Paul & Tara Visit the National Parks: Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park

Visited: Sept 2017

Location: Atlanta, GA

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

The National Park System protects and manages so much more than the 59 National Parks. It also covers National Monuments, National Historical Parks and Sites, National Military Parks, Historic Battlefields, National Memorials, Scenic Trails, Seashores, Rivers, and Recreation Areas. In all, the NPS oversees 417 units.

We have a goal to visit all 59 National Parks. Should we make it a goal to visit all 417 NPS units? 😊 That might be a little too ambitious, but in our travels to complete the National Parks, we'll try and hit as many NPS units as we can. With that said, I thought I would also devote this blog to other units of the National Park System that we have visited. And since tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day, it seems appropriate that our first post for a non-National Park unit is the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park.

The MLK Historic Park covers the neighborhood in downtown Atlanta where young Martin was born and raised. The NPS owns the entire block. The buildings open to the public are the Visitor Center, the birth home (guided tours only), the home next door (which serves as the Gift Shop), Fire Station No. 6, Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the final resting place of Dr. King and his wife, Coretta.

If you want to tour the home (can't go inside the home otherwise), you need to show up early and head straight to the Visitors Center and get a ticket for a guided tour. The tickets are free, but the spots fill up very quickly. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed inside the home. Martin was born here on January 15, 1929. The home was built in 1895 and purchased by Martin's grandfather, Reverend Adam Williams, who served as pastor of the nearby Ebenezer Church. King's mother and father moved into the home in 1926. The family lived in the home until 1941. Martin grew up here as the middle child, with his older sister Willie Christine (at 90 years old, is still alive today and occasionally holds parties at the home), and younger brother Alfred Daniel "A.D." The tour was excellent and our guide was very knowledgeable and made for a very interesting tour, with lots of stories of MLK's boyhood.

Make sure to head back to the Visitor Center and go through all the exhibits and displays. This is a very powerful, emotional place. The history of treatment of African-Americans and Civil Rights Movement is like a gut punch. It's a history that needs to be studied and talked about and never forgotten.

hearse from MLK's funeral. Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968. He was 39 years old.

Check out the exhibits at the Historic Fire Station. Atlanta's fire department was de-segregated in 1963, when 16 blacks were hired.

Another highlight is the Ebenezer Baptist Church. This is the Church where Martin attended as a youth and where is grandfather and father served as pastors. Take a moment to sit in the pews and listen to the famous sermons and speeches by Dr. King that are continually broadcast in the chapel.

Finally you can pay your respects at the tomb of Dr. King and Coretta at the beautiful reflecting pool. There is also an eternal flame which symbolizes the continuing effort to realize Dr. King's ideals for the "Beloved Community" which requires lasting personal commitment that cannot weaken when faced with obstacles.