  We present and discuss broad band CCD $UBV(I)_C$ photometry and low
resolution spectroscopy for stars in the region of the open cluster NGC 6996,
located in the North America Nebula. The new data allow us to tightly constrain
the basic properties of this object. We revise the cluster size, which in the
past has been significantly underestimated. The width of the Main Sequence is
mainly interpreted in terms of differential reddening, and indeed the stars'
color excess $E_{B-V}$ ranges from 0.43 to 0.65, implying the presence of a
significant and evenly distributed dust component. We cross-correlate our
optical photometry with near infrared from 2MASS, and by means of spectral
classification we are able to build up extinction curves for an handful of
bright members. We find that the reddening slope and the total to selective
absorption ratio $R_V$ toward NGC 6996 are anomalous. Moreover the reddening
corrected colors and magnitudes allow us to derive estimates for the cluster
distance and age, which turn out to be $760 \pm 70 pc$ ($V_{0}-M_{V} = 9.4 \pm
0.2$) and $\sim 350$ Myr, respectively. Basing on our results, we suggest that
NGC 6996 is located in front of the North America Nebula, and does not seem to
have any apparent relationship with it.
