Homestead National Monument of America

Nebraska’s Homestead National Monument of America is where Daniel Freeman, his wife, Agnes, and their family made the first claim under the Homestead Act of 1862. The act permitted U.S. citizens and those with citizenship applications on file to acquire up to 160 acres of federally owned land in the West in return for living on the land for five years and improving it. Established in 1936, the Nebraska site honors all homesteaders. It occupies 195 acres and includes an authentic homesteader's log cabin, the graves of the Freeman family, and the restored one-room schoolhouse used until 1967.