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A Civilized Savagery: Rev. Stanley’s ruminations on his way to Yellowstone

August 18, 2019 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Rev. Edwin J. Stanley’s 1873 tour of Yellowstone made him a witness to “the scepter of the irrepressible white man” in the divine right of Manifest Destiny.

Filed Under: History, Places, Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: civilization, conquest, Manifest Destiny, Native Americans, race, tourism, Yellowstone

Are national parks really America’s best idea?

July 21, 2019 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Ancient Puebloan ruins, Canyon de Chelly

The “best idea” of creating national parks involved eradicating the previous meanings and uses of these places that had sustained indigenous cultures for centuries.

Filed Under: History, Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: colonialism, National Parks, Native Americans, sacred space

Evolution of the National Park Idea

June 3, 2019 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Old Faithful

Tracing the historical origins of the national park idea can be frustrating. In truth, no single individual can take credit for the idea of national parks.

Filed Under: History, Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: hot springs, National Parks, Northern Pacific Railroad, Yellowstone, Yosemite

Montana Masons in the civilizing of Yellowstone

May 19, 2019 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Roosevelt Arch detail

Montana’s leading citizens sought to civilize Yellowstone by claiming it as a park, not a wild and dangerous land but a place of democratic enjoyment and wonder for generations to come.

Filed Under: History, Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: Cornelius Hedges, Freemasonry, Montana, Nathaniel P. Langford, Roosevelt Arch, Theodore Roosevelt, Washburn expedition, Yellowstone

Columbusing Yellowstone

May 16, 2019 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Roosevelt Arch

Nathaniel P. Langford and other members of the 1870 Washburn-Doane expedition “Columbused” Yellowstone by “discovering” it as a “park.”

Filed Under: History, Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: Columbus, National Parks, Native Americans, Yellowstone

Devil’s Slide or Angel’s Ascent?

May 4, 2019 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Devil’s Slide on Cinnabar Mountain

Devil’s Slide north of Yellowstone National Park has unsettled the religious imaginations of visitors since the nineteenth century.

Filed Under: History, Places, Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: Church Universal and Triumphant, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, Nathaniel P. Langford, Thomas Moran, William Henry Jackson, Yellowstone

Warren Angus Ferris, Yellowstone’s first tourist

January 13, 2019 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Little Cub geyser, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park

Warren Angus Ferris visited Yellowstone in 1834 as the first tourist to experience the thermal features, and the first person known to use the Icelandic word “geyser” to describe them.

Filed Under: History, Places, Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: geysers, Native Americans, nature, tourism, trappers, Yellowstone

The ambivalent legacy of Horace Albright

November 13, 2018 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Horace Albright greets C.W. Cook beside a stage coach

Horace Albright’s legacy enjoys high esteem, but many of the precedents he set for the National Park Service have contributed to problems that parks now face.

Filed Under: History, Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: Horace Albright, National Park Service, National Parks, tourism, Yellowstone

A sacred desecration: the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore

October 9, 2018 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Mount Rushmore Monument

John (Fire) Lame Deer’s essay about the 1970 occupation of Mount Rushmore highlights a monumental clash between two visions of sacred land.

Filed Under: History, Places, Teaching Tagged With: civil religion, National Park Service, National Parks, Native Americans, patriotism

The Calvinist roots of appreciating Acadia’s scenery

September 17, 2018 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Sunset from the Beech Mountain Trail

Visitors who delight in nature and stunning scenery at places like Acadia National Park often do not realize their aesthetic debt to Protestant reformer and theologian John Calvin.

Filed Under: History, Places Tagged With: Acadia, art, Calvin, Frederic Church, Hudson River School, landscapes, Maine, National Parks, nature, theology, tourism

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I write about religion and tourism, especially in regard to national parks. I am currently working on a history of religion in Yellowstone National Park. Read More…

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