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National Heritage Areas in the United States NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS IN THE UNITED STATES: PARTNERSHIPS, PRESERVATION, CONSERVATION, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT by LAURA BLAKE STRAEHLA Under the Direction of Pratt Cassity ABSTRACT Regardless of current historic preservation recognition and regulatory methods, the establishment of nationally designated heritage areas is a major step forward in the understanding, recognition, appreciation, and protection of the United States’ heritage through partnerships. This thesis describes the heritage area movement as a grassroots based, nationally administered effort demonstrative of the new partnership-based paradigm of modern day preservation. Heritage areas are an indication of the melding of the preservation and conservation fields and imitative of some international efforts. They are a natural outgrowth of the National Park Service’s dual role in historic preservation and natural resource conservation. As a recognition methodology and organizational structure, they have served as a catalyst for sustainable economic development. In short, they are part of the future of holistic community planning. INDEX WORDS: historic preservation, national heritage areas, United States heritage areas, partnerships, economic development, Georgia NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS IN THE UNITED STATES: PARTNERSHIPS, PRESERVATION, CONSERVATION, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT by LAURA BLAKE STRAEHLA B.A., The University of Central Florida, 1988 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION ATHENS, GEORGIA 2003 © 2003 Laura Blake Straehla All Rights Reserved NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS IN THE UNITED STATES: PARTNERSHIPS, PRRESERVATION, CONSERVATION, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT by LAURA BLAKE STRAEHLA Major Professor: Pratt Cassity Committee: Wayde Brown Judith Wasserman Beth Shorthouse Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2003 To my husband and soul mate, Jimmy, for his unending support and encouragement in this endeavor, as in all others iv Historic preservation is a quality of life issue. When all else is said and done, it grows out of a universal need to establish networks of family and community that have some chance of taking root and thriving. Robert E. Stipe & Antoinette J. Lee, Eds. The American Mosaic: Preserving A Nation’s Heritage v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, my heartfelt thanks go to my major professor, and friend, Pratt Cassity, for advising, motivating, and encouraging me over these many years. I would also like to thank the rest of the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design faculty and staff for their expertise through classes, personal interactions, and projects. Under the leadership of Dean John “Jack” Crowley, the College has been an extremely positive learning environment, providing a wealth of personal and professional growth opportunities for me. I hope that our relationship continues to grow. This thesis would not have been possible without the assistance of the executive directors of the twenty-three national heritage areas, their staff, and all of the other people quoted or interviewed herein. A special appreciation is expressed to Brenda Barrett, heritage area program coordinator for the National Park. She has been instrumental in both guidance and information, and has given permission for the use of the national heritage information in appendices 2, 3, and 4. I am extremely grateful to all of them for their willingness to share their time, expertise, and information. I am fortunate indeed to have an excellent Reading Committee, chaired by Wayde Brown. Other members are Judith Wasserman, with whom I worked on the US 441 Heritage Highway project, and Beth Shorthouse of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation with whom I worked while still serving as executive director of Athens- Clarke Heritage Foundation, Inc. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION & SCOPE..............................................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: EVOLUTION OF THE UNITED STATES HISTORIC PRESERVATION MOVEMENT ......................................3 The Beginning......................................................................................4 Preservation and Conservation as Sustainable Development ..............7 Preservation as Partnerships ..............................................................11 International Historic Preservation & Conservation..........................25 The Power of UNCESCO ..................................................................30 CHAPTER TWO: HERITAGE AREAS..........................................................................37 Statewide Heritage Areas...................................................................38 National Heritage Areas.....................................................................42 A National Program ...........................................................................50 Funding ..............................................................................................54 Cultural Heritage Tourism .................................................................57 Challenges & Current Trends ............................................................65 CHAPTER THREE: OVERVIEW OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS ........................................................75 America’s Agricultural Heritage Partnership .................................76 Augusta Canal.................................................................................78 Automobile .....................................................................................79 Cache la Poudre River Corridor......................................................84 Cane River ......................................................................................85 Delaware & Lehigh.........................................................................87 Erie Canalway.................................................................................88 Essex ...............................................................................................89 Hudson River Valley.......................................................................92 Illinois & Michigan.........................................................................95 John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley .......................................97 Lackawanna Heritage Valley........................................................100 National Coal ................................................................................103 Ohio & Erie Canal ........................................................................104 Quinebaug & Shetucket Rivers Valley.........................................107 Rivers of Steel...............................................................................113 Schuylkill River ............................................................................115 Shenandoah River Valley Battlefields..........................................117 South Carolina ..............................................................................119 Southwestern Pennsylvania ..........................................................121 Tennessee Civil War.....................................................................125 Wheeling.......................................................................................126 Yuma Crossing..............................................................................135 Conclusions...................................................................................136 CHAPTER FOUR: US 441 HERITAGE HIGHWAY CASE STUDY .........................145 US 441 National Heritage Area Feasibility Study Questions.........147 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS.....................................................162 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................165 1 THE NEW PRESERVATION NETWORK........................................166 2 NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA LEVERAGING, TOTAL ..............167 3 NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA LEVERAGING, FY 2002 .............168 4 ROSTER OF NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS ...............................169 5 NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS MOVEMENT TIMELINE..........170 6 NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS ANALYSIS CHART ..................171 7 NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS MAP ............................................174 7 US 441 HERITAGE HIGHWAY TIMELINE....................................175 SOURCES CONSULTED...............................................................................................177 viii INTRODUCTION & SCOPE National Heritage Areas are regional or single-jurisdictional communities defined by a distinctive sense of place that is almost always unified by a historic resources theme.1 A variety of organizational names included underneath the heritage area umbrella, however, will swiftly explain the concept. These include: heritage trails, heritage corridors, greenways, heritage trusts, scenic corridors, associations, planning districts, urban cultural parks, and partnership parks.2 Heritage Areas is now the official federal term that includes these and many other precursors for the twenty-three nationally designated areas as of 2003, even for those who continue to call themselves greenway, corridor, or park. Growing out of a grassroots desire
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