30. Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, Ohio

               Hello!  Welcome back to our blog on the National Park Service.  We are back in our native Ohio at a park that showcases the origin of why our state is “The Birthplace of Aviation” at Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.

Entrance Sign and Cycle Shop visitor center.

BACKGROUND:

               On December 17^th, 1903, two brothers achieved the impossible.  At Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright from Dayton Ohio succeeded in making the first flight in a modern aircraft.  While it had been possible to take to the air using balloons since the 1700s, it was the first time that a heavier-than-air powered machine had achieved flight.  The event had been the culmination of the brothers’ lifelong dream that had begun years earlier.

               The Wright Brothers had long had dreams of success.  In their hometown of Dayton, the brothers had entered into multiple business ventures, most notably a newspaper and a bicycle shop.  But it was the dream of inventing a flying machine that continued to drive them.  After their great success at Kitty Hawk, they returned to Dayton to continue their work.  Seeing the obvious entrepreneurial potential of powered flight, the brothers worked to secure patents for their aircraft and continued experimenting to perfect their airplane.  After countless test flights, crashes, rebuilds, and refinements at their rudimentary airfield at Huffman Prairie outside Dayton, the Wrights had perfected their airplane.  Although Wilbur would die young in 1909, Orville would continue on, building an aircraft factory in 1910, and remaining active in aviation until his passing in 1948.

               At the same time the Wright Brothers were working their way toward powered flight, another Dayton native was rising to prominence in the literary world.  Paul Laurence Dunbar, a friend and classmate of the Wright Brothers had been among the earliest black writers to rise to national acclaim for his poetry and other literary works, getting his start after the Wright Brothers had printed his publications in their newspaper.  This pioneering writer however, like Wilbur Wright, died tragically young in 1906.

The 1905 Wright Flyer, on display at the Wright Aviation Center within Carillon Historical Park.

THE PARK:

               Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park preserves six locales associated with the Wright Brothers and Paul Laurence Dunbar in and around Dayton, Ohio.  The primary visitor center for the site is located on Dayton’s west side, housed in the building which once held the offices of the Wright Brothers printing business.  Behind the visitor center is one of the Wrights’ Bicycle shops (the Wrights operated several prior to fame and fortune, this being one of the earlier shops.  The shop they owned at the time of Kitty Hawk was purchased by Henry Ford and moved to his Greenfield Village complex in Dearborn, Michigan).  Both buildings have been restored.

               Several blocks away from the Wright Cycle Shop visitor center is the house of Paul Laurence Dunbar, which is also a State Historic Site that was incorporated into the park.  At the far west end of Dayton is the site of the Wright Airplane Factory, built in 1910.  The structure is not open to the public and is currently in the process of being restored. 

To the south of Dayton in the suburb of Oakwood are the Wright Aviation Center and Hawthorne Hill.  The Wright Aviation Center was built to house the 1905 Wright Flyer, the aircraft used by the brothers in their test flights after returning to Dayton.  It is located within Carillon Historical Park, an open-air museum dedicating to preserving historic structures and the industrial legacy of Dayton and the surrounding area.  The Wright Aviation Center also includes a replica of the original Wright Cycle Shop currently located in Dearborn, Michigan.  Nearby is Hawthorne Hill, the mansion that the Wright Brothers, along with their sister had begun building prior to Wilbur’s death.  It remained Orville’s home for the rest of his life.

The final section of the park lies to the northeast of Dayton, on the grounds of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.  A second visitor center is located next to the memorial erected to honor the brothers in the 1940s, while nearby is Huffman Prairie, where Wilbur and Orville conducted their test flights in the 1905 Wright Flyer.  The Prairie is essentially the world’s first airfield.

The Wright Cycle Shop.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               Although Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park is spread out over the Dayton area it is possible to visit the entire park in one day.  It is recommended that visitors begin at the Cycle Shop visitor center and then use the brochure map to take a driving tour of the park in the order described above.  The visitor centers at Huffman Prairie and the Cycle Shop contain the same short film on the Wrights’ activities in Dayton following the first flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903.  The different sections of the park have differing operating days and hours, with the Cycle Shop and Huffman Prairie visitor centers open 9am to 5pm year-round, closed on Monday and Tuesday in winter.  The Paul Laurence Dunbar house is open from 10am to 4pm on weekends only.  Visitors are recommended to use caution in the vicinity of Huffman Prairie as it is located adjacent to a shotgun range.

               To visit the Wright Aviation Center, visitors must go through the Carillon Historical Park, for which there are entrance fees.  The Carillon Historical Park is open from 9:30am to 5pm Monday through Saturday, and Noon to 5pm on Sundays.  To visit the Hawthorne Hill mansion, visitors must make appointments in advance.

               The visitor centers and significant historic sites are handicapped accessible.  Passport stamps can be found at the visitor centers.  For those who are interested in other aspects of aviation, it is highly recommended to visit the National Museum of the United States Air Force at nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The memorial to the Wright Brothers near Huffman Prairie.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

A view of Huffman Prairie where the Wright Brothers conducted test flights after returning to Dayton.

The front exterior of the Cycle Shop visitor center which once held the offices of the Wright Brothers' printing business.

The restored interior on the ground floor of the Wright Brothers' printing company showing the store of the local grocer complete with a mannequin shopping for goods.

The restored interior of the second floor of the Wright's printing shop.

Fragments of the original 1903 Wright Flyer which was destroyed after its final flight at Kitty Hawk, on display at the Cycle Shop visitor center.

The interior of the Wright Cycle Shop.

The House of Paul Laurence Dunbar (with front sign in need of repair).

Hawthorne Hill, the estate of Orville Wright.

The exterior of the Wright Aviation Center at Carillon Historical Park.

29. Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, Kentucky

               Welcome back to our blog on the National Park Service!  In this post we are headed to Kentucky to the birthplace of President Lincoln.

Entrance Sign

BACKGROUND:

               In February of 1809, in a small log cabin on the frontier of Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln, arguably the greatest man that has held the office of President of the United States, was born.  Despite his dirt-poor upbringing and virtually no formal education, Lincoln managed to climb the ranks of society, from laborer, to lawyer, to Congressman, and eventually the Presidency.  His perseverance to succeed when his upbringing would have doomed him to a pauper status in other lands enabled him to be a very symbol of the opportunities the United States could give its citizens.  Above all though, it was his single-minded determination as President to preserve the Union which brought the country, battered but intact, through the bloodbath of the Civil War and the final abolition of slavery.

               To honor the great President, a memorial was commissioned to coincide with the centennial of his birth in 1909.  The grand neoclassical shrine was built atop the very spot where the Lincoln cabin stood and encased within it the cabin itself.  The memorial was dedicated by President Taft and opened to the public in 1911.

The birthplace memorial.

THE HISTORICAL PARK:

               Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is located on two tracts of land in the vicinity of the small town of Hodgenville, Kentucky.

               The main tract of property is the location of Lincoln’s birthplace and the neoclassical memorial.  The memorial stands atop a small hill beside the “Sinking Spring,” a natural spring which gave the property its original name.  A series of fifty-six steps, marking Lincoln’s age at the time of his assassination, lead up to the memorial which encloses a log cabin.  Contrary to the beliefs at the time the memorial was constructed, the cabin within the memorial is not the real Lincoln birthplace.  The error was not discovered until long after the memorial was built and it has since been redubbed the “Symbolic Cabin.”  At the bottom of the hill is the visitor center while across the road is a picnic area.  There are short trails around the property on either side of the road.

               The second tract of land is several miles away from the main site at an area called Knob Creek.  When Lincoln was only two years old, his father Thomas Lincoln was forced off the Sinking Spring property in a land dispute and rented property at nearby Knob Creek while the dispute was settled.  The Lincoln’s continued to live at Knob Creek until Abraham was seven years old, at which point Thomas Lincoln moved the family in search of better opportunities to Indiana.  A replica of the second Lincoln cabin is at the site, as well as a tavern built in the early 20^th century meant to cater to tourists.

The "Symbolic Cabin" within the memorial.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is roughly an hour’s drive south from Louisville, Kentucky and forty-five minutes north from Mammoth Cave National Park.  The memorial section of the park and the visitor center are open year-round with holiday exceptions from 9am to 5pm.  The Knob Creek area ground are open twenty-four hours a day, while the cabin and tavern are open seasonally.  The visitor center holds several artifacts including the Lincoln family Bible and contains a short film.  The park is handicapped accessible.  Passport stamps can be found at both the primary visitor center and at the Ranger station at Knob Creek.  For those hoping to visit Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park and Mammoth Cave National Park on the same day, please note that the Lincoln Birthplace is in the Eastern Time Zone while Mammoth Cave is in the Central Time Zone.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:

The Knob Creek cabin and the Lincoln Tavern.

The pathway leading down to the Sinking Spring.

The Lincoln family Bible, on display at the visitor center.

28. Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site, Mississippi

               Hello!  Welcome back to our blog on the National Park Service.  In this post we’ll be making a stop at one of the smallest places in the NPS, a single acre plot commemorating the battle of Brices Cross Roads in Mississippi.

Entrance Sign.  Note that although the sign reads "National Battlefield," it is officially designated "National Battlefield Site."

BACKGROUND:

               By the summer of 1864, the Civil War was going badly for the Confederacy.  After a series of devastating defeats at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, the hopes of a southern victory were rapidly diminishing.  To make matters worse, General William T. Sherman had begun his drive south from Chattanooga to retake Atlanta for the Union.  Hoping to stall Sherman’s advance, the infamous Confederate cavalry commander General Nathan Bedford Forrest rode west into Union controlled northern Mississippi to strike Sherman’s supply lines.

               Just north of Tupelo, Mississippi, Forrest encountered a Union force under the command of General Samuel Sturgis sent to stop him.  Forrest attacked the Union troops in an area around a rural intersection known as Brices Cross Roads.  During the battle, the Confederates succeeded in executing a double envelopment, a somewhat rare military maneuver where an army turns both of the enemy’s flanks.  Sturgis was forced to retreat to avoid encirclement but lost most of his army’s supply wagons.  Forrest meanwhile, freshly resupplied courtesy of the captured Union supplies, continued to vex the Union in the area for another month until the Battle of Tupelo.

Brices Cross Roads as it appears today.

THE BATTLEFIELD SITE:

               Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site is among the smallest units in the National Park Service.  Although the battlefield is in a largely rural area that has not been altered much since the Civil War, and most of it is currently preserved through the Civil War Trust, a charitable organization whose mission is to preserve battlefields across the country, only a small one-acre plot of land on one corner of the intersection of the historical Brices Cross Roads is owned by the National Park Service.  The site is marked by an NPS sign, a lone monument, and a pair of cannon.  There is a small pull-off for parking next to the site.

The monument at Brices Cross Roads.

TRAVEL TIPS:

               Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site is located roughly twenty minutes north of Tupelo, Mississippi.  The site has no official NPS visitor center, however the nearby Mississippi Final Stands Interpretive Center in nearby Baldwyn, Mississippi provides visitor information for Brices Cross Roads and its identical twin NPS site Tupelo National Battlefield.  Passport stamps can be found at the Mississippi Final Stands Interpretive Center and at the NPS Natchez Trace Parkway visitor center in nearby Tupelo.

The Mississippi Final Stands Interpretive Center.