Kings Mountain National Military Park

Our first national park stop of the day was Kings Mountain National Military Park.  I enjoy going to all national park sites, but I especially wanted to visit this site as it was a Revolutionary War site far from the

Thomas Jefferson called it "The turn of the tide of success." The battle of Kings Mountain, fought October 7th, 1780, was an important American victory during the Revolutionary War. The battle was the first major patriot victory to occur after the British invasion of Charleston, SC in May 1780. The park preserves the site of this important battle
--from Kings Mountain NMP website

In the parking lot there was a map explaining the land set aside for both the national park and the state park.

 From the parking lot we walked up to the visitor center.

 There was an open form gift shop inside the visitor center.

I really like this design used on the park's merchandise.

 After walking through the gift shop we entered the exhibit area.  As the forest was important to the battlefield the exhibit area started out with replicas of large trees and the forest undergrowth.

 This area featured a screen with figures painted on it, but the screen was actually one that you could see through when the lights were turned on.

 This view is of the interior of a cabin as viewed through the screen above.

The kids were fascinated staring through the screen.

The kids (and I) always enjoy seeing models.  They like all kinds of models just because they think they look cool, while I think they're a great way to show what a historical event looked like.

Before too long we reached the end of the exhibits inside and headed towards the outside.

 While Amy didn't feel up to a hike I wanted some exercise, so I took both of the older kids with me and headed out to follow the battlefield trail through the woods.

There were a number of interpretative signs along the trail.  The girls would spot one and encourage me to come and take a picture of it and then read the content to them.

 I had to stop and take some pictures of the blossoms when I spotted them.

 At times both girls would run down the trail full of energy.

There were a number of monuments to spots where various people had died.

 It was a gorgeous day, but a bit warm when we were out of the shade.  Looking up the trees were still beautiful to look at.

We saw quite a few ferns carpeting the forest floor.

I really like signs like this that show you exactly where you are in relation to the historical events that happened on the site.

 We took a short detour to see the Hoover monument.

 When President Hoover came to the site in 1930 it was the first time a president had come to a Revolutionary War battlefield in the South.  Only a year after this speech Congress authorized the creation of Kings Mountain National Military Park.

On this site President Hoover addressed an audience of 75,000 at the celebration of the sesquicentennial of the battle of Kings Mountain Oct. 7, 1930.
--sign on the monument

 After walking through the woods for a while longer we came to an open spot with a large memorial.  I first misread the map and thought it was one further along the trail, but it turns out this was the centennial memorial.

Here you can see the various monuments on the walking trail.

 The girls had been tired for a while but when we reached this bench they begged for a rest stop.

The U.S. Monument was being renovated (though not being worked on the day we visited) and so we had to leave the path to detour around it.

 This marker shows the spot where the British Colonel Ferguson was killed.

 At long last we came back to the visitor center and headed back towards the air conditioning.  As I recall the kids took a very good nap in the car.

Quite a few more pictures (especially from the walking trail) are available in this album.

~Matt