The NPS Wellness Challenge at Harry S Truman National Historic Site

Harry S Truman, the first president from Missouri, took an unlikely road to Washington. He met hardship with integrity and hard work, went from war hero to the White House, and his presidency became one of America's great stories. Harry S Truman National Historic Site in Independence, Missouri, is one of the seven Missouri parks in the NPS Wellness Challenge, with physical, mental and learning challenges built around his neighbourhood, his family farm and the choices he made as president.

For Truman, a good brisk walk was vital for mind and body. From an early age he believed that real wellness meant exercising body, mind and soul, and that belief carried him through every public job he held, from county judge to president. Can you keep up with his pace of 120 steps a minute?

How to take part

Pick a category and complete its three challenges, then download that category's digital badge to share, or collect a rubber stamp for your NPS Wellness Challenge Guide or Passport book in the Visitor Center lobby. A short survey earns a Wellness Challenge Completion Certificate for the site.

Physical wellness

Follow in Truman's footsteps on marked walking routes:

1. On pace with President Truman — take the Truman Historic Walk, a 2.7-mile route with 43 stops at historic places in Independence, including his childhood home, the homes of friends and family, and the Truman Library.
2. Visit the Truman Library and Museum.
3. Explore Mister Truman's neighbourhood — choose one of three mobile-phone audio tours of the site and the streets around it, picturing his life at home in Missouri and in the White House as you walk.

Learning wellness

Challenges on Truman's life, his relationships and his lifelong reading:

1. Stop by the Noland House — to understand the part his family played in his life and career.
2. The origin of common sense — visit the Truman Farm in Grandview to see why the land mattered so much to Truman and his family.
3. Reader to farmer to county judge to senator to vice president to president — Truman's own view was that every leader must be a reader, though not every reader becomes a leader.

Mental wellness

Pause, reflect and unplug in Truman's hometown:

1. Write a letter to a friend or someone you love — Truman's courtship letters to his future wife are part of the site's story.
2. Focus on nature, in any season.
3. Pat the ginkgo tree — on his famous walks Truman had a favourite ginkgo, one of the oldest trees in Independence, and he always told it that it was doing a great job.

The challenge aims to build lasting habits of personal wellness, in line with the Park Service's Healthy Parks Healthy People programme, which holds that parks, urban or wild, underpin physical, mental and spiritual health, social well-being and a sustainable planet.

Accessibility

• The Visitor Center, at 223 N. Main St., has accessible restrooms and parking; the Noland Home, a visitor contact station, has accessible restrooms and parking nearby.
• The park brochure is audio-described online and in the UniDescription app.
• Give 7 days' notice for an ASL interpreter, or 2 days' notice for live audio description by a staff member (816-254-9929).

Sources

• National Park Service, Harry S Truman National Historic Site, "The NPS Wellness Challenge at Harry S Truman National Historic Site!" https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-nps-wellness-challenge-at-harry-s-truman-national-historic-site.htm
• More: the NPS Wellness Challenge in Missouri; accessibility at the site.
• Photos: Truman walking, and Truman as county judge, Harry S. Truman Library; badges and other images, National Park Service.
• Rewritten in hubnx's own words.