Great Falls Park

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National Park Week is ending, but the adventure does not stop here. We explored remarkable national parks within two hou...
08/30/2026

National Park Week is ending, but the adventure does not stop here. We explored remarkable national parks within two hours of Washington, D.C. Together, they protect roaring rivers, mountain forests, historic farms, forts, battlefields, performing arts and monuments honoring democracy, freedom, service and sacrifice.

You could explore them all in two days, but it could take a lifetime to discover every trail, place and story. Return to finish the hike you started. Join a ranger-led program you missed. Share a memorial you love with a new friend. Volunteer to care for a park that inspired you.

These places preserve America’s story, strengthen our communities and belong to all of us. They also need all of us to help them thrive throughout the nation’s next 250 years.

Keep exploring. Keep learning. Keep protecting. https://ow.ly/E6ps50ZFoX4

National Park Week continues with Junior Ranger Day! Next on your tour is Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical ...
08/30/2026

National Park Week continues with Junior Ranger Day! Next on your tour is Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, where every junior ranger mission can stretch for 184.5 miles.

This National Junior Ranger Day explore, learn and protect the park as you trek along the historic towpath, see canal locks in action, cross iconic aqueducts on a model canal boat, and discover the stories of canal builders, workers, and communities that lived and worked along the canal's waters and the park staff and volunteers who protect it today. To participate, pick up a book at a visitor center or download a Junior Ranger activity book. Curiosity has no age limit, and grown-ups may report for Junior Ranger duty as well! Whether you’re biking or hiking, fishing or canoeing the C&O Canal has something for everyone. https://ow.ly/Xf7Z50ZFoCp

National Park Week continues with Staff Saturday! Celebrate by visiting the National Mall and Memorial Parks and walk th...
08/29/2026

National Park Week continues with Staff Saturday! Celebrate by visiting the National Mall and Memorial Parks and walk through America’s front yard.

Meet the people who keep America’s front yard beautiful and welcoming for millions of visitors! Watch the colors of sunrise dance across the Washington Monument, climb the Lincoln Memorial steps and read the powerful words carved into its walls. Reflect at memorials honoring veterans and visionary leaders, enjoy a picnic beneath the trees or discover something new during a ranger-led program. Return after sunset to see stone, bronze and the Tidal Basin shine against the night sky. Rangers, skilled craftspeople, historic preservation experts and maintenance crews care for more than 1,000 acres of treasured places. Come see their remarkable work and experience the National Mall and Memorial Parks for yourself. https://ow.ly/CvWl50ZFohp


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National Park Week continues with Staff Saturday! Next on your tour is Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, ...
08/29/2026

National Park Week continues with Staff Saturday! Next on your tour is Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, where cicadas share the summer soundtrack with symphonies, singers and stars.

Rangers, maintenance employees, resource specialists, visitor-service teams and volunteers care for more than 100 acres while welcoming audiences for music, theater and dance. Before the curtain rises, hike the 2.5-mile Wolf Trap Trail through quiet woodlands and across Wolf Trap Run, or join a ranger-led activity. In 1966, arts champion Catherine Filene Shouse donated nearly 100 acres of her farm and funds for an outdoor amphitheater, creating a place where nature and the performing arts could flourish together. Her extraordinary gift became Wolf Trap, the only national park established specifically for the performing arts. Explore the landscape, experience a performance and give the people who keep this remarkable place safe, scenic and show-ready a standing ovation. https://ow.ly/rN6V50ZFo6P



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Do you dream of becoming a Junior Ranger? Well here is your opportunity! 🤠National Junior Ranger Day is this Sunday!! N...
08/29/2026

Do you dream of becoming a Junior Ranger? Well here is your opportunity! 🤠

National Junior Ranger Day is this Sunday!! National Park sites all over the country will be offering special Junior Ranger activities to earn your own Junior Ranger badge! George Washington Memorial Parkway will be offering 2 special opportunities on Sunday at Great Falls Park and Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial!

Location: Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
Time: 9:30am-4pm
Description: Join us in celebrating national park junior ranger day as we celebrate Americas 250th. We will have multiple JR books and Badges available for completion so there will be plenty of opportunities to grow your collection. Test your knowledge with National Park Service trivia for additional opportunities to earn prizes! We look forward to seeing you and celebrating our national parks!

Location: Great Falls Park Visitor Center
Time: 10am - 4pm
Description: Junior Ranger activities for the whole family
*Event is free with the cost of admission to the park.

We hope you can join us to celebrate this fun family day! Find other ideas on how and where you can participate: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/npscelebrates/national-junior-ranger-day.htm

And if you can't make it to these special events, don't worry! You can still earn your Junior Ranger badge! Visit our Junior Ranger page to find out how! https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/learn/kidsyouth/beajuniorranger.htm

#250

Public lands and waters are living classrooms. Parents, guardians and educators of 4th graders can help get their studen...
08/28/2026

Public lands and waters are living classrooms. Parents, guardians and educators of 4th graders can help get their students out into their public lands to learn more about the country's history, ecosystems, and our impacts on their environment.

The Every Kid Outdoors program provides vouchers for 4th graders to receive their own FREE access pass to federal land and waters, granting free entry to over 2,000 public land sites. Passes for fourth grade students in the school year 26-27, will be available starting September 1st, 2026. These passes will be valid for an entire year, expiring August 31st, 2027. Interested in helping your fourth grader get their pass? Download your voucher and redeem it at the Great Falls Entrance Station.

To learn more and download your voucher, please visit: everykidoutdoors.gov/index.htm
Para obtener información en español, visite: everykidoutdoors.gov/es/index.htm

📸: NPS / Ly Le

National Park Week continues with Freedom Friday! Next on your tour is Antietam National Battlefield, where farm fields ...
08/28/2026

National Park Week continues with Freedom Friday! Next on your tour is Antietam National Battlefield, where farm fields became a battlefield and a battlefield changed the course of American freedom.

Walk the ground where America’s bloodiest single day opened the door to freedom. On Sept. 17, 1862, about 23,000 United States and Confederate soldiers were killed, wounded or reported missing during 12 hours of combat. The United States victory gave President Abraham Lincoln the opportunity he had awaited to announce the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Five days later, he issued it, expanding the United States war effort from preserving the nation to also striking directly at slavery and advancing freedom.

Come experience Antietam National Battlefield for yourself. Follow the driving tour, hike across historic farms and stand at Dunker Church, Bloody Lane and Burnside Bridge. Join a ranger program, explore the museum and pay tribute at the National Cemetery. Walk where history turned toward freedom and discover how one momentous day helped change the course of the nation. https://www.nps.gov/anti/planyourvisit/index.htm



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National Park Week continues with Freedom Friday! Next on your tour is Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, where two...
08/28/2026

National Park Week continues with Freedom Friday! Next on your tour is Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, where two rivers and some of America’s most powerful struggles for freedom meet.

Freedom was never guaranteed to happen. It was won through courage, sacrifice and the refusal to accept injustice.

Explore John Brown’s 1859 raid against slavery, Storer College’s education of formerly enslaved people and W.E.B. Du Bois’s leadership of the Niagara Movement, which gathered here in 1906 to demand full civil rights. Walk through Lower Town, enter John Brown’s Fort and climb toward sweeping views of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers.

At Harpers Ferry, people risked their lives, pursued knowledge and raised their voices to move America closer to its highest ideals. Come stand where they stood, hear the stories of those who sacrificed for freedom and carry their unfinished work toward a more perfect union. https://ow.ly/XJGW50ZFn8I

National Park Week continues with Thankful Thursday! Next on your tour is Prince William Forest Park. Come trade traffic...
08/27/2026

National Park Week continues with Thankful Thursday! Next on your tour is Prince William Forest Park. Come trade traffic and towers for deep forests, rushing streams and historic cabins.

Explore a landscape shaped by a rich history of use by indigenous people, early colonial settlers, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the US military. Today, employees, resource specialists, volunteers and partners alike work together to ensure preservation and conservation for the more than 150 historic cabins, four campgrounds and 37 miles of trails. Hike, bike, camp, picnic, enjoy a program or test your navigation skills on the park’s 60-point orienteering course. Enter the park ready to explore and leave inspired to help this extraordinary forest flourish. https://ow.ly/KYu850ZFn1v

National Park Week continues with Thankful Thursday! Next on your tour is Monocacy National Battlefield, where quiet far...
08/27/2026

National Park Week continues with Thankful Thursday! Next on your tour is Monocacy National Battlefield, where quiet farms witnessed a battle that helped save Washington in 1864.

They lost the battle. But they bought Washington a precious day.

On July 9, 1864, a smaller Federal force stood in the path of Confederate troops advancing toward the nation’s capital. Although defeated at Monocacy, the soldiers resisted fiercely and delayed the Confederate advance long enough for reinforcements to reach Washington.

This Thankful Thursday, we honor the soldiers who fought and sacrificed here, and we thank the rangers, maintenance crews, volunteers and partners who preserve their stories and care for this hallowed ground today.

Come experience it for yourself. Follow the trails across historic fields and river crossings where soldiers fought, fell and changed the course of history. At Monocacy National Battlefield, a lost battle helped save the capital, and the courage shown here still speaks across generations. https://ow.ly/7i6Z50ZFmrn



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9200 Old Dominion Dr
McLean, VA
22102

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+17037573101

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