National Parks 2021

National Parks 2021: Hopewell Culture National Historic Park

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

South of Columbus, Ohio, near Chillicothe.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Hopewell Culture NHP is located on land that many different tribes used as a gathering place. The tribes were cultural descendants of the Adena people.

When was it established?

March 2, 1923

Why is it amazing?

Nearly 2000 years ago, Indigenous tribes built dozens of monumental mounds and earthen enclosures in southern Ohio. These earthwork complexes were ceremonial landscapes used for feasts, funerals, rituals, and rites of passage associated with an American Indigenous religious movement that swept over half the continent for almost 400 years. There were likely not many residential communities here; it was more a gathering place for specific events.

The term Hopewell describes a broad network of economic, political, and spiritual beliefs and practices among different Native American groups. The culture is characterized by the construction of enclosures made of earthen walls, often built in geometric patterns and mounds of various shapes. The culture is known for a network of contacts with other groups, which stretched from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains. This network of contacts allowed the Hopewell to amass a collection of materials such as mica, shark’s teeth, obsidian, copper, and marine shells.

Why did we choose these colors?

Our Hopewell Culture NHP colors are reminiscent of the views that can be seen throughout the park; the greens of the rolling hills created by the mounds, paired with the bark of the trees and the greens of the leaves. 

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Glen Canyon NRA encompasses the area around Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyon in Utah and Arizona.

Whose land does it reside upon?

Glen Canyon has been periodically used by a a variety of human groups from about 11,500 years ago through the present, including nomadic big game hunters during the Paleoindian period (11,500–8,050 BCE), segueing to settlements during the hunter-gatherer period, and occupation by the Fremont and Anasazi people. Paiute groups lived in the area after the Anasazi, followed by sparse populations of Navajo, Paiute, and Hopi.

When was it established?

October 27, 1972

Why is it amazing?

It covers 1.25 million acres of mostly rugged high desert terrain, and includes Lake Powell. The recreation area stretches for hundreds of miles from Lees Ferry in Arizona to the Orange Cliffs of southern Utah, encompassing scenic vistas, geologic wonders, and a vast panorama of human history. 

Why did we choose these colors?

We played with the deep blue of Lake Powell, the brown cliffs and canyons, and the vegetation that pops up in sometimes unexpected places. 

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Agate Fossil Beds National Monument

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Near Harrison, Nebraska, in the prairies of the Nebraska panhandle.

Whose land does it reside upon?

At least 15 tribes have been identified as hunting or occupying the area where the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is. The Pawnee and the Arikara lived in this part of the land the longest. Other tribes that either lived or hunted in this area include the Omaha, Ponca, Oto, Teton Sioux (Lakotas), Arapahoes, Cheyennes, the Great Sioux Nation, Missouri, Meskwaki, Dakota, Fox, Sauk, and Winnebago.

When was it established?

June 14, 1997

Why is it amazing?

This National Monument intersects many different categories of sites in our National Park system: natural history, indigenous history, and colonizer history. You can see the actual Agate Beds, which contain the fossils of extinct Miocene mammals, species that were previously only known through fragments, a discovery that unearthed the history of what’s now known as the Age of Mammals. You can visit the interpretive center, which features many instances of indigenous culture and storytelling. You can see the Cook collection, a wide-ranging collection of indigenous artifacts collected by the white settler of that land (much of which was given to him as a result of his friendship with Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota).

Why did we choose these colors?

We used these soft pastels because many of the images we’ve seen of the park are so soft looking. The rolling hills, the fossils themselves, the big soft sky, we felt we needed a soft and gentle color to reflect that central plains beauty.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: African Burial Ground National Monument

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

African Burial Ground National Monument is a monument at Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way in the Civic Center section of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Its main building is the Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway.

Whose land does it reside upon?

Manhattan was the indigenous land of the Lenape people, who called the island Manahatta, meaning “hilly island.”

When was it established?

February 27, 2006

Why is it amazing?

In 1991, construction began on yet another high rise in Manhattan. Skeletal remains were discovered while excavating, and further careful excavation discovered intact human skeletal remains 30 feet below the city’s street level on Broadway. A 6-acre burial ground, dating from the 1630s through the late 1790s and containing upwards of 15,000 intact skeletal remains of enslaved and free Africans who lived and worked in colonial New York was discovered. The Burial Ground is the nation’s earliest and largest African burial ground rediscovered in the United States.

Civic engagement and advocacy led to the ancestral remains’ reinterment within the original site of rediscovery. An external memorial, an interpretive center, and research library were constructed to commemorate the financial and physical contributions of enslaved Africans in colonial New York and honor their memory.

Why did we choose these colors?

As we scrolled through the images on the NPS site, we were struck by the beauty of the traditional African garb worn by celebrants, and used that as inspiration for our colorway.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Harriet Tubman National Historic Park

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Auburn, New York.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The region around Auburn had been Haudenosaunee territory for centuries before European contact and historical records.

When was it established?

It was designated a National Historic Park on January 10, 2017, although the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 30, 1974.

Why is it amazing?

Auburn, NY, where Tubman lived the last fifty years of her life, and the NHP includes her former thirty-two-acre farm, brick residence, and Home for the Aged, as well as Thompson Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and Rectory on Parker Street.

The state park is the centerpiece of the state’s award-winning 126-mile Harriet Tubman’s Byway and All-American Road. The Byway and many of the sites associated with Harriet Tubman’s remarkably successful Underground Railroad missions have been recognized for their authenticity by the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program which is headquartered at the Visitor Center. The network includes over 650 sites, programs, and facilities in 40 states, Washington D.C., and the US Virgin Islands with a verifiable connection to the Underground Railroad.

Why did we choose these colors?

We used this photo (link: https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery-item.htm?pg=6097767&id=1ed98803-a296-4d32-9ded-10957cf919c4&gid=A4F160F4-F641-4C38-B90F-C319B3D5CF82) of Harriet Tubman’s residence and barn to inspire our colors. The rich colors of autumn in New York state are so inspiring!

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve is located about 450 miles/720 km southwest of Anchorage on the Alaskan Peninsula. 

Whose land does it reside upon?

Archeologists believe that the massive volcanic eruption that occurred 3500 years ago created a “dead zone” that couldn’t be reoccupied for generations. The oldest known archeological sites date to around 2,000 years ago, and showed prehistoric communities that hunted, fished, trapped, picked berries, and gathered shellfish. By 1,200 years ago, the strategy had proven so successful that the population had expanded dramatically, and eventually segued into a community that utilized the land’s rich fishing resources to build a commercial fishing and canning industry. The modern Alutiiq people descended from the early inhabitants of Aniakchak, and continue to maintain cultural traditions.

When was it established?

December 1, 1978

Why is it amazing?

Given its remote location and challenging weather conditions, Aniakchak is one of the most wild and least visited places in the National Park System. The landscape is a vibrant reminder of Alaska’s location in the volcanically active “Ring of Fire,” as it is home to an impressive six mile/10 km wide, 2,500 ft/762 m deep caldera formed during a massive volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago. In 2018, only 100 people visited, likely because it is so very isolated. Much of the National Monument is not accessible by road, and the only way to reach much of it is by floatplane, boat, or airplane to coastal towns near preserve lands followed by overland or overwater traverse.

Why did we choose these colors?

Flip through the scant images on the NPS website and you’ll surely see why we chose these colors: the clear blue of the mountain lakes set against the soft greys and greens of the mountains in the caldera are perfectly echoed in our Aniakchak colorway.  

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Salt River Bay National Historic Park & Ecological Preserve

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

On the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Whose land does it reside upon?

In prehistoric times, the area was inhabited by all three major pottery-making cultures found in the Virgin Islands. Around AD 1425, the Caribs took control of the islands that currently make up the Virgin Islands. This was an area Columbus “discovered,” so once the 1490s hit, the Indigenous population was subjected to colonization, disease, slavery, and other horrors of western civilization.

When was it established?

February 24, 1992

Why is it amazing?

Salt River Bay NHP & Ecological Preserve is both a natural history and a human history wonderland. It’s home to many mangrove forests (Mangroves are “landbuilder communities,” they extend shorelines via systems of prop roots, trunks, pneumatophores, and saplings that trap and stabilize erosional terrestrial sediments. It has been reported that in some fringing mangrove systems, prop roots can result in anywhere from 25 to 200 meters of coastal accretion a year.), as well as a barrier reef that provides protection, and a submarine canyon. This park is also a comprehensive example of human habitation in this part of the world. Every major period of human habitation in the Virgin Islands is represented: several South American Indigenous cultures, the 1493 encounter with Columbus, Spanish capture and removal of the island’s Amerindian peoples, attempts at colonization by several European nations, and enslaved West Africans and their descendants. Since 1880, over a dozen major archeological investigations and much archival and historical research have revealed this area’s remarkable story.

Why did we choose these colors?

If you scroll down to the photo of the corals growing on the walls of the submarine canyon on this page, you’ll see where we got our inspiration: https://www.nps.gov/sari/learn/nature/natural-features-and-ecosystems.htm

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Hovenweep National Monument

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Hovenweep National Monument is located on land in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah, between Cortez, Colorado and Blanding, Utah on the Cajon Mesa of the Great Sage Plain.

Whose land does it reside upon?

From the NPS website: Hovenweep National Monument acknowledges the peoples who are traditionally associated with these landscapes:

Jicarilla Apache Nation, Kewa Pueblo, Navajo Nation, Ohkay Owingeh, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Pueblo of Acoma, Pueblo of Cochita, Pueblo of Isleta, Pueblo of Jemez, Pueblo of Laguna, Pueblo of Nambé, Pueblo of Picuris, Pueblo of Pojoaque, Pueblo of San Felipe, Pueblo of Sandia, Pueblo of Santa Ana, Pueblo of Santa Clara, Pueblo of Taos, Pueblo of Tesuque, Pueblo of Zia, Pueblo of Zuni, San Juan Southern Paiute, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo

When was it established?

March 2, 1923

Why is it amazing?

Human habitation at Hovenweep dates to over 10,000 years ago when nomadic Paleoindians visited the Cajon Mesa to gather food and hunt game. These people used the area for centuries, following the seasonal weather patterns. By about A.D. 900, people started to settle at Hovenweep year-round, planting and harvesting crops in the rich soil of the mesa top. By the late 1200s, the Hovenweep area was home to over 2,500 people.

The towers of Hovenweep were built by ancestral Puebloans, a sedentary farming culture that occupied the Four Corners area from about A.D. 500 to A.D. 1300, and most of the structures were built between A.D. 1200 and 1300. Similarities in architecture, masonry and pottery styles indicate that the inhabitants of Hovenweep were closely associated with groups living at Mesa Verde and other nearby sites. 

By the end of the 13th century, it appears a prolonged drought, possibly combined with resource depletion, factionalism and warfare, forced the inhabitants of Hovenweep to depart. Though the reason is unclear, ancestral Puebloans throughout the area migrated south to the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico and the Little Colorado River Basin in Arizona. Today’s Pueblo, Zuni and Hopi people are descendants of this culture.

Why did we choose these colors?

We used the photo on this page (https://www.nps.gov/hove/planyourvisit/hiking.htm) (scroll down a bit to see the photo) to inspire our Hovenweep colorway, incorporating the structures with the surrounding scrub and rocks, as well as that beautiful desert sky.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Petroglyph National Monument

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Petroglyph National Monument stretches 17 miles along Albuquerque, New Mexico’s West Mesa, a volcanic basalt escarpment that dominates the city’s western horizon.

Whose land does it reside upon?

Puebloans have lived in the Rio Grande Valley since before 500 A.D., but a population increase around 1300 A.D. resulted in numerous new settlements.

When was it established?

June 27, 1990

Why is it amazing?

Petroglyph National Monument protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America, featuring designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks by Native Americans and Spanish settlers 400 to 700 years ago. These images are a valuable record of cultural expression and hold profound spiritual significance for contemporary Native Americans and for the descendants of the early Spanish settlers.

Petroglyphs are rock carvings (rock paintings are called pictographs) made by pecking directly on the rock surface using a stone chisel and a hammerstone. When the desert varnish (or patina) on the surface of the rock was chipped off, the lighter rock underneath was exposed, creating the petroglyph. Archaeologists have estimated there may be over 25,000 petroglyph images along the 17 miles of escarpment within the monument boundary.

The vast majority of the monument’s petroglyphs were believed to have been created by the ancestors of today’s Pueblo people. It is believed that the majority of the petroglyphs were carved from about 1300 through the late 1680s. The Spanish colonizers carved some of the petroglyphs as well, although that practice was stamped out with the rise of christianity.

Why did we choose these colors?

In our Petroglyph colorway, our goal was to capture the many layers of color that results on the rocks on which petroglyphs were carved.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Northern Maine.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Penobscot Indian Nation, along with other Wabanaki tribes, settled in the area that is now Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, and these Indigenous groups still regard the Penobscot River as an important landmark of their culture.

When was it established?

August 24, 2016

Interesting note about it’s establishment: a co-founder of Burt’s Bees was instrumental in the establishment of this land as a National Monument, and many conservative groups (including our 45th president during his campaign) have been against its establishment.

Why is it amazing?

Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument preserves over 87,000 acres in Maine’s North Woods. The East Branch of the Penobscot River, Wassataquoick Stream, and the Seboeis River flow through a landscape of rolling forests and wetlands. The monument is home to black bears, Canada Lynx, moose, river otters, and countless other species. As the website says, limited services and signage make visiting an adventure.

Why did we choose these colors?

We used the cover shot on this page: https://www.nps.gov/kaww/index.htm, which beautifully showcases the woods AND the waters, as our colorway inspiration.

For more information: