Clara Barton

National Historic Site

Maryland

Established: 1974

9 acres

Annual Visitors: 12,529 (2005)

Official Site: https://www.nps.gov/clba/index.htm

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Barton_National_Historic_Site

flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132862173@N05/sets/72157656228851076

The United States National Historic Site protects 9 acres (0.04 km²) of land at her Glen Echo home including the 38-room former residence of Barton. The site is managed by the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The first national historic site dedicated to the accomplishments of a woman, it preserves the early history of the American Red Cross and the last home of its founder. Clara Barton spent the last 15 years of her life in her Glen Echo home (1897-1912), and it served as an early headquarters of the American Red Cross as well.

The National Park Service has restored eleven rooms, including the Red Cross offices, parlors and Clara Barton's bedroom. Visitors to Clara Barton National Historic Site can gain a sense of how Barton lived and worked surrounded by all that went into her life's work. Visitors to the site are led through the three levels on a guided tour emphasizing Barton's use of her unusual home. In 2005, 12,529 visitors toured the site.

National Parks & Monuments in Distress: George Washington Memorial Parkway

https://sites.google.com/view/nationalmonumentsindanger/nps/george-washington-memorial-parkway

Links

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4. Clara Barton National Historic Site, Maryland

Number of visitors in 2018: 425

Few people exemplify the notion of service like Clara Barton. After devoting the first part of her life to teaching, she was working in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., when the Civil War started. She began tending injured soldiers in the capital before moving to the battlefield where she assisted the wounded for the duration of the war. Barton became aware of the International Red Cross during a trip to Europe, and she founded the American Red Cross in 1881 and served as its president until 1904. Her house in the Washington suburb of Glen Echo, Maryland, served as an early headquarters for the organization. The site was closed for renovation until recently (explaining the low visitation numbers for 2018), and now tours are available again on Fridays and Saturdays.