National Parks Full of History, if Not Visitors
AS the National Park Service readies for its close-up this fall in Ken Burns’s new documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” the frenzy of attention sure to accompany the series will fix a spotlight the size of the Grand Canyon on the country’s famed wilderness areas like Yellowstone and Yosemite.
But the film itself, according to Mr. Burns, will focus on the evolution of the park system and the “history of the idea” behind it, going far beyond the iconic natural spots that are only a small portion of the system’s nearly 400 sites.
Many of the other parts of the parks system are often overlooked. These lesser-known parks can illuminate sometimes murky and forgotten points in American history. As Gerry Gaumer, the deputy chief of public affairs for the National Park Service, puts it, these sites are “all of value in terms of the story of this nation — they just have a different place.”
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But the film itself, according to Mr. Burns, will focus on the evolution of the park system and the “history of the idea” behind it, going far beyond the iconic natural spots that are only a small portion of the system’s nearly 400 sites.
Many of the other parts of the parks system are often overlooked. These lesser-known parks can illuminate sometimes murky and forgotten points in American history. As Gerry Gaumer, the deputy chief of public affairs for the National Park Service, puts it, these sites are “all of value in terms of the story of this nation — they just have a different place.”