Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts

09/23/2026

Our summer performace season may be over, but that doesn’t mean we are closed! There are still so many exciting activities you can do while visiting our park! Here are the top 5 things to do at Wolf Trap this off-season🍁🥾🎭



[Video Description: Two female National Park Service rangers appear in front of a park sign, then they both alternate being on screen in different locations of the park including an amphitheater, a picnic table, a hiking trail, a a cabin with a female bust, the ranger station, and finally on a green lawn.]

[Audio Description: Two females alternate talking about park activities with the sound birds chirping, a band playing, wind, and the creek in the background]

09/21/2026

09/15/2026

Are you looking to get a different view of the Filene Center? Join us on a backstage tour and look out on the House like a star, peak into dressing rooms, and learn more about this special place. More information at https://www.nps.gov/wotr/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm

Fall/Winter 2026 Backstage Tour Dates:

Saturday, October 3 – 10 am
Saturday, October 31 – 2 pm
Saturday, November 14 – 10 am
Saturday, November 21 – 10 am
Saturday, November 21 – 2 pm
Saturday, December 12 – 10 am
Saturday, December 19 – 2 pm

*Tours are free and open to the public with reservation by e-mail or phone. NPS Photo / Tripp

09/11/2026

Twenty-five years ago, on September 11, 2001, the United States was forever changed. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the terrorist attacks, including the 40 passengers and crew members of Flight 93, whose courageous actions thwarted a planned attack on our nation’s capital.

Today, places across the National Park System help preserve the stories, memories, and history of that day and its aftermath. Along with Flight 93 National Memorial, other national parks, memorials, and historic sites preserve stories of those who responded, served, mourned, and helped communities come together in the days and years that followed.

On this 25th anniversary, take time to remember, reflect, and serve. Visit a national park, learn a story, or volunteer in your community in honor of those who were lost and those who answered the call to serve.

NPS Photo

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/uIEk50ZFoXk

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/6Bqp50ZFoCu

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/8bSz50ZFohI


NPS Photos

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/hKLF50ZFo6L



NPS Photos

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



NPS Photos

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/GlnQ50ZFn99