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.

Ranger Dan: 113.1 Independence National Historical Park

Date of Visit: February 25, 2026

Before I even knew there were America 250 stamps to collect at the National Parks this year, we had decided to visit Independence Hall during the year of the Semiquincentennial. We decided to visit in February because we figured it would be close enough that they would be celebrating already, but not too many tourists. Crowd-wise it turned out to be a perfect time to go as we really got to experience a lot of things by ourselves, but they are still preparing for the 250 with some renovations and things closed. We knew the Congress Hall was closed, but were disappointed to discover the current renovations included the post office and we couldn't mail our postcards with the special postmark we heard they already had if you mailed from there.

Independence Hall - Assembly Room

We had tickets for the first tour, but since we got there early we spent some time before our tour taking pictures and talking to the rangers during the Open House hours they do from 9am until 10:30am.

Independence Hall - Court Room

After our tour, we had lunch at Madis Coffee nearby. During lunch, I did a quick sketch of Independence Hall on the page with my stamps for Independence Hall (the 250 one was a piece of paper they gave out as the original was stolen last year). On our way to the B. Free Franklin Post Office, I took a picture of Ranger Dan with the page in front of Indpendence Hall.

Unfortunately, the B Free Post Office was not open despite no notice saying it wasn't. A passerby said it was currently under renovation. We did find the marker for Franklin's privy nearby, though...

At the Liberty Bell, we pretty much had the place to ourselves and we enjoyed being able to take our time and do photos with no other people in them. We were also able to get a ranger to take a photo of all of us. The ranger here also gave us the tip to go over to the Constitution Center for 250 souvenirs including hoodies, which is exactly what Mik had asked us to try to find him. At the Constitution Center, we also found a miniature Independence Hall, which was the other souvenir he wanted if we could find.

Liberty Bell

Crack Side w/ Independence Hall in Behind

Before heading to the Constitution Center and then back to the car, we explored the President's House Site.

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

Ranger Dan: 21.2 Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine

Date of Visit: February 24, 2026

At Fort McHenry, we enjoyed the film, which impressively ends with the screen rising to reveal Fort McHenry with the flag flying while the National Anthem plays. After the film, we did the Junior Ranger program to guide our exploring of the Visitor Center and Fort McHenry. We thought there was no 250 stamp, but Dad asked and found out you have to ask as they do not keep it out to ensure it doesn't get stolen like we had heard happened at Independence NHP.

Francis Scott Key Statue

Fort McHenry

Previous Visits to this National Park unit:

• 21.1 Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine

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

Ranger Dan: 112.1 Greenbelt Park

Date of Visit: February 24, 2026

Before we headed up to Fort McHenry, we made a quick stop at Greenbelt Park for the 250 stamp.

Snow

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

Ranger Dan: Collecting America 250 National Park Stamps in DC

Date of Visit: February 23, 2026

On our way up to Philadelphia to see Independence Hall for America's 250, we spent a day in DC collecting national park stamps. Our original plan was to start at the White House Visitor Center than head out to Arlington, but due to the overnight snow Arlington House was closed for the day and the White House Visitor Center wasn't open at 7:30am despite no notice on their website or door that it was operating under different hours. Thus, instead we ended up starting at Ford's Theatre, which was operating on a delayed start, but their box office was open as usual at 8:30am so we could get tickets for the first time slot for the museum at 11am.

Since we had a few hours before we could do Ford's Theatre and we hadn't had much of a breakfast, we decided to go to Lincoln's Waffle Shop across the street. We enjoyed a second breakfast/early brunch and worked on the Ford's Theatre Junior Ranger booklet.

As we still had time before our Ford's Theatre tour, we decided to walk over to the White House Visitor Center and see if it was open. It was and we got the 250 stamp.

White House Model

At Ford's Theatre we got our 250 stamp and got a rare look at where Lincoln was shot as they do not often have the area open to see if from the back.

Next we drove out to the George Washington Parkway Headquarters at Turkey Run to get the 250 stamp and also the over 30 other stamps they have for the area.

Mom and Dad dropped Nora and I off at the Lincoln Memorial to start our walk for 250 stamps at the memorials. The Lincoln Memorial gift shop at several 250 stamps including for the Lincoln Memorial and Korean War Veterans Memorial. We then got stamps the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and met Mom and Dad at the Jefferson Memorial to get the stamps there and walk to where they had parked by the Tidal Basin.

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial

FDR Memorial

At the FDR, I dropped Ranger Dan while trying to take the photo. His legs came off and it took us a few minutes to find them. Pieces of his hat also broke off. Thankfully, the stamps that got wet did not get too smudged.

Jefferson Memorial

We drove to the Washington Monument where Mom and Dad dropped Nora and I off nearby to get the stamps while they went around the block. Our final stop was at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial where we did the same thing, except I remembered to take the time for a photo here.

While the overnight snow meant we didn't get to do Arlington House, at least we knew in the morning it was closed for the day and we had already modified our plan for the day, which allowed us to still get all the other 250 stamps we planned even with the delayed openings. Plus, we had a good relaxed breakfast/brunch at Lincoln's Waffle Stop.

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

Our Koffee Trail: Madis Coffee

Date of Visit: February 25, 2026

Location: Madis Coffee, Philadelphia, PA

Rating: ❤️

After our tour of Independence Hall, we were hungry and found Madis Coffee nearby. We enjoyed having some coffees and hot chocolate along with some good food for lunch.

Mom had a Mocha Latte.

Dad had a Kenya pour over coffee.

I found the Blueberry Bliss Latte different and delicious. Nora also enjoyed their White Hot Chocolate.

We all enjoyed our food. I especially liked the Salmon on Multigrain.

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