News

BOSTON–National Parks of Boston Superintendent Michael Creasey has named longtime National Park Service leader Liza Stearns as the new Deputy Superintendent.

On Sunday, September 24, live performers presented “BLACK in the cradle of liberty” at the Great Hall in Faneuil Hall. This declaration explored agency, voice, and the power of place.

A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 2.5 million visitors to National Parks of Boston in 2022 spent $167.3 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 2,090 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $255.4 million.

In celebration of National Park Week, National Park Service Director Chuck Sams made his first official visit to the National Parks of Boston from April 25-26.

Today as our country remembers Juneteenth, I reflect upon the recent words of National Park Service acting Director David Vela who spoke out against racial injustices in our nation. As the stewards and storytellers of our nation’s heritage, national parks have a role in revealing a deeply layered and complicated American narrative.

On Tuesday, October 15, 2019, from 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., the City of Boston, Friends of the Public Gardens, Museum of African American History and the National Park Service will announce the partnership to support the multi-million dollar restoration project of the Shaw Memorial. The event will take place at the Shaw Memorial at 24 Beacon Street across from the Massachusetts State House.

August 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the first landing of enslaved Africans in English-occupied North America at Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia, today Fort Monroe National Monument. The National Parks of Boston and its partners will come together in solidarity on Sunday, August 25, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. and join the nationwide, four minute (one minute for each century) bell ringing ceremony, to honor the first enslaved Africans who landed in North America. The public is invited to pause, reflect, and honor those enslaved Africans who arrived in 1619 and subsequent generations who endured hardship, possessed resilience, and contributed to the history and development of the United States. Bell ringing will take place at Faneuil Hall, USS Cassin Young, USS Constitution, Old South Meeting House, Old North Church, and King’s Chapel.

With the enactment of the continuing resolution, National Park Service staff at Boston National Historical Park, Boston African American National Historic Site and the Boston Harbor Islands State and National Park will resume limited operations on January 26 and 27, 2019.

In April 2009, nearly 400 volunteers contributed 1,965 work hours as they planted more than 80,000 culms (stems) of beach grass on Spectacle Island.

Park Community News from August 21, 2008.