A Thinking Person's Guide to America's National Parks by Robert E. Manning

Author:Robert E. Manning
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: George Braziller Inc.
Published: 2016-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

Replica of Union Pacific Railroad engine 119, Golden Spike National Historic Site (Utah)

Golden Spike National Historic Site commemorates the 1869 completion of the first transcontinental railroad. The park’s sparse, mountainous location at Promontory Summit, Utah, is considerably off the main highway and looks very much as it did on May 10, 1869. On that day, hundreds of railroad workers, along with Leland Stanford (one of the four capitalists who promoted the Central Pacific) and a sprinkling of other railroad executives, witnessed the driving of the last spike to complete the line. When Stanford’s ceremonial silver hammer touched the spike (it was not gold; only the souvenir spikes were made of the precious metal), the contact completed an electrical circuit, sending a telegraph signal to the world that iron rails now linked the Atlantic and the Pacific. You can see full-size replicas of the two locomotives present at the original ceremony, the Central Pacific’s Jupiter and the Union Pacific’s 119. During the summer, park rangers fire them up, and you can watch them re-enact the golden spike ceremony.

Located at Moton Field in Alabama, Tus kegee Airmen National Historic Site commemorates the United States Army Air Corps’ program to train African American pilots during World War II. Named the “Tuskegee Experiment” because many whites doubted Negroes could fly airplanes, the program was a marked success. Over 1,000 men received their initial flight instruction at Moton, and, following advanced training, served in the segregated 99th Pursuit Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group. Deployed first to North Africa in 1943, the Tuskegee Airmen supported the Allied invasion of Italy and later escorted heavy bombers on missions deep into Hitler’s Germany. Their skill and bravery earned the admiration and respect of the all-white bomber crews they protected, while causing fear among pilots of the attacking Luftwaffe. In one of the original World War II hangars at Moton Field, you can learn the story of the Airmen and their passion to fly and serve their country. Here, you will encounter a restored Stearman biplane, the type the Airmen learned to fly with. When you visit, be sure not to miss nearby Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site on the campus of Tuskegee University, founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881 as Tuskegee Institute. The only campus in the nation that is also a national park, Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site features Booker T. Washington’s home as well as a museum commemorating the famous Tuskegee agronomist George Washington Carver.

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