If you're a National Park with a lack of visitors, and you're scared of the words "National Monument" here's some motivation to become more majestic. Bob Janiskee has recently written an article about some "Gone and Mostly Forgotten" National Parks on National Parks Traveler. It's a list of 26 National Parks that were pushed to the wayside by the National Parks System.
Even the once great Mackinac National Park, the second park established in the national system after Yellowstone wasn't safe. It now operates as Mackinac Island State Park - supposedly the first state operated park in the Nation. Mar-A-Lago, a luxury mansion in Palm Beach that was once a National Park, is now owned and operated by Donald Trump as a posh luxury private club.
While not all of the "Gone and Mostly Forgotten" Parks have become National Monuments a good number have, but apparently, it's the 'Retirement Community' of the National Parks System.
Interested in the remaining National Parks? The National Parks System has instituted a series of Fee Free entrance days for all National Parks.
January 14-16
- Martin Luther King Jr. weekend
April 21-29
- National Park Week
June 9
- Get Outdoors Day
September 29
- National Public Lands Day
November 10-12
- Veterans Day weekend
