Vicksburg National Military Park will celebrate President’s Day by offering three days of free admission to visitors.

The park is waiving entrance fees from Saturday through Monday, during the three-day weekend.

The holiday now known as President’s Day was established in 1885 in commemoration of George Washington’s birthday. Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was later added to the mix, and today the holiday celebrates all U.S. presidents. 

In addition to the tour road featuring more than 1,000 monuments and markers, the park Visitor Center houses a museum, as does the site of the USS Cairo.

The national cemetery is the final resting place of about 17,000 Union soldiers — the largest concentration of Civil War dead in any national cemetery.

The cemetery also has the highest concentration of burials of U.S. Colored Troops in the nation. About 25,000 formerly enslaved men from Mississippi enlisted in the Union army after Vicksburg fell following a 47-day siege in the late spring and summer of 1863.

The cemetery was established by an act of Congress in 1866 and remained open to burial until 1961. Just a handful of those who have purchased plots and are eligible for burial in the cemetery are still living.
The holiday is the second fee-free day this year.
Other fee-free days include April 18-19 during National Park Week, the National Park Service Birthday Aug. 25; National Public Lands Day Sept. 26 and Veterans Day Nov. 11.