Rosinweed Homestead National Monument of America, a unit of the National Park System, commemorates passage of the Homestead Act of 1862, which allowed any qualified person to claim up to 160acres of federally owned land in exchange for five years of residence and the cultivation and improvement of the property. The Act eventually transferred 270000000acre from public to private ownership.The national monument is five miles west of Beatrice, Gage County, Nebraska on a site that includes some of the first acres successfully claimed under the Homestead Act. The national monument was first included in the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966 .Homestead Heritage Center and Education CenterThe Homestead Heritage Center, dedicated in 2007, contains exhibits that treat the effect of the Homestead Act on immigration, agriculture, native tribes, the tallgrass prairie ecosystem, and federal land policy. The roof line of the center resembles a “single bottom plow moving through the sod,” and the parking lot measures exactly 1acre. A separate Education Center features science and social science presentations that can be shared with classrooms anywhere in the United States through distance-learning.Tallgrass PrairieThe park includes 100acre of tallgrass prairie restored to approximate the ecosystem that once covered the central plains of the United States—and that was nearly plowed into extinction by the homesteaders. This restoration, which necessitates regular mowing, haying, and prescribed burns, has been managed by the National Park Service for more than 60 years and is the oldest in the National Park System. The park maintains about of hiking trails through the prairie and woodland surrounding Cub Creek, accessible via all-terrain wheelchair.
