• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications

Thomas S. Bremer

Writer - Historian - Teacher

  • Causeries
  • Sacred Wonderland
  • Contact

National Parks

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

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

Canary in the coal mine: national parks and the future of the earth

December 27, 2018 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Storm clouds, Yellowstone National Park

As the parks go, so goes the future of the earth. The sad state of national parks predicts an ominous outlook for the earth and the communities that rely on it.

Filed Under: Places, Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: climate change, National Parks, Wallace Stegner

The National Park Service is more than parks

November 23, 2018 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

If your looking to explore national parks, the National Park Service’s “Electronic Resources” page is a good place to start.

Filed Under: Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: archives, libraries, National Park Service, National Parks

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

The spiritual experience of nature in the national parks

November 5, 2018 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

The tourist experience of Yellowstone National Park

The National Park Service’s management of nature offers America’s wild places as contrived experiences to meet the spiritual expectations of the consumer public.

Filed Under: Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: National Park Service, National Parks, nature, religious tourism, spirituality, tourism

A hike in deep woods

October 16, 2018 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Hiking, Olympic National Park

A short poem on hiking: One foot in front, then the other.

Filed Under: Poetry Tagged With: hiking, National Parks, Olympic

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

Waiting for a ride with the hitchhiker’s blues

October 5, 2018 by Thomas S. Bremer Leave a Comment

Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park

I composed a song while hitchhiking to Cooke City, standing alone in the vast quiet amidst a sagebrush land empty of the summer crowds.

Filed Under: Places, Sacred Wonderland Tagged With: blues, hitchhiking, National Parks, songs, Yellowstone

  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Thank you for visiting

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…

Search this site

Posted topics

Acadia America American west AmWriting art birds colonialism creativity Elvis Presley geology geysers Graceland history hot springs Lincoln Manifest Destiny meditation memoir Memphis Montana Moon National Parks National Park Service Native Americans nature Ohio Oregon pilgrimage race religion religious tourism rivers sacred places sacred space San Antonio San Antonio Missions spirituality Springfield student learning teaching tourism Travel trees Yellowstone Yosemite

Visit the Causeries page for recent posts, and sign up here to get new posts and updates:





  • Email
  • RSS
  • Twitter
All content on this site created by Thomas S. Bremer unless otherwise noted.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

View the privacy policy for this site by clicking here.

Learn - Grow - Share

♨

Copyright © 2021 · Twenty Seven Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in