Update Oct 2, 2009: Patty and I watched the entire series on PBS. We learned a lot, while bringing back numerous memories of our trips to the National Parks scattered around the United States. Thanks, Ken Burns, PBS, et al…
Patty and I spent a couple hours this evening watching The National Parks: America’s Best Idea 1851-1890 – The Scripture of Nature – directed by Ken Burns and co-produced by Dayton Duncan. What a treat. This was only Part 1, and it covered the establishment of Yosemite, and Yellowstone National Parks, also touching on the creation of Sequoia National Park and the General Grant National Park. Much of the film dealt with John Muir, who had such an influence on our park system.
You might wonder what National Parks have to do with family history. 
Well, think about it. These parks have played a huge part for our American families for nearly a century and a half. It’s where our families, and those of our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents went for relaxation and appreciation of nature’s beauty. The parks have been a place where our souls were restored, giving us the strength to go back to our toil – until we could return.
I grew up at the base of Mt. Rainier near the town of Orting, Washington. Mt. Rainier was one of those areas to which John Muir was attracted. In 1991, we bought a home on the Nisqually River, just outside the Paradise entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park. During my first 43 years of living in Washington State, I spent many happy hours hiking and climbing throughout the area, first with my parents and church friends, and later with my own family and climbing buddies. I’ve climbed the mountain itself a couple times and scared myself silly on a few of the crags scattered throughout the park. The memories made during those sojourns are imprinted on my mind – and those of my family.
PBS has established a remarkable website to go with the series. If awards are given out for fantastic websites, this one surely should take top honors. It’s extremely detailed and it looks to me like it touches on just about everything that’s covered in the film itself.
The program tonight was only the first of six in the series, so we’re looking forward to many more fascinating hours taking in the wonders of America’s National Park System.
Hi Leland,
I agree that last night’s program was great. In one of his many preliminary interviews Ken talked about the feelings that you experience from visiting a National Park and how it depends upon who you were with when you first experienced a visit to one of the Parks.
In my “Give Your Family A Gift That Money Can’t Buy” article (Everton’s Genealogical Helper, November/December 2007, page 54) – (available online at http://www.JeffBockman.com/gatj – Getting Started – Gift That Money Can’t Buy) I wrote about Family Stories.
“Families are people joined together by shared experiences, both good and bad. A family group sheet lists only the marriage and the birth of their children between a person’s birth and death. Obviously there is much more that can and needs to be told. Take the opportunity to tell about yourself and your family, especially the time period before the next generation was old enough to remember anything. Also recall any passed down stories about your parents, grandparents, and other family members.”
I also went on to tell that
“From the time that I was five until twenty years old our annual “Family Vacation” was a major part of our life. It became our life calendar and most major events were remembered in relation to that year’s trip. Spending a month in a car definitely provided a lot of shared experiences. The memories, my mother’s diaries, and the 400 slides that my father took every year help to keep those trips alive.”
I first went to Yellowstone and the Tetons with my parents back in 1955. We returned to the area many times. In 1990, seven years after my father’s death, I took my family of three boys out to see it as well. While visiting the Church of the Transfiguration that looks out at the Teton Range I clearly remembered being the seven year old boy sitting there with my dad, and wishing that he was physically there with me again.
Readers don’t wait until you have time to record your stories. I know too many people who waited too long.
If you family saw “the USA in your Chevrolet” or Buick use this program to help you remember those feelings and stores and then record them.
More information can be found in my book by the same name at http://www.alenjes.com. It is also available from Family Roots Publishing at http://www.familyrootspublishing.com/.