On an island surrounded by ocean, Cape Breton Highlands National Park is an island itself, of rumpled mountains and thick forest mostly unbroken by the human footprint.

There are more than 400 units of the National Park System, though most of the roughly 300 million visitors a year head to only about two dozen of those units. The National Parks Traveler has worked this year to raise the profile of the other 400 units and explain why they deserve your attention. Homestead National Historical Park in Nebraska is one of those units.

Acadia National Park’s trails system originated from the paths taken by mid-19th century artists who found inspiration on Mount Desert Island.

There are no walls around Fort Larned on the Kansas prairie, which makes it easy for your eyes to roam across the surrounding countryside that was home to soldiers from 1860 to 1878 when they were tasked with guarding travelers along the Santa Fe Trail, helping with mail deliveries, and negotiating with area tribes that grew increasingly concerned with growing numbers of settlers.