Rocky Mountain National Park and Mary Belle King Sherman

Located in northern Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park is rooted in environmental preservation and protection. In the 1900s and into the 1910s, the local residents of the Estes Valley championed the park’s creation, understanding the sublime mountainous landscape could attract tourists to the valley. Because of Rocky Mountain National Park’s existence, and its proximity to the town, Estes Park has become a popular location for tourists. Since Rocky Mountain National Park’s creation in 1916, millions of visitors [have been storming in and out] of the park to admire the natural ecosystem in the park. Many of them, including the women that have established permanent residencies in Estes Park because they strongly admired the beautiful, natural spaces that Rocky Mountain National Park offered for them.

Mary Belle King Sherman (née King), born in Illinois in 1862, was one of the major proponents for the preservation of Rocky Mountain National Park. While still in Illinois, she was an active member of her community and the local Woman’s Club. In 1909, after an incapacitating shoulder injury, she moved with her husband and son to Estes Park to rehabilitate. Her cabin in Estes Park, called Tahosa, was nestled in the valley between Longs Peak and the Twin Sisters mountains. Sherman apparently admired Longs Peak from the window in her cabin, longing someday to climb it with her son once she recovered. The two did so sometime in the 1910s. An interview with Better Homes and Gardens implies that her home in Estes Park and her eventual trek up Longs Peak that inspired Sherman to actively conserve natural landscapes. Her first project after her professional transition to preservation focused on the Rocky Mountains. It later led to projects in five other National Parks. She became so well-known for her efforts that multiple sources refer to her as the “National Park Lady,” though the origin of this nickname is unclear. 

While in Estes Park, she teamed up with Enos Mills to help designate the nearby region of the Rocky Mountains as a National Park. Enos Mills himself credits her with an important role in the park’s creation. She lobbied directly to the National Park Service, often citing the natural landscape’s benefit to human health. Only two months after the National Park Service dedicated Rocky Mountain National Park, Sherman attended the National Park Conference in Berkeley, California, where she called on each state to survey its lands for potential national or state parks. As a part of her strategy, she advocated that nature was essential in the upbringing of healthy children. A preservationist through and through, Sherman separated herself from the conservation movement; she wanted to preserve the natural landscape purely for its beauty, [as good for the well-being of any American. NOTE: Meaning unclear]

Sherman was president of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs and is an example of women’s involvement in the need for National Parks. In 1917, she appeared at the National Park Conference once again, proclaiming the work of women in the National Park Movement. She emphasized the importance of outdoor recreation to encourage the preservation of more natural scenery and more national parks. Sherman remained an active member of her community until her death in 1953, aged 91.

Mills, Enos. Early Estes Park. N.p.: Robert H., Enda M. Kiley, and Elizabeth Mills Shoemaker, 1905.

Robinson, Alcyon. "Home Glimpses of Mrs. John D. Sherman." Better Homes and Gardens, December 1924,

    10-11-46-47.

Sherman, Mary Belle King. Conference session at Proceedings of the National Parks Conference, Berkeley, CA, March 13, 1915. https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofnat15nati/page/140/mode/2up.

Sherman, Mary Belle King. "Women's Part in National Park Development." Keynote address presented at  National Parks Conference, Washington D.C., January 2, 1917.

"Women's History and Resource Center: Person Record Mary Belle King Sherman." General Federation of Women's Clubs. http://gfwc.pastperfectonline.com/ byperson?keyword=Sherman%2C%20Mary%20Belle%20King.