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Arizona

Pipe Spring National Monument

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Pipe Spring National Monument

Arizona

Managed by National Park Service

Established 1923

40 acres

Website: nps.gov/pisp

Overview

Near the Utah border, Pipe Spring National Monument is located near the turn off from Highway 389 for Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument and the remote Toroweap Overlook in western Grand Canyon National Park.  Likewise, it is only 60 miles from Utah’s famous Zion National Park, so it makes a good stopping point if you are also visiting Kaibab National Forest or the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  The oasis surrounding the three natural springs here demonstrate what this soil can produce when given a little bit of extra water.  Ancestral Puebloans and Kaibab Paiute Indians have been coming here for over 1,000 years and it was an important stop on the Old Spanish Trail.  In 1858, Pipe Spring was named by Mormon/Latter-day Saint missionary Jacob Hamblin on his way to the Hopi mesas.  Following the 1866 Black Hawk War, Mormon settlers built a sandstone fort called Winsor Castle around the source of the main spring where polygamists used to hide their plural wives before selling the ranch in 1895.  Today this park on the secluded Arizona Strip is recognized by the International Dark Sky Association.

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments. It is now available for sale on Amazon.com.

Highlights

Museum, film, garden, ponds, Winsor Castle

Must-Do Activity

Retention ponds keep Pipe Spring National Monument green in the hot summer months where ducks paddle and dragonflies buzz through the humid air.  The National Park Service manages a garden with living history demonstrations given occasionally, plus there is livestock including chickens and two longhorns.  When a ranger is present, you can walk around inside Winsor Castle, a Mormon fort that dates back to 1870.  If you visit during the summer, we recommend you cool off after some time outside by watching the short film and exploring the museum and gift shop.  The museum is co-managed with the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians whose reservation surrounds the site. On December 7, 2024, the park was open late for the Holiday Traditions event with caroling, Victorian-era crafts, and free food.

Best Trail

The half-mile Ridge Trail leads uphill to an overlook of the Kaibab Plateau and distant Mt. Trumbull in Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument.

Photographic Opportunity

The modest dimensions of Winsor Castle make it unlikely to be confused with Windsor Castle in England.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

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

Fees

$10 per person or America the Beautiful pass

Road Conditions

There is a paved parking lot located off Highway 389.

Camping

The Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians runs a small campground adjoining Pipe Spring National Monument.  Dispersed camping is allowed in Kaibab National Forest and the millions of acres run by the Bureau of Land Management on the Arizona Strip.

Related Sites

Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)

Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument (Arizona)

Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument (Arizona)

The natural spring is captured here inside Winsor Castle
Visitor center
Theater where the park film is shown

Explore More – Which indigenous tribes banded together during the 1866 Black Hawk War?

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments

Florida

Fort Matanzas National Monument

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Fort Matanzas National Monument

Florida

Managed by National Park Service

Established 1924

300 acres

Website: nps.gov/foma

Overview

After a failed American settlement by persecuted French Protestants (Huguenots) in 1562, two years later a group of 200 soldiers, artisans, and a few women established a colony at the mouth of the St. Johns River (east of present-day Jacksonville, Florida).  Led by René de Goulaine de Laudonnière, they hurriedly assembled the triangular Fort Caroline, named for King Charles IX.  In 1565, Jean Ribault arrived with 600 more settlers and soldiers.  After learning the Catholic Spanish had established a base to the south at St. Augustine, Ribault set sail for a surprise attack, only to be shipwrecked by a hurricane.  The unprotected Fort Caroline was easily captured by the Spanish, who executed 140 of its 200 inhabitants.  The Spanish then killed nearly 250 French marooned at Matanzas Inlet, which gained its name from these “slaughters.”  Following a British siege in 1740, the Spanish began construction of Fort Matanzas on Rattlesnake Island to guard the southern entrance to the city of St. Augustine where they had built Castillo de San Marcos.  Only two years later, Fort Matanzas’ cannons successfully repelled British ships and today you can take a free ferry to tour inside the restored 50-foot-square structure.

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments. It is now available for sale on Amazon.com.

Highlights

Museum, film, boat ride, Fort Matanzas, Nature Trail

Must-Do Activity

We have tried three times to visit the fort here, but in 2016, 2019, and 2024 the dock was damaged by a hurricane so the National Park Service (NPS) ferry was not running to Rattlesnake Island.  Good news is there is an eight-minute film and you can see the small fort from the visitor center.  There are also hiking trails, boardwalks, and sandy beaches to explore at the southern tip of Anastasia Island, which are accessible by car.  Only 40 miles to the north, the NPS administers Fort Caroline National Memorial as a unit of Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, where you can enter a one-third scale reconstruction of the triangular structure (and no ferries are involved). 

Best Trail

The half-mile Coastal Hammock Trail has signs introducing some of the tree and shrub species found in the maritime forest.

Photographic Opportunity

Southern live oak trees stretch their twisted branches above the picnic area in the parking lot of the visitor center.

Peak Season

Spring

Hours

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

Fees

The visitor center, trails, and NPS ferry are free, but there is a parking fee for beach access on the Atlantic Ocean side across Highway A1A from the visitor center entrance road.

Road Conditions

The road to the parking lot is paved from Highway A1A.

Camping

The NPS does not run a campground, but Anastasia State Park does south of St. Augustine.

Related Sites

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (Florida)

Fort Caroline National Memorial (Florida)

Canaveral National Seashore (Florida)

View of Fort Matanzas from the visitor center
Tiff at the ferry dock, which was closed… again
Visitor center
Video shown inside the visitor center

Explore More – What species of endangered sea turtles nest on the barrier islands protected within Fort Matanzas National Monument?

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments

California

Tule Lake National Monument

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Tule Lake National Monument

California

Managed by National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Established 2008

1,391 acres

Website: nps.gov/tule

Overview

Following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the detention of more than 110,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese descent at ten concentration camps in the contiguous United States.  At Tule Lake War Relocation Center, 7,400 acres were enclosed by barbwire to hold about 12,000 people in northeast California.  Once a loyalty questionnaire was distributed throughout the ten camps, those considered disloyal to the U.S. government were all shipped to the renamed Tule Lake Segregation Center, which held 18,789 inmates at its peak.  Overcrowding, harassment, beatings, and a fatal farm accident led to riots and mass demonstrations, and martial law was declared from November 13, 1943 to January 15, 1944.  This camp was the last to be closed on March 20, 1946, months after the end of the war.  It was named a National Historic Landmark in 2006, and two years later became one of nine sites within World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument (which included Pearl Harbor National Memorial).  When that was disbanded in 2019, Tule Lake National Monument was created.

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments. It is now available for sale on Amazon.com.

Highlights

Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum, Tule Lake Segregation Center prison

Must-Do Activity

Most of the buildings at Tule Lake Segregation Center were moved elsewhere following the war.  One of the few remaining structures is the prison, which is only accessible on ranger-guided tours offered Memorial Day to Labor Day on Thursdays through Sundays (call ahead for required reservations).  The concrete jail had six cells to hold 24 men, but incarcerated over 100 at one time mostly outside in Army tents used as unheated punishment quarters.  The prison is always visible from the National Park Service (NPS) visitor center off Highway 139.  It is worth getting a tour to go inside to see original graffiti from inmates and the reinstalled metal doors that were purchased by a private citizen in the 1940s and kept at their farm for decades.  Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum (fee) has a one-hour audio tour and there are online virtual tours that show several sites within Tule Lake National Monument, including the inside of the jail prior to the restoration.

Best Trail

There are no designated trails there, but from the NPS visitor center near Newell you can photograph the rock formation known as Peninsula/Castle Rock (solely managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).  It is also visible while checking out the rock art at Petroglyph Point within Lava Beds National Monument.

Photographic Opportunity

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was stationed at Camp Tulelake from 1935 to 1942, constructing 23 buildings and repairing canals.  Several small groups of Japanese Americans were held at Camp Tulelake to separate them from the general population at Tule Lake Segregation Center.  Later in the war, Italian and German POWs were stationed there before the buildings were transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Currently, tours of Camp Tulelake are not available due to ongoing preservation work, but you can photograph it through the fence on Hill Road and hike to bird viewing blinds in Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

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

Fees

Ranger-guided tours require a reservation, but they are free.  There is an entrance fee for the museum at Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds.

Road Conditions

Highway 139 and Hill Road are paved, but most of the roads through the former Tule Lake Segregation Center and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge are unpaved.

Camping

Indian Well Campground is located in Lava Beds National Monument near the visitor center and Cave Loop Road.  Dirt roads in the nearby Modoc and Klamath National Forests provide free dispersed camping.

Related Sites

Manzanar National Historic Site (California)

Minidoka National Historic Site (Idaho-Washington)

Amache National Historic Site (Colorado)

Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum
Tiff at Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum
Tulelake-Butte Valley Fairgrounds Museum
Peninsula/Castle Rock
Crop duster
Tiff walking to the prison
Inside the prison
Historic graffiti
Historic graffiti in Japanese
NPS visitor center
Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge map
Reflections on Tule Lake

Explore More – Providing crucial habitat along the Pacific Flyway, what type of migratory birds can be seen at Tule Lake, Clear Lake, and Modoc National Wildlife Refuges?

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments

Arizona

Navajo National Monument

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Navajo National Monument

Arizona

Managed by National Park Service

Established 1909

360 acres

Website: nps.gov/nava

Overview

Navajo National Monument was created to protect the Keet Seel ruin on the Navajo Nation, although the Ancestral Puebloan people who lived here in the 1200s are more closely related to the Hopi and Zuni.  Three years later, the ruins at Betatakin and Inscription House (closed to the public) were added to the National Monument. We had such a great visit that we had to add it to his list of Top 10 National Monuments. 

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments. It is now available for sale on Amazon.com.

Highlights

Tsegi Point Overlook, museum, film, Sandal Trail, Keet Seel overnight trip

Must-Do Activity

During the pandemic, the National Park Service (NPS) closed all access to the ruins until 2023, but visitors can now reserve spots on the 20-person ranger-led backpacking trips to Keet Seel that are offered twice per month in the summer.  This strenuous trip covers 17 miles total with numerous stream crossings and all water must be carried in.  The hardest part is at the end, when a 1,000 foot climb awaits, but it is worth it to be one of the few who get to see Keet Seel, the 150-room ruin that is second in size only to Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park.  You also get to eat lunch at a surprisingly large waterfall in Keet Seel Canyon.  For those looking for a shorter five-mile trip with only 580 feet elevation change, weekend day hikes to Betatakin are led by park rangers (sign up the day before on a first-come, first-served basis).

Best Trail

From the NPS visitor center (which is actually on Navajo land outside the National Monument boundary), the paved Sandal Trail follows the canyon rim to an overlook of the Betatakin cliff dwelling.  There are signs explaining the local plant species and their uses by indigenous people on the 1.3-mile out-and-back trail.  The 0.8-mile roundtrip Aspen Trail and 0.8-mile Canyon View Trail also leave from the visitor center.

Photographic Opportunity

Outside the visitor center, a replica sweathouse and male hogan are on display, plus examples of three-toed dinosaur footprints left in the sandstone.  Inside the visitor center, pottery and an example of a family dwelling are on display, plus a short introductory film is offered.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

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

Fees

None

Road Conditions

Highway 564 is paved to the visitor center and Sunset View Campground, then a good dirt road leads to the Canyon View Campground and gated trailhead for ranger-led hikes to Betatakin and Keet Seel.

Camping

The free Sunset View Campground has running water and is one of the nicest campgrounds in the entire NPS system (now added to the Top 10 National Park Campgrounds with Running Water).  There are vault toilets at Canyon View Campground, which is also free.  Campers are limited to a total of seven nights per year at the campgrounds.

Related Sites

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site (Arizona)

Canyon de Chelly National Monument (Arizona)

Walnut Canyon National Monument (Arizona)

Raven flying through Betatakin
Sunset View Campground is free and has running water
Inside visitor center
Guided backpacking tour to Keet Seel
Keet Seel
Keet Seel
Sunset from Sunset View Campground

Explore More – When was the large white fir tree added above the main entrance to Keet Seel cliff dwelling?

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments

List

Top 10 National Park Service Sites for Living History

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Parks Canada is all about costumed interpreters pretending to be from a specific time period, like the Vikings at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and the fur traders at Fort Langley, British Columbia.  However, in the U.S., the National Park Service (NPS) has decreased the presence of living history reenactors over recent decades.  In March 2024, Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site near La Junta, Colorado announced it was removing its costumed interpreters except on specific weekends, similar to the Civil War sites like Gettysburg National Military Park (neighboring Eisenhower National Historic Site also has living history weekends commemorating World War I and II).  There are still blacksmiths to be found at some NPS sites and weapons demonstrations at others, but private museums are the main place to find this type of interpretation today in the U.S.  So we decided to make a list of NPS sites where you can still travel back in time.  Please let us know if you have any favorites that we left off.  Click here to see all our Top 10 lists.

10. Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (Washington)

Reconstructed buildings include the bakehouse, blacksmith shop, chief factor’s house, fur store, and bastion with costumed reenactors inside

9. New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park (Louisiana)

Park rangers play concerts at the New Orleans Jazz Museum

8. Fort Laramie National Historic Site (Wyoming)

Order a sarsaparilla at the bar at this significant stop on the Oregon Trail (come on the 4th of July for sack races, cannon firing demonstrations, and fireworks)

7. Lowell National Historical Park (Massachusetts)

Watch working textile machinery inside the old Boott Cotton Mills

6. Fort Larned National Historic Site (Kansas)

The soldiers, blacksmith, schoolteacher, commissar, and officers’ wives love to share stories of this extraordinary place on the Santa Fe National Historic Trail

5. Golden Spike National Historical Park (Utah)

Colorfully reconstructed train engines run daily in the summer to evoke the spirit of May 10, 1869

4. Grand Portage National Monument (Minnesota)

Rendezvous with costumed reenactors who demonstrate canoe building, bread baking, and weapons firing at this reconstructed North West Company headquarters on Lake Superior

3. Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (Florida)

If you do not want to pay the admission fee to enter the fort, you can still watch the cannon-firing demonstrations atop its corner bastion for free from outside the moat

2. Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Ohio)

Stop at the Canal Exploration Center at working Lock 38, experience living history at Hale Farm and Village (fee), and board the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad for a train ride

…and finally our #1 National Park Service Sites for living history:

1. Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site (Montana)

All things “cowboy” are remembered here with volunteer interpreters roaming on horseback

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Honorable Mentions

Colonial National Historical Park (Virginia)

Next door to the NPS site is Jamestowne Settlement with reenactors at the Powhatan Indian Village, fort, and three reproduction ships (plus, don’t miss nearby Colonial Williamsburg, the national capital of living history)

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (North Carolina)

Step inside the NPS visitor center’s Elizabethan Room, then buy tickets for “The Lost Colony” outdoor musical performed most nights throughout the summer (there is also a musical held outside Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota)

Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site (District of Columbia)

Live theater is still performed at this infamous site of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination (but they officially will never stage the play “My American Cousin” that Abe was watching that night)

Boston National Historical Park (Massachusetts)

The NPS does not utilize costumed volunteers, but you can hire a guide who does, plus pay to participate in your own tea party by chucking replica bundles into Boston Harbor

Jewel Cave National Monument and Wind Cave National Park (South Dakota)

Guided cave tours using lanterns are a fun way to explore underground caverns similar to how tourists did it before the invention of electric lights (also available at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve)