From the Statue of Liberty standing tall above New York Harbor to Idaho’s volcanic Craters of the Moon, nationwide monuments shield a few of our nation’s most prized locations and objects, and inform a few of our most necessary tales. Mountains, islands, caves, forts, ruins and birthplaces—anyplace “of historic or scientific curiosity” could be deemed a nationwide monument with a regulation or presidential proclamation.
They shield tens of millions of acres of public lands and provide among the most scenic locations to climb, hike, kayak and extra, however nationwide monuments additionally more and more provide a few of America’s least-crowded adventures—partially as a result of many individuals don’t know rather a lot about them.
Do you? Check your information of our nationwide monuments.
Take the Quiz
What’s a nationwide monument?
- A chosen website with particular cultural, historic or scientific significance
- A protected space created on or from federally owned or managed land
- A landmark created by Congressional laws or presidential proclamation
- All the above
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4. All the above. Nationwide monuments are areas of great pure, cultural, scientific or leisure worth which can be situated on land owned and managed by the federal authorities, corresponding to nationwide parks. They are often established by Congress, and by presidential order through the Antiquities Act of 1906, which was created partially to forestall theft and injury to archaeological websites. (Against this, solely acts of Congress can create nationwide parks.)
Since 1906, all however all however 4 U.S. presidents have invoked the act to create new nationwide monuments.
What was the primary established nationwide monument?
- Katahdin Woods and Waters, Maine
- Devils Tower, Wyoming
- Muir Woods, California
- Capulin Volcano, New Mexico
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2. Devils Tower, Wyoming. Theodore Roosevelt (who hated to be referred to as Teddy—do you know that?) established this primary nationwide monument on Sept. 24, 1906. The Lakota identify for this uncommon geological volcanic formation is Mato Tipila, that means “Bear Lodge”; it has been been a sacred website for the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow and Kiowa peoples as properly.
It’s additionally one of the crucial standard crack-climbing areas within the nation, with a whole bunch of parallel cracks—some extensive sufficient to suit one’s entire physique into, and one extending almost 400 ft upward.
Which president designated the best variety of nationwide monuments??
- Woodrow Wilson
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Calvin Coolidge
- Barack Obama
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4. Barack Obama.The forty fourth president handily assumed Theodore Roosevelt’s former title, designating 26 nationwide monuments. In whole, Obama newly protected over 260 million acres, together with the crystal waters and gorgeous evening skies of Katahdin Woods and Waters Nationwide Monument; and the historic website throughout the road from the Stonewall Inn, the place the battle for LGBTQ+ civil rights started. He additionally elevated present monuments’ acreage by one other 465 million.
Which of those songs could possibly be on a playlist about our nationwide monuments?
- “Buffalo Soldier” by Bob Marley
- “Devils Tower” by Toto
- “El Corrido de Sylvia Rivera” by Renee Goust ft. La Bruja de Texcoco
- “Mt. St. Helens” by Mirah
- All the above
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5. All the above. Ohio’s Charles Younger Buffalo Troopers Monument commemorates Basic Charles Younger, who was the third African-American graduate of West Level, the primary Black man to develop into a U.S. Military colonel and the highest-ranking Black officer within the Common Military till his 1922 loss of life. Buffalo troopers, as Marley sings, have been African Individuals serving within the submit–Civil Warfare military.
Wyoming’s Devils Tower, talked about on this quiz’s first query, is an especially difficult however standard website for climbers; Toto’s refrain consists of the road, “Climb the satan’s tower yet one more time.”
LGBTQ+ rights advocates, drag queens and Stonewall riot protesters Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson would go on to steer a number of pivotal initiatives and organizations within the battle for equality. Mexican American musician Goust memorializes Rivera in a corrido, a conventional kind of Mexican storytelling music.
Mount St. Helens is a stratovolcano whose final main eruption was in 1980; it was designated as a nationwide monument in 1982 and have become the topic of a Mirah music in 2006.
Which nationwide monument had essentially the most guests in each 2021 and 2022?
- Stonewall, New York
- Muir Woods, California
- Fort Clinton, New York
- Cedar Breaks, Utah
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3. Fort Clinton, New York. Do you know there’s an immigration station close to New York Harbor that predates Ellis Island? That’s Fort Clinton—a former fort constructed through the Warfare of 1812, referred to as Fort Backyard when it reopened in 1855 to obtain new arrivals to the nation. Between 1855 and 1890, greater than 8 million folks handed by the round sandstone constructing. The Manhattan locale now welcomes over 3 million guests every year trying to dive deep into American historical past—and to get to America’s second-most standard nationwide monument, the Statue of Liberty.
What number of nationwide monuments are there?
- 133
- 203
- 113
- 103
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1. 133—as of this publication. On Aug. eighth, 2023, President Joe Biden designated the 133rd nationwide monument: Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon Nationwide Monument. This monument protects almost 1 million acres surrounding Grand Canyon Nationwide Park. Baaj Nwaavjo means “the place tribes roam” for the Havasupai Tribe; I’tah Kukveni means “our ancestral footprints” in Hopi. Together with your assist, nevertheless, the variety of nationwide monuments may improve by the tip of the 12 months. (Extra on that beneath.)
Which of those nationwide parks began out as a nationwide monument?
- Grand Teton Nationwide Park, Wyoming
- Arches Nationwide Park, Utah
- Grand Canyon Nationwide Park, Arizona
- All the above
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4. All the above—after which some. Imagine it or not, almost half of America’s beloved nationwide parks began out as nationwide monuments. California’s Pinnacles Nationwide Park and Missouri’s Gateway Arch Nationwide Park are simply two latest examples of this course of in motion.
President Biden lately proclaimed two nationwide monuments in two weeks in Aug. 2023. One was the aforementioned Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon Nationwide Monument, in Arizona. What was the opposite?
- Avi Kwa Ame, Nevada
- Emmett Until and Mamie Until-Mobley; Illinois, Mississippi
- Castner Vary, Texas
- Camp Hale, Colorado
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2. Emmett Until and Mamie Until-Mobley; Illinois, Mississippi. This nationwide monument honors the lifetime of Emmett Until, a 14-year-old Black boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, and his mom, Mamie Until-Mobley. It consists of three websites in two states: Graball Touchdown on Mississippi’s Tallahatchie River, the place the kid’s physique was retrieved; the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, the place his alleged killers’ trial occurred; and Chicago, the place his mom determined to carry an open-casket funeral to show the racist brutality that Until suffered.
Which state has essentially the most nationwide monuments?
- Arizona
- California
- Utah
- New Mexico
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1. Arizona. With the creation of the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon Nationwide Monument, Arizona is now residence to 19 nationwide monuments, from Chiricahua to Tuzigoot. The Grand Canyon State’s earlier tie with California—which has 18—is formally damaged.
What’s the largest nationwide monument within the Decrease 48 states?
- Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon, Arizona
- Bears Ears, Utah
- Mojave Trails, California
- Grand Staircase–Escalante, Utah
Bonus query: What are some methods you possibly can help nationwide monuments?
- Go to and luxuriate in them
- Decide to defending them
- Be part of the REI Co-op and the REI Cooperative Motion Community in advocating for the Locations We Love
- All the above
4. All the above. By recreating responsibly in protected areas, you possibly can present our authorities how significant and important nationwide monuments are for the well-being of our nation and its folks. All the time comply with the Depart No Hint Ideas when visiting nationwide monuments with a view to hold them preserved and pristine for generations to come back. You’ll be able to even think about volunteering at a nationwide monument website: Volunteer.gov has stewardship, instructional, interpretive and different alternatives year-round and nationwide.
Learn on to be taught how one can assist shield extra important locations as nationwide monuments by becoming a member of the REI Cooperative Motion Community‘s Monument Marketing campaign Mobilizing for Monuments.
Mobilizing for Monuments
REI Co-op has joined the Conservation Alliance, The North Face, Patagonia, Eager, the Outside Alliance and extra to type the Mobilizing for Monuments coalition, which inspires companies, Americans and everybody who loves the outside to behave now to completely shield our lands and waters from local weather change and concrete growth. One of many swiftest methods to enact that large a change is by establishing and increasing nationwide monuments.
This August, President Biden designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon Nationwide Monument, a virtually 1-million-acre addition to monument lands, due to an consciousness initiative and marketing campaign that has been led by 12 Indigenous tribes within the space. Now, by our REI Cooperative Motion Community, we’re working with Mobilizing for Monuments to induce Biden to ascertain, broaden and shield a number of extra nationwide monuments, together with California’s San Gabriel Mountains Nationwide Monument and Berryessa Snow Mountain Nationwide Monument and Colorado’s Dolores River Canyon Nation Nationwide Monument.
Collectively, we are able to be a part of voices to help nationwide monument designations throughout the U.S. Defending the nation’s remaining wild locations and outside areas, preserving cultural and historic websites, bettering alternatives for recreation, getting extra residents outdoor and rising the economies of in-need communities—these are issues in everybody’s curiosity.
Be part of the REI Cooperative Motion Community in advocating for America’s most treasured locations and be taught extra about how one can proceed advocating for brand spanking new and expanded nationwide monuments.
