America’s system of National Parks, operated by the Department of the Interior through the National Parks Service, is one of the true jewels of the US government. National Parks promote America’s heritage and history, education, recreation, natural resources, ecology and the environment, cultural diversity, and the nation’s natural beauty. Promoting access for the general public has been a goal of the NPS since its inception, while at the same time it has striven to protect the environment and wildlife. As of 2021 there were 63 National Parks in the United States, in addition to which the NPS maintained 85 National Monuments, 13 National Lakeshores and Seashores, and scores of other holdings which include National Historical Parks and Sites, National Military Parks, and many other designated areas.
They are among the most popular tourist sites in the nation. Before Covid-related limitations to travel, park visitation increased annually; by 2019, visits to America’s National Parks exceeded 327 million (in a nation of roughly 330 million in population). Here are the ten most popular National Parks in the United States, based on the number of visitors. These ten together account for about 30% of all annual visits to the National Park System.
10. Zion National Park (Utah)
Created by act of Congress as a National Park in 1919, which stated, “The purpose of Zion National Park is to preserve the dramatic geology including Zion Canyon and a labyrinth of deep and brilliantly colored Navajo sandstone canyons formed by extraordinary processes of erosion at the margin of the Colorado Plateau; to safeguard the park’s wilderness character and its wild and scenic river values; to protect evidence of human history; and to provide for scientific research and the enjoyment and enlightenment of the public”. Whew. The park, which covers over 225 square miles, includes waterways and deserts, mountain terrain and deep canyons, and is a Congressionally designated wilderness area for over 85% of its lands.
Its stunning views and varied topography have led the region to be a favorite among Hollywood filmmakers, from the days of silent film to more recent productions. About 5 million visitors entered the park in 2021, a number kept down by its remote location and ongoing covid effects on travel. Like much of America’s National Park System, some parts are not for the faint-hearted, with dangers from terrain, weather, and wildlife present throughout the area. It isn’t difficult to find rattlesnakes, gila monsters, mountain lions, bears, wolves, coyotes, scorpions, and other less than friendly critters in the park, even in those areas more frequently visited by humans. And they are not all. Even deer and squirrels can be dangerous to humans, in Zion and in all of America’s National Parks.
9. Gulf Islands National Seashore (Mississippi, Florida)
Stretching along the Gulf of Mexico’s coastline with Florida and Mississippi, with some areas only reachable by boat, Gulf Islands National Seashore portion was created in 1971. A contiguous wilderness area on the mainland joined the park in 1978. Both did not escape damage from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, and cleanup of that massive oil spill proved especially difficult and expensive. The Atlantic hurricane season has led to several damaging storms, all of which have damaged both the natural environment and man-made infrastructure in the park.
Underwater structures provide scuba and snorkeling opportunities; both prepared campsites and primitive camping areas are offered, and nearly all of the park located within Florida is accessible by automobile. Several popular beaches, hiking and nature trails, and preserved military structures, as well as boating, attract about 5.5 million visitors to the park each year, despite much of the Mississippi portion of the park being accessible only by boat.
8. Lincoln Memorial (Washington DC)
Washington DC is a city which offers visitors a long list of attractions, including the buildings of the government, the National Archives, the numerous facilities offered by the Smithsonian Institute, and others too many to list. Yet year after year, among the most popular is the Lincoln Memorial, the steps of which are climbed by over 5.8 million visitors each year. Besides viewing the massive statue of the seated Lincoln, designed by Daniel Chester French, visitors are rewarded with a view which extends along the National Mall, including the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and Arlington House, on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. There are views celebrating American history in every direction from the Memorial.
The Lincoln Memorial may be visited 24 hours per day, seven days per week. At least one American President made an unannounced early morning visit to the site; Richard Nixon visited in May, 1970, briefly meeting Vietnam War protestors in the wake of the Kent State shootings just days earlier. Despite its status as an unofficial national shrine, the Lincoln Memorial has been a frequent target of vandalism, often of a racist nature. The exact number of visitors each year, which unfortunately must include the cretins attempting to deface the memorial, can only be estimated, though it exceeds 5.8 million per year.
7. Natchez Trace Parkway (Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee)
What became the Natchez Trace was a migration trail literally tramped through the wilderness by bison, later used by Native Americans, and finally a road used by the early settlers of the American west. During its heyday as a highway to the west, river pirates and highwaymen thrived along its isolated sections. Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame, was one of hundreds who did not survive a journey along the trail, dying under mysterious and as yet still unexplained circumstances in a tavern on the Trace, during a trip to Washington to explain inconsistencies in his finances as Governor of Louisiana. He was buried along the Trace.
Natchez Trace Parkway celebrates that history, winding through the modern states of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, with 444 miles of two-lane highway. Along the way it offers camping, nature trails, sites celebrating American and Native American history, archaeology and paleontology, and water recreation facilities. The road itself is a part of history, having been laid out originally by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, part of the federal government’s response to the Great Depression. It is visited by over 6.8 million per year, many of whom may walk on the original Trace, through areas virtually unchanged since bison walked them, located just off the paved parkway.
6. George Washington Memorial Parkway (Virginia)
For many Washington DC commuters, the George Washington Memorial Parkway is part of the twice daily grind of completing their round trip twixt work and home. But for millions of others, the Parkway celebrates the life of George Washington. It connects Great Falls, where a young Washington once set off on a surveying expedition to the west, with Mount Vernon, his celebrated home on the Potomac River in Virginia. In between it travels through the city which bears his name, through Alexandria along streets he once trod, and past areas formerly the homes of his neighbors and political allies and enemies.
Along the route it offers visitors recreational facilities and numerous monuments, memorials, and other sites of interest. Among them are the United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Monument), Arlington National Cemetery, the Netherlands Carillon, and Mount Vernon. Besides being a National Memorial Highway, it serves as a major commuting route, with limited access connecting roads as well as grade level crossings and interchanges. The National Park Service, which maintains it, estimates 6.8 million visitors drive the road and visit various sites along its route annually.
5. Lake Mead National Recreation Area (Nevada, Arizona)
Lake Mead became the focus of national attention in 2022, as drought conditions caused its waters to recede during the summer months, revealing the remains of several persons. Lake Mead was created by the construction of Hoover Dam in the 1930s (renamed Boulder Dam by FDR, with Hoover Dam restored by Congress in 1947). Lake Mead is the largest freshwater reservoir in the world. During construction of the dam the area surrounding the growing lake was designated a bird refuge. In 1947 it became the Lake Mead National Recreation Area by an act of Congress, the first region so designated in the United States. In 1964 expansion led to its inclusion of the Lake Mohave region. A section of the Recreation area borders on Grand Canyon National Park.
Lake Mead offers nine individual wilderness areas to the intrepid visitor; the ghost town of St. Thomas, located in Nevada and once completely submerged by the reservoir, and more than 500 animal species, including two dozen designated as rare or threatened. It also offers visitors fresh water sport fishing, archaeological sites, and of course, Hoover Dam itself. The western limits of Lake Mead are about 30 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada, which offers a different type of recreation to visitors. The National Park Service ranks Lake Mead Recreation Area as the fifth most visited of America’s national parks annually, at 7.6 million.
4. Gateway National Recreation Area (New York, New Jersey)
One does not usually call to mind New York City and adjacent New Jersey as parkland suitable for recreation, but Gateway National Recreation Area offers exactly that, welcoming over 9 million visitors each year. In 1972 the federal government, with the approval and urging of President Richard Nixon, used eminent domain and state donations to designate over 26,600 acres of New York and New Jersey waterfront and nearby lands to create the national park. It included lands on Long Island, Staten Island, and Monmouth County in New Jersey. Though not contiguous, the recreation area stretches from Frank Charles Memorial Park (near JFK International Airport) to the southern tip of Sandy Hook.
Separate from, but nearby, is the Statue of Liberty National Monument, which includes Ellis Island and the National Museum of Immigration Heritage. Gateway National Recreation Area, maintains historic sites of its own including decommissioned forts and airfields, and offers camping, watersports, beaches, and piers, as its main attractions for visitors. The park, which turned 50 years old in 2022, receives over 9 million visitors each year, no doubt helped by its proximity to densely built urban areas. A section of Gunnison Beach, on Staten Island, is a nude beach, or as the National Park Service calls it a “clothing-optional” beach. Visitors may sunbathe nude, though accompanying pets must be on a leash.
3. Golden Gate National Recreation Area (California)
Created at the same time as Gateway National Recreation Area on the opposite coast, Golden Gate includes several former defense installations. Among them are Alcatraz Island and prison, the Presidio, Fort Mason (which once served as a port of embarkation for US Army ships), and Fort Funston, built to protect San Francisco Bay from assault from the sea. Since its founding in 1972 it was expanded several times, and though a non-contiguous park has become one of the most popular in the country. Over 13.7 million visitors annually visit the park, or sections of the park, with Alcatraz the most popular.
Like its east coast cousin at Gateway National Recreation Area, Golden Gate offers a “clothing-optional beach.” Located in the San Francisco section at Baker Beach, within the region of the Presidio, the northern section is one of several nude beaches in the San Francisco area. Public nudity is illegal in San Francisco (without a permit), for the most part, but Baker Beach is administered and patrolled by the United States Park Service, which has no regulations prohibiting the behavior. However, according to some reports, San Francisco weather frequently leads to discretion among beachgoers.
2. Great Smokey Mountains National Park (Tennessee, North Carolina, Tennessee)
The well-known tourist destinations of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee are both located within or on the fringe of Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Tourist meccas such as Dollywood help draw visitors to the region, though the park itself contains several attractions including some of the highest summits east of the Mississippi River, waterfalls, caverns, primitive camping areas, and dense forests. The home of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation is contiguous to the park. In 1983 the National Park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
According to the National Park Service, the Smokey’s are the site of more species of trees than any other National Park, with about a quarter of the park’s forestation being designated as old growth. Historic sites are liberally scattered throughout the park. Some are original, while others have been restored and are maintained by the NPS. Nearby Gatlinburg and other communities celebrate the region’s history of moonshining, feuds, logging and mining, and the Cherokee people and culture. Over 14 million people visit the park every year, making it the second most visited of all of America’s National Parks. Some sites, claim it as the most visited National Park, though the National Park System gives that honor to another park in the Appalachian region.
1. Blue Ridge Parkway (Virginia, North Carolina)
In terms of linear miles, Blue Ridge Parkway is America’s longest park. It connects the southern end of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smokey National Park in Tennessee, 469 miles, at a speed which never exceeds 45 miles per hour. At least by posted speed limit. Due to the winding and often blind nature of the road, designed during the Great Depression, many stretches are posted at much lower speeds, and some sections are officially closed during the winter and early spring months, due to snow, ice, and fog. Construction of the parkway began during the Depression, under the Civilian Conservation Corps. During World War II construction continued, often serving as training for Construction Battalions of the US Navy and the Army’s Corps of Engineering. It also provided employment for conscientious objectors to the draft under the Civilian Public Service program.
The Parkway opened in 1946, though construction was not completed until 1987. It has been consistently the most visited of all of America’s National Parks since the 1960s. One reason for its popularity is the annual displays of foliage during the Appalachian fall months. It grants access to caves and campgrounds, Civil War battlefields, recreation on the Shenandoah River, hiking in the mountains, and historical celebrations and activities. No large trucks, commercial vehicles, or farm vehicles are allowed on the parkway, nor have they ever been. Designed for private driving at a leisurely pace, it welcomes nearly 16 million visitors each year, measured by number of vehicles rather than passengers.