Visitors take advantage of free admission

Lindsey Phillips told Historic City News reporters that America’s 394 national parks celebrated National Park Week April 16 – 24 with the idea Healthy Parks, Healthy People.

Our national treasures offered many close-to-home opportunities for the growing connection between public lands and public health outdoor recreation. A rising number of doctors even write “Park Prescriptions” to get patients outside and active.

Entrance fees to all national parks were free throughout the week.

Our own heritage asset, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, experienced an increase in visitation over the past nine days. The average number of visitors to the Castillo was 3,996 per day with the busiest being Saturday, April 23 with 5,023 visitors. The total visitation was 35,962.

Marlon Avantyr, Business and Fee Manager, stated “This was the busiest week so far this year and our visitation numbers are up 20 percent from this time last year. It is going to be an eventful summer.”

The Castillo’s sister park, Fort Matanzas National Monument, also had increased numbers with 2,265 passengers on the ferry boat, 235 boat trips departing the visitor center and additional programs were provided to visitors while waiting on the ferry to the fort. “There is no way to estimate daily visitor totals for the week since the majority of our visitation takes place on the park beaches and is only captured via traffic counters in the parking areas,” stated Andrew Rich, District Ranger.

“National parks have always been great places to go on vacation, have fun, and learn something, but for millions of Americans national parks are also a daily part of a healthy lifestyle,” National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said. “If you’ve never thought of your national parks that way, we’d like to invite you to come out to see how parks can help you meet your fitness goals. Getting outside and moving is the first step.”

Additional fee-free days scheduled for 2011 are June 21 (the first day of summer), September 24 (National Public Lands Day) and November 11-13 (Veterans Day Weekend).

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News staff photographer