Month: April 2022

Happy Birthday, Ulysses!!!

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How do you fit 200 candles on a birthday cake?  Tomorrow – April 27, 2022 – marks the 200th anniversary of Ulysses Grant’s birth.  This notable bicentennial will be commemorated with events, activities and exhibits at dozens of locations across the nation.  Our partner park Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site will offer programs for all tastes and ages in the coming months.  Whether you’re a history buff, a military veteran, a food lover or a kid, you’re sure to find a fun and interesting way to celebrate the former president’s 200th year.

The park is devoting the entire day and evening of April 27 to an extended birthday celebration:

  • There will be presentations on Grant’s life in the visitor center theater. 
  • Food historian Suzanne Corbett will deliver a program on 19th century cakes and other desserts in the dining room of White Haven, the house where Ulysses lived with his wife Julia and her family. 
  • Visitors can make and send cards to residents of Missouri veterans’ homes letting them know about Grant’s appreciation of military veterans. 
  • You can pick up a “Flat Grant” handout at the park’s visitor center to color and take with you on your travels. Share your selfies with Grant on social media as you travel with #USGrant2ndWorldTour.
  • Kids can explore all aspects of Grant’s life with a special Junior Ranger activity book and receive a commemorative Junior Ranger badge. 
  • In the evening, the Independent Silver Band will conduct a one-hour concert on the park grounds, beginning at 6:30 pm. This program is presented in partnership with the Ulysses S. Grant Association and Mississippi State University.

Credit: Curt Fields

Other bicentennial activities planned by the park include a visit by the nation’s premiere Grant impersonator, Curt Fields, on Tuesday May 17th.  Throughout the summer, park staff will offer special themed tours of the historic White Haven estate, gallery walks, touch tables, and facilitated dialogue programs inside the park’s museum.  Check the park’s list of bicentennial events for more details. To learn about events elsewhere in the U.S. that will commemorate the Grant Bicentennial, visit the Ulysses S. Grant Association’s website.

Finally, if you’d like a keepsake of this important bicentennial, pick up this unique brass ornament at our bookstore when you visit the park. It features a likeness of Grant beneath his well-known saying “Let us have peace.”  You can also order the ornament from our online store.  Quantities are limited!

Meet the New Leader at Gateway Arch National Park

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Gateway Arch National Park has a new superintendent.  Jeremy Sweat, a 15-year veteran of the National Park Service, took over the job late last year.  He oversees operations not only for the Gateway Arch but also for Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park.

Sweat has a background in resource management and policy at the park, regional and national levels, and has experience working with non-profit partners, with other agencies, and with local communities.  JNPA is excited to be working with him.

We recently caught up with Jeremy Sweat to learn a little more about him.

Why did you start working for the National Park Service?   

My first experience working in a national park was as an undergrad archeological field school student at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2004. The field school was a partnership between the University of Tennessee and the NPS, so we got to live and work in the park for the summer. I enjoyed it so much that I returned to the Smokies in 2005 as a graduate teaching assistant to supervise the field school. That winter the park archeologist encouraged me to apply for a seasonal position as an archeological technician and I was hired in the summer of 2006 to conduct backcountry archeological surveys. After that first season, I fell in love with the mission and the people, and never left the NPS.

Credit: Debbie Franke

What is particularly special about Gateway Arch National Park, or why should someone visit? 

Aside from the incredible local and regional pride that the park inspires, one of my favorite things about Gateway Arch National Park is how relevant the park’s story is to America today. The Arch helps to tell the story of the European American settlement of the west, which for some people meant new opportunities and greater freedom, while for other people, it meant the loss of rights, lands, and freedom. The Old Courthouse is a place where people fought for racial equality, women’s rights, and voting rights during the 19th century. Telling these complicated, challenging stories gives our visitors the opportunity to connect that history with many of the challenges and conversations that are still happening in America today.  

What’s your favorite part of the job, or what do you hope to accomplish at Gateway Arch National Park?  

My favorite part of the job is seeing people enjoy the park. Each time I look out my window and see families enjoying the Arch grounds, or when I walk through the museum and see children learning about history, it reminds me why I joined the NPS.

What kinds of careers are available in the Park Service?

Honestly, it would be easier to make a list of what careers are not available in the NPS. If you look at the 423 sites that make up the national park system, there are opportunities for nearly every kind of skill and profession. Everyone knows that we hire park rangers, but we also have jobs for scientists, plumbers, law enforcement officers, engineers, carpenters, lifeguards, boat captains, arborists, livestock supervisors, scuba divers, veterinarians, accountants, and more. I encourage anyone who is interested in working for the NPS to learn more about how their skills might be needed in a park or office around the country. 

What’s your favorite activity to do at the park?

I moved here in the middle of winter, so now that it is getting warmer, I enjoy just being out in the park on sunny days. It’s nice to bike through the park on my way home from work and see so many people from the local community, and from around the country and world, here enjoying this place.

The park’s best kept secret is…?

If I told you, it wouldn’t be a well-kept secret, would it? 

Preserving the Delta’s Heritage

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JNPA has recently embarked on a new way to help the National Park Service protect our nation’s treasures.  Starting this month, we are partnering with NPS in an annual federal grant program aimed at preserving the unique culture and heritage of the Delta region.  Known as the Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative (LMDI), this effort provides Local Heritage Grants for small-scale cultural and historical projects in the Delta. 

The Lower Mississippi Delta Region is the cradle of a rich artistic, indigenous, musical, and literary heritage, brimming with stories that testify to both our nation’s diversity and its struggles.  Helping preserve the region’s historic and cultural treasures was the intent of a 1994 federal law which created the grant initiative.  Congress directed NPS to provide funding to protect, preserve, and interpret the irreplaceable cultural assets of local communities in the Delta, especially those that highlight the legacy of underrepresented peoples.

Over the years, more than 240 not-for-profit cultural groups and programs have benefited from LMDI grants, benefitting such diverse projects as blues festivals, archeological sites, and history museums.  These in turn have not only generated local pride but have also brought new tourism dollars to many Delta communities.  And now, JNPA is co-administering this important grant program with NPS.

The 2022 grant application process is underway, and eligible applicants are invited to apply before May 20th. Details on projects that are eligible for funding, are available here.

JNPA is proud to be involved in this worthy endeavor, and we look forward to seeing the impact that the LMDI grants will have, says President & CEO David Grove: “We are pleased to partner with the National Park Service in ensuring that communities throughout the Delta will have an opportunity to preserve and promote the culture and heritage of this important vibrant region.”

How Many National Park Sites Have YOU Visited?

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The National Park Service system currently includes 423 sites throughout the United States and its territories.  These range from national monuments and battlefields to national historic sites and recreation areas to national rivers and seashores. 

Don’t feel bad if you haven’t visited the majority of these places (most of us haven’t!). But luckily, National Park Week is just around the corner – a perfect time to add to your NPS “life list.”

National Park Week is an annual celebration jointly hosted by the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation to encourage everyone to discover our nation’s diverse historic, natural, and cultural treasures.  This year, the week runs from April 16 through 24.  Parks across the country will host a variety of special programs, events, and digital experiences, including National Junior Ranger Day for kids on Saturday April 23.  You can find out more about programs and themes you might be interested in by going here.  

Another bonus for park visitors during National Park Week – entrance fees are waived at all parks on Saturday April 16.  (Other 2022 free fee days can be found here).  Luckily, there are never entry fees at JNPA’s partner parks but each of them would be glad to see you in April, or any time!

If you’re planning to visit any of the 63 parks that have “national park” in their name, you’ll want a copy of National Geographic’s national park guide as well as the Passport to Your National Parks, which not only contains park information but allows you to collect the passport stamps from every park you visit.