National Historic Landmarks:
Our Most Significant Historic Sites

The National Historic Landmark (NHL)Program recognizes the most significant properties of our national heritage. NHLs can be found throughout the 50 United States and her territories. There is even one NHL in Morocco: the American Legation. There are over 2,400 NHLs, almost half of which are located in the Northeast region from Maine down to Virginia.

National Historic Landmarks may be owned by any entity, including private individuals, nonprofit groups, commercial entities, and local, state or federal government. NHLs serve many different uses. They may be museums, private residences, commercial sites, government office buildings, schools, and much more.

Working with citizens throughout the nation, the National Historic Landmarks Program draws upon the expertise of National Park Service staff who work to nominate new landmarks and provide assistance to existing landmarks.

The Jackson Ward Historic District in Richmond, VA has been called both the "Harlem of the South" and the "Black Wall Street." Founded by free blacks and immigrants, the area became a self-sustaining economy during Jim Crow segregation with its own theatres, clubs, restaurants, and the first African American bank in the country. Photo: Historic Jackson Ward Association, Inc.

NHLs Highlight the Diversity of Our Region
Over 1,000 NHLs in the Northeast region represent a broad cross-section of our national heritage. They include sites related to U.S. presidents, such as Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home in Virginia. NHLs also include historic vessels such as the U.S.S. Olympia now in Philadelphia, made famous during the Spanish-American War as the flag ship of Admiral Dewey. There are NHLs related to abolition (such as the African Meeting House in Boston), women’s rights (such as the house of Susan B. Anthony in New York), school desegregation (such as Moton High School in Virginia), and gay and lesbian civil rights (Stonewall in New York).

There are many different types of NHLs that you can explore: transportation-related sites like boats and train sheds, institutions like schools and forts, places people called home from splendid mansions to worker housing, and very different NHLs like prisons and roller coasters!

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