Friends of Homestead National Historical Park

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!

06/23/2023

This weekend!

Marty Raney, host of Discovery Channel's Homestead Rescue, will be at Homestead National Historical Park on Saturday, June 24, at 2 PM, as part of our Homestead Days activities. This will be Marty's first time in Nebraska.

Marty Raney is an author, a television host, a contractor, and an outdoor enthusiast. As host of Discovery’s Homestead Rescue, Marty and family strive to teach individuals how to live a self-sufficient and sustainable life.

The term homestead is rooted in the Homestead Act of 1862, which offered a chance to earn 160 acres of federal land. The act ended in 1986 but continues to inspire self-sufficient landowners.

Some of the people Homestead Rescue has helped are living on generational homesteads that were secured through the Homestead Act.

All of Homestead National Historical Park's exhibits and activities are free for the public.

06/22/2023

Come on out and enjoy the fun this weekend.

Dave welcomed Park Ranger, Amber Kirkendall from Homestead National Historical Park this morning in the studio! Amber was on air to talk about the weekend activists for Homestead Days Beatrice. Family friendly fun for all ages!

Friday afternoon is a day for the kiddos with a musical performance Pioneer Stories!

Saturday’s featured guest will be Marty Raney from Homestead Rescue!

For more details, check out… Family Fun Day at Homestead National Historical Park & Marty Raney, of Discovery Channel's Homestead Rescue to visit Homestead National Historical Park

02/10/2023

Do you have a Homestead quarter?

Tomorrow, the quarter turns 8! You can celebrate by looking for a quarter in your pocket change.

The U.S. Mint issued the America the Beautiful Quarter Program from 2010 to 2021, each quarter featured one National Park or other federal site from each state and territory. The coins’ release dates were based on when the chosen sites were first nationally established--Homestead’s 2015 quarter release reflected its 1936 designation as a National Monument. It was number 26 of the total 56 in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.

To watch the video that celebrates the release of the Homestead quarter visit: https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=F25007AE-F84B-576A-7B80D678A7151846