When people ask me about visiting a national park, especially one of the historic sites, I usually recommend starting with the visitor center. But I will make an exception today. When you go to George Washington Carver National Monument in rural southwestern Missouri, start with the nature trail.

On the wet January day that I met National Park rangers Julie Burna and Callie Tominsky in Greenwich Village to talk about the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights and history, we ducked into a coffeeshop to escape the drizzle and the relentless din of New York traffic.

For all those who were lost For all those who were stolen For all those who were left behind For all those who were not forgotten In a sacred sliver of outdoor space near City Hall in Lower Manhattan, those four sentences are etched onto a 24-foot-tall green granite monument alongside a heart-shaped Sankofa, a Ghanian symbol that means “learn from the past to prepare for the future.”

Tuzigoot and Montezuma Castle national monuments will transition to a fully cashless fee system on March 1 and only accept mobile or electronic payments for entrance and permit fees.