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Rated 5 out of 5 by DaGeek from Origin Story of 12 National Parks I saw this course as I was browsing for my next offering from GC, and it sounded interesting. I will have to admit I thought it would a travelogue type presentation of a few selected national parks. While there is a little of this, it is really the origin story of our national parks in general and 12 parks specifically. Some of the parks included were obvious, the first national park, Yellowstone. And how could you skip the Grand Canyon. The others were not quite so obvious, but I felt like they were chosen to highlight the role of women and minorities in the creation of these parks. Obviously the treatment of Native American peoples needed to be addressed as it was often their lands co-opted. Their history around our parks is frequently as sad as was/is our treatment of indigenous populations in other arenas. And the role of African-Americans in other parks was highlighted also. Several parks came to being due to the advocacy of women. It was a side of the parks I would never have considered if it were not for this course. The lecturer, Megan Kate Nelson is very knowledgeable and has a very engaging style. I enjoyed the course. If you have an interest in our national parks and/or history, I suspect you will too.

Date published: 2025-08-04

Rated 5 out of 5 by hiker1973 from Lots of Great Information on these parks I am a big fan of the national parks and have been to many over the years. I loved this course because I was surprised how much more I learned about the parks. I hope to see more from this lecturer.

Date published: 2025-05-30

Rated 5 out of 5 by PMANDEB from Excellent choice of 12 US National Parks Outstanding twelve lectures by Dr Mary Nelson of just the right length (30 minutes each), combining an interesting description and unique history of each of the twelve selected parks. The guidebook was well done, too.

Date published: 2025-03-04

Rated 5 out of 5 by JohnBH from Good stories about great subject matter Anyone who has even a moderate interest in our National Park system will love this. The background information just enhances the experience of actually visiting the parks. Importantly, this includes the geologic origins and history of each park and the stories of people whose lives became a part of that histor.

Date published: 2025-02-15

Rated 5 out of 5 by Mark of Wisconsin from Very interesting I have visited a number of national parks in the US in the past. This course reviewed some of those parks and parks I have not visited. I learned a lot about all the parks. The history of the Native Americans residing on what became park territory is very interesting. The story of the Blacks at Mammoth Cave is eye-opening. The course is well-presented by Megan Kate Nelson.

Date published: 2025-01-19

Rated 3 out of 5 by Kim Kemal from Does not live up to potential I approached this class with high hopes, seeing it as a valuable adjunct to the Tour class of the National Parks, which did not have time to get into as much history as we learners would like. Sadly, it did not live up my hopes, and I gave up after the 2nd episode. The background that is accurate is useful, in Acadia for example. But the 2nd episode veered into slavery and the Civil War as it applies to Appalachia and the intense 'Leave Me Alone' driver of that unique culture, with more time applied to that than it needed - and a significant number of major factual errors about Appalachian response to both. The historians of Appalachia are clear that mountain people didn't buy slaves, didn't interact with the towns except in the most minimal ways (so didn't, as she claimed 'benefit from slavery', economically or socially), and drove off both recruitment and conscription of the Confederate Army with gunfire. So, this class was not for me. It's possible that other episodes are less error-riddled.

Date published: 2025-01-17

Rated 5 out of 5 by GreatFan from VERY informative! We enoyed this course! This was a first rate short course about some of our National Parks and the people behind preserving them. Definitely top rated! The only annoying thing is her voice as she drops the end of every sentence. She has wonderful inflectionand speaks very clearly until the last one or two words of a sentence. This is consistent throughout so we had to use subtitles to catch the dropped words. We learned a LOT!

Date published: 2025-01-15

Rated 5 out of 5 by ses711 from Individual advocacy matters In addition to all the positives noted by other reviewers, I appreciated the presenter's highlighting of the critical role of individual advocacy in the development and growth of national parks. This advocacy often involved women, indigenous peoples, and enslaved peoples. standing up against business interests, land exploiters, and forces of tradition.

Date published: 2024-12-30

Trailer

01: Yellowstone: America’s First National Park

Venture back in time to witness the birth of the National Park System. Here, you’ll meet Ferdinand Hayden, a scientist who lobbied to explore Yellowstone in the 1870s. Once he recognized what a treasure this region was—including forests, geysers, and other natural wonders—he convinced the federal government to protect the land for posterity.

33 min

02: The Majestic Giants of Sequoia National Park

Travel to California’s Sierra Nevada mountains to stand among the world’s largest trees. More than a century ago, conservationists recognized not only the great beauty of this unusual forest, but also the threat posed by loggers and economic development—resulting in the creation of Sequoia National Park.

27 min

03: Mesa Verde: Preserving Ancient Ruins

Mesa Verde National Park offers an astonishing combination of environmental beauty and cultural heritage. Dr. Nelson takes you on a journey through the American southwest, where ancient cliff dwellings offer archaeological insight into Pueblo history.

27 min

04: Hawaii Volcanoes: Parks as Science Labs

Shift your attention from the American West to the Pacific Ocean, where the fiery spectacle of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park captures the imagination. Central to the geologic story of Hawai‘i’s Big Island is Pele, the goddess of creation and destruction, who is central to this park’s cultural heritage.

28 min

05: Denali: What’s in a Name?

Bundle up as you ascend the heights of Denali National Park, the tallest peak in North America. The park’s rich cultural history includes Indigenous groups who have called Alaska home for thousands of years. These groups—along with gold miners, big-game hunters, and mountaineers—all played a role in preserving this awe-inspiring wilderness.

28 min

06: Grand Canyon: Building on the Edge

Many of us have fond memories of visiting the Grand Canyon with our families, but what is the story behind Grand Canyon National Park? What do the geological formations tell us about millions of years of Earth’s history? And how did one of the nation’s foremost architects work to shape visitor experiences at the Grand Canyon? Deepen your understanding of one of America’s most famous landscapes.

30 min

07: Philanthropy and Park Creation at Acadia

Discover the rugged beauty of coastal Maine. Here, you’ll see how wealthy vacationers, the philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, the preservationist George Bucknam Dorr, and many others worked to create Acadia National Park, which today is a striking symbol of cultural preservation and innovative landscape architecture.

29 min

08: Shenandoah: Who Owns a View?

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Shenandoah National Park is a significant testament to America’s natural beauty and complex history. From the native Monacan people to “hollow” residents to activists working for integration during the civil rights era, those who have lived in and loved the Shenandoah region are all part of the captivating history of the easternmost rampart of the Appalachian Range.

29 min

09: The Power of Water in the Everglades

Head south to the tropics of Florida, where conservationists like Marjory Stoneman Douglas battled to protect the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades. Along with examining the park’s biodiversity, Dr. Nelson walks you through the region’s history of exploitation and preservation.

29 min

10: The Vast Underground World of Mammoth Cave

Not all national parks can be viewed from the surface. Head underground with Dr. Nelson to travel through Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park, the world’s longest cave system. Learn about the history of mining and exploration in the caves—including the life of Stephen Bishop, an enslaved man who became a pioneering cave guide in the 19th century.

30 min

11: Saving the Desert in Death Valley

Return above ground to the harsh deserts of Death Valley National Park, which at 3.4 million acres is the largest national park in the continental United States. In addition to its size, the park is known for its extreme weather conditions and its dark sky views at night. Delve into this wonder of contradictions.

29 min

12: White Sands: A Landscape of Warfare

Your course wraps up with a look at White Sands National Park. Located amid desert dunes in New Mexico, the history of White Sands ranges from Indigenous hunting and gathering to the US military’s atomic bomb tests in the 1940s—a testament to the complexity of interaction between human and natural worlds.

36 min

Overview Course No. 80730

Most Americans remember a family road trip to visit one of our 63 national parks. Whether it is the geologic majesty of the Grand Canyon, the geysers of Yellowstone, the mountains of the Shenandoah region, or the swamps of the Florida Everglades, the landscapes and ecology of the United States are as rich and diverse as our population and cultural heritage.

Experience a taste of these national treasures with Stories of America’s National Parks. In 12 inspiring lectures, Dr. Megan Kate Nelson, author of several highly acclaimed books about American history and ecology, traverses the country to give you an insider’s look at a dozen national treasures. You’ll explore the origins, cultural legacy, and environmental import of sites from the Hawaiian islands to the Atlantic seaboard, as you:

Explore the ancient Pueblo cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, Colorado,
Bundle up for a hike through the high peaks of Denali National Park,
Learn about the timber industry and the protection of the great sequoias in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, and
Experience paradise on Earth in Maine’s Acadia National Park.

National parks were not a given. Americans often disagreed about their importance—and which landscapes were worth saving. From the depths of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky to the ancient ruins of Mesa Verde to the dark sky of Death Valley, Dr. Nelson shows that the conflicts over 150 years have been an important part of the National Park System’s phenomenal achievements and complex history.

About

Megan Kate Nelson

The fact that the United States congress has created sixty-three national parks in one hundred and fifty years is actually a phenomenal achievement, and we should never take them for granted.

ALMA MATER

The University of Iowa

INSTITUTION

Writer and Historian

Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer. She has a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She has taught at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. She is the author of Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America, which won the 2023 Spur Award for Best Western Historical Nonfiction Book, and The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West, which was a 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist in History. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Smithsonian magazine.