Share your National Park Stories with us!
Spotted Stephen on your travels? Snap a photo with a Mather plaque and help us put Mather on the Map.
We're on a mission to collect photos from all 62 plaque locations across the country. Find one. Snap it. Send it to info@matherhomestead.org
Click the sites below to explore the parks—and see where Stephen has been spotted so far.
Mather Homestead neighbor Michelle Riley and her son Matthew spot Stephen in the Florida Everglades.
Mather Homestead docent Florence Heubeck finds Stephen at Golden Spike National Historical Park in Arizona.
Catie Morgan, daughter of Mather Homestead Board member Ginger Morgan, spots Stephen at Cabrillo National Monument in California.
Janet King and her son Henry at Mather Point on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park
Photograph taken by The Moore Family: Dan, Wendy, Connor, Nate, and Will
A Legacy in Bronze
After Stephen Mather's death in 1930, friends and colleagues honored him by commissioning 28 Gorham bronze plaques bearing his likeness and celebrating his legacy.
On July 4, 1932—what would have been Mather's 65th birthday—the first group of plaques was dedicated at national parks and monuments across the country. More plaques followed over the decades, and today 62 are on display from coast to coast.
Each bears this tribute:
"He laid the foundation of the National Park Service, defining and establishing the policies under which its areas shall be developed and conserved unimpaired for future generations. There will never come an end to the good he has done."
If you enjoyed one of America's national parks this summer, you experienced part of the extraordinary conservation legacy Stephen Mather helped create.