Top Ten "Forgotten" National Parks

 As the days get longer and the weather improves, it's a great time to plan a trip to one the 394 sites run by the U.S. National Park Service.  And during National Park Week (April 16-24), admission to every one of these parks is FREE, with special events scheduled at many locations. 

While Yellowstone, Acadia, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks win the popularity contests, there are dozens of sites within the national park system that are worth visiting as well.
University of South Carolina Professor Emeritus Bob Janiskee writes in National Parks Traveler about ten national cultural-historic sites administered by the NPS that "don't get enough love." This spring and summer, consider visiting one of these hidden gems that Janiskee says "tell America's story." He puts these ten overlooked sites into chronological and thematic categories that trace our country's history from prehistory to the present day.

1. To learn about the Original Inhabitants of the U.S., consider Chaco Canyon National Historic Park near Albuquerque, New Mexico, site of Pueblo Bonito. It's a remote spot that provides visitors a sense of the architectural, administrative, and organizational acumen of the Pueblo people who lived here from A.D. 850-1250.

2. Go back to the days of in Early European Exploration and Settlement, at Salinas Pueblo Missions National Park, also in New Mexico. Check out the Spanish Franciscan mission churches and convents or follow the interpretive trail and go birding.

3. Review Colonial Life and the Revolutionary War at Louisiana's Cane River Creole National Historical Park and Heritage Area, site of two plantations that display frontier and French Creole influence and illustrate what life was like during the days of the "Cotton Kingdom" and slavery.

Seven more "forgotten" NPS sites after the jump.

4. Next up, reconsider Pioneer America, Western Settlement, and the Indian Wars at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Montana. Tour the ranch house, numerous outbuildings, and bunkhouse of this still-operating cattle ranch.

5. As the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War kicks off this spring, Civil War sites are likely to see a rush of visitors. Try Camp Sumter, in Andersonville, Georgia, site of the Confederate-run prisoner of war camp in which 45,000 Union soldiers were imprisoned, often in dire conditions, during the war.

6. To Commemorate Famous Americans, Janiskee recommends the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Site in Vermont, former home of several members of America's early conservation movement. Visit the model farm and forest.

7. Get your geek on at parks that celebrate the U.S.Transportation System, Industrial Development, and Technological Progress,  such as the Thomas Edison National Historic Park in New Jersey, Edison's "invention factory," where work on what turned out to be 1,093 patents (including electric light and the phonograph) took place.

8. To mark 20th-Century Wars, try the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Alabama, where the base at which 992 African American fighter pilots trained for WWII combat in North Africa and Italy has been rebuilt to honor their valor.

9. To better appreciate our nation's Cultural Diversity and Religious Freedom, stop by the Roger Williams National Memorial in Rhode Island. Williams found refuge in Providence after being banished from Massachusetts in 1636 because of his religious beliefs. This urban park is small but offers a visitors center, exhibits, and introductory film.

10. And, last but not least, learn about the Struggle for Equality and Justice at the Manzanar National Historic Site in eastern California, where 10,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. A 3.2-mile driving tour traces the site's history from when it was home to Paiute Indians, a ranching and farming community, and the site of ten internment camps.

For more ideas, look on the NPS "Find A Park" map.

To celebrate National Park Week, Traveler is putting together a gallery of our favorite park photos submitted by readers. If you'd like to participate, send your best park shots, tagged #parkwk, to My Shot by May 1.