The beauty of the wilderness is a right for every citizen, not a privilege for the few.
— John Muir, Father of the National Parks and an early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States
For the past twelve years, we have visited many of America’s National Parks and Sites and have repeatedly been awestruck by the country’s varied beauty. From the mountains and valleys of Shenandoah in Virginia to the wet prairies of the Everglades in Florida. From the ethereal and diverse landscapes of Big Bend in Southwest Texas to the ordered beauty of Oglethorpe’s squares in Savannah, Georgia. From the anthropomorphic giant saguaros of Arizona to the death-defying climb to Angel’s Landing in Zion, Utah. From the moonlike landscape of the Petrified Forest of Arizona to the still waters of a sunset excursion through Okefenokee in Georgia. From the Badlands of South Dakota to the great Sleeping Bear Dunes of Michigan. From Indigenous archeological sites like the Kolomoki Mounds in Georgia and the prehistoric Big Bone Lick Site in Kentucky to James Deering’s Vizcaya estate in Miami and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, the Tombstone Historic District in Arizona and the Alamo in San Antonio, and the monumental Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. We’ve driven the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Skyline Trail and meandered through Joshua Tree in California and the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina. We’ve walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, through the Garden District in New Orleans, Louisiana, through Hemingway’s houses in Key West, Florida and Petoskey, Michigan, and rode our bikes through the Jekyll Island Historic District in Georgia. And that barely touches the experiences and overwhelming gratitude we have felt at every stop along the way.
Now, if Donald Trump gets his way, they will indeed pave paradise, put up a parking lot, and start drilling for oil and gas in these meant-to-be forever-protected places.
In the words of Theodore Roosevelt:
Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.
There are 63 National Parks and 433 national park sites in the United States. Below are some parks and sites we have visited over the past twelve years and the dates they opened.
Shenandoah, Virginia, December 26, 1935; Everglades, Florida, May 30, 1934;
Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida, October 11, 1974
Big Bend, Texas, June 12, 1944; Savannah Historic District, Georgia
Saguaro, Arizona, October 14, 1994; Zion, Utah, November 19, 1919
Petrified Forest, Arizona, December 9, 1962; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, 1937
Badlands, South Dakota, November 10, 1978; Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan, October 21, 1970
Kolomoki Mounds, Georgia; Big Bone Lick Site, Kentucky; Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Florida; Fallingwater, Pennsylvania; Tombstone Historic District, Arizona; Alamo, Texas; Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, October 31, 1941
Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina; Skyline Drive, Virginia; Joshua Tree, California, October 31, 1994; Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee/North Carolina, June 15, 1934
Edmund Pettus Bridge, Alabama; Garden District, New Orleans, Louisiana; Ernest Hemingway House, Florida; Jekyll Island Historic District, Georgia
Study nature. Love nature. Stay close to nature. It will never fail you.
—Frank Lloyd Wright