For extened lists of wildlife at Homestead see our Wildlife page . There is a small picnic area near the visitor center. Restrooms and water are available in the Visitor Center. Campgrounds, restaurants and overnight accommodations are available in Beatrice. Guided ranger programs or Parks as Classroom educational activities can be arranged.
All programs are free of charge.
Visitors traveling north out of Kansas City on I-29 should take U.S. Highway 136 approximately 65 miles to the State Highway 4 turnoff. Extensive work went on behind the scenes for nearly 30 years to see that this site would be created. As early as 1909, concerned citizens of Beatrice, Nebraska, had urged Congress to create a national park site on the Freeman property, the location of one of the very first land parcels claimed under the Homestead Act on January 1, 1863. However, it wasn't until 1925 that Senator George W. Norris, a powerful congressional leader from Nebraska, joined the fight to see the Freeman land preserved as a national park. In 1934, the Homestead National Park Association was formed by several prominent Beatrice citizens.