Where is the oldest national park located?

Yellowstone National Park - 1872 Grant designated Yellowstone as the first national park in the United States and the world. Today, the park is home to the world's largest collection of geysers, including the iconic Old Faithful.



The oldest national park in the world, Yellowstone National Park, is located in the United States, primarily within the state of Wyoming. Established on March 1, 1872, by President Ulysses S. Grant, the park covers nearly 3,500 square miles of a volcanic hot spot. While 96% of the park is in Wyoming, it also extends into Montana (3%) and Idaho (1%). In 2026, Yellowstone remains a global marvel, housing more than half of the world's geysers and hydrothermal features, including the famous Old Faithful. The park is situated atop the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent. Its location in the heart of the Rocky Mountains makes it a critical sanctuary for North American megafauna, such as grizzly bears, wolves, and the largest public herd of American bison. Visitors in 2026 typically access the park through five entrance stations: the North and Northeast entrances in Montana, and the East, South, and West entrances in Wyoming.

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A bill creating the first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Mackinac National Park in 1875 (decommissioned in 1895), and then Rock Creek Park (later merged into National Capital Parks), Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890.

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With that, Moyenne Island National Park, the world's smallest national park, was born. It can be easy to imagine Grimshaw as an eccentric figure.

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From the book: “In 1872 the United States Congress created at Yellowstone in Wyoming the world's first national park. Three years later Mackinac Island, Michigan, became the site of the second.

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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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As part of the Icknield Way, The Ridgeway has been identified as Britain's oldest road. The Anglo-Saxons mentioned it in the early 10th century and historians believe this ancient track has been in use by traders making their way from the Dorset coast in the west to The Wash in East Anglia for around 5,000 years.

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Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks boast many of the world's largest trees by volume. The General Sherman Tree is the largest in the world at 52,508 cubic feet (1,487 cubic meters). The General Grant Tree is the second largest at 46,608 cubic feet (1,320 cubic meters).

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