No Charge To Visit VA, DC National Parks On Martin Luther King Jr. Day

VIRGINIA — Places where Martin Luther King and others in the Civil Rights Movement made history are among 400 National Park Service facilities, including those in Virginia, that will waive admission fees on Monday in honor of King’s birthday.

MLK Day, observed every year on the third Monday of January, has been a federal holiday since 1986 and is a day off for many Americans. Facilities in Virginia that are waiving admission include:

• NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL, Appalachian
• NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Appomattox Court House
• Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial
• NATIONAL SEASHORE, Assateague Island
• PARKWAY, Blue Ridge
• NATIONAL MONUMENT, Booker T. Washington
• PART OF COLONIAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Cape Henry Memorial
• NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL, Captain John Smith Chesapeake
• NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Cedar Creek & Belle Grove
• Chesapeake Bay
• Civil War Defenses of Washington
• NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Colonial Jamestown and Yorktown
• NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Cumberland Gap
• NATIONAL MONUMENT, Fort Monroe
• NATIONAL MILITARY PARK, Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania
• MEMORIAL PARKWAY, George Washington
• NATIONAL MONUMENT, George Washington Birthplace
• PARK, Great Falls
• Green Springs, Louisa County, VA Green Springs National Historic Landmark District
• NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Harpers Ferry
• PART OF COLONIAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Historic Jamestowne
• NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, Maggie L Walker
• NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD PARK, Manassas
• NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL, Overmountain Victory
• NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD, Petersburg
• NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL, Potomac Heritage
• PARK, Prince William Forest
• NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD PARK, Richmond
• NATIONAL PARK, Shenandoah
• NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL, Star-Spangled Banner
• NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL, Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route
• Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
• PART OF COLONIAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Yorktown Battlefield

DC sites with free admission Jan. 15 include:

• African American Civil War Memorial
• PARK, Anacostia
• NATIONAL MONUMENT, Belmont-Paul Women's Equality
• Capitol Hill Parks
• NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL, Captain John Smith Chesapeake
• NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, Carter G. Woodson Home
• NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal
• Chesapeake Bay
• Civil War Defenses of Washington
• Constitution Gardens
• MEMORIAL, Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Ford's Theatre
• Fort Dupont Park
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
• NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, Frederick Douglass
• MEMORIAL PARKWAY, George Washington
• Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens
• Korean War Veterans Memorial
• LBJ Memorial Grove on the Potomac
• Lincoln Memorial
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
• NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House
• National Capital Parks-East
• National Mall and Memorial Parks
• Pennsylvania Avenue
• NATIONAL SCENIC TRAIL, Potomac Heritage
• PARK, Rock Creek
• NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL, Star-Spangled Banner
• The White House and President's Park
• Theodore Roosevelt Island
• Thomas Jefferson Memorial
• MEMORIAL, Vietnam Veterans
• Washington Monument
• NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL, Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route
• World War I Memorial
• World War II Memorial

MLK Day is the only federal holiday designated as a day of service. Some of the places with special volunteer opportunities for visitors include the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta; the Selma to Montgomery Historic Trail, which traces the footsteps of King and other civil rights activists in the 1965 Voting Rights March in Alabama; and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Some MLK Day events in Northern Virginia and DC include:

D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Parade and Peace Walk: Meet at Shepherd Park for a 9 a.m. peace rally before the walk at 11 a.m. Participants will step off at 11 a.m. from the R.I.S.E. Center at 2730 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. Find more details on the website.

The George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria has a program including music, food and a panel of experts discussing King’s enduring legacy and message. The event begins at 4 p.m. Monday. Registration is requested. Here’s more info.

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture has an original copy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech delivered at the 1963 March on Washington on display at its “Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom” gallery. The speech, on loan from Villanova University, will be on display through March 4, NBC Washington said. On Monday, the museum will host “The People’s Holiday: The Many Dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr” from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Other free admission days at national parks in 2024 are:

• April 20: First day of National Park Week
• June 19: Juneteenth National Independence Day
• Aug. 4: Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
• Sept. 28: National Public Lands Day
• Nov. 11: Veterans Day