Trains, automobiles, boats, bicycles, planes, and more carry visitors to National Park Service (NPS) sites around the United States. Some national parks protect historic transportation routes, some preserve vehicles and technology from years past, and others tell the story of the innovators who made it all possible. While transportation helps people and goods get from “Point A” to “Point B,” these networks also inspire social change and foster the spread of new ideas.
In his 1808 report on roads and canals, Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin promoted the benefits of transportation: “Good roads and canals, will shorten distances, facilitate commercial and personal intercourse, and unite by a still more intimate community of interests, the most remote quarters of the United States.” To Gallatin, efficient transportation was the route to a stronger nation.
Transportation networks contributed to the efforts of reformers and activists to challenge social norms and customs. Canals aided abolitionists spreading their anti-slavery message. Railroad expansion led to labor reform while facilitating migration around the country. Bicycles empowered women’s rights advocates and encouraged female independence. Buses became sites of civil rights activism. Transportation is inextricably linked to the spread of social change throughout the nation and beyond.
Discover the stories of how railroads, canals, highways, and other transportation networks encouraged new ways of thinking and the reimagining of American society.
Showing results 1-10 of 20
- Chesapeake Bay
St. Clement’s Island Museum
- Type: Place
- Locations: Chesapeake Bay
Discover the St Clement’s Island Museum where Maryland's founding story comes to life. Explore exhibits that highlight the rich history of the Piscataway People and early settlers. Stand on the historic island where the first English settlers landed in 1634, accessible by water taxi. Experience the beauty of the Potomac River and immerse yourself in the culture that shaped the Chesapeake Bay. Don’t miss the chance to learn and explore this unique site in St. Mary’s County.
- Freedom Riders National Monument
Greyhound Bus Depot
- Type: Place
- Locations: Freedom Riders National Monument
The Anniston Greyhound Bus Depot witnessed the early stages of mob violence against a small group of nonviolent Freedom Riders in May of 1961.
- Type: Article
Use this lesson to learn about the Liberty Bell and the nation's founding.
- Chesapeake Bay
Paddling the Beautiful Conowingo Islands
- Type: Article
- Locations: Chesapeake Bay
Experience paddling the Susquehanna River while marveling at beautiful rock formations known as the Conowingo Islands! As long as you come prepared and educated, paddlers of all experience levels can enjoy the river!
- Type: Article
- Locations: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park
- Offices: Archeology Program
The Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal is one of the most intact and impressive surviving examples of the American canal-building era. Construction began on July 4, 1828; on its completion in 1850, the canal stretched 185 miles from Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland. The untold stories of the lives of the workers that constructed the canal have the potential to add another dimension to the C&O Canal’s historical significance.
- Type: Article
Use this lesson to explore the history of the historic St. Louis courthouse.
- Type: Article
At Bryce Canyon erosion has shaped colorful limestones, sandstones, and mudstones into a spectacular array of spires, fins, and pinnacles known as "hoodoos." These whimsically arranged hoodoos remind viewers of church steeples, castle walls, animals, and even people. Formations with names such as the Wall of Windows, the Chessmen, Tower Bridge, and the Poodle, suggest but a few of the likenesses. Use this lesson plan to learn about the wonders of Bryce Canyon.
- Type: Place
- Locations: Boston National Historical Park, Boston African American National Historic Site
Long Wharf, located at the foot of State Street in Boston, is significant for its association with the early mercantile history of the United States. From the construction of Long Wharf in 1710-21 until 1756, Boston served as the largest colonial American port and was surpassed by only New York and Philadelphia during the rest of the 1700s. It also played a role in early military history, as well as in Boston's abolition history.
- Rocky Mountain National Park
A Vast Moving Caravan: Roads and Tourism
- Type: Article
- Locations: Rocky Mountain National Park
How have roads and road building shaped the history and landscape of the park?
- Jimmy Carter National Historical Park
Plains Train Depot Cultural Landscape
- Type: Article
- Locations: Jimmy Carter National Historical Park
The Plains Train Depot, a cultural landscape at Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, is one of the most recognizable symbols of Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign. The Plains Depot proved a powerful symbol for the Carter campaign, as the building in the small town became well-known in a way that mirrored Carter's own rise. It was also the literal and figurative center of the Plains community, connected to a local history of race relations, agriculture, and politics.
Last updated: October 27, 2020