William J. Pencek, Jr.

Director of Cultural and Heritage Tourism

Office of Tourism Development, Maryland Department of Business and
Economic Development

April 23, 2008

*"Baltimore National Heritage Area Act"*

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am Bill Pencek, Director of
Cultural and Heritage Tourism for the State of Maryland. Prior to
joining the State in 2007, I was Director of the Baltimore Heritage
Area, a state-certified heritage area, in the office of Mayor Sheila
Dixon, and coordinated efforts to secure National Heritage Area (NHA)
designation. I am here today representing the City of Baltimore, the
State of Maryland, and the hundreds of partners in Baltimore and
Maryland working to recognize, protect, develop and interpret
Baltimore's many significant national heritage stories.

You have heard from the National Park Service (NPS) about the extensive
effort that has gone into Baltimore's self-funded NHA Feasibility Study,
and the August 2007 finding by NPS that the Baltimore Heritage Area
meets the ten interim criteria outlined in the 2003 Draft Feasibility
Study Guidelines. We are very pleased at the NPS finding after the six
years of work that has gone in to articulating our case. But we hope
that you will not agree with the NPS recommendation that the designation
of a Baltimore NHA wait until NHA Program legislation passes. The time
to create the Baltimore NHA is now, not only because of the demonstrated
national significance of the resource set, and the strength of the
partnerships and investment in the Baltimore NHA, but because of a
series of very significant American anniversaries that are upon us, as
outlined below.

I would like to focus my comments in two areas---1) to summarize the
national significance of the historical, cultural, natural and
recreational resources of the proposed Baltimore NHA and the importance
of these resources to our lives as Americans, and 2) to give a sense of
depth of the commitment of state and local government, and other
partners, to the resources of the proposed NHA, and how important this
designation is to us.

[Why a Baltimore National Heritage Area?]{.underline}

Baltimore evidences exemplary national heritage themes with intact
historic, cultural and natural resources. With 24 National Historic
Landmarks, 53,000 buildings listed in the National Register (vastly more
than any other American city), and 12 Chesapeake Bay Gateways, nestled
in an unparalleled system of parks and waterways, and connected by five
Maryland Scenic Byways, and an All-American Road, the aggregate resource
set is an NHA.

The cityscape of Baltimore was the stage for pivotal conflicts that
forged our national identity. Foremost were the actions of a brave
citizenry, comprised largely of first-generation immigrants and free and
enslaved African Americans, who defeated the British in 1814 in
America's "second war for independence." The defense of the nation by
the diverse people of Baltimore, against the greatest military power in
the world, gave the nation our iconic flag, the Star-Spangled Banner,
our national anthem, and a new sense of identity and destiny. The
National Historic Landmark Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, where widow
Mary Pickersgill and her household of free and enslaved women sewed the
flag in August 1813, is a tangible reminder of that story. Francis Scott
Key jubilantly celebrated the sighting of that flag, flying over Fort
McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, foremost of the many
sites in the proposed NHA that bring the story to life. The nation's
divided loyalties during the Civil War were evidenced no more intensely
than in Baltimore, which witnessed the horrific first bloodshed of the
War in the Pratt Street Riots, outside President Street Station. The
oldest surviving big city train station in the country, the Station has
housed the Baltimore Civil War Museum to tell this national story.

Antebellum Baltimore was a notorious center of the domestic slave trade.
Yet the city also produced the earliest organized abolition movement in
the South. Although a conflicted city, Baltimore offered greater
opportunities to African Americans, enslaved, like Frederick Douglass,
or free, than any other in America before the Civil War. After
Emancipation, Baltimore nurtured giants of the civil rights movement,
like Thurgood Marshall. The life of Douglass in Baltimore, and how he
came to declare "Going to live at Baltimore laid the foundation, and
opened the gateway, to all my subsequent prosperity," is told at the
Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park, and on the Frederick
Douglass Freedom and Heritage Trail, designated National Underground
Railroad: Network to Freedom sites. The segregated elementary school
attended by Marshall, a landmark in the Old West Baltimore National
Register Historic District, is being rehabilitated to tell the story of
the architect of the desegregation of America's public schools, and of
the nation itself. Baltimore's African Americans forged their own
freedom and actively defended it, and served as national leaders in the
struggle for opportunity for all Americans.

As a major port of entry, Baltimore developed an industry out of
greeting immigrants and sending them on to destinations across America.
The National Road, the nation's first federally-funded interstate
transportation route begun in 1811, now a designated All-American Road,
began its way west in Baltimore. Between 1830 and 1917 roughly two
million immigrants landed in Baltimore, second only to New York as a
port of entry for many years. The Baltimore Immigration Heritage Park is
being constructed to tell those stories. Many chose to settle in
Baltimore. They built the world's first long distance railroad into the
American frontier, and a massive industrial and manufacturing base that
propelled the settlement of the continent. World-class institutions,
like the Smithsonian-affiliate B&O Railroad Museum, and the Baltimore
Museum of Industry, tell the story of the birthplace of American
railroading, industry, and the settlement of the continent.

The waves of explorers, entrepreneurs, inventers, and artists drawn to
Baltimore's shores have swelled since John Smith sailed into the Inner
Harbor in 1608. Baltimore is the farthest inland east coast port,
closest to the nation's interior. The Chesapeake, the continent's
largest estuary, is a magnificent, fertile, natural resource. This
special mix gave rise to the largest city in the six-state Chesapeake
region, with a cultural landscape unique among world port cities.
Extraordinary inventions like the National Register-listed Johns Hopkins
Hospital, the Mount Vernon Place National Historic Landmark District,
waterfront Fells Point, the nation's second National Register Historic
District, and a remarkable (largely National Register listed) public
park system that includes Leakin Park, one of the largest urban
wilderness parks remaining on the East Coast, represent some of the
Heritage Area's most distinctive and important creations. From clipper
ships, to rowhouse ground rents, from cast-iron architecture to urban
waterfront revitalization, the unique cultural landscape of Baltimore
and its contributions to the nation and the world rise from the
Chesapeake.

This is just a sample of the resources and stories thoroughly
inventoried in the Baltimore NHA Feasibility Study, which documents a
distinctive cultural landscape and unique national heritage stories
which can best be experienced in a Baltimore NHA and nowhere else. A
Baltimore NHA is compatible with and complements other current and
pending NPS units, initiatives and designations. These include, but are
not limited to, the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic
Trail, the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network, the proposed Star-Spangled
Banner National Historic Trail, and the National Underground Railroad:
Network to Freedom. Portions of many large American cities are included
in NHA's (e.g. Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
etc.). A number of urbanized NHA's are of limited geographic size (e.g.
Augusta Canal NHA, Wheeling NHA, Essex NHA). Some urbanized areas within
the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network region are also within NHA's (e.g.
Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Lackawanna Heritage Valley NHA). Several NHA's
are crossed by National Trails (e.g. Appalachian National Scenic Trail
crosses Delaware and Lehigh Canal and Shenandoah Valley NHA's; Natchez
Trace Parkway and National Scenic Trail cross the Tennessee Civil War
NHA).

Designation of a Baltimore NHA would celebrate the unique role of the
Chesapeake and Baltimore as natural and historic gateways to the North
American continent, and as the unique intersection point of at least
four major national heritage stories in the Chesapeake landscape. Two of
these significant national themes already intersect in Baltimore through
NPS programs and activities---the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic
Trail and the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network. Baltimore has a denser
geographic (and thus more readily accessible) concentration of sites on
the proposed Star-Spangled Banner Trail and in the Chesapeake Bay
Gateway Network than any other jurisdiction. With the presence of such
significant anchor attractions as the Reginald F. Lewis Museum (the
largest museum of African American cultural heritage on the East Coast
and a National Underground Railroad: Network to Freedom site) and the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum (a Smithsonian Affiliate), a
Baltimore NHA would also tell national stories of the African American
experience and immigration, industrialization, and westward expansion
better than anywhere. Set in the context of the Chesapeake's largest
city, where more than 53,000 buildings are listed in the National
Register of Historic Places, the proposed Baltimore NHA is a remarkable
national treasure.

[Local Commitment and the Importance of NHA Designation]{.underline}

Tourism is the third largest employer in Baltimore, and growing. Among
the key sectors for significant growth potential is cultural heritage
leisure travel, which generates markedly greater economic and community
revitalization benefits in the historic neighborhoods beyond the Inner
Harbor, the locus of Baltimore's tourism industry.

Baltimore will continue to suffer an extreme competitive disadvantage in
the cultural heritage tourism marketplace, especially when measured
against its leisure travel competitive set\-- Washington, Philadelphia,
New York and Boston\-- unless deeper partnerships with the NPS are
established. Chief among the reasons why those cities are perceived by
residents and leisure travelers as offering more opportunities than
Baltimore to experience authentic cultural landscapes and heritage of
national significance is the decades of investment made within them by
the NPS. The pie chart below provides a window to the disproportionate
under-investment in our national cultural and natural heritage assets in
Baltimore. Baltimore [does]{.underline} possess a distinctively unique
cultural landscape and national heritage stories, but until now has
neither asked nor sought to make its case for broader partnership with
and matching investment by NPS.

**National Park Service FY '04 Operating Budget Funds Invested in NPS
Park Units in Baltimore and the Cities of Baltimore's Leisure Travel
Competitive Set (in millions)**

Source: NPS website [www.nps.gov](http://www.nps.gov/)

![](media/image1.wmf)

NHA designation provides Baltimore's best current opportunity for deeper
partnership with NPS. The creation of new or expanded units of the
National Park System in Baltimore is not currently feasible. NHA
designation could provide up to \$1 million per year to support
activities Baltimore needs to protect, develop and interpret natural and
cultural heritage resources which tell important national stories. It
could assist Baltimore prepare for the national observance of the
bicentennial of the War of 1812, the Battle of Baltimore, and the
writing of the Star-Spangled Banner---just a few years away. The actions
of a brave citizenry, comprised largely of first-generation immigrants
and free and enslaved African Americans, defeated the greatest military
power in the world. In the process, they gave the nation our iconic
flag, the Star-Spangled Banner---the most revered object in the
collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History---our
national anthem, and a new sense of identity and destiny. In addition to
this anniversary, there is a confluence of anniversaries of significant
national heritage stories told best in the proposed NHA, beginning in
2008, some of which are outlined below:

> 2008

-   Thurgood Marshall, architect of the deconstruction of legalized
    segregation in America, was born (1908, 100^th^)

-   Captain John Smith explores the Middle Branch of the Patapsco and
    the Inner Harbor (1608, 400^th^)

> 2011

-   The first bloodshed of the Civil War occurs during the Pratt Street
    Riots one week after the firing on Fort Sumter (1861, 150^th^)

-   Construction begun on the Congressionally authorized National Road
    (1811, 200^th^).

> 2012

-   The U.S. declares war against Great Britain (2012, 200^th^).

> 2013

-   The enslaved Frederick Douglass escapes to freedom (1838, 175^th^).

> 2014

-   Victory against the British at the Battle of Baltimore inspires the
    writing of the Star-Spangled Banner (1814, 200^th^).

Perhaps most important, designation of a Baltimore NHA will provide the
seal of approval that partnership with NPS and the use of its logo (one
of the most recognized brands in the U.S.) will convey in the cultural
heritage tourism marketplace, communicating that Baltimore is a
destination of national significance and substance.

Now I would like to focus a bit on the enthusiasm and commitment of the
some of the non-federal partners that are dedicated to the stewardship,
development and investment in the cultural and natural resources of the
proposed Baltimore NHA. Foremost among these is the state-certified
Baltimore Heritage Area (BHA), and its management entity the BHA
Association, a unit of Baltimore city government. Since certified by the
state of Maryland in 2001, the BHA Association has invested more than
\$10 million in Baltimore's national heritage stories. Of this amount,
more than \$2 million has come from the State of Maryland's Maryland
Heritage Area Authority (MHAA) Financing Fund, to support operations and
projects. More than 30 organizations are represented on the BHA
Association, the management entity proposed for the Baltimore NHA, which
with the City of Baltimore has a remarkable record of investment in
Baltimore NHA resources as follows:

-   Secured more than \$2 million in grants from the MHAA for projects
    throughout the BCHA. Each \$1 of MHAA funds invested in the BCHA
    leverages \$27.35 in annual, ongoing state and local tax
    revenues[^1].

-   Awarded \$550,000 in grants from the BCHA Small Cap Grant Fund to 43
    projects throughout the BCHA, leveraging more than \$7 million in
    non-city investments.

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-   Completed design and secured over \$1,000,000 in Federal, State,
    City and private funds for construction and operation of the
    Star-Spangled Trails, and the Inner Harbor Trailhead, to encourage
    exploration of Baltimore in the Inner Harbor and beyond. Recruited
    and trained Urban Park Rangers to lead guided tours on Heritage Walk
    ([www.heritagewalk.org](http://www.heritagewalk.org/)), Mount Vernon
    Cultural Walk, and the Pennsylvania Avenue Heritage Trail.

![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.6666666666666665in"
height="1.7166666666666666in"}

-   Secured more than \$120,000 in foundation and other grants to
    complete the feasibility study for the creation of a Baltimore
    National Heritage Area, to access Federal financial and technical
    assistance for cultural heritage resource research, protection,
    development, and interpretation.

-   Created a mini-grant program to assist less well-resourced
    organizations develop cultural heritage projects.

-   Launched Authentic Baltimore,
    [www.authenticbaltimore.org](http://www.authenticbaltimore.org/), a
    program to certify the sites, services and events that authentically
    convey the heritage of Baltimore to residents and visitors.

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-   Conducted numerous workshops, the most recent of which was
    co-sponsored with the Alliance of National Heritage Areas, which
    attracted more than 75 NHA representatives from around the nation.

-   Supported a full-time Heritage Education and Outreach Administrator
    who coordinated and expanded the activities of the Greater Baltimore
    History Alliance, a consortium of 50 Baltimore-area history museums,
    and doubled their membership.

-   Completed the successful K-12 pilot initiative*, "Defense of a
    Nation: Baltimoreans and Their Role in the War of 1812,"* involving
    50 teachers and 1,400 public school students, and sustained its
    subsequent annual operation.

-   Partnered with the Baltimore City Public School System to design and
    implement activities funded by Teaching American History, a program
    of the U.S. Department of Education, to teach American history at
    Baltimore's history museums, and secured more than \$1 million in
    grant funds to implement the program.

-   Secured \$130,000 in Federal Highway funding to complete a
    BHA/Charles Street Scenic Byway interpretive plan.

-   Lead efforts to assist development of the Arabber Center (Upton
    Cultural Visitor Center) using \$400,000 in funds in the City's FY
    '09 capital budget.

-   Lead efforts to rehabilitate PS 103 and create a Thurgood
    Marshall/Baltimore civil rights interpretive center, using \$250,000
    in Baltimore's FY 2008 capital budget and a \$100,000 Preserve
    America grant.

-   Coordinated securing a \$2 million bequest for the city-owned H. L.
    Mencken House and completion of lease agreement for the house with
    the Society for the Preservation of H.L. Mencken's Legacy.

-   Secured funds to hire staff/consultant to coordinate planning for
    the national observance of the War of 1812 Bicentennial in
    Baltimore.

-   Coordinated the City of Baltimore's \$1.4 million contribution to
    the planning and construction of the new Fort McHenry Visitor
    Center, an amount matched by the State.

This brief recounting of the contributions and commitment of the City of
Baltimore and the State of Maryland to stewardship, development and
interpretation of course leaves out the even larger contributions made
by the many non-governmental organizations involved with the resources
of the proposed NHA---which collectively exceed those of the City of
Baltimore and the State of Maryland.

In closing, the merits of a Baltimore NHA are clear. NHA designation
would bring significant added value to our collective efforts.
Recognition and validation of the significance of Baltimore's national
heritage stories by the NHA program would be of great benefit.
Designation will bring focus and leadership to new partnerships and
collaborations that would otherwise not take place. New and exciting
investments and techniques in stewardship, development, and
interpretation will result. At the same time, NPS will receive
extraordinary leverage for its investment in a Baltimore NHA, that it
does not currently enjoy, by partnering with a high-performing
state-certified heritage area---whose history and resource set deeply
enrich and complement the offerings of our National Heritage Areas. The
approaching anniversary period 2008-2014 brings with it the momentum of
opportunity for maximum benefit to residents and visitors, and the
likelihood of the greatest impact from our investments.

[^1]: *Investing in Our Communities: Maryland's Heritage Areas Program,*
    Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, November
    2003.