Homestead National Historical Park
Nebraska
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
6.4 h fully dark
Crowds
low
Entrance
Free entry
The Homestead Act of 1862 transformed the world. Millions were invited to file claims including families, women, immigrants, and formerly enslaved people. Over 10 percent of the United States was homesteaded! The land, long inhabited by indigenous cultures, changed forever. Homesteaders created settlements and farms, drove industrial advancement, and built our nation chasing the American Dream.
Activities
Topics
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
Trails and park grounds are open from sunrise to sunset. Picnic areas are available at the Education Center and Heritage Center. There are a total of 3.0 miles of trails through the tallgrass prairie and woodland.
Hours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 4022233514
✉ home_information@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ☀️ Clear, 66°F
🌦️ 80°/65°
🌦️ 95°/68°
☁️ 105°/67°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
22%
Feb
27%
Mar
46%
Apr
58%
May
99%
Jun
100%
Jul
72%
Aug
55%
Sep
65%
Oct
52%
Nov
33%
Dec
28%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Live conditions
Homestead Webcam ↗active
Things to do
Walk Nature Trails at Homestead · 0.3 mi
Earn your Junior Ranger Badge or Not-so Junior Ranger Pin
Research Family History
Follow the Quilt Discovery Experience
Watch Land of Dreams Film
Discover More at the Homestead Education Center
Get Started at the Homestead Heritage Center · <p>Allow yourself about 30 minutes to explore the Homestead Heritage Center Exhibits. Additional time will be needed to watch the introductory park film and use the research computers.</p>
Explore the Museum Exhibits
Visitor centers
Education Center
Heritage Center
Accessibility
42 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Homestead National Historical Park — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
People & stories
Figures tied to Homestead National Historical Park — each spans a cross-park journey.
Abraham Hall
— Black Homesteaders Project, Nicodemus, HomesteaderAgness Benton – Lincoln County, Oklahoma
— Oklahoma Black Homesteader Project, Homesteader, Black HomesteaderAlbert Fisher
— Black Homesteader Project, Black Homesteader, Homestead Act 1862Albert Riley
— African America History, Black Homesteaders Project, NebraskaAlexander Gainer
— Africa American History, Black Homesteaders Project, FloridaAlfred A. Emanuel
— Black Homesteaders Project, Black Homesteader, African American HistoryAlfred Davis
— Africa American History, Black Homesteaders Project, LouisianaAlfred and Sarah W. Davis
— African American History, Black Homesteaders Project, LouisianaPassport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Education Center
🎫 Heritage Center
🎫 Heritage Center and Education Center
🎫 Homestead National Historical Park, the Oregon Trail
Places to see
A Legacy of Change, wayside exhibit
audio
A Prairie Reborn, wayside exhibit
audio
Birds of the Freeman Homestead, wayside exhibit
audio
Blackdom New Mexico
Boundaries of Freedom, wayside exhibit
audio
Cutting Corn and Mowing, wayside exhibits
audio
Daniel Freeman Homestead
Daughters of the American Revolution Monument
audio
DeWitty Nebraska
Dearfield Colorado
Deep Roots in the Earth, wayside exhibit
audio
Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company
Audio & media
🎧
🎬
🖼
Learn more
This painting of America’s first homesteading family in front of their cabin on the site of America’s first homestead. It was created in 1888 in Beatrice, Nebraska by Gusta Strohm when the Freeman family had been living on their homestead for 25 years. The painting was conserved by the Ford Conservation Center in 2019. This painting, by Gusta Strohm, was exhibited at multiple venues before eventually coming to Homestead National Monument of America in 2011.
Recipients of the 2003 Environmental Achievement Awards
More than 200,000 volunteers provide invaluable time and energy to the National Park Service. Meet the people and groups being honored with a 2013 Hartzog Award.
The National Park Service is pleased to congratulate the recipients of the 2022 George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service.
The National Park Service congratulates the regional recipients of the 2025 Excellence in Volunteerism Awards. These nominees embody the values of service, engagement, and stewardship fundamental to our national parks.
The Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company was established in 1878. The company began manufacturing the Original Dempster Solid Wheel in 1885. In 1892, they produced their first steel windmill, the Queen City. Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company produced over twenty windmill models, manufactured over 124 years.
Though best known for guiding the nation through the tumultuous four years of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln also played an instrumental role in encouraging settlement and expansion of the American West.
Homestead National Monument of America and Nicodemus National Historic Site are partnering with the University of Nebraska's Center for Great Plains Studies to discover and share the stories of African American homesteading colonies.
Ranger School
Park-grounded courses you can learn with the Ranger.
Agriculture and Inventions
Open →
Butterflies, Hummingbirds, and Bees Oh My! Pollinators on the Tallgrass Prairie
Open →
Flowering Plant Reproduction in the Tallgrass Prairie
Open →
Homestead Act Paperwork
Open →
Land Use
Open →
Native American Reservations
Open →
How Homestead National Historical Park connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
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