Sunday, July 21, 2013

67) Clara Barton National Historic Site (and Glen Echo Park)

Visited: Sunday, July 21st, 2013

Clara Barton is the official reason for the NPS site, and her home - and the early home of the American Red Cross - is very interesting.  It's a uniquely designed home, and they've done a nice job of restoring the house; it definitely has a feel of Barton.

But - it paled, for me, in comparison to Glen Echo Park, the adjacent park which is part of the same NPS unit.  It is a classic amusement park, which closed down after the 1968 season - but unlike essentially every other park from that time to have closed, it was saved, became an NPS site, and is still around today.  It's not a park anymore - the only ride to survive is the carousel - but you can still see how the park was, in it's heyday.  The carousel is great, and I'd recommend the park to any fan of classic amusement parks.  The ranger talk about the carousel was particularly appreciated - and, apparently, generally poorly attended; the ranger was happy to have _any_ audience.

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