Beyond the Scenery

Fourth of July in our national parks

         Here are just a few happenings:

• The National Park Service always puts on a big show on the National Mall
• Fourth at the Fort is an all-day event at Virginia’s Fort Monroe National Monument
• Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania commemorates the Civil War battle every July 1-3; on the Fourth, rangers present a campfire program on the encounter at the park’s amphitheater
• The American Revolution is the subject of North Carolina’s Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, marking the 249^th anniversary of our country’s independence
• The Boston area played an important part in the Revolutionary War, and at Minute Man National Historical Park, the Declaration of Independence is read aloud at 2:30 p.m. at Concord’s North Bridge, followed by musket volleys; Boston National Historical Park hold an all-day event celebrating the Fourth at Old North Church (feel free to boo and hiss every time King George III is mentioned); on Saturday, July 5, the Longfellow House-Washington Headquarters National Historic Site has a special, five-hour program commemorating the 250^th anniversary of George Washington’s arrival in Cambridge (George and Martha make an appearance!)
• Virginia’s Colonial National Historical Park features family-friendly activities throughout the day, beginning with a parade and ending with fireworks
• Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine holds what it calls an “old-fashioned Fourth," with fife and drum corps, along with cannon and musket firing
• And at the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed, Independence National Historical Park, the Celebration of Freedom includes tours and programs throughout the day.

What else is happening in the parks?

         I’m glad you asked. Check out this pair of articles, from the New York Times (great photos!) and the National Parks Conservation Association.

July’s subpar parks review

         Apparently, somebody thinks Virgin Islands National Park is “totally overrated.” The park takes up two-thirds of the island, with gorgeous beaches, colorful coral reefs, and ancient petroglyphs. Oh well, can’t please everybody…

         Outside Magazine has an article about the worst national parks reviews for 2024. Hmm…someone thinks Redwood National Park should be sold and the trees made into paper?

An old article

         Years ago (as you can tell by my photo in the article), I wrote about a naturalization ceremony I attended, and what it taught me.

A new article

         In the July issue of Prevention magazine, I write about my diagnosis of laryngeal dystonia.

New books

I’ve just joined AWSA (Advanced Writers & Speakers Association), an organization for Christian authors and presenters. Fellow writer Grace Fox is coming out with a new book July 8, Names of God: Knowing Peace. New York Times best-selling author Debbie Macomber endorsed it!

Pelican Publishing Group is releasing two Christian romance titles this month:

• Tracy Wainwright’s Overflowing Hearts (July 11)
• Under the August Sky by Erin Stevenson (July 25)

A Christian Ministry in the National Parks

         ACMNP observes 75 years in the parks in 2025! Over 17,000 team members have led over 100,000 worship services for park visitors and employees. This summer, 140 young people are working at seasonal jobs and conducing services, perhaps at a park you’re visiting!

Citizenship

         If you read my article from USA Today (mentioned above) about attending a naturalization ceremony, you’ll note I was awed by what someone applying for citizenship has to do. Try the civics portion of the test to see how much you know!

         The Bible tells us we have a citizenship awaiting in heaven, the city of God, for eternity (Philippians 3:20, Hebrews 12:22). Becoming a citizen there is much easier, no test required, because Jesus took it on our behalf and passed with flying colors: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, those whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

PARK NEWS

America’s 250^th anniversary in the National Park Service

          On the march toward celebrating the sesquicentennial of the signing of Declaration of Independence is the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, which took place on June 17, 1775.

While this clash between the British and American forces is named for the highest knoll in the hilly terrain of Charlestown, just north of Boston, the combat actually happened on a mound closer to the Charles River, Breed’s Hill.

         In the wake of levies imposed by Great Britain on the American colonies—“taxation without representation”—local militias began stashing guns, ammunition, and other essentials in towns surrounding Boston. Some of these soldiers were known as “minutemen,” ready for battle “at a minute’s notice.”

         When Massachusetts’ royal governor, General Thomas Gage, caught word of this, he sent troops to investigate, leading to the Battle of Lexington and Concord, which I mentioned in my April post.

         This stirred other colonies to action, with New England men—whites, enslaved and free Blacks, and Natives—to gather in Massachusetts, where they expected more encounters with British troops stationed in Boston. They encircled the city, and when they learned the British planned to break through to take the strategic Dorchester Heights to the north and Charlestown Heights to the south, the colonist troops used the cover of darkness to construct an earthen fort atop Breed’s Hill on the night of June 16.

         As dawn broke the next morning, British General William Howe led an assault on the fort, while the British Navy fired off cannon. But the ships couldn’t get close enough to do much good, and the colonists, who knew the boggy terrain much better than their enemies, dug in. Reinforcements arrived to back them up. Howe’s soldiers advanced, and came under heavy fire.

         Howe withdrew, regrouped, and breached the fort, resulting in close combat. The colonists, tired and low on ammunition, retreated. The British chased them as far as Bunker Hill, but neither side mounted any further attack.

         In the two-hour battle, the first major encounter between the two forces, the British had 1,054 causalities, the colonists only an estimated 450. The town of Charlestown was destroyed, but the conflict served to unite the thirteen colonies as never before. Another outcome was the appointment by the Continental Congress, established by American colony governments to organize resistance to British rule, of General George Washington to form and command a Continental Army. I’ll talk about that next month.  

Visit Minute Man and Boston National Historical Parks to learn more about this key battle of the American Revolution. At the former site is a statue of a minuteman, to honor those killed at Lexington and Concord; the latter is where you’ll find the Bunker Hill Memorial, which opened on June 17, 1843.

Flag Day

          Why is Flag Day June 14? This also is tied to the American Revolution. It’s the anniversary of the date in 1777 the Continental Congress officially adopted the Stars and Stripes as our national flag.

         The Park Service’s Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, winding through Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virigina, is a 560-mile land and water route telling the story of the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake Bay region.

         The flag had a huge role in that war. Along the trail is Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine where, after that war’s Battle of Baltimore, Francis Scott Key penned a poem called “Defence [sic] of Fort McHenry” (you know, writing “that our flag was still there”). That verse in turn was set to music and retitled “The Star-Spangled Banner.” And we have Ella Virginia Houck Holloway to thank for making that the song we sing with a hand over our hearts. She hounded her congressman for thirteen years to sponsor a bill to make the “Star-Spangled Banner” our national anthem, finally succeeding in 1931.

And who sewed that flag Key saw? Mary Pickersgill, at her Baltimore flag shop.

This month’s Subpar Parks Review

“Goes on forever” is the take on the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

          Yes, the 469-mile-long road connecting Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks is part of the Park Service. In fact, according to 2024 statistics,  it was the second-most visited spot among the 433 Park Service units, with 16.7 million visitors, just behind #1, Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California (17.1 million).

          Also known as “America’s favorite drive” and a “museum of the American countryside,” the roadway was constructed during the Great Depression by private contractors, with help from New Deal programs such as the Works Progress Administration, the Emergency Relief Administration, and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Three hundred miles of hiking trails run off the Blue Ridge Parkway, with traces of early European as well as pre-historic settlements.

My article about flags

         My oldest brother, the Latin and Greek scholar, would know this, but I had no idea the study of flags is vexillology, and there’s a North American Vexillogical Association. I had fun writing this 2022 piece for Fodor’s Travel. I also had fun coming up with its alliterative subtitle (“A curious chronicle of peculiar pennants”), and a line in the third paragraph (“These vexillologists voiced vehement views over various vexilla”).

The article's opening photo is from a national park site, which I'm sure you recognize as Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. And yes, the flag-flying entrance is pretty cool.

God’s flag

Vexillology comes from the Latin word vexillum, which was a banner, or standard, carried by some Roman soldiers. This signal conveys the idea of a rallying point, a place where troops gather under a leader to prepare for combat. The book of Exodus tells the story of Moses raising his hands as Joshua and his forces battled the Amalekites; as long as he kept his arms up, they prevailed. The Lord then instructed Moses to write down this incident so the Israelites would remember how God fought for them, and also build an altar. Moses called it Jehovah Nissi, which in Hebrew means “The Lord is My Banner” (Exodus 17:12-16).

In the Song of Solomon, the author gushes over his romance with a Shulamite woman. The book also illustrates God’s love for His people, most poignantly in chapter 2, verse 4: “his banner over me is love.” Solomon’s protective love exemplifies Jehovah Nissi’s love for us, especially in Jesus’s sacrifice to save us from our sins.

Rally ‘round that flag, and find rest (Isaiah 11:10).