Visitors on Boardwalk Mammoth Springs ©Bernt Rostad
Vagabondish is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Read our disclosure.
In an effort to get more people to America’s national parks ”” and to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. ”” the National Park Service (NPS) is waiving admission fees this weekend, Jan. 14—16.
This free weekend is part of the fee-free program which grants free admission to all visitors to the NPS’s 147 park units that typically charge admission. Fees will also be waved during National Park Week (April 21—29), Get Outdoors Day (June 9), National Public Lands Day (Sept. 29) and Veterans Day weekend (Nov. 10—12).
Though admission fees at most parks are affordably low–usually around $4—$5–the fee for famous parks like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon can be as high as $25. The fee-free days hope to attract visitors to the parks who normally cannot afford to visit.
Because the fee-free program is commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend, the NPS is highlighting parks which are offering special commemorative programming.
Throughout the weekend, the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (usually free) will screen the six-part series “Eyes on the Prize,” which chronicles the Civil Rights movement from 1954 to 1965.
And on Sunday, rangers at Morristown National Historical Park are leading “Bound to Serve” tours of the Ford Mansion. The tour chronicles the lives of the slaves who served George Washington and his troops during the American Revolutionary War. ($4 admission will be waived all weekend.)
Find out more and plan your visit at the U.S. National Park Service Website.