Gateway Arch, established in 2018, is one of the newest and smallest National Parks. The arch itself, built on National Park land initially set aside in 1935, has been around since 1967 and stands as a monument to St. Louis, Missouri’s role in the westward expansion of the United States. Visitor Rating (write your own […]
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Category: American Settlement
Tallgrass Prairie
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, created in 1996, is one of the last remaining 4% of the 140 million acres of prairie which once covered 1/3 of North America. Visitor Rating (write your own review below) ILNP Rating ILNP Park Review Our Visit. I visited Tallgrass Prairie NPres in early October as a detour off of […]
Grand Teton
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, established in 1929, is home to the spectacular Rocky Mountain scenery of the Teton range in Northwestern Wyoming. The Tetons boasts craggy peaks, beautiful lakes, forests and plenty of wildlife. Visitor Rating (write your own review below) ILNP Rating Scenery Uniqueness Wildlife Diversity ILNP Park Review In a Word. “Stately” […]
Salinas Pueblo Missions
New Mexico is full of history from many eras. The three ruins sites preserved by Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument offer the visitor a glimpse into the meeting of the Puebloan and Spanish cultures that dates to the 1600s. Visitor Rating (write your own review below) ILNP Rating ILNP Park Review Our Visit. I […]
Pecos
Pecos National Historical Park sits just a couple of miles from the busy I-25 corridor near Glorieta Pass, New Mexico, but it feels like a world apart. Surrounded by juniper forests and mountains, Pecos NHP is a beautiful place, but it’s not its beauty that makes it part of the National Park system. First declared […]
Fort Union
New Mexico is rich in history, and many of its National Park units protect this history, both Native American sites and sites which speak to the United States’ westward expansion. Fort Union was perhaps the most important fort in the Southwest because it not only protected the important Santa Fe Trail, but it was a […]
Tumacácori
Tumacácori National Historical Park in southern Arizona preserves the sites of a handful of Spanish missions and settlements that were part of Spain’s advance into what is now the southwest United States. Named for the O’odham village it was built near, the main site at Tumacácori was preserved as a National Monument by Theodore Roosevelt […]
El Camino Real de los Tejas
El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail, established in 2004, is an historic route through a collection of sites in Texas and Louisiana that preserves the history of the Spanish colonial experience in this area. Extending along 2,500 miles of roads and trails from Mexico to Natchitoches, Louisiana, the El Camino Real de los […]
San Antonio Missions
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park was established in 1978 to protect four remaining Spanish missions in the San Antonio area. Along with the most famous mission, the Alamo, these sites preserve some of the earliest architecture in this area and the efforts of Spain and the Catholic Church to colonize the Native Americans in […]
Natchez Trace
Natchez Trace Parkway, along with the adjacent Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail, is a 444-mile long road maintained by the National Park Service that cuts through Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. It follows the ancient Native American trail that later became an important route used by settlers, traders and armies to link the areas of the […]
Bent’s Old Fort
Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site, Colorado, commemorates an historic 1800s fort and trading post along the Santa Fe Trail in southeastern Colorado. The original 1833 fort was lost to time and wear, but a faithful reproduction was completed in 1976 after the site was declared a National Historic Site in 1960. Visitor Rating (write […]
Santa Fe Trail
The Santa Fe National Historic Trail runs through five states, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico. The route was first scouted in 1792 and opened for trade in 1821. It crossed the vast plains to connect trade between the western U.S. settlements in Missouri and Santa Fe, the northern trade hub of Mexico at […]