This unit of the National Park System commemorates an event that was once celebrated as a national holiday, helped put a general in the White House, and inspired a popular song a few decades ago. Just for good measure, the park story also includes a legendary pirate.

Charleston, South Carolina, was North America’s main port of entry for African slaves, and hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children were quarantined at Sullivan’s Island before being passed along to the slave markets and a life of toil. “African Passage,” an exhibit that will open on March 22 at Fort Moultrie National Monument, will tell this painful story.

Olympic National Park is deservedly considered one of the crown jewels of the National Park System. Getting there in the late spring and early summer of 2009 will require some advance planning—and a bit of patience—for a lot of visitors due to an upcoming six week closure of the Hood Canal Bridge.

If you like birding, are concerned about endangered species, and are free on Saturday, you're invited to see the release of four California condors into the wild at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.