Friends of Homestead National Historical Park

08/11/2026

Let the kids stay up late.

The parking lot at the Heritage Center will remain open the nights of Tuesday, August 11, and Wednesday, August 12 for night sky viewing. Six planets — Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune — will appear in the Wednesday morning sky before sunrise. The Perseid meteor shower will peak Wednesday evening into Thursday morning in which viewers can expect to see up to 100 meteors, also known as shooting stars, per hour as they dance across the night sky.

Remember to bring your flashlights and use extra caution if you are exploring the night sky on your own.

Photo Credit: Tim Graff

05/20/2025

Are you a fiddler? Or do you just like listening? Either way, you won’t want to miss the annual Tallgrass Prairie Fiddle Festival, May 24, 2025, at the Homestead National Historical Park! https://www.nps.gov/home/planyourvisit/tallgrass-prairie-fiddle-festival.htm

06/23/2024

Thanks for making Homestead Days 2024 a memorable one!

Sean Astin speaks to huge crowd at the Homestead National Historical Park

06/22/2024

HNHP at the Beatrice, NE, parade for Homestead Days! Hope to see everyone out at the Park today!

06/22/2024

See you Saturday!

🎶Tomorrow, tomorrow, WE love you, tomorrow. You're ONLY a day away🎶

Tomorrow is the day that Sean Astin comes to Homestead National Historical Park. Our amazing demonstrations will start at 10:00 a.m. The stage performances start at noon and Sean Astin will be speaking at 3:00 p.m. The presentations will be on our outside stage at our Education Center. Starting at 11:00, we have two shuttle buses running to assist with parking.

06/13/2024

Are you coming?

Homestead Days 2024
Join us at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 22, 2024, to see Sean Astin.

Sean Astin is known for his roles in Goonies, Rudy, Stranger Things, The Conners, The Lord of the Rings, and many more.
Astin's keynote speech will reflect on his genealogy and his experiences.

Over 93 million Americans are descended from a homesteader. You can learn more about your own genealogy by visiting Homestead National Historical Park's research computers.

It is expected to be hot during homestead days. We do encourage you to bring your reusable water bottles and to make sure and stay hydrated during your visit to Homestead National Historical Park.

06/01/2024

Sean Astin is coming to Homestead National Historical Park!!!

05/26/2024

A delightful afternoon at Homestead with Hillary Klug - the dancing fiddler!

03/01/2024

Learn how to share your story.

Free Online Program: The Homestead Act and Southern Black Homesteaders

You can watch this live presentation by Park Ranger Jessica Korgie, and Bernice Bennett, genealogist, author, and NPS volunteer. Registration to the online portion of the Rootstech event is free.

Class Description
Do you know if you are a Homestead Descendant? How can you find out? This course will provide the tools to determine answers to a question many do not know to ask. Learn how the National Park Service along with descendants of black homesteaders are revealing a relatively unknown historical narrative, Black Homesteading in the South. Learn about research tools great for beginners as well as black history research tips and tricks from Park Rangers, Descendants, and NPS Volunteers involved with the Black Homesteaders Project. Match family stories passed down through the generations with historic documents. Begin your homestead research in this class! Could you be the next contributor to the repository of homestead stories at Homestead National Historical park? Learn how to draft and submit a homestead story to the National Park Service generated from homestead Land Entry Case Files. These stories will be published and shared on the National Park Service website – share your research and benefit future generations! This course will use the lens of American Black History to interpret southern homesteading through Homestead Land Entry case files, tract books, plat maps, oral histories, and other genealogical resources. The course can easily be applied to a diverse range of homestead descendants with origins from across the world.

To learn more about registration visit: https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/the-homestead-act-and-southern-black-homesteaders

06/26/2023

Come back any time Marty!