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.

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