Includes 40 maps, for both driving and walking tours, to historical sites in all 50 states. "Features more than 2,500 U.S. historical sites, including: battlefields, wild west towns, colonial villages, historic districts, Indian dwellings, pioneer trails," and more--Cover.
• The top attractions in 76 National Monuments in 11 states (AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY) • Includes 17 national monuments currently under administration review • Features spectacular color photos, maps, trailhead directions, and details about each monument The Guide to Western National Monuments showcases 76 of the nation’s 122 public lands protected by a Presidential decree. These are the best places to visit if you want to hike and camp in spectacular scenery with relatively few people (compared to National Parks). Many of the Monuments contain ancient ruins, pictographs, and petroglyphs that are still in good condition. The Antiquities Act of 1906 gave the President authority to establish National Monuments as an expedient method for protecting natural and historically significant areas in the United States. Theodore Roosevelt designated the first Monument, Devils Tower, and established the long-standing tradition. Many previously-designated Monuments have changed to National Parks or another federal status, while others have been transferred to state control. Nearly half of our current National Parks began as a National Monument. Currently, 23 of the National Monuments--including Bears Ears, Golden Butte, and Giant Sequoia--are under review and may be stripped of their protected status. This guide will help readers understand what may be lost to development.
From New England to Alaska, this 544 page resource is filled with helpful advice, historical background, and practical facts on how to reach scores of park system properties, when to go, and what to do there.
From the north woods of Maine to the cactus-filled deserts of Arizona, America's national monuments include vast lands rivaling the national parks in beauty, diversity, and historical heritage. These critically important landscapes, mostly under the Bureau of Land Management supervision, are often under the radar with limited visitor information available yet offer considerable opportunities for solitude and adventure compared to bustling national parks. The Antiquities Act of 1906 gave Presidents the authority to proclaim national monuments as an expedited way to protect areas of natural or cultural significance. Since then, 16 Presidents have used the Antiquities Act to preserve some of America's most treasured public lands and waters. In 2017, an unprecedented Executive Order was issued questioning these designations by calling for the review of 27 national monuments across 11 states and two oceans, opening the threat of development to vulnerable and irreplaceable natural resources. Our National Monuments introduces these spectacular and unique landscapes, in the first book of its kind. Accompanying the collection of scenic photographs is an invaluable guide including maps of each national monument with carefully selected attractions identified and described based on the author's wide-ranging explorations. Our National Monuments invites readers to experience for themselves these lands and learn about the people and cultures who came before, and to whom these lands are still sacred places. QT Luong is one of the most prolific photographers working in America's public lands and the author of Treasured Lands, the best-selling and acclaimed photography book about the national parks. Combining hundreds of his sumptuously printed photographs with essays from citizen conservation associations caring for these national treasures; including a foreword by former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and photographs of marine national monuments from Ansel Adams award-winning photographer Ian Shive, the comprehensive portrayals of Our National Monuments help readers understand how these essential landscapes are preserving America's past and shaping its future.
From the authors of America’s Holy Ground: 61 Faithful Reflections on Our National Parks. The National Park Service oversees more than the 61 national parks; monuments and historic sites mark where important events in America’s story occurred, protect unique natural landmarks, and remember those who changed history. Brad Lyons and Bruce Barkhauer help you consider how your faith and values are reflected in those treasured places. America’s Holy Sites: 50 Faithful Reflections on Our National Monuments and Historic Landmarks visits an NPS site in each state, considering a unique trait of each place and connecting it to your own life. Courage, mercy, leadership, liberty – these are just a few of the themes you’ll explore on this unique journey. A scripture verse and a trio of questions take your experience deeper.
Profiles fifty sites across the United States that trace the cultural history of the country, discussing the people and events that led to each site's importance, from the National Mall in D.C. to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
Stop, look, and discover—the streets and parks of Manhattan are filled with beautiful historic monuments that will entertain, stimulate, and inspire you. Among the 54 monuments in this volume are major figures in American history: Washington, Lincoln, Lafayette, Horace Greeley, and Gertrude Stein; more obscure figures: Daniel Butterfield, J. Marion Sims, and King Jagiello; as well as the icons of New York: Atlas, Prometheus, and the Firemen's Memorial. The monuments represent the work of some of America's best sculptors: Augustus Saint Gaudens’ Farragut and Sherman, Daniel Chester French’s Four Continents, and Anna Hyatt Huntington’s José Martí and Joan of Arc. Each monument, illustrated with black-and-white photographs, is located on a map of Manhattan and includes easy-to-follow directions. All the sculptures are considered both as historical mementos and as art. We learn of furious General Sherman court-martialing a civilian journalist, and also of exasperated Saint Gaudens’ proposing a hook-and-spring device for improving his assistants' artistic acuity as they help model Sherman. We discover how Lincoln dealt with a vociferous Confederate politician from Ohio, and why the Lincoln in Union Square doesn't rank as a top-notch Lincoln portrait. Sidebars reveal other aspects of the figure or event commemorated, using personal quotes, poems, excerpts from nineteenth-century periodicals (New York Times, Harper's Weekly), and writers ranging from Aeschylus, Washington Irving, and Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi to Mark Twain and Henryk Sienkiewicz. As a historical account, Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide is a fascinating look at figures and events that changed New York, the United States and the world. As an aesthetic handbook it provides a compact method for studying sculpture, inspired by Ayn Rand’s writings on art. For residents and tourists, and historians and students, who want to spend more time viewing and appreciating sculpture and New York history, this is the start of a unique voyage of discovery.
From well-known battlefields, such as Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Appomattox, to lesser-known sites, such as Sinking Spring Cemetery and Rude’s Hill, Sedore leads readers on a vivid journey through Virginia’s Confederate history. Tablets, monoliths, courthouses, cemeteries, town squares, battlefields, and more are cataloged in detail and accompanied by photographs and meticulous commentary. Each entry contains descriptions, fascinating historical information, and location, providing a complete portrait of each site. Much more than a visual tapestry or a tourist’s handbook, An Illustrated Guide to Virginia’s Confederate Monuments draws on scholarly and field research to reveal these sites as public efforts to reconcile mourning with Southern postwar ideologies. Sedore analyzes in depth the nature of these attempts to publicly explain Virginia’s sense of grief after the war, delving deep into the psychology of a traumatized area. From commemorations of famous generals to memories of unknown soldiers, the dead speak from the pages of this sweeping companion to history.