Shiloh National Military Park closed due to partial government shutdown

HARDIN COUNTY, Tenn.– On Dec. 27 124 years ago, Shiloh National Military Park was created. However, there wasn’t much of a celebration this year. When visitors should have been celebrating the park’s opening, it was nearly empty.

“There’s no one here. I’m the only one walking in the park this morning. It’s really sad,” Pat Daniel said.

She was the only person at the park Thursday morning, and she says that’s a stark contrast of how the park normally is.

“It’s wonderful. Early in the morning, there’s people here walking and riding their bikes,” she said. “Visitors from all over are here in the early mornings all during the week, all during the year.”

But Shiloh National Military Park is closed on the anniversary of its opening due to a partial government shutdown.

“I went to use the restroom, and I saw the signs on the restroom doors, and it says that the facilities were closed,” Daniel said.

Daniel said as she walked through the cemetery at Shiloh National Military Park, she was reminded of what divisiveness can do to a country.

“We have to know where we came from in order to go forward, and to see the hate and the division in the country today and see that this is the result of what happens,” she said.

She encourages people to come to the park when it reopens.

“Just walk through the cemetery and see the wreaths on the graves. People need to walk out here and see that they had a wonderful Christmas because of what happened here,” she said.

President Donald Trump says the government will reopen when the border wall is funded.