Ranger Dan: 30.2 Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site

Date of Visit: February 27, 2026

When we started the day, we only planned to stop at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and Frederick Douglass NHS on our way home from Philadelphia. When we were leaving Frederick Douglass NHS, it was only a little after 10am and Dad asked if there was anything we had missed in Richmond. Thus, we ended up adding Maggie L. Walker NHS as our final stop of our America 250 stamp collecting trip.

We arrived at Maggie L. Walker NHS after the 1pm tour had started, but it starts with a 20 minute movie and they allowed us to join the tour when the movie finished so we could go on the house part of the tour. I am glad we were able to as Nora is really into Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, so I was pretty sure she would find Maggie L. Walker interesting, too. In the end besides Ford's Theatre (and standing where Lincoln stood in front of Independence Hall...she's also a big Lincoln fan), the Maggie L. Walker NHS was her favorite part of our trip.

Overall on our six day trip to and from Philadelphia, we collected 31 America 250 stamps and 153 total stamps.

Previous Visits to this National Park unit:

• 30.1 Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.

Ranger Dan: 37.2 Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

Date of Visit: February 27, 2026

Our visit to Frederick Douglass National Historic Site was very brief as we didn't want to hang around for the 12:30pm tour since we had to get home that night. If we had stayed, we also wouldn't have ended up with time to stop at the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, which we decided to visit after not getting a tour here, we realized we could fit it in and still get home at a somewhat reasonable time.

After getting our stamps, we walked up to his house and checked out the Growlery behind it.

Previous Visits to this National Park unit:

• 37.1 Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.

Ranger Dan: 42.6 National Capital Parks - Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

Date of Visit: February 27, 2026

When we left for our Philadelphia trip, we had planned to just drive straight home on the last day. On our visit to Greenbelt Park, the ranger mentioned that Kenilworth had just got in their 250 stamp, so we decided to see if we could get it on our way home. I determined if we got on the road by 6am, then we could not only stop at Kenilworth, but also Frederick Douglass NHS.

We actually managed to get on the road before 6am and even with a leisurely breakfast at a Starbucks (only option that early), we ended up at Kenilworth around 8:30am. We had to wait until 9am for the Visitor Center to open, but the park opens at 8am, so we were able to walk out to the marsh before getting our stamps.

We knew there wouldn't be much to see with it not being the season for the lilies and lotuses, but it was interesting to see the ponds frozen and see the park in a much different season than when Dad and I visited for the Lotus and Water Lily Festival a few years ago.

When the Visitor Center opened, we were excited to find they not only had the National Capital Parks East 250 Stamp that I thought would be the 250 stamp here, but they also had one for Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and Anacostia Park. 

Previous Visits to this National Park unit:

• 42.1 Lincoln Park
• 42.2 John Paul Jones Memorial
• 42.3 Folger Park
• 42.4 American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial
• 42.5 Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.

Our Koffee Trail: Liberty Brew Coffee

Date of Visit: March 1, 2026

Location: Liberty Brew Coffee, Conway, SC

Rating: ❤️ (Love)

For this week's Sunday coffee outing, we went to Liberty Brew Coffee. We all enjoyed drinks off their current seasonal menu. Mik also enjoyed a cheese danish.

Mom had an iced Pot of Gold Latte (salted caramel and coconut).

Dad and I both had The Nutty Irishman (pistachio and brown sugar cinnamon with maple cream).

Mik had a Lucky Charms Latte (vanilla, toasted marshmallow, white chocolate).

See full list of Our Koffee Trail stops here and Our Koffee Trail Google Maps list here.

Check out some of our other Myrtle Beach area posts:

• C3 Coffee Co. 👍
• Grand Strand Coffee ❤️
• Rustic Roast ❤️
• Tidal Creek Brewhouse (and Coffeehouse) ❤️

Ranger Dan: 115.1 Valley Forge National Historical Park

Date of Visit: February 26, 2026

We started our visit to Valley Forge National Historical Park with the movie (after getting our stamps and failing to get the rangers to understand our Valley Frog National Treasure reference). We also explored the museum a little, where Nora and I enjoyed using the Lincoln Logs to build a cabin to match the model one to represent the cabins the soldiers built for their winter stay at Valley Forge.

Pretending to Load Cannon

On the first stop of the driving tour around Valley Forge (Muhlenberg's Brigade), Nora and I posed pretending to do the cannon loading drill.

At our first stop, we also enjoyed seeing the hut exhibits. It was particularly cool in that there was snow on the ground to help feel like a more authentic visit to Valley Forge.

Our next stop was at the National Memorial Arch.

On our way to Washington's Headquarters, we stopped at Wayne's Statue.

Washington's Headquarters is not open this time of year, but we still stopped to walk the path to see it and the George Washington statue.

Washington's Headquarters

Our second to last stop was at the Von Steuben Statue. We also walked to Varnum's Quarters (also not open).

Varnum's Quarters

Our last stop was at Washington Memorial Chapel. Here we found a bell statue that is part of a series across Pennsylvania for the Semiquincentennial. We also realized that inside they have the Justice Bell, which is a replica of the Liberty Bell that was used as part of the Women's Suffrage movement and we had been reading about it the previous day when we visited the Liberty Bell.

Justic Bell

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.

Ranger Dan: 114.1 Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

Date of Visit: February 26, 2026

We had no idea what Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site was about, so we learned that it was an early American iron works along with its history. We enjoyed watching the movie in the visitor center and then walking around the grounds were you could go into most of the buildings and learn more about it.

Hopewell Oven

Anthracite Furnace

Collier's Hut

Furnace

Clock in Buckley & Brooke Office & Store

Cannon

Pig Iron Production

Water Wheel

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.

Ranger Dan: 49.2 First State National Historical Park - New Castle Court House Museum

Date of Visit: February 25, 2026

We thought the New Castle Court House Museum closed at 4pm, so we were kind of surprised to find it closed when we got there around 3:20pm. We noticed that on their sign by the door they just list tour times and the last tour was at 3pm, so we figured they actually closed after the final tour. Dad was walking around the building and happened upon someone coming out. He asked if they worked there and they ended up letting us in to get the stamps. She also ended up giving us a quick tour to learn about the court house history.

Previous Visits to this National Park unit:

• 49.1 First State National Historical Park

See full list of Ranger Dan's National Parks Visited here.