Where is the newest US national park?

The New River in West Virginia may be one of the oldest rivers in the world, but it's also the namesake of America's newest national park: New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.



The newest U.S. National Park is New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, located in southern West Virginia. Established as a national park in December 2020 as part of a COVID-19 relief bill, it transitioned from a "National River" to full "National Park" status. The park encompasses over 70,000 acres of land along the New River, which is ironically one of the oldest rivers on the continent. It is world-renowned for its white-water rafting, rock climbing (with over 1,400 established routes), and the iconic New River Gorge Bridge, which stands 876 feet above the river. In 2026, the park has seen a significant surge in tourism, boosting the local economy in towns like Fayetteville. It offers a unique mix of high-adventure sports and quiet Appalachian wilderness. While there are talks about other sites like the Ocmulgee Mounds in Georgia becoming the 64th national park, New River Gorge remains the latest addition to the "crown jewels" of the American wilderness system.

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The New River Gorge was given National Park Service protection in 1978 as a national river, and was expanded to New River Gorge National Park & Preserve ? this country's newest national park ? in the plague year of 2020 courtesy of legislation drafted by Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito.

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Many current national parks had been previously protected as national monuments by the president under the Antiquities Act or as other designations created by Congress before being redesignated by Congress; the newest national park is New River Gorge, previously a National River, and the most recent entirely new park ...

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The big 3 national parks: Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon.

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While the National Park System comprises 423 national park sites, only 63 of them have the National Park designation in their names. The other sites fall into different National Park System categories like National Historic Sites, National Monuments, National Seashores, National Recreation Areas, and others.

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