Trip: 6

(Civil War sites, President's homes, western expansion.)

Visited from Oct 3, 2022 to Oct 15, 2022

(Group 18)

I had hoped this trip would catch some great fall weather in the Midwest, and it did just that. The start of the trip was delayed a few days while I watched Hurricane Ian pass safely to the south of my home.

Of the fourteen sites I visited, thirteen were dedicated in some manner to history.

The trip started with two Civil War battlefields. The western theater of the Civil War gets far less attention than the eastern front, but these battles were just as crucial in preserving Missouri's status and maintaining control of the Mississippi.

The homes of three Presidents were scattered across the two-week trip. Perhaps the highlight was in the kitchen of the Truman home, where we could see nails driven into the linoleum flooring to keep it from peeling up, hammered by Bess Truman herself.

The history presented at the Presidential homes was as interesting - perhaps more interesting - than the house itself. This was also true at the ranch house spotlighting Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve and Homestead National Historical Park.

I made my third trip to the top of the Gateway Arch, a truly amazing work of engineering, but not deserving the designation "National Park". National Monument would have been sufficient.

The trip concluded in Ozark National Scenic Riverways, the one purely scenic park I visited. The sky was a deep autumn blue with the leaves just starting to change when I visited. It was a very relaxing stop to end a busy two weeks.

Read my blog entry about this trip.

Park units visited during this trip

Click on any of the parks listed below to see the page specific to that park.

The park page will have my comments about the site, photos and links to both the NPS official page and my blog entry for the park.

The interactive map in the top right of this page shows the location of each unit. You can zoom in and move around on the map. The rectangle icon in the top right will expand the map to full screen. Clicking on any unit in the map will open a small information window. The map and icons on it are based on the same information found in the Google Earth KML files, which you can create and download from the Home page.

• Oct 5, 2022: Wilson's Creek National Battlefield    (Republic, MO)
• Oct 5, 2022: Pea Ridge National Military Park    (Pea Ridge, AR)
• Oct 5, 2022: George Washington Carver National Monument    (Diamond, MO)
• Oct 6, 2022: Fort Scott National Historic Site    (Fort Scott, KS)
• Oct 6, 2022: Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park    (Topeka, KS)
• Oct 7, 2022: Harry S Truman National Historic Site    (Independence, MO)
• Oct 7, 2022: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve    (Strong City, KS)
• Oct 8, 2022: Fort Larned National Historic Site    (Larned, KS)
• Oct 8, 2022: Nicodemus National Historic Site    (Nicodemus, KS)
• Oct 9, 2022: Homestead National Historical Park    (Beatrice, NE)
• Oct 11, 2022: Lincoln Home National Historic Site    (Springfield, IL)
• Oct 12, 2022: Gateway Arch National Park    (Saint Louis, MO)
• Oct 12, 2022: Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site    (Saint Louis, MO)
• Oct 13, 2022: Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park    (Saint Genevieve, MO)
• Oct 13, 2022: Ozark National Scenic Riverways    (Van Buren, MO)

Other parks visited during this trip

The places listed below are not part of the National Park Service's official 431 sites, but were visited during this trip.
Click on a line to see more information about that park along with a link to the park's official web page.

• Nov 15, 2024: Fort Defiance State Park    (Cairo, IL)