other new NPS sites since it was previously added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and then designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Learn more about the history of these camps by checking out the Related Sites below and watching some of our Top 10 World War II Films or reading one of the Top 10 World War Novels.
Highlights
Amache Museum, water tower, barracks, guard tower, cemetery, Recreation Hall
Must-Do Activity
Start at the excellent Amache Museum in Granada, which is run by local high school students and has free admission (donations accepted). Be sure to pick up a map of the driving tour or visit the website (https://amache.org/driving-tour-map-podcasts) to listen to the audio recordings at each stop (there is smartphone coverage on site). Drive the route in order or skip around, but make it a point to see Stop 4 (guard tower and barracks), Stop 8 (cemetery), and the Rec Hall. Starting in June 2025, ranger-led tours will be offered at 10 a.m. on the first and third Friday of the summer months.
Best Trail
There is a short loop trail with many interpretive signs at the picnic area when you first arrive at the site by the Honor Roll square structure. There is also an off-trail walk to the old koi pond at Stop 2 that you can navigate if you listen to the directions on the audio recordings.
Photographic Opportunity
The reconstructed barracks and guard tower at the south end of the site are two of the only structures standing above the open prairie. They are near the water tower, which is worth a short detour to see.
Explore More – Most of the 10,000 acres dedicated to Granada Relocation Center was for agriculture, so how many acres were used for residential and administrative buildings?
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