A great way to explore the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail is with our Junior Ranger program! Being a 330-mile Commemorative Motor Route across four states with a growing network of certified hiking trails and no dedicated Visitor Center, the Junior Ranger program is a great way to add some information to a visit at one of our partner sites or to fill the travel time between destinations. The Junior Ranger book explores the American Revolution story that took place along the Overmountain Victory NHT and encourages a few different ways to engage with the natural and cultural resources that can be found while journeying along the trail, much the same way the thousands of patriot frontiersmen did when they travelled the trail in the year 1780.
Would you like to become a Junior Ranger?
The Junior Ranger program is an activity booklet to help Junior Rangers (even kids-at-heart) learn more about their National Park Service sites and how they can help!
The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail Junior Ranger program is designed to help highlight parts of the story from 1780 when thousands of patriot frontiersmen made the dangerous journey to the Battle of Kings Mountain. The activities will also guide you to engage with your environment as you explore parts of the trail, such as:
What can you experience along the trail using your senses?
What sorts of natural or cultural items can you locate?
What skills would a frontiersman need during the American Revolution?
Upon completion of the activities, this book can be mailed to the Overmountain Victory NHT headquarters or submitted at one of our participating partner sites for the special prize: an Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail Junior Ranger badge!
Visit two locations of the Overmountain Victory NHT and earn a badge plus a special sticker!
Visit three locations of the Overmountain Victory NHT and earn a badge, plus a special sticker, plus a Junior Ranger patch!
You can request a Junior Ranger booklet by contacting us by email, or ask for them at one of the partner sites listed below:
* Keller Interpretive Center at Abingdon Muster Grounds in Abingdon, Virginia
* Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park in Elizabethton, Tennessee
* Museum of North Carolina Minerals, Blue Ridge Parkway, in Spruce Pine, North Carolina
* Lake James State Park in Nebo, North Carolina
* W. Kerr Scott Dam & Reservoir in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
* Cowpens National Battlefield in Gaffney, South Carolina
* Kings Mountain National Military Park in Blacksburg, South Carolina
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service