When is an ugly building just an ugly building?
In the almost 50 years since the passage the landmark and policy setting National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the world of historic preservation has evolved to reflect the complexities and new understanding of the field. Continue Reading →
Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, federal agencies must consider the effect of their projects on historic properties which are defined as resources listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. It is the role of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office to participate in consultation with the federal agency to seek ways to avoid or minimize adverse effects of projects on historic properties.
The April 2013 edition of The Burg featured an article about a coalition of dedicated volunteers with a mission to preserve Harrisburg’s historic black churches. The author attended a local training program led by Partners for Sacred Places where he learned how these historically significant buildings can serve a larger role in neighborhood revitalization.
My blog post for May 22, 2013 will continue BHP’s recognition of one of America’s under-appreciated events – National Defense Transportation Day – celebrated on Friday May 17, 2013 in conjunction with National Transportation Week. Continue Reading →
On Saturday, April 27, 2013, I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at a unique dedication ceremony at Fort Halifax Park in Halifax Township, Dauphin County, just north of the Borough of Halifax. The ceremony was to dedicate numerous London Plane Sycamores recently planted to, if you’re feeling poetic, fix what time has wrought. You see, these trees were planted to replace missing Sycamores in the National Register of Historic Places-listed Legislative Route 1 Sycamore Allee (see the nomination on CRGIS for more information and for references). Continue Reading →
Erected in 1938, the Mother’s Memorial is situated prominently in the town of Ashland, PA, in the anthracite coal region of Schuylkill County. The Ashland Boys’ Association (A.B.A.), an organization of men and boys born in Ashland, raised the funds for the fabrication and erection of this monument in 1938. Continue Reading →
Peirce Lewis, an American geographer and emeritus professor at the Pennsylvania State University, may have best described the concept of cultural landscapes; “The human landscape is our unwitting autobiography, reflecting our tastes, our values, our aspirations, and even our fears in tangible, visible form.” Land shows both individual and collective beliefs in a physical manifestation. Most of us can physically see what we do to our land. However, stories associated with the “how” and the “why” we do these things are part of the cultural landscape because they support associated trends, events, and individuals. This is important to state, and restate, because we forget about the depth of information caught-up in the unseen value system that drives the building of communities and use of resources. Continue Reading →
by Jennifer Horn, Preservation Pennsylvania
Every summer Pennsylvania’s preservation and conservation communities convene for a weeklong conference to explore current trends in archaeology and historic preservation. This year, the Statewide Conference on Heritage will be held at the historic William Penn Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh, PA. The conference will begin on Tuesday, July 16thwith a pre-conference workshop on the Federal and State Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit programs and conclude with Preservation Pennsylvania’s Annual Meeting and Luncheon on Friday, July 19th. The conference is co-sponsored by Preservation Pennsylvania, PennDOT, PHMC, DCNR, Heritage PA, and local partners and attracts over 350 attendees annually.
These two acronyms represent years of cooperation among various groups of people who are concerned about Pennsylvania’s past. Continue Reading →
The Conservation Landscape Initiatives (CLI) were established by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) as an integrated approach to strategically investing the agency’s time and funding to protect, conserve, and enhance some of the state’s most important landscapes. Instead of working exclusively within the state park and forest boundaries or supporting a municipal park or trail, DCNR has developed partnerships with a variety of counties, communities, and nonprofit organizations as a way to effectively foster local conservation efforts in the seven multi-county CLI regions. Continue Reading →
