4 National Parks That No Longer Exist

From Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountain National Park to some slightly lesser-known national parks, we've got some amazing places to explore. Did you know that in the history of the national parks we've actually had seven parks removed from national park status? Here are four disbanded national parks.

Mackinac National Park

 

This island located in Northern Michigan was actually the country's second national park, established in 1875, just three years after Yellowstone National Park. The park abutted Fort Mackinac, a US Army base. The park lands were required to be available for the army in time of war. In 1895, the park was decommissioned and turned over to the state of Michigan. It is now Mackinac Island State Park.

General Grant National Park

General Grant National Park was established in 1890, primarily to preserve the General Grant Tree, a 267-foot tall tree (the third largest tree in the world). In 1940, with the establishment of King's Canyon National Park, the original General Grant National Park was consolidated with the new park. Today this area of King's Canyon National Park is known as General Grant's Grove.

Sullys Hill National Park

President Theodore Roosevelt established Sullys Hill National Park in 1904. Located in Benson County, North Dakota, this park is home to bison, elk, deer, birds and many diverse plants. In 1931, during the Great Depression, the park was handed over to the Fish and Wildlife Service. This reestablished the ability to hunt on this land.

Platt National Park

In 1902, Senator Orville Platt introduced legislation to establish Sulphur Springs Reservation. In 1906, Congress redesignated it as Platt National Park. The park became the seventh national park. According to the National Park Service, Platt National Park had more visitors than either Yellowstone and Yosemite in 1914. Platt National Park was abolished by Congress and made part of the much larger Chickasaw National Recreation Area in 1976.

 

Did you know about these disbanded national parks? There's actually three more, Fort McHenry National Park, Abraham Lincoln National Park and Hawaii National Park were each downgraded for divided into different national parks. Pretty cool huh? Have you visited any of these areas?