National Park Service on Thursday, Aug. 25, will celebrate Founders Day and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the National Park Service with several programs.
Special Founders Day programs will be offered the national park sites on the Outer Banks: Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and the Wright Brothers National Memorial.
Entrance to Wright Brothers National Memorial will be free Aug. 25 to 28.
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act, creating the National Park Service on Aug. 25, 1916.
The parks of the Outer Banks Group are part of a vast network of sites protecting our natural and cultural heritage from coast to coast.
Park rangers will be on hand on Aug. 25 for visitors to explore the last 100 years of the National Park Service and learn about the agency’s future during a Meanings of the National Park Service program (20 minutes) at the following locations:
- 11 a.m. at the Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center,
- Noon at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site Visitor Center,
- 1 p.m. at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Ocracoke Visitor Center,
- 1:30 p.m. at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Hatteras Island Visitor Center Pavilion,
- 3 p.m. at the Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center, and
- 3:30 p.m. at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Bodie Island Visitor Center.
For a listing of additional activities scheduled for Founders Day, go to https://www.nps.gov/caha/learn/news/16_049.htm.
The National Park System has been described as “the best idea America ever had.” National parks are critical to protecting the Earth and are connected to a global conservation community. They reveal a comprehensive national identity, connecting us to ourselves and each other.
For more information on the NPS Centennial, go to http://www.nps.gov/subjects/centennial/index.htm.
