Heritage Area News

Heritage Areas Participate in National Trust Preservation Conference

The National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2009 National Preservation Conference in Nashville attracted 2,000 historic preservationists and heritage advocates for a week's worth of workshops, field sessions, and education sessions. The Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area was a major conference sponsor and its director, Van West, was a conference co-chair and co-organizer of the meeting's program. Numerous topics important to national heritage areas were featured throughout the conference.

Cultural landscape conservation and interpretation was one such focus. Full-day workshops were held at Cheekwood, a formally designed early twentieth century landscape, and at Glen Leven, a new partnership involving land conservation and historic preservation working together to interpret and preserve a historic family farm. Interpretation of neglected topics was another focus, including tours of African American resources in Williamson County and Rosenwald schools in Sumner County, TN, combined with a session about inclusive interpretive programs in Natchez, MS, and the Gullah Geechee National Heritage Corridor. National Heritage Area professionals Ernesto Ortega and Augie Carlino also facilitated a workshop on heritage area best practices for the National Trust's Board of Advisors.

Battlefield preservation was a third key heritage area topic. Tennessee partners sponsored field sessions about the innovative approaches to preservation and interpretation of the Battle of Franklin and the Battle of Murfreesboro while another session compared approaches to battlefield preservation in Tennessee and Montana. The Civil War Preservation Trust and the Tennessee Wars Commission also presented a session on new threats and successful preservation strategies.

The theme of sustainability linked these heritage area topics to broader preservation concerns and audiences. Workshops and special events urged attendees to incorporate sustainability and preservation into daily living. At the opening plenary, Dame Fiona Reynolds of the National Trust, U.K., and environmentalist Bill McKibben inspired and challenged the conference to examine preservation's role and relevance in today's evolving economy and conservation needs. The closing plenary addresses by Congressman John R. Lewis and Indiana Justice Randall T. Shepard both addressed the need for engagement and determination in our future preservation efforts. The 2009 Nashville conference demonstrated to preservationists and heritage area professionals how a collaboration involving sustainability, conservation, historic preservation, and economic development can save our special places across America.

Charles Flynn, Executive Director of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area shares his perspective on NHA's in the Western U.S.

Read an interview with Chuck Arning, Park Ranger John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley Heritage Corridor

Natalie Gelb Solfanelli, Executive Director of the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority, and Kip Hagen, Superintendent of Steamtown National Historical Park, participated in an interview discussing their partnership.
Read the interview and listen to excerpts

A complete list of new Heritage Area related legislation introducted in this year's Congress is now available.

News from the Areas

Photo credit: NPS/Jim McKnight

Historic Canal Motorship Retraces Steps of Hudson and Champlain

Water cannons, a flotilla of tugs, a high school jazz band, nearly 100 cheering fourth graders, and community residents celebrated the return of New York State's new traveling canal museum to her home port on the Erie Canal in Waterford on September 30. The Day Peckinpaugh- the first of a generation of canal boats to operate on their own power and the last remaining of her kind - traveled nearly 600 miles along the Hudson River, Champlain Canal, and Lake Champlain in August and September to commemorate the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial with thousands of New Yorkers.

The voyage was organized by the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, in conjunction with Saratoga National Historical Park, the New York State Museum, the New York State Canal Corporation, and tour community partners, with funding secured by Congressman Maurice Hinchey. The tour marked the vessel's first voyage since being retired from hauling freight in 1994.

The Day Peckinpaugh visited 14 ports-of-call for events and free tours and welcomed aboard 8,000 people. Transforming an old canal boat into an operational traveling museum and coordinating a voyage of this scope was complex and expensive. Partnerships were key at every stage-- from securing funding to coordinating logistics to managing crew and interpretive volunteers to working with community partners on event planning and marketing. In total, the Erie Canalway collaborated with individuals from more than 40 organizations on various aspects of the voyage.

Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor staff worked with the New York State Museum to produce interpretive exhibits for the vessel's enormous hold. Ten four-by-eight-foot hanging panels told stories of the central role New York's waterways have played in shaping the state and nation for more than 400 years. The New York State Canal Corporation helped to ensure the logistical support needed to bring the 259-foot vessel through the canal system. And community partners at each port-of-call were critical to event coordination and local publicity.

In addition, recruiting and working with 25 outstanding volunteer interpreters-who logged 1,500 hours onboard-was among the most valuable aspects of the voyage. Though the quadricentennial voyage of the Day Peckinpaugh is over, her new assignment as an ambassador for sharing New York's world renowned canal history has just begun. With history as its new cargo, the Day Peckinpaugh will continue to inform and inspire future visitors as it travels along the waterways of the Empire State.

To see photos of the Day Peckinpaugh or learn more about the journey, visit http://www.eriecanalway.org/explore_things-to-do_QuadTour.htm

NHA Alliance Update

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Read an interview with Ana Koval, Executive Director, Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor

Larry Blake, Superintendent of Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park and Tony Sculimbrene, Executive Director Aviation Heritage Foundation, Inc. discuss the evolution of their park/heritage area relationship. Read the interview and listen to excerpts