The America's National Parks Podcast is sponsored by L.L. Bean.

This year, L.Bine is joining up with the National Park Foundation,

the official non-profit partner of the National Park Service to help you find your happy place in an amazing system of more than 400 national parks including historic and cultural sites, monuments, preserves, lakeshores, and seashores

that dot the American landscape,

many of which you'll find just a short trip from home.

L.L. Bean is proud to be an official partner of the National Park Foundation.

Discover your perfect day in a park at find your park.com. One of my dreams is to stay in a National Park Lodge at Christmas.

What could be more magical. Grand log-beamed lobbies decked out in real pine trimmings, the crackling

of massive stone fireplaces and decadent holiday feasts, while miles away from civilization,

with the glories of snow-blanketed nature in every direction.

In order to quench my thirst for a National Park Christmas, we've put together this episode,

featuring stories of Christmas at one of the most special places on Earth, Yellowstone National Park.

We begin with the final Christmas of the 19th century.

Let me set this scene.

More than 40 years before the creation of the National Park Service, Yellowstone was established.

On March 1st, 1872, it was the world's first National Park. From then to 1886 the park was administered by the

Interior Department and managed by a civilian superintendent with limited

resources and almost no legal authority to maintain and

protect the park's natural features and wildlife. During that time special

interest groups such as concessionaires and railroad and mining companies attempted to commercialize and privatize

the park lands.

By 1883, Congress had taken note.

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