Stories

View the recipients of the 2023 National Park Service Excellence in Interpretation Awards, which recognize outstanding contributions to the practice of interpretation and education by NPS employees.

The history of commemorating the site of the first English expeditions to the New World is in many ways as fascinating as the expeditions themselves. From the nineteenth century to the present, many steps have been taken to ensure that Fort Raleigh remains in American memory.

Although the abolition of slavery emerged as a dominant objective of the Union war effort, most Northerners embraced abolition as a practical measure rather than a moral cause. The war resolved legally and constitutionally the single most important moral question that afflicted the nascent republic, an issue that prevented the country from coalescing around a shared vision of freedom, equality, morality, and nationhood.

Archaeological digs took place in September, October and December of 2021 on the grounds of Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. Based on previous digs, this site was determined to be the location of a 1585 workshop used by metallurgist Joachim Gans and scientist Thomas Hariot.

Three buildings, including a costume shop housing 5,000 vintage costumes created by well-known designers, designer sketches, and photos, were destroyed by fire in the Waterside Theatre complex at Fort Raleigh NHS in 2007. The monetary loss was $2-3 million, but the cultural loss was incalculable. By learning about significant NPS fires, we can help prevent further tragedy. Includes questions to increase your fire risk awareness.

This finding aid describes the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) Southest Region Collection, part of the NPS History Collection.

Louise M. Meekins served as a yeoman third class in the US Navy Reserve Forces during World War I. She was one of the relatively small number of women who had veterans hiring preference after the war. Although she began working for the federal government in 1941, she didn't come to the National Park Service (NPS) until 1950. Over the next 16 years, she became a respected park historian at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.

How did the English expeditions make it to Roanoke Island? Maritime navigation in the Elizabethan era was surprisingly complex and accurate. Many instruments and methods were used to ensure swift and accurate passage across the Atlantic.

Piracy, privateering, and colonization of the New World went hand-in-hand in the sixteenth century. If not for the prospect of raiding Spanish shipping, it is unlikely that England would have made multiple attempts to colonize Roanoke Island in the 1580s.

In the 1950s, women in uniform continue to work as guides, historians, and archeologists. Few women had permanent positions. A handful of women began to get seasonal ranger-naturalists positions at large national parks for the first time in two decades.