What’s Life Like for an Urban National Park Ranger? | The Big Question

Ethan Beeler started working for the National Park Service as a college student in the 1980s. Since 1991, he’s been a ranger based at Boston National Historical Park, where his territory includes the Bunker Hill Monument, the Charlestown Navy Yard, the U.S.S. Constitution, Faneuil Hall, and other iconic downtown sites. We caught up with Beeler at his Navy Yard office.

One of the greatest things about our national parks is that every one is different; that’s part of the justification for creating them. Boston National Historical Park is in a shared environment. In a wilderness park like Acadia, there’s a fixed boundary, within which the rangers are in charge. They help visitors and also serve as law enforcement. We can’t control our properties the same way. At Bunker Hill, we’re part of a neighborhood. There are houses across the street. That requires a different approach.

“These parks are classrooms. The slope of Bunker Hill is made up of houses now, but that was where British soldiers were actively engaging Colonists. And the height of [Breed’s Hill], where the monument is, was where the hand-to-hand fighting occurred and where Joseph Warren died. Place is so powerful—to be able to be at the exact spot, on this ground. “At the busier [National Park] sites, where you’re dealing with lots of school visits, you don’t get to focus on one age group. How to communicate to each and make it come alive for them? You can’t prepackage the story; you have to know your audience and adapt to them. How do you tell a complex political story to a group that includes kids and adults and people who have no knowledge of our history? How do you make it come alive for them? “There are many common misconceptions about these sites. We get visitors who think that the Colonists fired on the British from the openings at the top of the Bunker Hill Monument. We get the ‘Bunker Hill or Breed’s Hill’ question over and over. Even if people come with the wrong ideas about things, if that’s what compels them to visit, it’s good. It usually leads to a great conversation. “The park’s downtown sites aren’t owned by the National Park Service. The City of Boston owns the Old State House and Faneuil Hall. The Old North Church is owned by its congregation. At the Navy Yard, we have multiple entities we work with, including the Navy. Navy culture and Park Service culture can be very different. Both are government entities, but we’re very different in how we do things. We’re collaborators at most of our sites, and we’re collaborating with partners who don’t [all] necessarily have the same goals. We have to be adaptable. “At Bunker Hill, my job was very heavily community-based. I went to community meetings and met with the neighbors. One regular visitor was a Charlestown resident who grew up in the Great Depression and used to give tours of the monument for a nickel when he was a kid. Sometimes there’d be calls, often from members of that older generation, wanting to know what we were going to do about the dogs, or the sunbathers, which were ‘an offense to [their] eyes.’ They’d complain that when they were kids, they weren’t allowed on the grass; I’d hear stories of the policeman who was stationed there to shoo them off the lawn. As things change, there are always people who are happier about the changes than others. But I loved the knocks on the back door from the neighbors. That interaction with the community is an important part of the job. “We’re still interpreting Bunker Hill. There are so many stories and accounts that are being unearthed all the time by descendants of people who are believed to have been at the battle. There’s so much more to explore. Like Salem Poor, an African American who fought at Bunker Hill [and] who was, to our knowledge, the only soldier to have 14 officers from the Battle of Bunker Hill sign a proclamation recognizing his great bravery during the battle. But we still don’t know exactly what he did. “These sites and these stories are important to people. I got a call just yesterday from the second person in three weeks who wants to propose to his girlfriend at the top of the monument. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet leaders and actors and all manner of interesting people who come to the park and want to visit. It’s just wonderful, even after all these years, to be able to walk across the hall and look out at the Constitution. It’s an honor to be the keepers of this history. There’s never a dull moment.” More information at: nps.gov/bost