Things To Do

Four interpretive panels mounted under a covered, open-sided kiosk overlooking a prairie landscape containing a few small cabin-like structures.
A kiosk houses several informational panels.

NPS

Find things to do at New Philadelphia National Historic Site:

  • Start at the information kiosk, located at the corner of County Highway 2 and 306th Lane at the entrance of the park. Seven panels provide information on the site and its history.
  • Take the ¼-mile augmented virtual reality walking tour of the site, which is operated by the New Philadelphia Association. Animated characters provide audio enhanced accounts of life in New Philadelphia as a bustling pioneer community. The walking tour starts from the information kiosk.
  • Learn about New Philadelphia, Free Frank McWorter his family, and New Philadelphia townsfolk. Informational panels are available in the kiosk at the site. Find information online on our history and culture page.
  • Visit Lucy’s Butterfly Garden, located 20 feet east of the kiosk. Named for Lucy McWorter, Free Frank’s wife, the native plants in this garden were carefully chosen to represent the types of plants that would have been present at the time the McWorters walked this land.
 
A mowed path through prairie. There are numbered signs along the trail that correspond to stops in the augmented virtual reality tour.
Visitors can take a self-guided ¼-mile-long walking tour of the site using an augmented virtual reality app managed by the New Philadelphia Association. The app is available to download for electronic handheld devices, cost-free, at the kiosk. Wi-Fi access is available.

NPS

  • Visit the pollinator plot, located about ¼ mile south of the kiosk. This one-acre pollinator plot was planted in May 2022. It includes native prairie plants, approximately forty wildflower species, and several grasses.
  • Get your Passport to Your National Parks® cancellation stamp at the Barry City Hall and at the Barry Public Library (two miles west).
  • The Barry Museum contains a New Philadelphia exhibit of documents and photographs. The museum is located on the second floor of the Barry Public Library.
  • Visit other National Parks in Illinois and Missouri.
  • Visit other locations within the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area.
  • Visit other locations related to the Underground Railroad.
  • Visit the "Many Voices, One Nation" exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum of American History (in-person and web components).

Last updated: February 27, 2024

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Contact Info

Mailing Address:

National Park Service, Attn: Mike Ward
Regions 3, 4, and 5 Office
601 Riverfront Drive

Omaha, NE 68102

Phone:

(402) 661-1520
National Park Service Regions 3, 4, and 5 Office in Omaha, Nebraska.

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