Harpers Ferry Center, NPS Historic Photo Collection

Herd of buffalo, Wind Cave National Park

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Date: August 9, 2009

On Tuesday, August 25, come celebrate the 93rd anniversary of the creation of the National Park Service at Weir Farm National Historic Site by viewing a one-hour preview of the new Ken Burns’ documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. This event is a special chance to get a sneak peek at the upcoming 12-hour, six-part documentary that will premiere nationwide on PBS stations starting September 27, 2009. The preview event will begin at 7:00 PM in the Burlingham Barn at Weir Farm National Historic Site. The event is free, but registration is required and space is limited. To register for the event, or for more information, please call (203) 834-1896 ext. 13 or visit www.pbs.org/nationalparks.

Writer Wallace Stegner called the national parks “the best idea we’ve ever had,” and both the preview and the series will explore how these special places became preserved as parks, the role of the individual citizens in creating them, and the powerful stories of people’s emotional connections to them. The series also features cinematography that director and co-producer Ken Burns declared the “most stunning” of his nearly 30-year career. Weir Farm National Historic Site is just one of 391 units (58 national parks, plus 333 national monuments and historic sites) in the National Park System that preserve America’s natural and cultural diversity. Burns has said that the “national parks embody an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most magnificent and sacred places in our land belong not to royalty or the rich but to everyone—and for all time.” Begin the celebration of these amazing places by attending the preview showing of The National Parks: America’s Best Idea at Weir Farm National Historic Site on August 25, and be sure to watch the entire series starting on September 27.