Tag Archives: National Memorial

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)

Explore More – How many billions of gallons of water were released when the St. Francis Dam failed in 1928?

Florida

Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

December 9, 2021 Raven About The Parks 1 Comment

Overview

The Timucuan Indians inhabited northeastern Florida’s coastal wetlands and maritime hammocks when French colonists first arrived in 1562. The settlers constructed Fort Caroline (a National Memorial established in 1950), which the National Park Service (NPS) administers as a unit of Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve (established in 1988). Start your visit at the NPS museum at Fort Caroline National Memorial, which provides information on the indigenous Timucuan, as well as the European colonization efforts. Then you can tour a one-third scale reconstruction of the triangular Fort Caroline based upon a drawing from 1564 by French artist Jacques le Moyne.

Highlights

Fort Caroline, Kingsley Plantation, Theodore Roosevelt Area

Must-Do Activity

The second place the NPS manages a visitor center is at Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island east of Jacksonville, Florida. Established in 1798, it is the oldest remaining plantation house in Florida. Slaves here harvested Sea Island cotton, which is still grown in a small garden alongside indigo, another regional cash crop. Visitors can take a self-guided trail around the property, but tours inside the main plantation house are only offered on weekends and require a reservation.

Best Trail

The 1.5-mile Willie Browne Trail winds through the 600 undeveloped acres at Theodore Roosevelt Area, donated by the trail’s namesake to the Nature Conservancy in 1969. The Spanish Pond Trail connects this trail with Fort Caroline National Memorial.

Instagram-worthy Photo

The tabby walls of 23 of the original 32 slave quarters still stand in a row at Kingsley Plantation.

Peak Season

Winter

Hours

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

Fees

None

Road Conditions

All major roads are paved, but the fastest route between Fort Caroline and Kingsley Plantation is probably via the St. Johns River Ferry.

Camping

The NPS does not have a campground, but nearby Little Talbot Island State Park, Huguenot Memorial Park, and Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park all do.

Fort Matanzas National Monument (Florida)

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (Florida)

Inside the Fort Caroline National Monument visitor center

Explore More – Florida had “relatively liberal” racial policies under Spanish rule, but that changed when it became a U.S. territory in what year?

New York

Hamilton Grange National Memorial

November 11, 2021 Raven About The Parks 2 Comments

Overview

Anyone who has watched the musical Hamilton is familiar with the life story of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton Grange National Memorial is the only National Park Service (NPS) site dedicated to this “founding father.” It is also the only one of 45 National Memorials built by the person it honors. What you may not know is that his historic home in New York City has been moved twice, once in 1889 and again in 2008.

Highlights

Museum, tour, statue at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

Must-Do Activity

The Grange gets its name from the Hamilton family’s ancestral home in Scotland. Built in 1802 on a 32-acre estate in Upper Manhattan, Hamilton only lived there two years before being shot and killed in an infamous duel with Aaron Burr. Today you enter the home through the basement where the NPS runs a museum. Access upstairs is available on guided tours or during daily “open house” hours, but you must leave large items in lockers.

Best Trail

None

Instagram-worthy Photo

The Grange was tucked between St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and an apartment building until 2008 when the NPS moved it to St. Nicholas Park, part of the original 32-acre estate. A statue of Alexander Hamilton still stands where the house resided for more than a century.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

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

Fees

None

Road Conditions

It is easiest not to drive into New York City, instead opt to take public transportation.

Camping

None

Federal Hall National Memorial (New York)

Saint Paul’s Church National Historic Site (New York)

Explore More – After resuming his law practice in 1795, Hamilton represented free and enslaved African Americans and defended a newspaper editor sued for slander by which future president?

Pennsylvania

Flight 93 National Memorial

September 9, 2021 Raven About The Parks 2 Comments

Overview

One of the most emotionally difficult places we have ever visited is the Flight 93 National Memorial in southwest Pennsylvania. Most readers remember the details of September 11, 2001 vividly and the feelings of that day still resonate. Thanks to the courage of the 40 passengers and crew aboard United Flight 93, the airplane crashed only 18 minutes short of its target in Washington, D.C.

Highlights

Museum, Memorial Plaza, Wall of Names

Must-Do Activity

Even if you never saw the Hollywood film, the story of Flight 93 is well known. The National Park Service (NPS) has put together a high-quality museum near the airplane crash site and the memorial itself is simple yet strong. One wall is inscribed with this excellent quote: “A common field one day. A field of honor forever.” The focus is on the bravery of the 33 passengers and seven crew members that stood up to the four hijackers that tragic morning. Since it is essentially a mass grave, the actual crash site is off limits except to family members of the victims, but it is marked by a large boulder visible from the Memorial Plaza. We left after our visit feeling both saddened and empowered.

Best Trail

An allée (formal walkway) leads from the NPS visitor center past the 40 Memorial Groves of trees (planted in 2012) to the Memorial Plaza and the Wall of Names. You can also drive to the parking lot at the visitor shelter next to the Memorial Plaza.

Instagram-worthy Photo

The names of the Flight 93 passengers and crew are on the 40 marble panels of the Wall of Names (the NPS visitor center is visible in the background).

Peak Season

Summer and the September anniversary

Hours

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

Fees

None

Road Conditions

All roads paved

Camping

We camped on state forest land near Stoystown, Pennsylvania.

Related Sites

Johnstown Flood National Memorial (Pennsylvania)

Fort Necessity National Battlefield (Pennsylvania)

Gettysburg National Military Park (Pennsylvania)

Explore More – Where was the United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey bound for on September 11, 2001?

District of Columbia

National Mall

July 8, 2021 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

Part of Pierre L’Enfant’s 1791 design for Washington, D.C., his “grand avenue” was not fully realized until the 1900s when a train station was removed to fully open up two miles of grass between the U.S. Capitol and Lincoln Memorial. Today, America’s front lawn is lined with National Park Service (NPS) monuments and Smithsonian museums. The 2003 Reserve Act declared the National Mall a completed work of civic art and restricted further construction after completion of the World War II Memorial. However, in 2014 the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial was dedicated at its eastern end.

Highlights

Lincoln Memorial, Reflecting Pool, Washington Monument, Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, U.S. Capitol

Must-Do Activity

There is no official visitation count kept for the National Mall, but if there was its 24-million annual visitors would make it the number one busiest site in the entire NPS system. Not far from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where he gave his most famous speech in 1963, is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, one of the numerous NPS sites located here. The National Air and Space Museum is one of several awesome galleries of the Smithsonian Institution, containing Charles Lindbergh’s The Spirit of Saint Louis, an Apollo Lunar Module, and the original Wright Brothers flyer used in 1903. There is so much to see and do, you could easily spend more than a week exploring.

Best Trail

One of the greatest overlooks of the National Mall is from the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (part of George Washington Memorial Parkway), located across the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia. It is a bit of a walk from the National Mall, but the view is especially breathtaking at night.

Instagram-worthy Photo

At some point during your visit, do yourself a favor and come after dark. It is nicely decorated each December (but you might need a tripod for photographs).

Peak Season

Summer, and also weekends during the National Cherry Blossom Festival (March-April)

Hours

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

Fees

None

Road Conditions

As with most NPS sites in Washington, D.C., it is easier to walk or take the Metro than find parking for your car.

Camping

There are no NPS campgrounds in the Washington, D.C. area, so it might be best to head for Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

Related Sites

Lincoln Memorial (District of Columbia)

Constitution Gardens (District of Columbia)

Korean War Veterans Memorial (District of Columbia)

Explore More – The Tidal Basin (home to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial) is considered part of the National Mall, so when were the famous cherry trees (a gift from Japan) planted there?

Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial and Monument

Start your U.S. National Forests, National Parks, and National Monuments adventure here!