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Commemorative Cultural Landscapes of the Midwest

Rows of luminaries lead to a round memorial, surrounded by columns and glowing in the dim twilight
Illuminated memorial landscape at George Rogers Clark National Historical Park

NPS

Behind the Scenes: Places of Remembrance

Humans have long used ceremonies and the built environment to honor a person or event. A commemorative designation or constructed feature, such as a memorial, can be a place of personal connection, healing, respect, and remembrance. It can also help to perpetuate memory into the future.
Spring trees are a haze of green and pastel, along the curved sides of a pond under a arch memorial.
The curves of the Gateway Arch landscape in the spring.

NPS

The commemorative sites cared for by the National Park Service and partners may range from small burial plots once associated with family farmsteads to large designed landscapes, architectural monuments, and memorial buildings. Some sites existed before becoming NPS units and were constructed by a state, city, or local organization. At others, the memorial features and operations were primary developed by the NPS. In still other cases, the NPS or a partner commissioned the design and construction of a commemorative work, such as the Gateway Arch or the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

Behind the scenes at every NPS memorial site, a team of preservation professionals works diligently to preserve the physical place and the associated memories that are important both to individual visitors and to the history of our nation. These individuals carefully plan, design, and specify the type of treatment that is needed to ensure that the commemorative message continues to be conveyed, perpetuated, and even adapted.
Some commemorative sites reflect a highly-formalized design, while others exhibit a light-handed or vernacular style. Regardless of the design style, these sites typically have tangible cultural resources related to a defined period of significance or time when an important event or activity occurred, or when a notable person was present. These physical resources help today's visitors to the site experience why its history matters, and they express why a commemorative place or site is worthy of being preserved for the benefit of future generations.

CL 101

NPS preservation experts plan and manage tangible features of commemorative landscapes to ensure that they convey the intangible qualities of integrity, such as setting, feeling, and association.
Cultural Landscape Reports (CLRs) are a foundation of support for the preservation pillars of research, planning, and stewardship. The CLR is the primary guide for management and use of a cultural landscape.These comprehensive reports include detailed documentation, analysis, and treatment recommendations for the special places the park service is entrusted to care for in perpetuity.

Commemorative Landscapes of the Midwest


Here are just a few examples of commemorative landscapes in the Midwest Region along with their treatment documents, including the recently published Cultural Landscape Treatment Plan and Environmental Assessment for Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial (2018).

A Formal Design


Some memorial sites reflect a high-level design. The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial landscape represents the formative years of Abraham Lincoln, and it is also the burial site for his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Beginning in the 1920s, local residents and state officials initiated a movement to formally commemorate the grave and farm site where Lincoln lived from age seven to twenty-one. In January of 1927, the state hired Olmsted Brothers, a renowned landscape architecture firm from Brookline, Massachusetts, to prepare a preliminary design for the memorial.

The site includes a memorial at the site of the Lincoln cabin and a memorial building integrated into a formal landscape. The landscape design includes sculptured panels, a memorial court with gravel paths and stone benches, and a tree-lined walk called an allee that creates a visual connection between the prominent flagpole and the memorial plaza. Just beyond the end of the formal walk, a grave marker in a pioneer cemetery prominently displays the final resting place of Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who died in 1818. The designed landscape incorporates the commemorative elements in the memorial landscape.

Read More:
A Noble Avenue: Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Cultural Landscape Report
The Evolution of a Sanctified Landscape: A Historic Resource Study of the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
Leafy trees line the sides of an areas of neatly mowed turf, with a tall flagpole at the end
A flagpole at the end of the allee is part of the designed memorial landscape at Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial.

NPS

  • Cultural Landscape Period of Significance: 1927-1945
  • Designed Landscape: The design and construction process brought together some of the more significant figures in state park development, including Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and Richard Lieber.
  • Location: Spencer County, Indiana
  • Commemorates: Abraham Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Exemplifies cooperative projects completed under federal Depression-era work programs.
A site plan of the designed memorial landscape shows the allee, circulation, memorial visitor center to the right, and cemetery to the left
The Allee and Plaza Site Plan in the Cultural Landscape Report shows existing conditions.

NPS, in 2001 Abraham Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Cultural Landscape Report (p. 59)

Inspired by Nature


Less formal in design but fitting for a man recognized for his humility, the cultural landscape at George Washington Carver National Monument honors the life of George Washington Carver. Born into slavery, Carver spent his formative years at the Moses and Susan Carver Farm. While his life story at the farm and beyond is complex, the park commemorates his early years and the curiosity, quest for knowledge, appreciation of nature, and humble personality that he carried through life.

The experience of the landscape invites reflection of Carver’s early years. Visitors start at the site of the cabin where Carver was born, where a reconstructed cabin now stands. An interpretive trail leads past restored native grassland, which has replaced agricultural fields once farmed by the Carver family. The trail continues past the Moses and Susan Carver house (which was moved to its current location) and to the Carver family cemetery. The trail design also includes sculpture and quotes, and it culminates in a small plaza with a bust and voice recording of the famous scientist.

Intentionally informal and experiential, the cultural landscape honors George Washington Carver by inviting visitors to walk a path similar to the path he might have followed through this landscape of his youth. This experience also aims to invoke a curiosity in the natural world to inspire the next generation of naturalists and scientists. Today, the management of the cultural landscape follows the recommendations in the cultural landscape report.

Read more:
George Washington Carver National Monument: Cultural Landscape Report and Environmental Assessment
Grasses and wildflowers grow along the left side of a gravel path, with leafy trees to the right.
Trail at George Washington Carver National Monument.

NPS

  • Cultural Landscape Period of Significance: 1865–1876, the years in which Carver lived at the site, and 1943-1960, the commemorative era in which the landscape was dedicated and developed to memorialize the accomplishments of George Washington Carver, concluding with dedication of the Mission 66 visitor center.
  • Designed Landscape: Boy Carver statue was designed and cast by Roberta Amendola. Many of the features were constructed between 1953 and 1960 through the NPS Mission 66 initiative.
  • Location: Diamond, Missouri
  • Commemorates: George Washington Carver. As his birthplace and boyhood home, the landscape represents where he spent his formative years and the place that set him on the path to becoming one of this nation’s most distinguished scientists, educators, and humanitarians.
Sunlight is filtered through trees in a wooded area, where a small creek flows between leafy trees and understory.
Creek through George Washington Carver National Monument landscape.

NPS

Continuing Stewardship

When it comes to military accomplishment, commemoration can also vary. Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial in the Ohio Village of Put-in-Bay commemorates those who fought in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812 and stands as a symbol of international peace between Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. Designed in the Beaux Arts Style, the designed landscape with its 352-foot high column was the work of a nine-state commission, built with matching federal funds between 1912 and 1915. The Beaux Arts is a neo-classical design style that re-interpreted ideas from French classical monumental architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. In landscape architecture, characteristics of this approach typically included balanced, usually symetrical arranements of components, axial avenues, grand vistas, and monuments that created a dramatic visual experience.

At Perry's Victory, the horizontal planes of open lawn on the memorial plaza lend an open character to the historic core and emphasize the vertical column. The symmetry and spatial organization of the landscape remain intact.

Congress transferred the operation of the site to the National Park Service in 1936, providing for the care and interpretation of the site. The first cultural landscape report was prepared in 1994. To better accommodate the needs of the park, the Cultural Landscape Treatment Plan and Environmental Assessment for Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial was completed in 2018. Implementation of this treatment plan will guide the care and provide for the on-going site needs in this challenging location.

Read more:
Cultural Landscape Treatment Plan and Environmental Assessment for Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial
Three flagpoles in a line in the grass in front of a memorial column with US, Canadian, and British flags
The column at Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial is surrounded by a designed memorial landscape.

NPS

  • Cultural Landscape Period of Significance: 1911-1963. In addition to its commemorative proporties, the site is significant for its association to social history, politics, government, and architecture and engineering.
  • Designed Landscape: Joseph Freelander
  • Location: Put-in Bay, Ohio
  • Commemorates: War of 1812 Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813 under leadership of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. Symbol of peace between the Great Britain, Canada, and the United States.
Site plan shows management zones and contributing features of Perry's Victory: A central monument, views, circulation, turf and other vegetation
Contributing features in the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial cultural landscape.

NPS, Cultural Landscape Treatment Plan and Environmental Assessment for Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial

Layers of Memory


As a place of commemoration, Pea Ridge National Military Park is less formal in design. The state of Arkansas purchased the land and donated it to the National Park Service in 1960. The park was developed by the NPS as part of the Mission 66 planning effort, concentrated on the visitor experience of the site.

The 1963 master plan articulated several objectives that remain relevant today. These include restoring and maintaining fields and woodlands as they were during the Civil War battle in 1862 and preserving Elkhorn Tavern, foundations of Leetown buildings and structures, trenches, and other appurtenances of 1862. In addition, the 1963 master plan aimed to establish and maintain the system of historic trace roads that existed in 1862. Development of new facilities was restricted to ensure the preservation of the battlefield.

However, the park is not only significant for a famous military conflict. Another tragic event touched this landscape prior to the Civil War, when the Trail of Tears (1835-1839) followed the park’s Telegraph Road from Missouri to Arkansas and camped in Ruddick’s Field.

Read more:
Cultural Landscape Report and Environmental Assessment for Pea Ridge National Military Park
A row of cannons in a grassy field, edged by trees and wooden fencing
Cannons in Leetown Battlefield at Pea Ridge National Military Park

NPS

  • Cultural Landscape Period of Significance: 1862-1865, 1956-1963
  • Designated: Pea Ridge National Military Park was established on July 20, 1956. In the 1960s, as part of the Mission 66 program, the NPS completed facilities for the park including the visitor center, Tour Road, overlooks, and interpretive stops.
  • Location: Pea Ridge, Arkansas
  • Commemorates: Battle of Pea Ridge (March 7 and 8, 1862). It preserves the site of the battle, the largest Civil War engagement west of the Mississippi River. The park’s resources include archeological sites, historic sites, structures, collections and cultural landscape features associated with the battle and the agrarian community once found at Pea Ridge.
Wooden fences along a path through an open area of grass, with a two-story structure to the left and a border of leafy trees.
Elkhorn Tavern and Huntsville Road at Pea Ridge National Military Park

NPS

Tags

George Washington Carver National Monument, Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, Pea Ridge National Military Park, Perry's Victory & International Peace Memorial

Last updated: February 13, 2024