Stories

The National Park Service Chesapeake Gateways Program (NPS Chesapeake Gateways) offers competitive grant opportunities to advance the Chesapeake Bay Initiative Act of 1998 within the full 41-million-acre Chesapeake Bay watershed! In September 2023, NPS Chesapeake Gateways awarded 22 grants totaling nearly $2.3 million.

Curiosity Kits inspire exploration and learning of history through place. These multi-piece resources include articles that explore historic places and provide educational activities for life-long learners. This kit focuses on the life and work of Mabel Keaton Staupers, a nurse and civil rights activist. Use this series to learn about her work to integrating the nursing profession. She had a particular impact on the opportunities and treatment for Black nurses during World War II.

Learn more about five historic African American communities that greatly influenced areas along the C&O Canal and their imprints still visible on the landscape today. These communities formed during the Reconstruction Era as families began building new lives for themselves post-emancipation. While many of these communities no longer exist, their stories illustrate the impact of African American history along the canal.

From 1968 to 1978, American Indian activists engaged in a series of marches to the nation's capital to demand rights for their tribes and communities. Foremost among their demands was that the United States honor its treaties with Indigenous nations. These movements laid the foundation for the ongoing struggle for Native rights in the United States. Read on to learn more about this important chapter in Native American history.

This lesson is based on the Decatur House, one of the thousands of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Inspect Commodore Stephen Decatur's home near the White House, a gathering place for the politically ambitious, and learn why the naval hero felt compelled to fight a fateful duel.

This lesson is based on The Octagon in Washington, D.C., a National Historic Landmark. It is among the thousands of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

This lesson is based on the Washington Monument, one of the thousands of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Understand why George Washington was so revered during his lifetime and beyond, and learn why it took 100 years to complete this famous monument in his honor.

The story of Frederick Douglass begins with a photograph. The power that photography would have in his life would be coupled with his powerful rhetoric for freedom and equality for all.

Gibson Grove is a historical African American community, located in Cabin John, Maryland, and was established in the 1880s. Named for the African American Gibson family who relocated there after the Civil War, the community was home to ten core families, a church, and an African American school. Learn more about the lives and work of the Gibson Grove residents and how the community endured well into the twentieth century.

Tobytown is a historic African American community located along the C&O Canal in Travilah, Maryland. Founded in the 1870s, Tobytown grew to be a prosperous community, with agricultural lands, church, school, and successful businesses. “Urban renewal” efforts by Montgomery County officials from the 1940s through the 1970s encroached on Tobytown and dispossessed its residents. Learn about Tobytown, its residents, and how they found success prior to the community’s demise.