National Park — Page 2

Thanks, Teddy!

April 21, 2012 by admin

If you’re as big a fan of America’s national parks as Tavish the Intrepid Pup, then National Park Week is like having Christmas, a birthday, and the 4th of July all rolled into one. In 2012 National Park Week runs from April 21 through April 29. Jointly promoted by the National Park Service (NPS) and the National Park Foundation—the parks’ official charity—National Park Week collectively celebrates the 84 million acres preserved as “America’s best idea” by offering free admission to all 397 national park sites throughout the country. To be fair, more than 250 of these are free year-round, but in going fee free system-wide for a week, cost simply can’t be an excuse for not visiting a national park. So, in the spirit of Intrepid Pup: “Come! Adventures Await.”©

Throughout the week, Intrepid Pup will highlight various NPS sites he’s visited recently, so check back often! In the meantime, we’re starting with the Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial because, seriously, where better to step off National Park Week than the place dedicated to the guy who first made the environment and national parks central to domestic policy?

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) became the the youngest man to ascend to the U.S. presidency, taking over when President McKinley’s term ended prematurely with an assassin’s bullet. While Roosevelt can’t lay claim to designating Yellowstone the country’s first national park (President Grant had that honor in 1872) or even to establishing the National Park Service (President Wilson got the credit in 1916), he arguably did more to shape the tenor of American resource conservation than any president before or since. During Roosevelt’s 1901-1909 tenure as the 26th president of the United States, he created five national parks and established the U.S. Forest Service. With the passage of the 1906 Antiquities Act he provided the precedent and legislative vehicle for presidents to protect historically significant sites as National Monuments…of which he then personally authorized 18. All told, among national forests, parks, game preserves, bird reservations and national monuments Roosevelt amassed a legacy of preserving a staggering 230 million acres of public land.

To visit Roosevelt Island today is to step onto a sylvan oasis. Wedged between Virginia and the District of Columbia’s banks of the Potomac River, this 88-acre dollop has had a schizophrenic past: Inhabited by 16th-century Native Americans. Overtaken by various colonials in the 18th century. Owned by George Mason (author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights) and later by his son in the early 19th century for entertaining high society in a summer house built upon its ridge. Utilized by the 1st U.S. Colored Troops as a Civil War mustering ground in 1863. Cherished as a safe haven for escaped and freed slaves fleeing the South between May 1864 and June 1865.

The Roosevelt connection didn’t come until the 1930s, when the Theodore Roosevelt Association acquired the island and promptly transferred title to the National Park Service. Initial efforts to create the only capital-area memorial to Roosevelt involved the Civilian Conservation Corps removing invasive vegetation and planting nearly 20,000 native trees. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870-1957) was enlisted to come up with an overall design. Various issues hampered progress, including World War II, and the project wasn’t resumed until the 1960s. Though Olmsted had passed away in the intervening years, many of his original ideas like a Memorial Plaza and foot trails survived the final plan put forth by Eric Gugler (1889-1974). Paul Manship (1885-1966)—perhaps better remembered for his Prometheus Fountain in New York City’s Rockefeller Center—designed the 17-foot bronze statue of Roosevelt ultimately dedicated on the site in 1967.

In Tavish’s visits to the island, we invariably begin at the expansive Memorial Plaza where Roosevelt stands at the far end, backed by a 30-foot granite shaft, right arm raised above his head as if he were in the midst of an animated speech. Four 21-foot granite tablets bear Roosevelt quotations under the headings of Nature, Manhood, Youth, and The State. Three trails (Swamp, Woods, and Upland) radiate from the plaza; none are longer than 1.3 miles. Except for a traffic helicopter’s shadow raking through the tree canopy or the dull roar of a Dc-9 following the river southward on its final approach to Ronald Reagan-Washington National Airport, you’d never believe you’re so close to the city. Don’t go expecting dazzling waterfront views; for most of the year, heavy foliage occludes shoreline panoramas of the Kennedy Center, the Watergate and Georgetown. The Potomac River is tidal but it’s fresh water that infiltrates the marshland skirting the Swamp Trail’s boardwalk. On our most recent jaunt yesterday, yellow irises were in bloom. Low tide had temporarily marooned minnows in the shallows. We spotted numerous marsh birds and encountered three deer grazing on green tendrils mere feet from the boardwalk. Two salamanders basking in the sun skittered away when we approached.

Roosevelt Island is one of five NPS sites—if you don’t count his visage on Mount Rushmore—specifically honoring our 26th President. (Intrepid Pup bonus points if you can name the others! Answers are below.*) In hiking the island, Roosevelt’s foresight for preserving parkland is readily appreciated. As one of his quotations chiseled in the nearby stone states:

“The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets
which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value.”

Thanks, Teddy!

Dogging the Details

38°53′50.70″N, 77°3′50.22″W
Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial, Virginia

By car, one can only reach the parking lot for Roosevelt Island from the northbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The lot serves as a trailhead for runners and cyclists on more far-flung journeys along the Mount Vernon and Potomac Heritage Trails. Though most who park here likely never cross the pedestrian bridge onto the island, the grounds nonetheless attract a fair share of walkers and joggers. Dogs are permitted on the island but must be on a 6-foot leash at all times. As always, pick up after your dog. Trash receptacles are understandably sparse along the island’s trails but are abundant in the parking area.

Be aware that low-lying areas of the island flood easily, and sections of trail are seasonally boggy or otherwise closed. Consult the bulletin board on the island side of the pedestrian bridge for current trail info. Bear right and make the first left uphill to view the Memorial Plaza; otherwise stay right to embark on the Swamp Trail that encircles the island. The Island scores a “1” on the Intrepid Pup Wag-a-Meter for its easy hiking.

*The other four Roosevelt-related NPS sites are Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota), the Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site (New York City), Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (Oyster Bay, NY), and the Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site (Buffalo, NY).

Filed Under: Cultural Heritage, National Memorial, National Park, Nature, Statue, Wag-A-Meter=1 Tagged With: 1906 Antiquities Act, 1st U.S. Colored Troops, Civil War, Civilian Conservation Corps, dog, Eric Gugler, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr, George Mason, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Grant, hiking, Inaugural, intrepid pup, island, McKinley, National Park, National Park Foundation, National Park Service, National Park Week, NPS, park, Paul Manship, Potomac River, president, Roosevelt Birthplace, Sagamore Hill, statue, Tavish, Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Association, Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial, trail, Virginia, vizsla, Wag-a-meter=1, Wilson

“Knowledge is the Prime Need of the Hour”: Women’s History Month and Mary McLeod Bethune

March 30, 2012 by admin

Every March the United States officially observes Women’s History Month—an outgrowth of both International Women’s Day and, in 1981, a congressional resolution for a “Women’s History Week.” In recent years the month has been ascribed a theme, with March 2012’s being “Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment.”

One who personified this theme through her own works was Mary McLeod Bethune (1875 – 1955), daughter of former slaves, educator, key political influencer, and founder of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) in 1935. The Intrepid Pup recently visited two sites, both in the nation’s capital under the aegis of the National Park Service, to learn more.

The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House is tucked within a row of stately townhomes in a residential section of northwest Washington off Logan Circle. For the price of $15,500 in 1943, the property became not only Bethune’s residence but also the official headquarters for the NCNW. The site has been administered by the Park Service since 1994. On the day of our visit, we were welcomed by a college undergraduate serving in the Park Service’s Student Career Experience Program. She invited us first to listen to a recording of Bethune speaking at an event in 1955 just a few months prior to her death. Hearing Bethune’s actual voice was a good introduction to someone we previously knew very little about, and it gave us the impression of a strong yet humble woman with a commanding presence. The ranger gave a brief orientation on the highlights of the home’s history, encouraging us to explore the rooms and interpretive displays on the first two floors. She checked on us several times to answer our questions. We had the house to ourselves that weekend afternoon. Just beyond the reach of the tour bus throngs on the National Mall, this historic site is not a high-traffic destination. Yet contributing to its appeal is the very fact that in providing a personal, intimate experience it is in marked contrast with its crowded counterparts. Our knowledge and appreciation of Bethune expanded exponentially as we uncovered details about her upbringing in poverty and perseverance in starting Florida’s Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls (now Bethune-Cookman University) in 1904 fueled only by desire and $1.50. It seems fitting that today the university offers a master’s degree program in transformative leadership. It was also fascinating to learn of Bethune’s role in championing African American women’s involvement in the war effort and of her official capacities in the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman administrations.

About a mile and half away from the Council House as the crow flies is Bethune in monumental form. Sculpted in bronze by New York artist Robert Berks (1922-2011), the statue grouping emphasizes Bethune as educator, literally and figuratively imparting her legacies to a boy and girl. Around the base are inscribed excerpts from her last will and testament which Bethune also holds in her outstretched left hand. The oft-repeated refrain “I leave you…” is completed by such powerful concepts as “hope”, “a thirst for education,” and “racial dignity.” The monument itself has an interesting history. It’s located in Lincoln Park 11 blocks due east of the U. S. Capitol Building. Book-ending the rectangular plot of open space maintained by the Park Service are the Bethune memorial and, sited directly opposite, the famous Freedmen’s Memorial Monument to Abraham Lincoln (also known as the “Emancipation Grouping”) which was paid for entirely by freed slaves and sculpted by Thomas Ball in 1875. The original intent had been for the dedication of a Bethune memorial to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1963, but the entire project was delayed. With funding from the NCNW, the Bethune monument was ultimately unveiled in 1974 on what would have been Bethune’s 99th birthday. Adding the Bethune memorial to the park also resulted in turning the Freedman’s Memorial 180 degrees so the two groupings would face each other.

If the Bethune memorial’s roughly faceted, somewhat abstract style looks familiar, it’s because Robert Berks sculpted several high-profile pieces. In DC alone, one can most readily see other examples of his handiwork in the 22-foot seated Albert Einstein memorial (1979) outside the National Academy of Sciences and in the 8-foot, 3000-pound bronze bust of John F. Kennedy (1971) gracing the Grand Foyer of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In a city dotted with literally hundreds of statues, monuments, and memorials, Berks’ Bethune sculpture represented the first honoring a woman (let alone an African American woman) installed on public park land in the nation’s capital.

Dogging the Details

38°54′29.31″N, 77° 1′50.29″W
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, Washington, DC

38°53′23.19″N, 76°59′21.13″W
Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial, Lincoln Park, Washington, DC

There is no fee charged to explore the Bethune Council House. While dogs understandably aren’t allowed inside, the neighborhood itself has sidewalks and is great for dog-walking.

Lincoln Park is exceptionally dog-friendly and what earns this Bethune-themed expedition a “2” on the Wag-a-meter. In fact, the park’s entire center concourse is basically one big unfenced and very popular dog run. So long as your dog plays well with others, it’s among the top spots to rub noses with the canine denizens of Capitol Hill. During our visit, Tavish encountered 3 weimaraners, a doberman, a rottweiler, a basset hound, a Wheaton terrier, a miniature greyhound, a Boston terrier, and a shepherd mix.

Important to note is that Lincoln Park is not an officially-designated city dog park. There are trash cans, but bring your own your poly bags to clean up after your dog.

Filed Under: Historic Home, National Historic Site, National Park, Statue, Wag-A-Meter=2 Tagged With: Bethune-Cookman University, bronze, Capitol Hill, Council House, dog, dog park, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, historic site, intrepid pup, Lincoln Park, Logan Circle, Mary McLeod Bethune, National Council of Negro Women, National Park, National Park Service, presidents, Robert Berks, statue, Tavish, vizsla, Wag-a-meter=2, Washington DC, Women's History Month

The View from Cedar Hill

February 28, 2012 by admin

February is Black History Month, and the Intrepid Pup wants to share a true gem of the National Park Service: the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. The house, known as Cedar Hill for the preponderance of cedar trees on the 9.75 acres, was the residence of an aging Frederick Douglass from 1877 until his death in 1895. This handsome estate in southeast Washington, DC’s Anacostia neighborhood sits atop a promontory commanding a truly magnificent panorama of the capital city and is a site tourists should venture beyond the National Mall to see.

For those only familiar with Douglass (c. 1818 – 1895) from his 1845 autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, a visit to Cedar Hill takes the longer view, providing a more comprehensive treatment of Douglass’s life and legacy. A 17-minute introductory video, “Fighter for Freedom,” in the adjacent National Park Service visitor center chronicles Douglass’s childhood in slavery in Maryland and eventual escape to New York, marriage to free black Anne Murray, rise as a distinguished orator in the anti-slavery movement both in the United States and abroad, and continuing influence during the Civil War, Reconstruction Era, and women’s suffrage and civil rights movements. The only way to access the historic home is via a ranger-led, 30-minute tour, for which a nominal ticket fee is charged. Photography is permitted inside the house so long as it’s without a flash.

On the day of our visit, we had an exceptionally knowledgeable and engaging young ranger. He deftly hit the highlights of Douglass’s public life but also gave insights into Douglass’s more personal side, pointing out Douglass’s extensive library, the violin he played, and the free weights he used to maintain his personal fitness. Referencing the various portraits throughout the house, the park ranger expounded upon Douglass’s social circle and relationships with abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and John Brown; Presidents Lincoln, Grant, Hayes and Harrison; Underground Railroad champion Harriet Tubman; and abolitionist and suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. He explained the importance of Douglass’s family life and—after wife Anne’s death in 1882—controversial second marriage in 1884 to Helen Pitts, a white woman and women’s rights activist and publisher. And we learned-lesser known details, such as Douglass’s appointments as Charge’ d’Affaires for Santo Domingo and as Minister to Haiti. Before departing, we checked out the rustic outbuilding at the rear of the property. It’s a reconstruction of Douglass’ self-proclaimed “Growlery.” Evocative of a lion’s lair, it served as Douglass’ personal retreat for writing and study.

Dogging the Details

38°51’48.53″ N, 76°59’6.66″W
Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Washington, DC

Cedar Hill ranks a 1 on the Wag-A-Meter for its ease in being able to experience.

This National Park Historic Site has ample free parking. Dogs are not allowed inside the visitor center or house but are welcome on the grounds so long as they remain on leash. A ticket is not required for strolling the grounds and taking in that fabulous view! Summers in the nation’s capital are hot and humid, so if you’re coming then, be sure to bring along water for your dog.

There’s a steep set of 85 stairs from the visitor center to the house itself; an alternate route is via a slightly less steep but winding access route that passes a landscaped garden and comes out adjacent to the Growlery.