Field Trip Friday: Pea Ridge National Military Park

Today I’m welcoming my dear friend, Lana, as my first guest poster. Since I’m busy packing for a getaway, I’m grateful for her willingness to share her experience to Pea Ridge National Military Park in Arkansas.

We met Lana and her family when we first arrived in Alabama and though she’s since moved with her family, I still love to hear about the many outings she takes with her children….plus she e-mails me and tells me about the places in Arkansas that she thinks my family will enjoy!

Pea Ridge National Military Park sits a few miles outside of Rogers, Arkansas. I can't tell you how many times I have passed the park entrance in the eleven years of living in Northwest Arkansas but I have never had the desire to stop until the last year or so. We were living in Alabama and had taken the kids to see a reenactment of the Battle for Decatur. My daughter enjoyed it so much that in my mind I knew we just had to attend the one held at the Pea Ridge National Military Park. However, we missed the reenactment held there this March.

On a recent trip to Northwest Arkansas, I decided that we would just ride out to the park and enjoy the day. I was so glad we did. I love when spur of the moment trips turn out so good!

Upon entering the Pea Ridge National Military Park visitor center we were greeted by a Park Ranger who asked if the kids wanted to participate in the Junior Ranger Program. I have a friend (that would be me! ) who had told me all about these programs and I was dying to try one out.

So the kids and I walked around the exhibits filling out the questions. We stopped in to watch the orientation film that was already in progress and I was quiet impressed that the kids watched as much of it as they did. It was almost over when my 7 year old got fidgety and cried out, "Why? Why did they have to die!"  It was then that we made our way to the car to begin the seven-mile road tour through the park.

Sadly, you can not enter the tavern.

There are 10 points of interest on this battlefield. (I had no idea that the Trail of Tears ran right through the park but I was intrigued). We stopped, ever so briefly, at most of the stops. It was hot! The children and I loved the East Overlook, "...the best view of the battlefield in the park."  They also loved Elkhorn Tavern that was used as a "field hospital caring for both Union and Confederate wounded" during the battle.

Pea Ridge National Military Park contains 4,300 acres. An orientation film and exhibits are available in the Visitor Center. A seven-mile tour road provides access to the battlefield and stops at important points of interest. This park has numerous outdoor recreation opportunities, including, walking, jogging, bicycling, picnicking and equestrian riding. There is an entrance fee that is collected in the visitor center. Living history programs are offered during the summer. Their battle reenactment is held the weekend closest to March 7th and 8th.

You may be wondering how my children liked the Junior Ranger Program. They loved it. They had to answer a few very easy questions and as we drove through the park they had a checklist of things to mark off as they saw them on the tour. They were so proud of their Junior Ranger badges. Unfortunately, my daughter left hers at the Buss Stop a few miles north of the park. If you ever get a chance to get an ice cream cone from the Buss Stop, I highly recommend a large. Yes, they come in sizes.

Becoming official Junior Rangers

What Civil War battlefields have you visited?

Interested in linking-up to Field Trip Friday? It’s easy, read the guidelines and join the linky below.

Until next month, Happy Field Trippin’!

A Few More National Parks We’ve Enjoyed Visiting Over the Years

In case you missed it, this week is National Park Week.  The parks that charge admission are offering free entrance to the parks until Sunday, April 24th so you still have time to enjoy a park near you.

This week I’ve shared our trip to The Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, our favorite park- Assateague Island National Seashore, and ten National Parks that I want to visit on our trip West.  I’d like to wrap up the week by sharing a few of the posts I’ve written in the past about some of our National Park adventures along with a tip or two for each.

When my husband and I got married nearly 19 years ago, we decided that we were going to honeymoon at Mammoth Caves National Park. Our wedding wasn’t one of those beautiful, elaborate weddings. It was more along the lines of “let’s get married on Thursday’ sort of thing and off we went. We didn’t plan anything, which was really a bummer because when we arrived at Mammoth Caves early in the morning, we discovered that all the tours were sold for the day.

Since then we’ve visited Mammoth Caves and made the trip underground several times. If anyone asks me for tips I always recommend that you purchase your tour tickets in advance regardless of what time of year you plan to visit and remember that Mammoth Caves is in Central Standard Time- just in case you’re heading from a different time zone.    

Sometimes visiting a National Park doesn’t require a great deal of travel. We’re fortunate to have one of those gems about an hour from our home in Alabama. Russell Cave National Monument has become a favorite place to stop and stretch our legs on the way to Chattanooga or Atlanta.  You may enjoy reading about our first visit- especially the hike- and then see how our opinion changed after our second visit. All I can say is don’t try the hike if the ground is wet. If you read my post, you’ll understand what I mean. 

Our trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island certainly brings back fond memories. We grabbed the ferry from the New Jersey side, which was less crowded, and I remember when I saw Miss Liberty for the first time as the ferry pulled around Ellis Island, it was breathtaking. I used our trip to New York to show how our travels have extended into our homeschool classroom.  If you plan to travel to New Jersey or New York to see this National Landmark allow plenty of time. The traffic can really back up so plan to have plenty of car games handy for the little ones along for the ride. In fact, you can print the Jr. Ranger booklet before you leave home and your children can work on it along the way.    

The menfolk or history buffs in the household won’t turn down visiting a battlefield. My kids loved reading  Across Five Aprils *when they realized that we’d the majority of battlefields mentioned in the book. One of the battlefields that they really enjoyed touring was the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park. If you plan to see the entire park make sure you allow plenty of time. An hour or two isn’t enough time to explore the Visitor’s Center, battlefield and Lookout Mountain. Many of the national parks are also now offering cell phone tours and Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park is one of them so make sure you don’t miss it. 

Now it’s your turn. Which National Parks have you enjoyed visiting?

*Just so you know, the link for Across Five Aprils is an affiliate link.

Field Trip Friday: Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park

After driving past the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park several times on our trips from Alabama to Atlanta, we finally allowed ourselves plenty of time to stop and explore last spring. This battlefield in Northern Georgia was the first to become a national military park and was used as a model for those that would follow- Gettysburg, Shiloh and Vicksburg. We began our tour at the Visitor's Center where we enjoyed touring the museum-like exhibits and the impressive collection of firearms from a private collection.
Visitors Center A glimpse at the private firearms exhibit on display. My guys couldn't get enough!
I had no idea they even had grenades in the Civil War!
You won't want to miss watching the free 23-minute film, "The Battle of Chickamauga" that is shown every hour on the hour. If you're from the North, you'll leave with a better appreciation of the South's opinion of the war.

The seven-mile driving tour will allow you to see the major points of interest in the park. You can enhance your tour by purchasing an audio tour from the bookstore, or you can also access the Dial and Discover service on your cell phone free, depending on your usage terms. For some reason, we weren't able to access any information after the 7th stop, but that could have just been a glitch the day we visited. Along the tour, not only will you hear about the events that took place leading to a short lived victory for the South, you'll also see over 600 monuments recognizing all the regiments that participated in the battle.




This home was used as a field hospital during the battle.
Although the South won the battle, the Union managed to gain control of Chattanooga, the gateway to the Deep South, as they'd hoped.

Today as you visit, it's hard to believe that such a beautiful, serene setting was once the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the Civil War. '


While we spent several hours exploring only the Chickamauga Battlefield before the impending rain clouds chased us away. If you're in the area and you're interested, you may also choose to visit Lookout Mountain Battlefield, Point Park, Missionary Ridge and the Chattanooga National Cemetery.

There you have it, a bit about our day at the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park.

Chattanooga

Relaxing at Stones River National Battlefield...NOT

Last Saturday started out so wonderful! My husband actually had a Saturday off work to spend with us and I'd planned to visit Murfreesboro, TN to see the artillery and cannon demonstrations at Stones River National Battlefield. Not only was I looking forward to a fun day with the family, I also thought it would be a great supplement to our Civil War study. We'd learned about the Battle of Stones River while we were reading Across Five Aprils and I thought that they all wanted to go. Well, here's what I heard on the LESS THAN TWO HOUR drive....

Where are we going?

How long do we have to be in the car?

Are we almost there yet?

We've been driving forever!

I'm carsick!

Why are we even going to River Stone or Stones River anyway?

Don't touch me!

Don't look at me!

Are you kidding me? Have I written enough for you to begin to understand what was happening in our vehicle? Somewhere after passing over the Alabama/Tennessee state line, my children had reverted back to four year olds, or rather two of them had. With each passing comment, I could just feel myself getting more and more frustrated. But yet, I was so happy to have my hubby along on the excursion that I wasn't going to let the 'voices' steal my joy....yet....

We arrived at the park just in time for the cannon firing which was incredible! A reenactor spoke briefly about the battle and the cannon fired with a bang so loud that it literally shook your body! After the demonstration we needed to wait an hour for the artillery demonstration so we made our way through the museum exhibit in the Visitor's Center, my son and I watched the film that was shown and we wandered through the gift shop where I made mental lists of the books that I want to use for our continuing Civil War study.

Somewhere between the gift shop and the few feet it took to exit the front doors, an attitude gripped two of my children once more. And this time, it frustrated me as well. Our fun family day was on the verge of being ruined. I tried unsuccessfully to lighten the mood, only to have things go from bad to worse. By this point, I was beginning to think that we should just get in the car and drive home. After a couple more, why do we have to be here remarks, I was nearly in tears and my husband had had enough. He set my children straight and two of them sat through the artillery demonstration in the car.

By the time the gunfire was over, the children were repentant and had decided to enjoy the day instead of sulking. We strolled through the cemetery, drove along the driving route, learning about the battle that had waged and saw Hazen Monument, the oldest, intact Civil War monument in the nation.

And though we took a longer, scenic route home through the mountains, we didn't hear one complaint from the backseat. We even stopped for ice cream and sandwiches and if you'd seen us then, you'd have thought we'd had a perfect day.

Ever had one of those days?