ANDERSONVILLE, Ga. – The National Park Getaways series directs your attention to a different national park each week. This week, the spotlight falls on Andersonville National Historic Site in Georgia. Unlike other parks, Andersonville doesn’t lure visitors with breathtaking scenery or draw them in with relaxing or exhilarating activities. Instead, people come to learn about the sacrifices made for our nation’s unity and ideals and to pay tribute to the people who made them.

Andersonville National Historic Site preserves the location of Camp Sumter, a Confederate prison from the Civil War. Here, Union prisoners were kept in overcrowded conditions under which many died. The National Prisoner of War Museum honors all Americans who, like the men held at Camp Sumter, were captured while serving their country. Although found at a Civil War site, the museum ensures remembrance for those taken prisoner during all of our nation’s conflicts, from the Revolutionary War to the present.

Likewise, the national cemetery at Andersonville honors and provides a final resting place for Civil War casualties and for veterans who rendered service in the century and a half following the War Between the States. The cemetery’s marble gravestones stretch out before visitors. It is humbling to gaze upon the white markers and think that each represents a person who helped to secure our liberty and safety. To honor our veterans, 250 large American flags line the cemetery roads this week at Andersonville. “We fly these flags to honor our veterans and recognize their sacrifices” said Jon Bradley Bennett, Andersonville Superintendent. “But the best way to honor them is to never forget what they have done and continue to do to ensure our freedom and the freedom of others.”

What can we give to people who have given their lives so that ours may thrive? Our nation collectively has given veterans time and space. What Veterans Day and Memorial Day are to the calendar, sites like Andersonville are to the land of the United States. These days and places are set aside so that we, as individuals, may give our veterans thanks as we remember them and learn about their experiences.

Each week, National Park Getaways help people find new places to reconnect with nature, history, family, and friends. To see previous getaways visit www.nps.gov/getaways.