You forgot Hohokam Pima National Monument. It’s in the passport book, but you can’t visit there. It never existed. It was authorized as long as the tribes would give up the land or something like that. They still own it. They said no thanks, especially since you would go through private land tribe to get there. You try to contact/call the site you’ll be sent to Casa grande national monument as they supposedly manage it which they don’t. When I worked there, we had an info sheet to give out and we were instructed to say it never existed and you’ll actually be arrested for trespassing if you try to go there which happened to several people. Hard to find correct information online. I recommend you contact Casa grande national Monument for the info they have although the info sheet is a bit old.
So, my understanding is that Hohokam Pima IS an official unit of the National Park System, but like you said, isn't available for visitors. Or at least, that is how it is listed on the NPS website. I believe it's the only National Park Site to hold that distinction. So, I don't think it qualifies for this video since it is an official unit, but that is certainly a very unique management situation! Would love to learn more and talk about that one day
If you look up information, you’ll see it is technically under the ownership of the Gila River Indian reservation (or at least the land ) and they are the ones who decided that it is not open to the public and get to decide. I’m not sure what that legally means but from what I personally understand was that it is not owned by the US park service so can it be considered a park? Was it ever? Or is it considered joint? Might be cool to look into. But yes, it is listed so it’s definitely in a fuzzy zone.
This one should just revert to the tribe in my opinion. They don't want you to access, and there's no reason to believe they will in the near future. If you just drive on the road leading to the "site" you'll be escorted away, I've heard. And BTW I have no problem with this. The way tribes were treated in the past . . . can't blame them.
Oh hey, I've been to Ghost Ranch (which is near where that Georgia O'Keeffe place is, and where she worked in the summer) and it's beautiful. Fortunately still publicly accessible for a reasonable fee. Lots of beautiful hiking.
Was it Ghost Ranch, or her house and studio in Abiquiu, which was proposed for a national park? (Both are nice to visit.) I've heard it pronounced AB-ih-kyu, but maybe someone local can advise.
@@bearcubdaycare I think it was the home and studio. They did make it a National Historic Landmark. She decided not to leave her home and studio to NPS. The O'Keeffe Museum maintains both it and the house at Ghost Ranch which is not open to the public. I was at Ghost Ranch back in 2002. I remember seeing the house from the outside.
There is a little town in Southern New Jersey called National Park, it is obviously not a NP nor will it probably ever be, but it is interesting that there is a Revolutionary War Battle field park nearby, Red Bank Battlefield where the Battle of Fort Mercer was fought on the banks of the Delaware River. I always thought it was a legit National Park when I was a kid and was quite disappointed when I found out it wasn't when I was a teen!
Thanks Steve! I'm excited to get that project off the ground and do some writing. It's kind of my favorite thing to do for the channel lol. I think there's a lot of room for creativity and flexibility with the newsletter, so I hope people like it.
The history of grandfather mountain is fascinating! McRae is a very interesting man. He went from wanting it to be a national park to wanting to build condos on it! They also fully shut down access to the backcountry section for a period in the early 70s due to a string of deaths. Local advocates are the only reason the park is preserved and access into the backcountry is still allowed.
I was in Palm Springs last year, and sadly didn't visit. We did Mt. San Jacinto State Park, San Bernardino NF, and of course Joshua Tree National Park. Luckily, we did do a palm oasis hike and it was absolutely magical. I had never seen anything like that and was completely blown away.
@NationalParkDiaries I also took the tram up to Mt. San Jacinto and there was a snow storm up there while the valley was around 60° ..it was quite the experience.
The climate differences are insane there! I was blown away on our drive from Palm Springs, up through the Santa Rosa Mountains, to the hike we did in San Bernardino NF. Incredible.
@@NationalParkDiaries California State Parks ALREADY does a STERLING job with Mt. San Jacinto, with USFS taking up the slack, with the rest of this mountain range, and the nearby Santa Rosa Mountain Range. Many backpackers will start out using the stupendous revolving tram, to launch their adventures.
Recognised Ft. Benton immediately in the thumbnail! Eastern Montana gets slept on so hard 😢 There's loads to do and see at the fort and the surrounding area. Cheers xx
Have never done Eastern Montana, but we have friends who live there. They love it and I get plenty of recommendations, so I'll have to go visit one day!
I gotta say a number of the parks you mentioned are still being honored/celebrated through State Park's or administered as such through a private entity, i.e., there is still access to the sites. A couple of them seemed rather benign and a good thing they were never brought into the NP system. All in all, except for maybe the Patrick Henry site, I'd say it's o loss, Though after giving some consideration, the Danial Boone sites sure sounds worthy if...
Looks like it was part of the Recreational Demonstration Area program, which indeed is a fascinating part of NPS history! Many of those places were designed and intended to be turned back over to the States, like Fall Creek Falls, but a few stayed on and became their own NPS units, like Catoctin Mountain Park and Prince William Forest Park. I have a whole video about that if you're interested!
@@NationalParkDiaries The Tennessee Conservationist magazine has a great article about it! It basically all boils down to the watershed protection down here. Most of our limestone features make it to where our waterfalls don’t flow year round. What video title was that you mentioned? I feel like I’ve watched all your videos but maybe not 😭you’re great and I appreciate your work!
The Tennessee Conservationist magazine sounds like something I need in my life! Whoops, forgot to mention the video. It's titled "Why Camp David is Located in a National Park." Here's the link: th-cam.com/video/EkgtDwBf6Q8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=iuJjYR64Hvc-UbmX
Enjoyed this video. I’ve been to Ft Boonesborough, Boone’s Station, Bryan Station, & Blue Licks Battlefiled but never knew of the NPS involvement. All are very historically significant, even more so than Cumberland Gap. I had a couple of ancestors who were at Boonesborough in military service & most people don’t realize just how significant these places were in the American Revolutionary War & the conquest of the Northwest Territory. Although many of the battles were with Native Americans, at times they were accompanied by Canadians & led by British officers.
I had never heard of them, or their NPS involvement. I pride myself on knowing a lot about NPS history, but making these videos really shows me all that I've missed. Some really cool places and stories out there!
Here in California, there are several sites of impressive scenic/natural import, that, under DIFFERENT circumstances, would HAVE "made" the cut, to at least become National Monuments, but they ALREADY ARE under splendid management aimed at the best preservational management possible--with unnecessary redundancy implied. 1) Mt. Shasta peak and environs--so far, Private Landowners along with USFS, are doing a splendid job. 2) Lake Tahoe--same story as with Mt. Shasta. 3) Mt. Diablo (Contra Costa County, California)--California State Parks system is already doing STERLING work in protecting the mountain, WHY change its management scheme?? 4) Sunol Regional Wilderness' "Little Yosemite Valley"--this scenic gem, is a Yosemite Valley in MINUATURE. It already receives STERLING protection/preservation, from the East Bay Regional Park District, whose lands are already very extensive throughout the counties that form San Francisco's East Bay shoreline; Alameda, Contra Costa, and portions of Santa Clara, Solano, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus Counties. 5) The province surrounding Mt. Hamilton/Copernicus Peak in Santa Clara County/ Southeasternmost Alameda County/Westernmost Stanislaus County. The scenic values are STUPENDOUS, with the attraction of the University of California, Berkeley remote facility of the Lick Astronomical Observatory, that is sometimes CLOSED to the general public, as it is, primarily a research facility, designed to help Graduate students secure their Doctoral Credentials. Other than this, the surrounding wilderness is locked up by private ownership/ranchers, who are EXTREMELY JEALOUS in even allowing motorists/hikers to traverse lands, that lie just a yard from the main highway's verges. Best if you KEEP MOTORING along, at a STEADY clip! 6) The volcanic zones East of Yosemite National Park. Some folks, COULD advocate that YNP expand its territory to include this province, but WHY do so?? The Bureau of Land Management, in partnership with the United States Forest Service, is already doing a STERLING job of preservation, and they are in consultation with The Bureau of Indian Affairs/ the local Tribal Division of the Paiutes/Shoshones.
I'm an Air Force brat in the DC area. Back when I could get on to Ft Belvoir I've been to the Belvoir Mansion Historic Area. It's a beautiful spot on post.
I have been to Coltsville. The place is currently an apartment complex so don’t expect anything anytime soon. I have also been to Ronald Reagan who proudly will not join the NPS because they don’t want to be funded by the federal government just as Reagan would have wanted. They got a very nice donation from me because it is a charming site, the tour guides are local and take great pride of the home and town, and the tours are free and they deserve good compensation as that tour was better Monticello, FDR, Truman, ect.
One of my local favorite. Ricketts Glen State Park in PA. It was approved site for a National Park in the 1930s sometime. And if i remember right. World War 2 started. And it fell to the State Park System. Waterfall heaven. Ever in the area. The waterfall loop is worth the stop ✌️
The next time I go to Grandfather Mountain, I will give myself more time to hike to the top and not go in the winter when the trail is covered with snow and ice.
Thomas Fairfax? He could have been kin to Sally Fairfax, a ravishing beauty who rebuffed George Washington's unrequited crush upon her. Sorta sad for him, though in the long run, Martha knew how to set the pace for all the following Presidential wives, to be First Ladies.
I suppose some of these would have been interesting to history buffs, but you have to admit they're kinda niche history. Sometimes, states or private foundations are a better fit for sites like that.
I don't know, there's some pretty niche sites in the NPS today as well! That doesn't mean all of sites mentioned in this video should have been part of the NPS, just that I don't think that's necessarily the criteria for judgement. I do agree that states and private foundations can, and are doing, a great job with historic/cultural sites around the country. This video wasn't a value judgement on those management situations at all, just an interesting look at NPS history.
You forgot Hohokam Pima National Monument. It’s in the passport book, but you can’t visit there. It never existed. It was authorized as long as the tribes would give up the land or something like that. They still own it. They said no thanks, especially since you would go through private land tribe to get there. You try to contact/call the site you’ll be sent to Casa grande national monument as they supposedly manage it which they don’t. When I worked there, we had an info sheet to give out and we were instructed to say it never existed and you’ll actually be arrested for trespassing if you try to go there which happened to several people. Hard to find correct information online. I recommend you contact Casa grande national Monument for the info they have although the info sheet is a bit old.
So, my understanding is that Hohokam Pima IS an official unit of the National Park System, but like you said, isn't available for visitors. Or at least, that is how it is listed on the NPS website. I believe it's the only National Park Site to hold that distinction. So, I don't think it qualifies for this video since it is an official unit, but that is certainly a very unique management situation! Would love to learn more and talk about that one day
If you look up information, you’ll see it is technically under the ownership of the Gila River Indian reservation (or at least the land ) and they are the ones who decided that it is not open to the public and get to decide. I’m not sure what that legally means but from what I personally understand was that it is not owned by the US park service so can it be considered a park? Was it ever? Or is it considered joint? Might be cool to look into. But yes, it is listed so it’s definitely in a fuzzy zone.
This one should just revert to the tribe in my opinion. They don't want you to access, and there's no reason to believe they will in the near future. If you just drive on the road leading to the "site" you'll be escorted away, I've heard. And BTW I have no problem with this. The way tribes were treated in the past . . . can't blame them.
@isaacthehungry7210 It's a weird administrative situation for sure! Definitely deserves more attention and looking into.
Oh hey, I've been to Ghost Ranch (which is near where that Georgia O'Keeffe place is, and where she worked in the summer) and it's beautiful. Fortunately still publicly accessible for a reasonable fee. Lots of beautiful hiking.
It’s nice that most of these places are still at least preserved and accessible for the most part despite not making it into the NPS.
I agree!
I've worked at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu. Such a wonderful place. I never knew it almost got that status! Wonderful video 😊
Thanks for watching!
Was it Ghost Ranch, or her house and studio in Abiquiu, which was proposed for a national park? (Both are nice to visit.)
I've heard it pronounced AB-ih-kyu, but maybe someone local can advise.
@@bearcubdaycare I think it was the home and studio. They did make it a National Historic Landmark. She decided not to leave her home and studio to NPS. The O'Keeffe Museum maintains both it and the house at Ghost Ranch which is not open to the public. I was at Ghost Ranch back in 2002. I remember seeing the house from the outside.
@@bearcubdaycare This is the correct pronunciation!
There is a little town in Southern New Jersey called National Park, it is obviously not a NP nor will it probably ever be, but it is interesting that there is a Revolutionary War Battle field park nearby, Red Bank Battlefield where the Battle of Fort Mercer was fought on the banks of the Delaware River. I always thought it was a legit National Park when I was a kid and was quite disappointed when I found out it wasn't when I was a teen!
Signed up for the newsletter! Looking forward to this!
Thanks Steve! I'm excited to get that project off the ground and do some writing. It's kind of my favorite thing to do for the channel lol. I think there's a lot of room for creativity and flexibility with the newsletter, so I hope people like it.
Mystery Flesh Pit erasure
It's pronounced Abby-cue in New Mexico, but dont worry we understand no one can pronounce our city names.
Pojoaque is another good New Mexico Name.
Yeah, I wasn't even getting close to that one lol
@NationalParkDiaries its Poe-Walk-Kay.. Lol
Great information as always! Love listening to you
@@meganstahlberger608 🫶🏻❤️
Thanks for the awesome video and all of the epic content!!!
Thanks, as always, for watching!!
St. Marks is a beautiful area. Never knew it coulda been a contenda'! (River is pronounced Wa-CULL-a). Great video!
I was close on pronunciation then lol. Thanks for watching!
The history of grandfather mountain is fascinating! McRae is a very interesting man. He went from wanting it to be a national park to wanting to build condos on it! They also fully shut down access to the backcountry section for a period in the early 70s due to a string of deaths. Local advocates are the only reason the park is preserved and access into the backcountry is still allowed.
Interesting story for sure. I went once when I was little, but haven't back to the area since. Researching this episode made me want to learn more!
I've been to Indian Canyons in Palm Springs.. it's beautiful. There are a variety of hikes. Worth the entry fee.
I was in Palm Springs last year, and sadly didn't visit. We did Mt. San Jacinto State Park, San Bernardino NF, and of course Joshua Tree National Park. Luckily, we did do a palm oasis hike and it was absolutely magical. I had never seen anything like that and was completely blown away.
@NationalParkDiaries I also took the tram up to Mt. San Jacinto and there was a snow storm up there while the valley was around 60° ..it was quite the experience.
The climate differences are insane there! I was blown away on our drive from Palm Springs, up through the Santa Rosa Mountains, to the hike we did in San Bernardino NF. Incredible.
@@NationalParkDiaries California State Parks ALREADY does a STERLING job with Mt. San Jacinto, with USFS taking up the slack, with the rest of this mountain range, and the nearby Santa Rosa Mountain Range. Many backpackers will start out using the stupendous revolving tram, to launch their adventures.
Recognised Ft. Benton immediately in the thumbnail! Eastern Montana gets slept on so hard 😢 There's loads to do and see at the fort and the surrounding area. Cheers xx
Have never done Eastern Montana, but we have friends who live there. They love it and I get plenty of recommendations, so I'll have to go visit one day!
I gotta say a number of the parks you mentioned are still being honored/celebrated through State Park's or administered as such through a private entity, i.e., there is still access to the sites. A couple of them seemed rather benign and a good thing they were never brought into the NP system. All in all, except for maybe the Patrick Henry site, I'd say it's o loss, Though after giving some consideration, the Danial Boone sites sure sounds worthy if...
Boy, a lot of could have been National Parks/Monuments in the South.
So much history/nature has been lost here. We have a lot of places still preserved, but I always wonder what could have been...
Fall Creek Falls State Park in Tennessee is an interesting almost national park story
Looks like it was part of the Recreational Demonstration Area program, which indeed is a fascinating part of NPS history! Many of those places were designed and intended to be turned back over to the States, like Fall Creek Falls, but a few stayed on and became their own NPS units, like Catoctin Mountain Park and Prince William Forest Park. I have a whole video about that if you're interested!
@@NationalParkDiaries The Tennessee Conservationist magazine has a great article about it! It basically all boils down to the watershed protection down here. Most of our limestone features make it to where our waterfalls don’t flow year round.
What video title was that you mentioned? I feel like I’ve watched all your videos but maybe not 😭you’re great and I appreciate your work!
The Tennessee Conservationist magazine sounds like something I need in my life!
Whoops, forgot to mention the video. It's titled "Why Camp David is Located in a National Park." Here's the link: th-cam.com/video/EkgtDwBf6Q8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=iuJjYR64Hvc-UbmX
Enjoyed this video. I’ve been to Ft Boonesborough, Boone’s Station, Bryan Station, & Blue Licks Battlefiled but never knew of the NPS involvement. All are very historically significant, even more so than Cumberland Gap. I had a couple of ancestors who were at Boonesborough in military service & most people don’t realize just how significant these places were in the American Revolutionary War & the conquest of the Northwest Territory. Although many of the battles were with Native Americans, at times they were accompanied by Canadians & led by British officers.
I had never heard of them, or their NPS involvement. I pride myself on knowing a lot about NPS history, but making these videos really shows me all that I've missed. Some really cool places and stories out there!
Here in California, there are several sites of impressive scenic/natural import, that, under DIFFERENT circumstances, would HAVE "made" the cut, to at least become National Monuments, but they ALREADY ARE under splendid management aimed at the best preservational management possible--with unnecessary redundancy implied. 1) Mt. Shasta peak and environs--so far, Private Landowners along with USFS, are doing a splendid job. 2) Lake Tahoe--same story as with Mt. Shasta. 3) Mt. Diablo (Contra Costa County, California)--California State Parks system is already doing STERLING work in protecting the mountain, WHY change its management scheme?? 4) Sunol Regional Wilderness' "Little Yosemite Valley"--this scenic gem, is a Yosemite Valley in MINUATURE. It already receives STERLING protection/preservation, from the East Bay Regional Park District, whose lands are already very extensive throughout the counties that form San Francisco's East Bay shoreline; Alameda, Contra Costa, and portions of Santa Clara, Solano, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus Counties. 5) The province surrounding Mt. Hamilton/Copernicus Peak in Santa Clara County/ Southeasternmost Alameda County/Westernmost Stanislaus County. The scenic values are STUPENDOUS, with the attraction of the University of California, Berkeley remote facility of the Lick Astronomical Observatory, that is sometimes CLOSED to the general public, as it is, primarily a research facility, designed to help Graduate students secure their Doctoral Credentials. Other than this, the surrounding wilderness is locked up by private ownership/ranchers, who are EXTREMELY JEALOUS in even allowing motorists/hikers to traverse lands, that lie just a yard from the main highway's verges. Best if you KEEP MOTORING along, at a STEADY clip! 6) The volcanic zones East of Yosemite National Park. Some folks, COULD advocate that YNP expand its territory to include this province, but WHY do so?? The Bureau of Land Management, in partnership with the United States Forest Service, is already doing a STERLING job of preservation, and they are in consultation with The Bureau of Indian Affairs/ the local Tribal Division of the Paiutes/Shoshones.
I'm an Air Force brat in the DC area. Back when I could get on to Ft Belvoir I've been to the Belvoir Mansion Historic Area. It's a beautiful spot on post.
That's a rare one! A piece of NPS history that most will never get to see
Have you made a video about Historic Fort Wayne in Detroit ,MI?
I have been to Coltsville. The place is currently an apartment complex so don’t expect anything anytime soon.
I have also been to Ronald Reagan who proudly will not join the NPS because they don’t want to be funded by the federal government just as Reagan would have wanted. They got a very nice donation from me because it is a charming site, the tour guides are local and take great pride of the home and town, and the tours are free and they deserve good compensation as that tour was better Monticello, FDR, Truman, ect.
I think the story behind the proposed "Driftless Rivers National Park" could fill a whole video.
You're definitely right! That's an interesting case for sure, and I have it on my list!
Great vid as per yoozh
Thank you!
One of my local favorite. Ricketts Glen State Park in PA. It was approved site for a National Park in the 1930s sometime. And if i remember right. World War 2 started. And it fell to the State Park System. Waterfall heaven. Ever in the area. The waterfall loop is worth the stop ✌️
The next time I go to Grandfather Mountain, I will give myself more time to hike to the top and not go in the winter when the trail is covered with snow and ice.
Sounds like you just wanted a challenge the first time
@NationalParkDiaries it wouldn't have been so bad if I had known about crampons for hiking to help with the snow and ice.
Thomas Fairfax? He could have been kin to Sally Fairfax, a ravishing beauty who rebuffed George Washington's unrequited crush upon her. Sorta sad for him, though in the long run, Martha knew how to set the pace for all the following Presidential wives, to be First Ladies.
Me: "The presidential parks video didnt do that poorly did i- Ooooooh, oh dear."
So pretty please everyone go watch it
Abiquiu, New Mexico is pronounced Abby-cue
I suppose some of these would have been interesting to history buffs, but you have to admit they're kinda niche history. Sometimes, states or private foundations are a better fit for sites like that.
I don't know, there's some pretty niche sites in the NPS today as well! That doesn't mean all of sites mentioned in this video should have been part of the NPS, just that I don't think that's necessarily the criteria for judgement. I do agree that states and private foundations can, and are doing, a great job with historic/cultural sites around the country. This video wasn't a value judgement on those management situations at all, just an interesting look at NPS history.
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Will you PLEASE make a response to the CRAZY comments trump made on the environment in his Rogan interview??! 🙏