MAY 2018 | VOLUME 2 While National Heritage Areas generate jobs and tax revenues through economic development, they also impact communities at a deeper level. American history is comprised of soaring accomplishments alongside painful struggle. Together, they embody our national character. In this edition, we focus on 11 more communities throughout the nation where National Heritage Areas have helped work through those struggles — bringing diverse communities together for the common good. Commitment, perseverance and know-how. brings these to the task of saving Mother Trinity Church. To preserve this nationally significant African-American historic site, it must be moved from its present location by June.

AUGUSTA, GA Moving Heaven & Earth Saving Mother Trinity Church

Glowing in the torchlight, the faces of 125 relocated, and Mother Trinity stood empty ACNHA sought permission to move the enslaved people shone with piety and for almost twenty years. It became clear the structure onto an adjacent parcel, but the excitement. As they made their way through utility planned to demolish the old building. gas company resisted. Finally, a formal the darkened streets of Augusta, Georgia that mediation between the company and The Augusta Canal National Heritage night in 1840, no one in the procession could Augusta’s Historic Preservation Commission Area (ACNHA) stepped in, spearheading have known they were lighting the way to yielded an agreement; the gas company the “Save Mother Trinity” initiative. With the birth of a major religious denomination. would deed both the church and nearby land guidance from Partners for Sacred Places, to the Augusta Canal Authority (ACNHA’s Augusta’s historic Mother Trinity Church, a national non-profit that specializes management organization) and contribute the birthplace of the Christian Methodist in repurposing of historic worship $300,000 toward the cost of relocation-- Episcopal denomination, has many stories spaces, ACNHA convened more than fifty provided the move is completed by mid-June to tell. Yet, after 158 years of worship at community stakeholders to look at how the 2018. its original location near the banks of the church could be reused for a meaningful, Augusta Canal, the Trinity congregation sustainable purpose. “But first and foremost, “We’ve contracted with an experienced abandoned their historic sanctuary. The we needed to save and stabilize the structure,” building mover and he is currently hard at reason: contamination from a defunct explained ACHNA Executive Director work,” Sherrouse said. “We’re now hopeful manufactured gas plant had poisoned the Dayton Sherrouse. that one day Mother Trinity will again shine ground beneath the church. In 1997 Atlanta The clock was ticking. The gas company her light in this community and beyond.” Gas Light Company bought the church was under orders to clean up the property AUGUSTA CANAL NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA — property, the congregation rebuilt and GEORGIA (AUGUSTACANAL.COM) by 2019. As an alternative to demolition, An aviation heritage group in the National DAYTON, OH Aviation Heritage Area has given him a chance to repay those airmen by building a flying memorial and sharing his story with Aviation Heritage younger generations. Area Honors Albers grew up in Holland and served in the Royal Dutch Air Force, but he’s lived most of his life in the . Now a retired WWII Airmen engineer and aerospace executive, he As a young boy in Amsterdam, Bill Albers lives in Sidney, Ohio and volunteers for the was witness to one of the most epic scenes nonprofit Champaign Aviation Museum in in World War II: massive streams of U.S. B-17 nearby Urbana. He’s one of more than 100 and British Lancaster bombers crossing volunteers who are building the Champaign high over Holland on their way to targets in Lady—a real, flyable B-17G Flying Fortress, Germany. the same kind of bomber that filled Holland’s sky when Albers was young. Albers isn’t sure he remembers seeing the bombers—he was five when the war Albers said he learned of the museum about seven years ago and quickly joined. ended—but his mother spoke of them so The project means much more to Albers “As an engineer, I fit right in there,” he says. often she etched an indelible image in his than a chance to build a classic airplane. Besides working on the airplane itself, mind’s eye. It reminds him not just of the “We are building a memorial for the 24,000 Albers speaks frequently to community bombers, but of the thousands of airmen young men who died in this airplane,” he groups about the project and about B-17s, who flew them—and the thousands who says. perished. enriched by his personal memories and extensive research. NATIONAL AVIATION HERITAGE AREA — OHIO (AVIATIONHERITAGEAREA.ORG)

SCHUYKILL COUNTY, PA Rebuilding a Community and its Economy

The headwaters of the Schuylkill River careers in a variety of industries and economic development, trail building and originate in rural Schuylkill County, PA, a community building. In the summer of 2017, conservation. With our partners in this region known for its once vibrant and proud four young men led by an adult supervisor challenged region, we are making progress economy stemming from a booming coal built 1.4 miles of new trail in Schuylkill by leveraging the relationships and industry at the turn of the century. Today County, making progress toward closing resources available to SRG as a National the area suffers from high unemployment, a critical trail gap in that area. In addition Heritage Area and contributing to the and approximately 20% of its youth live to trail building, the group also worked positive improvement of the communities in poverty. Young residents are forced with community members in Mahanoy around us. to leave to find work, which contributes City to establish a successful community SCHUYLKILL RIVER NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA to a steady decrease in population. In garden on a vacant lot in this depressed — PENNSYLVANIA (SHUYLKILLRIVER.ORG) response to this dire situation, the city. Further, over the course of the twelve Schuylkill River Greenways NHA has week program, the HCC team visited established the Heritage Conservation several worksites to learn about different Corps (HCC) in partnership with several career paths, including a construction site key organizations, including AmeriCorps and a wind energy farm. The program was Vista, the PA CareerLink job program, a resounding success and plans for 2018 the Schuylkill Vision community group, are underway to hire a new round of youth the PA Department of Conservation and who will focus on building another two mile Natural Resources, the Schuylkill County section of the Schuylkill River Trail while Community Foundation, the USDA and learning about job opportunities and giving others. back to the community. HCC is a program designed to engage and The Heritage Conservation Corps employ local youth in order to teach them program marries several parallel goals that the marketable skill of trail construction in are common to Heritage Areas all over addition to exposing them to alternative the United States: community building, SPRINGFIELD, IL LEAD: The Spirit Of Lincoln Youth Academy

LEAD is robust, in their communities and affect change in their state and their one-of-a kind nation. They examine how people in today’s world face many of the youth leadership same challenges as those faced by Lincoln and other leaders of program that his day. The emerging leaders discuss the leadership qualities of utilizes immersive honesty, empathy, humility and perseverance and developed a plan experiences to for incorporating those qualities into their own lives as they return empower emerging home. leaders to develop Clinton, a 2017 participant in the program said; “I learned to be leadership qualities. a better leader this week because I was taught how to make my We specifically own footsteps.” Anna, another 2017 participant described her select students who experience this way; “I loved the group debriefs, a period at the end have the potential of the day where we sat in our mentor groups and discussed what to be leaders, stood out to us about the places we visited or about Lincoln’s life but may not see and what lessons we could draw from that.” it in themselves. Participants spend LEAD is a public/private partnership between Looking for Lincoln, a full week exploring the qualities that made Abraham Lincoln such Union Pacific Railroad, Illinois College, 4H University of Illinois a great leader in his day. They learn why those same qualities are Extension, Lincoln Home National Historic Site/National Park so important in our leaders today, and how, as individuals, they can Service, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, Abraham apply those qualities as they develop their own leadership skills for Lincoln Association, Niemann Foods (County Market), the Illinois the future. Department of Natural Resources. During LEAD, the emerging leaders learn about Lincoln’s life and ABRAHAM LINCOLN NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA — ILLINOIS (LOOKINGFORLINCOLN.COM) times by visiting various historic sites throughout the National Heritage Area to see how individuals were able to make a difference

WHEELING, WV manufacturing companies helped to build than 100 boxes of documents, photos, America, and La Belle Iron Works is a key architectural and engineering drawings. Preserving component of this theme. With help from a grant from the Institute of The company, which began in 1852 Museum and Library Services, Wheeling WV’s Nail City as Bailey, Woodward and Company, Heritage hired an archivist to process these In Wheeling, many important stories come manufactured cut nails. Using an automatic records. The organization then donated together to form our identity. But we like nail machine, long, flat metal strips were cut them to the Ohio County Public Library. to believe that our slogan, “The Friendly and manipulated to form masonry nails. More than 130 community members came City,” was bestowed on the city based on In the 1870s, La Belle employed 900 to a presentation announcing the collection observation of its residents. people and operated 167 cut nail machines. in 2018, including a handful of past La Belle Of course, Wheeling’s designation as a Wheeling produced nearly a quarter of the employees. They shared stories of their National Heritage Area took other things nation’s supply of nails during this time – memories at the plant – how their fathers, into account, including Wheeling’s role in garnering Wheeling another nickname: “Nail who also worked there, told them about the commerce and industry. Wheeling’s City.” horse that used to pull nail barrels across However, innovation led to the industry’s the factory’s floor. As a kid, one of them downfall. The company was merged with remembered his dad saying the horse knew many others throughout the years, and when it was break time. finally, in 2010, the much-smaller company Since then, visitors stop by the reference closed its doors for good. desk a few times a week asking to see the The building sat empty until 2015, when collection. They want to learn more about much of the interior equipment was put up the company that employed their families – for auction. Wheeling Heritage recognized and gave Wheeling one of its much-earned the significance of La Belle’s paper records nicknames. – and placed a bid on them. As the only WHEELING HERITAGE — WEST VIRGINIA bidder, Wheeling Heritage paid $5 for more (WHEELINGHERITAGE.ORG) YUMA, AZ Bridging an Historic Gap in

The mission of the National Heritage in grants but needed Area is to restore the riverfront of the Lower Colorado $400,000 in local River at Yuma, Arizona. So how is it that restoring an match. The City historic bridge could help make restoration happen? agreed to provide There had been a historic divide between the Yuma community $200,000 of the and the Indian Tribe—ever since the U.S. military took match but wanted control of the Yuma Crossing away from the Quechan in the the Tribe to enter 1850’s. Distrust and suspicion weighed heavily on the relationship. into a complex Intergovernmental Restoration was only going to happen through cooperation Agreement to between the City and the Tribe. And more than 2/3 of the Yuma assure the Tribe’s East Wetlands was tribal land. The East Wetlands project was also share of the match. technically challenging, with soil salinity, restricted river flow, and Flynn worried a jungle of dense non-native vegetation covering the waterfront. that an overly “It was going to be difficult to undertake a complex legalistic approach 400-acre restoration effort without close cooperation, would hinder the growing trust among the parties. His worries and we had not yet earned the trust of the Quechan were put to rest when the Tribe voluntarily provided a check Tribe”, says Charles Flynn, Heritage Area Director. of $200,000, payable to the City of Yuma! “This was the moment when I knew we were building trust”, Flynn said. Fortunately, Flynn was able to focus on another project that both City and Tribe very much wanted: the restoration and Eighteen months later, tribal and city residents met on the re-opening of the historic “Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge”. bridge to celebrate the re-opening of the bridge which both Built in 1915, the bridge connected tribal land to downtown literally and figuratively reconnected the communities. The Yuma, but was closed in 1989 for structural deficiencies. partnership has grown ever stronger over the years. The Heritage Area moved ahead with design and secured $1 million YUMA CROSSING NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA — ARIZONA (YUMAHERITAGE.COM)

BALTIMORE, MD Department of Recreation and Parks staff. • Baltimore National Heritage Area Today’s partners include Baltimore City Organization Partner of the Year 2015- Kids In Kayaks Public Schools, Baltimore City Department Baltimore City Recreation and Parks of Recreation and Parks, Maryland Zoo • The Maryland Recreation and Parks The 2017-18 school year is the third year of in Baltimore, Fort McHenry National Association, “Creative Programming the Baltimore National Heritage Area’s highly Monument and Historic Shrine, Star- Award”-Baltimore City Recreation successful Kids in Kayaks program. The Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, and Parks (2017 & 2018) program gets Baltimore City Public School Tree Baltimore, National Park Conservation eighth graders out on the water, many for Association, - • The Maryland Recreation and Parks the first time in their lives. Students learn Chesapeake Bay office, Baltimore Museum Association, “Writing, Research or the basics of kayaking while simultaneously of Industry, Outward Bound, Chesapeake Audio Visual Award (Specialty Award).” exploring the history of Baltimore and Bay program and the Star-Spangled -Chesapeake Bay Program (video-2017) ecology of the Chesapeake Bay. Despite Banner Flag House. This program would BALTIMORE NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA — the fact that Baltimore is a maritime not be possible without the Baltimore MARYLAND (EXPLOREBALTIMORE.ORG) community and port city, many residents National Heritage Area serving as the have very little access to the water. Children “glue” that connects all of the partners. grow up without strong connections to To date, more than one thousand city the water and with no understanding of students have participated in the program. how their daily actions impact the health With this yearly tradition now in place, of the bay and the entire Chesapeake seventh graders and younger students ecosystem. Some participants come hear about what the eighth graders back to land very emotional after seeing get to do and they look forward to the all of the pollution along the shoreline. opportunity when they reach eighth grade. The Baltimore National Heritage Area The program has won four awards, brought partners together in 2015 after including: initial conversations with Baltimore City NIAGARA FALLS, NY A Boundary Between Slavery & Freedom For centuries, Niagara Falls Within the flourishing hotel has captured people’s hearts and tourism industry, African and imaginations. It has American waiters lived double been long recognized as a lives, openly serving hotel SALEM, MA natural phenomenon that is guests and secretly helping considered awe-inspiring and freedom seekers cross into majestic. However, the sheer Canada. Summer Jobs for power of Niagara Falls goes far Their effort made Niagara Future Leaders beyond the Falls themselves. Falls one of the most For those escaping slavery A summer job can be a game changer for a teenager. It boosts important locations of the self-confidence and self-reliance; builds work experience in the American South, the powerful struggle between Niagara River, presented a and confidence; and promotes life-long skills in teamwork, slavery and freedom. final boundary before entering responsibility, and leadership. The Future Leaders program that Canada. In May 2018, the much- Essex Heritage offers is more than just a job. anticipated Niagara Falls The United States was Each summer Essex Heritage hires 40 young people to work Underground Railroad founded on the ideal that “all in their Future Leaders program. The teens learn trades and Heritage Center opened. men are created equal.” Yet specialty skills, such as carpentry, farming, shipbuilding, The Heritage Center four million people lived in and the ancient art of gilding. They also acquire skills in reveals authentic stories slavery in the United States in historic preservation, building maintenance, natural resource of Underground Railroad 1860. Between the American management, interpretation, and visitor operations. For many freedom seekers and Revolution and the Civil War, of these teens this is their first job experience, so they receive abolitionists in Niagara thousands of people fled guidance in workplace expectations, resume preparation, and Falls and inspires visitors to enslavement to find new lives career development. recognize modern injustices of freedom, often crossing the that stem from slavery Furthermore, historic, cultural, and natural sites in Essex County Niagara River into Canada at and take action toward an benefit from the assistance that the Future Leaders provide several access points within equitable society. by helping with projects, supporting their guest services, and the City of Niagara Falls. engaging with their programs. Future Leader Ryan Duggan The Heritage Center is a African American hotel learned the art of blacksmithing at the Saugus Iron Works project of the Niagara Falls waiters formed the core National Historic Site under the direction of Park Ranger Curtis Underground Railroad of Underground Railroad White. After his summer experience, Ryan said, “Getting to be Heritage Commission, in activism in Niagara Falls an apprentice blacksmith has been spectacular. I’ve learned the partnership with the Niagara providing a network of basics of a fascinating trade, and honed my teaching skills with Falls National Heritage Area. assistance for freedom seekers demonstrations for the visiting public. It’s helped me visualize who arrived seeking a safe NIAGARA FALLS NATIONAL what I would like to do as an adult and has developed my HERITAGE AREA— NEW YORK appreciation for history.” passage across the border. (DISCOVERNIAGARA.ORG) ESSEX NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA – MASSACHUSETTS (ESSEXHERITAGE.ORG) STONECREST, GA Fulfilling a Promise

A well-worn, hand-written land deed from 1925 sits in an archive. It shows the transfer of 45 acres for $600 in DeKalb County, Georgia. This slip of paper seems unremarkable, but it reflects a promise that continues to be fulfilled today through the partnership of the Flat Rock Archives and the Heritage Area Alliance. It wasn’t the purchase that was remarkable, but the purchaser – T. A. Bryant, Sr. His acquisition of 45 acres of red Georgia clay freed him from the bounds of sharecropping. It was the ESPAÑOLA, NM beginning of a promise to sustain, nourish, and preserve Flat Rock, one of the oldest African American communities in Querencia Interrupted Georgia. Over 40 years, Mr. Bryant sold nearly 30 parcels of land to community members so they could have a stake in the South “THROUGH HISTORY THOSE MEN ARE HEROES WHOSE DEEDS while many fled to northern cities during the Great Migration. HAVE BEEN GIVEN PROPER RECOGNITION BY THE HISTORIAN’S PEN. OTHERS, WHOSE LIVES ARE UNRECORDED, SO FAR AS The Archives and the Alliance ensure that Bryant’s promise POSTERITY IS CONCERNED, DID NOTHING, FOR OF THESE OUR endures, and is celebrated. ANNALS ARE SILENT AND WE KNOW THEM NOT.” LYON FARMHOUSE STABILIZATION | The oldest and only —GASPAR PEREZ DE VILLAGRÁ, HISTORIA DE LA NUEVA MÉXICO, 1610. remaining intact homestead in DeKalb County, the Lyon Farm was built by a Revolutionary War veteran after the Creek At the heart of community occupations gave way to paid secession in 1821. The vernacular house reflects the westward interaction is the recognition of employment, daily travel outside expansion of a new nation and nearly two centuries of white story... the acknowledgement of of the community for work, and a settlement; slavery and emancipation; reconstruction and Civil participation... the honoring of new dependence on fixed wages. Rights. The Flat Rock Archives offers tours of the grounds but contribution. Some events are The growth of “the Lab” and the the house has fallen into serious disrepair. More than a decade of minor; others can change the economic engine of Los Alamos advocacy work by the Alliance has resulted in a commitment of course of history. also gave rise to new possibilities over $200,000 by the county to stabilize the historic farmhouse. During World War II, the U.S. for education and technology, Through a cadre of local and national partners, the Alliance will government established the and for those who could not seek lead stabilization efforts and identify an adaptive reuse that will Manhattan Project (1942 to them, a deeper divide in income engage the community with its vibrant past. 1946). At its center were the and social standing. FLAT ROCK SLAVE CEMETERY PRESERVATION | Obscured project itself and the community The Northern Rio Grande by trees on a high ridge, sits a parcel of land marked by simple of scientists and support teams National Heritage Area joined fieldstones. This is Flat Rock Slave Cemetery. Generations that came together in a created with the Northern NM College walked a worn quarter-mile dirt path to bury their dead. Due to village on an isolated mesa to to present the Historias de incomplete property records, the heavily sloped tract has been create a weapon that would Nuevo Mexico conference. threatened by insensitive development. The Alliance and The bring an end to the war. Many The conference theme was, Archives are close to an agreement with a private developer to can recite the story of the “Querencia Interrupted: secure the land and permanently deed it to the Archives, where bomb and the likes of Robert Hispano and Native American this story will be shared with future generations. Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi. Experiences of the Manhattan ARABIA MOUNTAIN NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA — GEORGIA The stories less told are those of Project”. Its purposes were (ARABIAALLIANCE.ORG) the common local populace who to create a new dialogue — helped create and maintain the recognizing contributions of project at the ground level. locals, allowing participants to After the explosion of the bomb share their own stories, opening at Trinity Site, one scientist asked, the discussion of continuing “What have we done?” The issues, and honoring the surviving answer to that question would participants with a specially be worldwide change in global commissioned Story Protectors politics, the United States’ role in medal. The conference is the world, and the beginning of a propelling intercommunity new atomic age. discussion and the inclusion of local oral history profiles in At a local level, the project documentation of the project. contributed to a significant NORTHERN RIO GRANDE change to the local culture. NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA — The established dependence NEW MEXICO on subsistence farming and (RIOGRANDENHA.ORG) “National Heritage The Alliance Areas are considered With strong bi-partisan • Visit a National Heritage one of the Department support, the Alliance of Area and learn more about of the Interior’s most National Heritage Areas their important work cost effective initiatives, is dedicated to preserving The Alliance is proud to and promoting America’s share that the following relying on a public/private past to ensure a better, more National Heritage Areas perfect tomorrow. Here are were recognized by the partnership in which ways Members of Congress National Park Service for their every federal dollar is are supporting the National extraordinary work in 2016: matched with an average of Heritage Area program • Motor Cities National • Support increased funding Heritage Area, in Detroit, $5.50 in other public and for National Heritage Areas MI received the prestigious private financing.” to accommodate the growth 2017 National Park Service of the program. 78 House Partnership Award —Congressmen Charles Dent (R-PA) members have expressed • Mississippi Delta National & Paul Tonko (D-NY) their support for an enhanced Heritage Area received the level of funding of $25 million NPS Centennial Award so that all Areas can continue for the Delta Jewels Oral their important work of History Partnership telling America’s stories at the grass roots. The chart If you’d like to learn more about H.R. 1002: National below shows that funding how heritage areas in your Program Legislation has not kept pace with the state or region are putting the popularity of the program. heart and soul back into local ANHA has worked with the National Park preservation efforts, please Service and members of Congress to draft • Pass programmatic visit the Alliance of National the National Heritage Area Act of 2017, H.R. legislation including co- Heritage Areas web page at 1002, with 62 co-sponsors from 24 different sponsorship of H.R. 1002, NationalHeritageAreas.us the National Heritage states. The legislation was introduced by Area Program Act (Rep. Congressman Charles Dent (R-PA) and Dent R-PA/15th) Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY). • Join the National Heritage What does this bill do? Area Congressional Caucus • Establishes a standardized set of criteria for new NHAs • Establishes a rigorous process for existing Between 2004-2016, the number of National Heritage Areas NHAs to ensure accountability increased by 104%, while funding increased by only 33%. • Modernizes the program to ensure long- 50 term sustainability • Clearly defines an oversight structure that will allow these popular public/private 40 partnerships to better preserve the nation’s heritage and spur economic growth with basic federal support 30 • Remains consistent with recommendations of both the Bush and Obama administrations 20 To join the Congressional caucus on National Heritage Areas, please contact: • Dennis J. Petersen, Senior Policy Advisor, 10 Congressman Charles W. Dent (202) 225-6411 [email protected] 0 • Emily Duhovny, Legislative Assistant, 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Congressman Paul D. Tonko (202) 225-5076 n # of Heritage Areas | n $M in funding [email protected]