Your Fee Dollars at Work

Out of the over 400 units in the National Park Service, 112 parks charge an entrance fee. Entrance fees are revenue collected at National Park Service sites and are used to enhance the visitor experience. Funds are used to create and maintain park facilities, preserve and protect natural and cultural resources, and design and update exhibits. At least 80 percent of the money stays in the park where it is collected, and the other 20 percent is used to benefit parks that do not collect fees. Learn more aboout how your fee dollars are used throughout the National Park Service.

 

Fee Supported Projects

Left image
The bombproof exhibit pre-paint project.
Credit: NPS

Right image
The bombproof exhibit with a fresh coat of paint.
Credit: NPS

 

Fencing around the bastion rehabilitation project.

NPS

The fee money that remains within Fort McHenry NM&HS is used for various programs, supplies, and projects that directly impact visitor use. As you visit the park, any of the exhibit spaces you enter in the park visitor center or the Historic Zone have been furnished and designed using recreation fee money.

In 2022 the park invested in a major painting project to restore historic exhibit spaces in the star fort structures to rehabiliate and protect those spaces for future use. In addtion a bastion restoration project was completed bringing in experts from the National Park Service's Historic Preservation Training Center to rehabilitate the historic bastions in the fort. These projects, and more, would not be possible without the park's recreation fee funds.

 

Left image
Seawall after storm damage, September 12, 2024
Credit: NPS

Right image
Seawall after repairs, November 18, 2024
Credit: NPS

Seawall Rehabilitation

In September 2024, Fort McHenry began a project to address severe damage to the seawall caused by storms in January and tropical storm Debby in August. 

The January storm displaced 49 large granite seawall capstones and storms in August displaced a further 19 capstones. Through the course of this 11-week project, preservationists removed granite capstones, repaired masonry along the seawall face, reset and repaired capstones, and repaired the mortar joints between the stones.

The historic seawall protects the perimeter of Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine where it borders on the Patapsco River. The seawall is 3,765 feet long, wrapping around the peninsula on which the fort stands. Historically the seawall was a dry laid wall constructed of granite and sandstone and built in sections between 1816 to 1895. Rehabilitation of this critical historic structure was made possible through the support of recreation fees. 

 

Preservationists using equipment to move and reset granite seawall capstones

NPS