Welcome!

Your national park experience can be a holy experience, too!

More than 400 national parks, historic sites, lakeshores, rivers, battlefields, and trails across the United States and its territories are protected by the National Park Service - "America's best idea." America's Holy Ground and America's Sacred Sites take you to more than 100 of these beloved sites, known for their inspiring natural beauty, unmatched diversity, historical preservation, and personal inspiration - but unlike a tour book, they will help you see God and the sacred everywhere you go.

Bonus
parks

Did you know entries for two new national parks and six other National Park Service sites are available free? You're just one click away!

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now

Order your copy of America's Holy Ground and America's Sacred Sites now - then order one for your favorite national park lover! Here's your one-stop shop!

Meet
Brad & Bruce

Brad Lyons and Bruce Barkhauer

We aren't backwoods hermits - we're normal folks just like you who  love national parks. We just happened to figure out a way to take it to the next level!

Front-page photos

A camera is perched to photogaph a rocky stream and a towering bluff

Curious where the photo at the top of the page is from? Here's a complete list of photos and their sources.

America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America3 days ago
Panoramic view of Canyonlands and river at Island in the Sky District, from the Green River overlook, Canyonlands National Park (NPS/Nicole Segnini)
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America1 week ago
The Homestead Act is perhaps the most significant piece of American legislation. If a settler could cultivate a 160-acre plot for five years, the land would be theirs at no charge. Over more than a century, more than 1.6 “sodbusters,” including emancipated former slaves and 300,000 immigrants, settled 270 million acres in the American West. The five-year commitment was no shoo-in: only 52 percent of claim filers proved up to the challenge. Nebraska’s Homestead National Historical Park tells the story of those settlers who relied on their resolve, discipline, and endurance to prove themselves worthy of the claim. Those same traits can also help us build our own faith.
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America1 week ago
Ice Cream Rocks, Petrified Forest National Park (NPS photo)
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America2 weeks ago
Golden Gate National Recreation Area is annually one of the most visited National Park Service units — often topping the list. (It placed #2 in 2023 behind the Blue Ridge Parkway.) Part of its appeal is its variety — the natural grandeur of Muir Woods, the history of Spanish settlement, the educational and cultural offerings of its museums, the guilty pleasure of Alcatraz prison, and the architectural marvel that is the Golden Gate Bridge itself. If you don’t find something fun at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, keep looking — you’ll find it soon!
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America2 weeks ago
Kayaking at Cuyahoga Valley National Park (NPS/D.J. Reiser)
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America
America's Holy Ground & Sacred Sites: 112 Faithful Reflections for America3 weeks ago
The dangerous shores of untamed, petulant Lake Superior claimed more than its share of ships over the years. The construction of lighthouses in the area saved countless lives. Shining light into the cold darkness, lighthouses are modern-day symbols of a faith whose creation story begins with light piercing the darkness and continues with stories of light proclaiming the Divine is present here, now. Followers of God are themselves called to reflect the light of the Divine, or even at times to be the light in the world’s darkness—in essence, to be light keepers. Wisconsin’s Apostle Islands National Lakeshore protects six of these lighthouses and a restored wilderness that takes visitors back in time to an era when going out on a lake during a story could be a life-or-death decision.