National Monument??

I always thought of a national monument as one of these:

However, on the day after Christmas, we went to Muir Woods National Monument north of San Francisco.  We figured there was a monument (i.e. statue or something similar) in the middle of the woods - however, the whole woods is called a “national monument”.  I thought it weird but didn’t pursue it any further.  However, I learned today that, on January 11, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the Grand Canyon a national MONUMENT.  Weird.

But this is why ..  “Though a region could be given national park status--indicating that all private development on that land was illegal--only by an act of Congress, Roosevelt cut down on red tape by beginning a new presidential practice of granting a similar "national monument" designation to some of the West's greatest treasures.”  ... from here.

Question answered.  Here's a picture from Muir Woods National Monument.

This is why I get these e-mails every morning from History.com (so I can learn something).