They Must be Crazy Going after the National Park Service

 

Musk, et. al. have to be crazy going after the National Park Service.

Founded in 1916 today it has:

• 63 parks
• 20,000 employees at least for the moment
• 279,000 volunteers -- maybe maybe not

 The NPS is charged with:

• Preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to its management 
• Making them available for public use and enjoyment.  

I haven't visited them all, but those that I have are staffed with incredible people who give information to American citizens and to foreign visitors alike. They are the best of the best.

Minute Man National Park is the national park I know best. I couldn't visit it when I was in grade school, because my over protective (paranoid?) mother was convinced I wouldn't be safe under the guidance of school teachers during the class trip. The teachers did return all children safely and they were smarter about their country.

Over the years, I've visited the site of the beginning of the American Revolution many times. Standing in front of the unknown British soldiers grave, walking the Old North Bridge, thinking what it must have been like that day. The NPS staff with their different programs make it seem like yesterday. 

I always wondered about the family of the soldier not knowing what happened to the man. I asked about DNA and found the grave couldn't be disturbed by law. I then decided to give the soldier a life.

When I was writing my novel Lexington: Anatomy of a Novel one of the park rangers was invaluable. He kept me posted on programs I could tune in on from Switzerland. When he didn't know the answer, he put me in touch with the right historian. 

After the book was published and during a trip to the U.S. we went to Lexington. I had a book to give to the ranger. I'd dedicated the book to him. Without his help, the book would never have been written. I also left flowers in front of the grave.

That ranger was more than an employee. Years ago he started as a volunteer, something the Muskites want to eliminate and finally became a regular employee. To say he loved his job, was an understatement. The day we were there, he'd jut finished training that year's batch of volunteers. This wasn't a job, but a way of life.

Some people go to work in business suits, other in casual clothes, but many of the park staff are dressed as if it were still 1776 adding to the atmosphere. It's a trip back in time.

The one thing I couldn't find, nor could any of the historians I talked with was the name of the ship that my British soldier and his 43 Regiment of Foot sailed on on the their trip from England to Boston. They could supply the type of ship and I used that description writing around the ship's name.

A complete list of the 63 National Parks. Whether they will still exist for you vacation is unknown.

My book can be ordered from www.alibris.com or www.barnesandnoble.com.