Tag Archives: National Memorial

District of Columbia

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

November 11, 2025 Raven About The Parks 2 Comments

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

District of Columbia

Managed by National Park Service

Established 1982

2 acres

Website: nps.gov/vive

Overview

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund was incorporated as a nonprofit charity in 1979 to build a monument listing all the names of those killed or missing during the Vietnam War. It was originally the idea of Jan Scruggs, an infantry corporal, and it was important to the veterans that it not make a political statement about the controversial war in Southeast Asia. Selected from 1,421 design entries, Maya Ying Lin intended her memorial to be a quiet, protected place for reflection. The polished black marble she chose to inscribe the half-inch-tall names also reflects the surrounding trees and grass in Constitution Gardens adjacent to the National Mall. The $7-million cost of the memorial was entirely funded by corporate and private donations, including those from 275,000 individual Americans.

Highlights

Memorial wall, Three Soldiers sculpture, Vietnam Women’s Memorial, In Memory plaque

Must-Do Activity

Located near the Lincoln Memorial, the walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial stretch 246.75 feet in length, inscribed with 58,256 names listed chronologically by date of casualty. People come to make rubbings of their loved one’s name and often leave small items at its base. Added nearby in 1984, a life-size bronze sculpture by Frederick Hart depicts three male soldiers beneath a 60-foot flagpole. The In Memory plaque was added in 2004 to recognize the many men and women who served and later died from causes related to the war.

Best Trail

There is no trail here, but there is always plenty of walking done when visiting the many memorials on the National Mall.

Photographic Opportunity

Dedicated on November 11, 1993, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial is a bronze sculpture by Glenna Goodacre that depicts three women helping a fallen soldier. There were also eight yellowwood trees planted to commemorate the eight servicewomen killed in action in Vietnam.

Peak Season

Spring and fall

Hours

Open 24 hours

Fees

None

Road Conditions

Traffic can be slow and parking expensive in Washington, D.C., so consider taking the Metro to the National Mall.

Camping

There are National Park Service campgrounds in Maryland’s Greenbelt Park and Virginia’s Prince William Forest Park.

Related Sites

Korean War Veterans Memorial (District of Columbia)

World War II Memorial (District of Columbia)

World War I Memorial (District of Columbia)

Nearest National Park

Shenandoah

Explore More – When her design was selected in 1981, Maya Ying Lin was a 21-year-old student from Athens, Ohio; where was she attending college at the time?

Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial

August 14, 2025 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial

District of Columbia

Managed by National Park Service

Established 2020

4 acres

Website: nps.gov/ddem

Overview

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II and the 34th U.S. President (1953 to 1961). His presidential library is located in his hometown of Abilene, Kansas and his post-presidency home on a Pennsylvania farm is run by the National Park Service adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park. The U.S. Congress created a Memorial Commission in 1999, but the groundbreaking did not occur until 18 years later. The dedication ceremony was scheduled for the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, but postponed to September 17 because of the pandemic.

Highlights

Sculptures, steel tapestry, audio tour, gift shop

Must-Do Activity

Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial is located one block off the National Mall in a plaza on Independence Avenue SW across from the National Air and Space Museum. It was designed by architect Frank Gehry and went through several iterations before settling on three bronze sculptures by Sergey Eylanbekov representing “Ike” as a boy, general, and president. The site is always open with a downloadable audio tour and a small gift shop open daily where you can pick up a “unigrid” pamphlet.

Best Trail

There is no trail here, but you can spend all day walking in D.C. through the National Mall and the nearby National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of the American Indian, and United States Botanic Garden.

Photographic Opportunity

The artist Tomas Osinski created a stainless-steel tapestry (447 feet long by 60 feet tall) out of 600 panels depicting a line drawing of the Pointe du Hoc promontory on France’s Normandy coastline, a site significant to the D-Day landings during World War II.

Peak Season

Spring and fall

Hours

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

Fees

None

Road Conditions

The memorial is located on Independence Ave SW across from the National Air and Space Museum, which has parking garages nearby, or you can take the Metro into the city.

Camping

Greenbelt Park Campground in Maryland is the closest run by the National Park Service, which also manages campgrounds at Virginia’s Prince William Forest Park and Shenandoah National Park, as well as several in Maryland’s Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. Smallwood State Park and Cherry Hill Park in Maryland both offer RV sites and tent sites.

Related Sites

World War II Memorial (District of Columbia)

Eisenhower National Historic Site (Pennsylvania)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (District of Columbia)

Nearest National Park

Shenandoah

Explore More – What landscape was originally going to be depicted on the steel tapestry?

Indiana

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

March 20, 2024 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial

Indiana

Managed by National Park Service

Established 1962

200 acres

Website: nps.gov/libo

Overview

In 1816, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln moved their two children, Sarah and Abraham, from Hodgenville, Kentucky to a 160-acre farm in southern Indiana. The future-President Abraham Lincoln lived there 14 years until he turned 21 and the family relocated to Illinois. In 1818, his mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of milk poisoning because a dairy cow had eaten white snakeroot plant, and visitors can learn more about the poison tremetol in the Memorial Visitor Center and stop at her memorial stone in the pioneer cemetery (although her exact burial place is unknown).

Highlights

Museum, film, Abraham Lincoln Hall, U.S. Post Office, cemetery, spring, Living Historical Farm, Cabin Site Memorial

Must-Do Activity

Start at the Memorial Visitor Center to visit the museum inside and use the U.S. Post Office if needed. If the weather is nice, take a walk past the pioneer cemetery to the Cabin Site Memorial where a bronze casting of sill logs and the fireplace hearthstones are at the site of the Lincoln’s cabin begun in 1829. The Living Historical Farm has costumed interpreters in the summer that depict homestead life at an authentic cabin and several outbuildings that were moved here from other parts of Indiana.

Best Trail

It is about one mile roundtrip to walk from the museum to the Living Historical Farm and then return on the Trail of Twelve Stones. There is a parking area closer to the Cabin Site Memorial, if you do not wish to walk the entire way. The Boyhood Nature Trail offers an additional one-mile loop through the forest.

Instagram-worthy Photo

The five relief panels on the outside of the Memorial Visitor Center were created from Indiana limestone by E.H. Daniels to depict different periods in Abraham Lincoln’s life. The building was constructed in the 1940s by the state of Indiana and given to the National Park Service when they took over the site in 1962.

Peak Season

Summer when living history demonstrations occur

Hours

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

Fees

None

Road Conditions

All roads are paved

Camping

There is a campground with running water and RV hookups at adjacent Lincoln State Park.

Related Sites

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park (Kentucky)

Lincoln Home National Historic Site (Illinois)

Lincoln Memorial (District of Columbia)

Hoosier National Forest (Indiana)

Explore More – How many step-siblings did Abraham Lincoln gain when his father wed the widow Sarah Bush Johnston from Kentucky in 1819?

List

Top 10 National Memorials

March 9, 2022 Raven About The Parks 2 Comments

We recently posted about Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and Monument, so now feels like the perfect time to release this Top 10 List. That is the only National Memorial managed by the U.S. Forest Service, but there are 31 in the National Park Service (NPS) system, and it only seems like all of them are in Washington, D.C. where the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Memorial opened in 2021. There are many others not run by the NPS, and we have not been to all of them yet, but these are our favorites. Click here to see all our Top 10 Lists.

10. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (District of Columbia)

Opened in 1997, this series of sculptures is appropriately wheelchair-accessible

9. Fort Caroline National Memorial (Florida)

The original French fort has never been found (and is probably underwater), but you can tour a one-third scale reconstruction of the triangular structure based upon a drawing from 1564

8. General Grant National Memorial (New York)

Often referred to as Grant’s Tomb, this 150-foot tall marble and granite rotunda is the largest mausoleum in North America

7. Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial (Ohio)

This 352-foot tall memorial tower is located on South Bass Island in western Lake Erie

6. Lincoln Memorial (District of Columbia)

This iconic building at the west end of the National Mall receives around 7-million visitors annually

5. Flight 93 National Memorial (Pennsylvania)

As far we are aware, the only National Memorial representing the 21st century

4. Wright Brothers National Memorial (North Carolina)

The brothers’ momentous 12-second flight occurred here on December 17, 1903

3. Coronado National Memorial (Arizona)

There is no statue of Coronado, but there is a steep three-quarter mile trail to a 600-foot long limestone cave

2. Pearl Harbor National Memorial (Hawaii)

The memorial built atop the sunken U.S.S. Arizona is tasteful and beautiful

…and finally our #1 National Memorial:

1. Mount Rushmore National Memorial (South Dakota)

Inspiring during the day, but for the full effect do not miss the Evening Lighting Ceremony offered May through September

Honorable Mentions

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial (District of Columbia)

Washington, D.C. is full of memorials (even the Washington Monument counts), but this one is the most unique

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial (District of Columbia)

Simple yet stunning, this statue of MLK is surrounded by some of his best quotes

Hamilton Grange National Memorial (New York)

Alexander Hamilton’s house is the only memorial built by the person it honors, though it has been moved twice since his death

California

Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and Monument

January 18, 2022 Raven About The Parks 2 Comments

Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and Monument

California

Managed by U.S. Forest Service, Angeles National Forest

353 acres

Website: https://stfrancisdammemorial.org/

Overview

Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and Monument was authorized on March 12, 2019 to commemorate the 431 lives that were lost when an 185-foot-tall concrete gravity dam failed around midnight on the same date 91 years earlier. The death toll is second in the history of California to the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Saint Francis Dam was only two years old when it failed, and other dams from that time period remain in use as part of the Los Angeles aqueduct system. Currently, a California Historical Landmark is located 1.5 miles south at Powerhouse No. 2, but there is nothing developed at the actual site. In 2003 in Santa Paula, a memorial statue was erected featuring two motorcycle officers in honor of two heroes who warned sleeping residents of the impending flood, saving countless lives.

A detailed historical account of the disaster is available on Wikipedia.

Highlights

Ruins of dam, California Historical Landmark #919, Santa Paula Memorial

Must-Do Activity

There are plans to build a National Memorial at the dam, but currently it is a pile of rubble heavily spray-painted by local teenagers. After its fall in 1928, authorities further toppled the structure with dynamite, bulldozers, and jackhammers to discourage sightseers and souvenir hunters. The site is located in a scenic canyon where the leaves were just turning yellow for winter during our mid-November visit. It is less than a mile walk to the site from the unmarked pulloff on the east side of San Francisquito Canyon Road in Angeles National Forest. The pathway is the heavily overgrown original roadbed that was abandoned after a storm in 2005 and it reeked of urine. It will be interesting to see how the Forest Service cleans up the area in the future.

Best Trail

There is no official trail, and it is quite a steep drop from the paved remnants of old San Francisquito Canyon Road to the actual rubble pile down at creek level.

Instagram-worthy Photo

The dam disaster site is not much to look at right now, but there are some angles where you can avoid getting graffiti in your photo.

Peak Season

Spring and fall

Fees

None

Road Conditions

San Francisquito Canyon Road is paved, but exercise caution as there is currently no sign for the parking areas nor is there a turn lane on this high-speed two-lane highway.

Camping

There are numerous Forest Service campgrounds in the area, with Spunky Canyon and South Portal being the closest to the north.

Related Sites

Santa Gabriel Mountains National Recreation Area (California)

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (California)

Sand to Snow National Monument (California)

Nearest National Park

Channel Islands (California)