The Historian

What really happened here?

It's the question Dr. Tony Pattiz spent more than 25 years teaching students to ask. Now he asks it for us, at the battlefields, landmarks, and historic places we cover.

25+ yearsteaching American history
Ed.D.doctorate in education
MTJPeducation contributor

His story

From the classroom to the parks

We're Will and Jim. Dr. Tony Pattiz is our dad, and for more than 25 years he taught American history. When this site started covering the places where that history happened, there was only ever one writer for the job.

Dad is a retired educator with a doctorate in education. He spent his career in the American history classroom, and he never taught it as a list of dates to memorize. He taught it the way he still writes it, as a story with real people in it. Who stood on this ground? What did they want, and what did it cost them? Why should anyone care a century later? If you ever had a teacher who could hold a room with a question like that, you know exactly the type.

When More Than Just Parks grew beyond the parks, into the battlefields, courthouses, monuments, and main streets where American history actually happened, we asked him to write those guides. He is the historian behind every "A Historian Picks" byline on this site, and the reason the historic sites series reads like a good lecture instead of a checklist.

He works the way he taught. Pick the places that carry real weight, put them in an order that tells a larger story, and say plainly why each one earns your time. No filler, and no entry gets on the list just for having a plaque.

For us, it's also the family business coming full circle. We grew up on his history lessons. Now our readers do too.

The work

What Tony covers

Famous landmarks in America

The hub for Tony's landmark and historic sites coverage. Start with the places every American should stand in front of once, then follow the series into your own state.

Start with the landmarks

Civil War sites

The battlefields and home fronts where the war was decided, picked by a historian and told as the stories they are.

See the Civil War sites

Revolutionary War sites

Where the country began, from the first shots to the surrender field, and why each stop still matters.

See the Revolutionary War sites

Historic sites in Georgia

A taste of the state-by-state series. Every state gets the same treatment, one historian working through the places worth your time.

See the Georgia sites

By Tony

Everything Tony has written here

Newest first. Pick a topic or search the titles.

Facts

12 Facts About Denali National Park

The highest peak in North America anchors a wilderness bigger than New Hampshire. Here are 12 verified facts about Denali, its mountain,…

Nov 11, 2025
National Parks by State

Kansas National Parks: All 10 NPS Sites Ranked

Sep 11, 2024
Facts

10 Facts About Carlsbad Caverns National Park

A cowboy chasing what looked like smoke, hundreds of thousands of bats, and North America's largest cave chamber. Here are 10 facts…

Sep 11, 2024
National Parks Near Cities

7 National Parks Near Long Beach Worth The Drive

National parks you can reach from Long Beach. Driving distances, best seasons to visit, top trails, entrance fees, and what to see…

Sep 11, 2024
National Parks Near Cities

National Parks Near Dallas: 5 Worth The Drive (And What To Expect)

Despite its immense size, Texas only has two officially designated National Parks: Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

Sep 11, 2024
Facts

15 Glacier National Park Facts Worth Knowing

15 Glacier National Park facts about the Crown of the Continent, from its glaciers and Going-to-the-Sun Road to the Night of the…

Sep 11, 2024
Landmarks

20 Best Ohio Landmarks

Cuyahoga Valley, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the free National Museum of the US Air Force. 20 Ohio landmarks…

Sep 11, 2024
Historic Sites

10 White Sands National Park Facts Worth Knowing

Ten White Sands National Park facts, from the largest gypsum dunefield on Earth to 20,000-year-old human footprints and cool-to-the-touch sand.

Sep 11, 2024
National Parks Near Cities

9 National Parks Near Jacksonville Worth The Drive

National Parks Near Jacksonville goes from the marsh lands & gator-filled swamps of the Everglades to the underwater world of Biscayne.

Sep 11, 2024

The newsletter

One more thing before the bell

Tony's historic sites guides run alongside our field reports, trip planning, and the fight for America's public lands. One email a week. Free, and worth opening.

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