Everyone wants to visit Grand Canyon or Yellowstone, but here are seven unheralded NPS sites to explore.
After watching Ken Burns’ 2009 documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, my dearheart wife and I committed ourselves to visiting installations of the National Park Service (NPS). To date, we have been to 106 sites of the NPS across 24 states and the District of Columbia. From Antietam to Zion, from Grand Canyon to Little Rock, and from Pecos to Pu’uhonua o Honanunau, we have taken planes, subways, ferries, and dirt roads to see the story of our country. Each location brings a special memory, which we commemorate with a stamp in our NPS Passport To Your National Parks© and a holiday ornament from the park gift shop.
The release of the National Park Service’s 2017 annual park visitation numbers prompted dozens of stories about the top 10 parks to visit. Great Smoky Mountains National Park led the pack with over 11 million visits, nearly twice as many as Grand Canyon National Park, which had just over six million visits for the year. While reviewing a top 10 list is fun, I was more interested in finding out which NPS sites were visited the least. With a little digging on the NPS website, I was able to locate the 2017 master visitation list. As it turned out, my wife and I had visited 19 of the 100 least popular sites in the NPS. Below are our seven favorite least visited parks with a special bonus site at the end.
El Morro National Monument Rank: 283 of 377
2017 visitors: 59,013
Location: Ramah, NM
Overview: El Morro, located in western New Mexico, is a large geologic formation that served as a guide for explorers and traders. As impressive as it looks from a distance, even more amazing is the history carved into its surface. For over 2,000 years, the formation, called a cuesta, was used by nearby inhabitants and travelers to draw petroglyphs, mark dates, and inscribe their names for posterity. Visitors to El Morro can get close to the cuesta and see the millennia-old petroglyphs drawn by the Zuni as well as the first European inscription by Don Juan de Onate in 1605.
Our experience: My now-wife and I visited El Morro during our 7,559 mile, 17-day cross-country road trip in 2012. We had been dating for a little over a year and she informed me that if our relationship could survive up to 12 hours of driving in my Camry during the day and camping in a two-person tent nearly every evening, we could get married. The trip should have been a disaster. I had only camped twice; I freak out around insects, particularly butterflies; and I had once helped my dad plan where our family would go for dinner each night during a 42-day road trip… a month before we left. Meanwhile, Dearheart loves the outdoors, wildlife, and spontaneity. Against all odds, and even to the surprise of Dearheart, I became a good camper, manned up around butterflies, and even began to embrace the unpredictable. The rest is history and we just celebrated our five-year wedding anniversary.
We visited El Morro on our way to the Grand Canyon after spending a few days in Albuquerque. The scenic drive to El Morro’s visitor center through El Malpais National Monument takes about an hour after exiting Interstate 40. Due to our tight travel schedule we only had an hour to visit, but that was enough time to enjoy the history and splendor of the site. We hiked the half-mile, paved Inscription Trail that takes hikers to the cuesta and allows for up-close viewing of the petroglyphs and an opportunity to spend time reading the inscriptions. Dearheart still fondly remembers the lizards that darted around the rocks along the trail. El Morro is a hidden gem near the more popular parks in the Four Corners states.
Rating: 4 Park Rangers
Rank: 286 of 377
2017 visitors: 54,281
Location: 70 miles off the coast of Key West, FL
Overview: Dry Tortugas National Park is 100 square miles of mostly open water in the Gulf of Mexico and contains Fort Jefferson, which is located on one of the seven small islands in the park. The most common way to reach Fort Jefferson is by ferry. The ferry leaves Key West at 8 AM and returns at 5 PM, which gives visitors a little over four hours to explore Fort Jefferson and the surrounding area. The fort, which also serves as the visitor center, took nearly 30 years to build and protected US shipping and military interests in the Gulf. Today, the walls surrounding the fort support abundant coral and other sea life.
Our experience: We visited Dry Tortugas after driving from Lakeland, FL, to Key West for a five-day vacation. On our second day in Key West, we boarded the ferry to Fort Jefferson and enjoyed a leisurely two-hour boat ride, which included a light breakfast and the opportunity to see marine life. Dearheart, who forgets the names of historical figures within minutes of leaving a park but can make out the back of a whale from 500 yards, spotted a sea turtle and we saw countless smaller fish skimming across the surface of the Gulf. After arriving at Fort Jefferson, we attended a 20-minute ranger presentation that explained the history and purpose of the fort. This lecture did little to satisfy Dearheart’s skepticism about the functionality of a fort in the middle of the ocean that enemies could sail around if they wanted to stay out of range of the fort’s massive cannons. With the debate about the practicality of the fort at a stalemate, we decided to focus our energy on snorkeling around the protective walls of the fort.
Despite neither of us being strong swimmers, Dearheart loves snorkeling. Meanwhile, the thought of snorkeling makes me lose sleep. Nevertheless, I persisted. After donning rental snorkeling gear and triple-checking the seaworthiness of my life vest, we slowly made our way into the water. Once we were waist-deep, we submerged our heads below the surface. My heart was racing. I frantically gulped deep breaths of air while biting down so hard on to my mouthpiece that I thought my jaw would clench shut. The waves, no more than six inches high, threw me off balance and I tasted seawater. I stood up. Thirty yards ahead, Dearheart was swimming without a care in the world and, under the assumption I was right behind her, was pointing out different coral formations and fish. As I surveyed the seascape, I noticed a small child, no more than five or six, paddling next to me and I summoned my courage, took a deep breath, and tried like hell to catch up. After a few more false starts, I finally calmed myself to the point where I could enjoy the experience, which was truly stunning. During our two hours in the water we saw a family of squid, a five-foot barracuda, and dozens of schools of fish of varying size. The ferry ride back gave us a chance to decompress, have a margarita, and get to the dock in time to take in a sunset over the Gulf.
Based upon our experience, I would recommend visiting Dry Tortugas during a longer trip to the Keys. Driving to Key West is its own adventure, so having a day to relax before doing an all-day excursion to Fort Jefferson allows for the vacation to not be too hectic. We are eager to revisit Dry Tortugas to camp next to Fort Jefferson. The prospect of camping 70 miles from civilization in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico is thrilling, as is the potential view of the night sky.
Rating: 5 Park Rangers
Rank: 302 of 377
2017 visitors: 43,182
Location: New York City, NY
Overview: Located a 13-minute walk from One World Trade Center, African Burial Ground National Monument commemorates the oldest and largest known burial ground for free and enslaved Africans in North America. The burial site was discovered in 1991 during a federal construction project and, after some controversy, the project was altered to allow for a memorial to be placed on the sacred location. In 2003, the remains, which had been kept and studied at Howard University, were buried on the original site after receiving the Rites of Ancestral Return. President George W. Bush officially designated the memorial a National Monument in 2006.
Our experience: Being surrounded by skyscrapers makes me feel claustrophobic, inhaling the various wafting odors throughout New York City makes me nauseated, and cramming into tight quarters to wait in line for an attraction makes me irritable, at best. It’s not that I dislike cities, but the combination of size, smell, density, and pretentiousness makes New York particularly problematic for me. On the other hand, Dearheart thinks New York is the greatest city in the world and would move there tomorrow if given the chance. Fortunately for Dearheart, and unfortunately for me, my cousin and her husband live in Brooklyn. We try to visit about once a year to see them, take in a Broadway show, and find a new Georgian restaurant. Since Dearheart is a thoughtful partner and knows my neuroses, she typically finds a way to experience all the things she likes about New York while exposing me to as few of my triggers as possible. A good example of this is the relative serenity of our visit to African Burial Grounds National Monument.
We visited African Burial Ground National Monument in October 2016 after purchasing discount Broadway tickets at the TKTS South Street Seaport location, a 15-minute walk from the park. Upon arrival at African Burial Ground, we were struck by the modern and moving monument dedicated to those buried on the site. Once inside, the park offered a well-curated museum of historical artifacts as well as an informative film about the history and cultural practices of Africans in New York City. African Burial Ground, located in the heart of Manhattan, offers a respite from the hectic environment and provides visitors a moment to contemplate the sacrifice and culture of a group of men, women, and children whose role in building our country is often omitted from the American narrative.
Rating: 4 Park Rangers
Rank: 329 of 377
2017 visitors: 28,585
Location: Buffalo, NY
Overview: Located two miles from the northern shoreline of Lake Erie in the former house of Ansley Wilcox, Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site memorializes the location where Teddy Roosevelt hastily took the oath of office after the assassination of President William McKinley to become the then-youngest man to ascend to our nation’s highest office at 42 years old. The house, which was declared a National Historic Site in 1966, now serves as a museum honoring the political life of Teddy Roosevelt. Hourly guided tours feature several interactive exhibits that detail Roosevelt’s incredible rise to power and events surrounding the inauguration of an iconic figure in our nation’s history.
Our experience: I have always been drawn to stories of the larger-than-life figures from our country’s political history. Stories about the bravado of Andrew Jackson and the hard-nosed will of General George McArthur were regular dinnertime conversation at my house growing up. However, the stories of Teddy Roosevelt always stood out for being so outlandish that I nearly confused them with those of Paul Bunyan. Teddy rode 100 miles on horseback in a day, bravely charged up San Juan Hill with his Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, and had once refused medical treatment after being shot in the chest in order to give an hour-long speech before being rushed to the hospital. He seemed more superhero than president. Of course, the more college courses I took in political science and history, the more I realized his flaws, though his superhero status never wavered. When it comes to history, Dearheart, while enthusiastic, tends to start at a deficit since she somehow managed to satisfy her college history requirement by taking History of Rock Music. John, Paul, George, and Ringo were covered in much more depth than George, Tom, Abe, and Teddy. Nevertheless, she has encouraged several of our trips to presidential sites and has developed an admiration for the entire Roosevelt family.
During the summer of 2014, we partook in our second great American road trip, which featured horse racing in Saratoga, wine tasting in the Finger Lakes, and a very soggy final round of golf at the PGA Championship in Louisville, KY. After spending a few days with friends in Ithaca, NY, we made the three-hour drive west to Buffalo to visit the inauguration site before heading to Ohio for the next part of our journey. The park offered a view of one of Buffalo’s oldest neighborhoods with majestic houses and well-manicured lawns. The National Historic Site has been beautifully restored to blend modern technology with time-period pieces from the 1901 inauguration. The guided tour provided plenty of opportunities for questions and featured some wonderful stories, particularly one regarding the incredible search required to find Roosevelt to inform him of McKinley’s impending death. Regardless of personal politics, it’s hard to walk away from the site without admiration for Roosevelt, his character, and his force of will.
Rating: 3.5 Park Rangers. Slight deduction due to the saturation of Roosevelt-centric parks.
Rank: 366 of 377
2017 visitors: 6,613
Location: Fritch, TX
Overview: Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument is a 1,000 acre stretch of mesas surrounding the southern shores of Lake Meredith 35 miles north of Amarillo, TX. The park is home to over 700 flint quarries used by ancient native populations, European explorers, and post-Civil War settlers. The park protects the geography, natural resources, and cultural heritage of those who settled in the region, particularly the Plain Village Indians who lived in the area from 1150 to 1450. Rangers lead several programs throughout the year in conjunction with the bordering Lake Meredith National Recreation Area.
Our experience: Alibates Flint offered a pleasant distraction during our third long day of driving during our previously mentioned 2012 western road trip. We had started the morning in Oklahoma City and needed to drive 544 miles to Albuquerque, NM, before nightfall so we could make camp for the evening. We had already visited Washita Battlefield National Historic Site in Oklahoma about an hour into our trek and had driven on the farm roads of Oklahoma and Texas to get to Alibates Flint. Despite the desolate landscape, the park’s visitor’s center was large, modern, and welcoming. The park ranger with whom we spoke was a retired school teacher who took great joy in telling us about the history and culture of the region before pointing us in the direction of additional exhibits in the center and recommending a scenic hike through the quarries. The 10-minute hike on Mesquite Trail, which is dotted with signs cautioning visitors not to steal the flint, allowed us a great view of the geological formations and was a perfect distance in the nearly 100-degree heat of a Texas summer. The only downside to visiting the park was shortly after merging back onto I-40 we realized that because we took the backroads to get to the park we missed the iconic Cadillac Ranch, but we made up for that years later by visiting the now-defunct Airstream Ranch in Seffner, Florida. Getting back to Alibates Flint, the park is a nice attraction for those heading west who want to exit the interstate and see the heart of the Texas Panhandle.
Rating: 4 Park Rangers
Rank: 369 of 377
2017 visitors: 2,916
Location: Nicodemus, KS
Overview: Nicodemus National Historic Park recognizes the history and struggle of the oldest and only remaining all-Black settlement west of the Mississippi River. The town of Nicodemus was established in 1877 as a refuge for post-Reconstruction Blacks who fled renewed southern violence, persecution, and discrimination. Three-hundred Black men, women, and children from Lexington, KY, were lured to Kansas by developers selling dreams of a better life and inexpensive land. What they found was vastly different than what was promised, with nearly all settlers forced to live in homes dug into the ground. Roughly one-third of the initial 300 settlers immediately left for other cities in Kansas and some even returned to Kentucky. Those who remained endured primitive conditions before building several permanent structures. The park centers on five of the original buildings preserved by the park service and the 56 permanent residents of the town.
Our experience: Simply stated, Nicodemus is the most gut-wrenching, depressing, and yet, extraordinary park we have visited. Prior to visiting, we had no knowledge of the town and viewed a visit as a nice way to break up our drive from Denver, CO, to Perry State Park in eastern Kansas. Once we arrived, however, the gravity of the town’s history overwhelmed us. The story of people fleeing violence and persecution only to be taken advantage of by land developers and then scraping out an existence by living in the ground is enough to move anyone to tears. Through visiting the original buildings, speaking with the park rangers, and watching a film on the town’s history, it became clear that while the residents of Nicodemus persisted in a way few others have, the town never thrived and daily life was always a struggle. Early settler Willianna Hickman’s account of her arrival to Nicodemus stayed with me, “I looked with all the eyes I had. ‘Where is Nicodemus? I don’t see it.’ My husband pointed out the various smokes coming out of the ground and said, ‘That is Nicodemus.’ The families lived in dugouts…The scenery was not at all inviting, and I began to cry.” The story of Nicodemus has been largely passed over, but the NPS has done its best to keep it alive.
Rating: 5 Park Rangers
Rank: 371 of 377
2017 visitors: 2,293
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Overview: At 0.2 acres, Thaddeus Koscuiszko National Memorial is the smallest installation in the National Park Service. Located half a mile from Independence Hall in an upscale Philadelphia neighborhood, the park honors the life and contributions of General Thaddeus Kosciuszko. A military engineer by trade, Koscuiszko moved from his homeland of Poland to North America and volunteered his services to the United States Army during the American Revolution. He built fortifications at West Point and Saratoga, was trusted by George Washington, and later became close friends with Thomas Jefferson. After leading a failed revolution in his native Poland in the 1790s, Koscuiszko returned to the United States and lived in a small apartment in Philadelphia, which now houses both the visitor center and a restored bedchamber that features several original items. Despite its central location in a major city, the park is only open on the weekends for four hours a day from April to October.
Our experience: As his birthday gift, we took my brother-in-law, el Deuce, to Philadelphia to see a concert by one of his favorite musical artists, Ryan Adams. During the long weekend, we visited several major tourist attractions, including Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Fortunately, our Airbnb apartment was close to the Thaddeaus Koscuiszko National Memorial, which afforded us the time and opportunity to visit. In what can only be described as a stunning turn of events, Dearheart declared she was familiar with Koscuiszko prior to our visit. Was Thaddeaus a long-lost musical figure she learned about in her college history class? No. It turns out that he is a minor character in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, which Dearheart binge read into the wee hours of the morning. After el Deuce and I got over the shock of this revelation we entered the cramped quarters of the apartment, which does not lend itself to a long visit. The fascinating exhibits tell the story of a person so driven by the idea of independence that he was willing to support other countries in their fight. Going through the apartment takes less than 30 minutes, but it is well worth the trip to learn about an obscure figure in our nation’s fight for independence who once lived just a few blocks from where our country ushered in a new era in the history of the world.
Rating: 3.5 Park Rangers. Slight deduction due to limited hours of operation.
A few of the sites outlined above are in remote areas while others are hidden in plain sight, but no park is more obscure and desolate than one we visited that did not even make it on the list of least visited installations of the NPS. Behold…
Rank: N/A
2017 Visitors: N/A
Location: Cortez, CO
Overview: Yucca House is an unexcavated archeological site in southwestern Colorado that has been largely untouched for 800 years and is being preserved for future generations of scientists. The site contains several unearthed structures from ancient native civilizations. There is no visitor center or posted hours of operation, as anyone can visit the site 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. It is located slightly more than an hour’s drive from Mesa Verde National Park, home to famous cliff dwellings.
Our experience: During our drive from Four Corners Monument to Mesa Verde National Park, we decided to visit Yucca House. What ensued was an adventure. Typically, finding an installation of the NPS is relatively easy because there are plenty of brown signs on interstates, highways, and back roads that point travelers in the right direction. Not so with Yucca House. As we approached Cortez, CO, we realized we must be getting close to having to turn off the major road but saw no signs. Eventually we pulled over and my wife somehow got enough cell service to pull up the Yucca House National Monument website, which provided us with the increasingly obvious message, “Currently, there are no signs directing you to Yucca House.” What followed were bullet points that directed us through private lands and required us to open and close livestock gates, all while trying to find a white ranch with a red roof on the western horizon, which is near the monument. Amazingly, we found it. We were greeted by a barbed wire fence and a sign-in sheet on top of a bee-infested metal box. After very quickly and carefully signing in, we proceeded through the gate and walked around the archeological site, where we made out the imprint of ancient structures. Upon leaving Yucca House, we wondered why the site was being held for future generations of archeologists, as it seemed completely suitable for the current generation of archeologists to open and close some livestock gates and get to work.
Rating: 5 Cows
The American novelist and environmentalist Wallace Stegner once said, “National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.” Part of what makes them so democratic is that they are not all views of splendor or embodiments of our ideals. For every Grand Canyon there is a Yucca House and for every Lincoln Memorial there is a Nicodemus. Traveling to the most visited installations of the NPS will fill your social media account with plenty of awe-inspiring pictures, but visiting the forgotten installations will fill your soul and provide you with a better, richer, and fuller understanding of our country.
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