Brian D. Joyner

National Park Service

Natural disasters take a heavy toll 

on a community. Human casualties 

and damage to property are the 

most obvious. The economic 

impact usually comes to mind 

afterward. The loss of buildings, 

sites, or districts due to the event 

seldom receives a great deal of 

consideration. However, in the case 

of the 2005 hurricane season, the 

impact on the southeast’s cultural 

heritage was immense. With 26 

storms and 13 hurricanes this 

season, the states along the Gulf 

Coast, which include Alabama, 

Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and 

Texas, were battered repeatedly 

over the six-month period. Those 

affected most, often diverse 

communities, are often the least 

able to afford it. 

New Orleans, a city already 6 

feet below sea level, was overrun 

by the category-5 Hurricane 

Katrina. Homes in low-lying, 

and primarily African American, 

neighborhoods such as historic 

the Lower Ninth Ward were caked 

in mud and received massive 

water damage. However, Biloxi, 

Mississippi, was nearly washed 

off of the map, losing landmarks 

such as the Pleasant Reed Home, 

the house of a prominent African 

American in Biloxi during the late 

1800s through early 1900s, and 

Beauvoir, the home of Confederate 

President Jefferson Davis, where 

more than half of the property 

was destroyed. Other Mississippi 

towns such as Pass Christian and 

Bay St. Louis were devastated, with 

homes moved off of their piers and 

supports damaged to the point of 

collapse. Add to it the cumulative 

damage inflicted by Rita, and the 

need for expertise on the best way 

to preserve and protect resources 

became apparent.

Many preservation-related 

agencies and organizations 

pooled their resources during 

the hurricane season to assist 

storm victims. The American 

Institute of Architects (AIA), the 

Federal Emergency Management 

Agency’s (FEMA) Environmental, 

Historic Preservation, and 

Cultural Resources Programs, 

N E W S O F T H E N A T I O N ’ S D I V E R S E C U L T U R A L H E R I T A G E

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Conferences 

upcoming, p. 10

Internships, p. 4

National Historic 

Landmark 

designations, p. 4

National Register 

nominations, p. 6

Tribal Preservation 

Officer list, p. 9

HERITAGE MATTERS

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

MARCH 2006

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Historic Preservation in the Aftermath of Katrina

This historic commercial building at the corner of Jackson Avenue and Magazine Street in the New Orleans Garden 

District illustrates the severe damage caused by both wind and water during Katrina. African American-owned properties were particularly hard hit throughout the Gulf Coast. Photo courtesy of Carlos Sanchez, Quinn Evans/Architects, Washington, DC.

 Vann House, connected 

to the Cherokee Trail of 

Tears in Georgia, was 

recently listed in the 

National Register. 

 See page 7.

See KATRINA, page 11
Creole Focus: 

HABS Photographs 

in Natchitoches, 

Louisiana

Virginia Price

National Park Service

In the 1930s, the nascent Historic 

American Buildings Survey 

(HABS) arrived in Natchitoches, 

Louisiana, and recorded examples 

of the parish’s distinctive Creole 

architecture for what would become 

the HABS collection at the Library 

of Congress. The sites selected by 

HABS were located in town and 

along the Cane River. One of those 

places, Oakland, is now part of 

the Cane River Creole National 

Historical Park. Seventy years later, 

HABS returned to Natchitoches 

at the behest of the Cane River 

National Heritage Area Commission 

to augment the documentation 

produced during the initial HABS 

effort.

In 2002 and 2004, HABS 

photographed public and private 

buildings used for religious, 

commercial, and domestic 

purposes. Many of these are Creole 

in character, proportionate to the 

sampling of architectural styles 

seen throughout the parish and to 

the numbers of extant structures 

associated with the Cane River 

Creole community. The Cane River 

Creoles are the descendants of the 

gens de couleur libre (free people 

of color) who shared a mix of 

French, Spanish, Native American, 

and African ancestry, and settled 

primarily in Isle Brevelle in lower 

Natchitoches Parish by the end of 

the 18th century. 

In Isle Brevelle, free people 

of color financed and built St. 

Augustine Catholic Church in 1803, 

although the current building dates 

to the 20th century. St. Charles 

Chapel, on the other hand, is 

notable for its role as a “chapel 

of ease” for area residents (a 

chapel of ease is a church built 

within the bounds of a parish 

for the attendance of those who 

cannot reach the parish church 

conveniently). As a mission of 

St. Augustine, the chapel was 

erected by people of color for a 

predominantly white congregation. 

St. Augustine Historical Society 

now owns the Badin Roque House, 

which briefly served as a Catholic 

school from 1857 to 1859. This 

house is a rare survivor of those 

buildings erected with poteaux en 

terre (posts in the ground) and 

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

MARCH 2006

page 2

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

ACTIVITIES

Roubieu-Jones House, also known as the Carroll Jones House for the man (a free person of color) who bought it in the 

1860s, is the oldest extant, fully raised Creole house in Natchitoches. Courtesy of Jack E. Boucher, HABS.
page 3

bousillage (a mixture of moss and 

mud).

Secular places, along with the 

spiritual, weave a communal fabric 

through Isle Brevelle and beyond. 

Examples are the two juke joints 

photographed by HABS. Juke 

joints, such as Woods Hall and 

Bubba’s, were places of leisure for 

the Creoles, offering music, games, 

racing, and gathering spots in a 

segregated era.

In recognition of the parish’s 

predominantly agricultural 

character, the HABS photography 

assignment covered piece-surpiece cabins, plantation stores, 

outbuildings, a cotton gin, the 

former slave and tenant farmer 

quarters at Magnolia Plantation, 

and Creole houses along the Cane 

River. The sample also included 

National Historic Landmarks such 

as Melrose, a plantation created 

by Louis Metoyer in the first half 

of the 19th century. Metoyer was 

a free person of color born to a 

Frenchman, Claude T.P. Metoyer, 

and an enslaved woman, Marie 

Therese. 

Marie Therese is considered the 

matriarch of the Cane River Creoles 

and her association with these 

places lends the architecturally 

significant structures a cultural 

credence. Research related to the 

property she owned between 1786 

and 1816 is ongoing. Preservation 

work at Melrose continues as 

well. One building on the Melrose 

grounds is Africa House. This is 

a masonry and cypress structure 

remarkable for its appearance 

as well as the murals within that 

were painted by the folk artist 

Clementine Hunter over the course 

of 50 years, from the 1930s through 

the 1980s. The murals themselves 

record the rhythms of life in Cane 

River—ceremonies, entertainment, 

and cotton agriculture—whereas 

the image of Africa House, with 

its ties to West African building 

traditions, was quickly seized by 

those anxious to find evidence of 

Africanisms surviving slavery within 

the African Diaspora.

The significance attached to the 

form of Africa House is, in part, the 

legacy of the Louisiana Purchase, 

after which Anglo preferences 

infiltrated Natchitoches, and spilled 

over on the parish’s vernacular 

architecture. One dwelling, a fully 

raised Creole house, expresses 

this overlay of Anglo-American 

traditions through a large, 

central staircase leading up to 

the gallery. The location of the 

staircase suggests a central hall 

plan, common in British North 

America by the second quarter 

of the 18th century, rather than 

the Creole vernacular. Yet, at the 

top of the central stair, multiple 

portals of a traditional Creole 

house confront the visitor. Fully 

developed, national architectural 

trends did make their appearance 

in Natchitoches, but the Creole 

buildings are what provide a 

focus for photographers intent 

on capturing the essence of a 

culturally diverse place for the 

archive of American architecture.

For more information on HABS documentation 

work at Cane River, contact Virginia Price at 

virginia_price@nps.gov.

(Left) St. Charles Chapel, in Natchez, Natchitoches Parish, sits just across from Beau Fort Plantation and served the 

Bermuda community after its dedication in 1910. Courtesy of James Rosenthal, HABS.

(Right) Stunning in its appearance, the Africa House at Melrose Plantation reflects the cultural continuity between 

enslaved African Americans and their West African antecedents. Courtesy of Jack E. Boucher, HABS. 
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

MARCH 2006

page 4

Cultural Resources 

Diversity Internship 

Program

Michèle Gates Moresi

National Park Service

During the summer of 2005, the 

Cultural Resources Diversity 

Internship Program cosponsored 

13 interns who worked at National 

Park Service (NPS) park units 

and offices, state museums and 

historic preservation offices, and 

private nonprofit institutions across 

the country. All of the interns 

participated in the annual Career 

Workshop, held in Washington, DC, 

where they met one another, spoke 

with cultural resource managers, 

and met with former NPS Director, 

Robert Stanton, and current 

Associate Director for Cultural 

Resources, Janet Snyder Matthews. 

Also during the workshop, interns 

learned about careers in the field 

from professionals working with 

NPS, the National Trust for Historic 

Preservation, and the Smithsonian 

Institution.

The Diversity Internship 

Program is entering its 8th year of 

cosponsoring unique opportunities 

for students of diverse background 

to work in the field of cultural 

resources and historic preservation. 

This is part of a larger effort by the 

National Park Service to diversify 

the cultural resources field. With 

the cooperation and generous 

support of partners, the program 

continues to grow and succeed in 

providing interns with rewarding 

experiences. The program will 

cosponsor 10 to 14 interns during 

the summer 2006 and 2 to 4 interns 

during the semesters 2006–2007.

For more information, visit the website http://

www.cr.nps.gov/crdi and click “Internships.”

NHL Designations

Recently, 19 new sites were 

designated National Historic 

Landmarks. Four of the sites have 

particular significance to diverse 

communities: the Granada and 

Tule Lake Relocation Centers, 

the Hitchcock House, and the 

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. 

National Historic Landmarks are 

exceptional, nationally significant 

places designated by the Secretary 

of the Interior. Fewer than 2,500 

historic places carry the title of 

National Historic Landmark.

• The Granada Relocation 

Center, also known as the 

Amache Relocation Camp, was 

the smallest of 10 camps that 

housed Japanese Americans 

relocated from the West Coast 

by the War Relocation Authority 

(WRA). Construction work on 

Amache began in June 1942. The 

internment camp was only half 

complete when the first evacuees 

began arriving from assembly 

centers in August 1942. Located 

near the town of Granada, 

Colorado, Amache housed 7,597 

evacuees, two-thirds of whom 

were U.S. citizens.

• Tule Lake in Modoc County, 

California, was the largest and 

longest-lived of the 10 camps 

built by the War Relocation 

Authority to house the nearly 

120,000 Japanese Americans 

relocated from the West Coast 

during World War II, pursuant to 

Executive Order 9066. In 1943, 

the facility was converted to a 

maximum security segregation 

center for evacuees deemed by 

the WRA to be “disloyal.”

• The Hitchcock House is the 

home of the militant anti-slavery 

leader of the Congregational 

Church mission in western Iowa, 

Reverend George Hitchcock. He 

used his home to assist in the safe 

passage of fugitive slaves through 

southwestern Iowa on their 

way east and north to freedom 

during the mid-19th century. The 

Hitchcock House, a part of the 

NPS’s National Underground 

Railroad Network to Freedom, 

illustrates the geographic reach of 

the Underground Railroad and its 

expansion westward.

• Sixteenth Street Baptist Church 

in Birmingham, Alabama, was the 

site of a Ku Klux Klan attack on 

September 15, 1963, that killed 

four African American girls. The 

bombing of the church shocked 

the nation and galvanized the 

civil rights movement. Nearly 

8,000 black and white citizens of 

Birmingham attended the funeral. 

The public outcry in the days and 

weeks to follow was recognized as 

a catalyst to the eventual passage 

of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

For more information on the National Historic 

Landmark Survey Program and designation, visit 

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nhl.

A 2005 CRDIP intern stands at a 

gravesite honoring William Anderson 

with her intern coordinator and 

Army officers at Fort Drum, NY. 

Courtesy of Laurie Rush.
page 5

Presenting Race and 

Slavery at Historic 

Sites Research Project

Michèle Gates Moresi

National Park Service

Slavery and race relations are 

topics that must be addressed in 

numerous historic parks within 

the National Park System. In 

recent year, many historic places 

have expanded and improved 

their interpretive programs to 

incorporate current scholarship 

and convey to visitors the historic 

context of a park or historic site 

in all its complexity—economic 

and political issues, social 

relations, and community life. 

An important factor for parks to 

consider while they are planning 

and implementing new interpretive 

programs is how visitors perceive 

the information presented to them. 

Basic visitor surveys traditionally 

evaluate how the visitors enjoyed 

their experience at a park, the ease 

of locating and using facilities, and 

the quality of customer service 

at the park. But what about their 

learning experience?

To this end, a cooperative 

agreement between the National 

Park Service (NPS) and the Center 

for the Study of Public Culture 

and Public History of The George 

Washington University supports 

the research project, Presenting 

Race and Slavery at Historic Sites. 

It focuses on visitor and staff 

perceptions of the interpretation of 

slavery and race relations. Survey 

questions are designed to elicit 

basic information about what a 

visitor saw, heard, or read at the 

site; what visitors thought about 

the things they saw, heard, or read; 

how the presented information 

compared to what they already 

understood about the topic; and 

allow people to express their 

opinions. The purpose of these 

surveys is to obtain substantive 

responses from visitors in order 

to learn about their expectations 

and reception to how slavery and 

race relations are presented at 

a particular site. The results of 

the surveys will provide valuable 

information for historians and 

historical interpreters who are 

studying the impact of this complex 

history. It will also present an 

opportunity for dialogue among 

NPS historians, cultural resources 

personnel, and George Washington 

University’s James O. Horton and 

the research team on ways to 

enhance historical presentations. 

The Presenting Race and 

Slavery project builds on previous 

independent surveys conducted 

by Professor Horton and a team 

of graduate students that revealed 

competing ideas about the 

content of interpretive material at 

Monticello, the home of Thomas 

Jefferson; at Colonial Williamsburg; 

and at Gettysburg National 

Military Park. The team conducted 

surveys interviewing visitors and 

interpreters about the content of 

self-guided and guided tours.

The current project conducts 

surveys at three National Park 

Service sites. Surveys and reports 

have been completed at Arlington 

House (Robert E. Lee Memorial, 

George Washington Memorial 

Parkway) and Manassas National 

Battlefield Park. The third site is 

Harpers Ferry National Historical 

Park. A graduate student will 

conduct interviews with staff and 

visitors at Harpers Ferry during 

the spring of 2006 and a report 

presenting the results of the survey 

will be completed by the fall.

The final reports will be 

available through the Social 

Science Program and the Cultural 

Resources Diversity Program, 

both of the National Park Service. 

Professor Horton will contribute an 

article to CRM Journal synthesizing 

the information gathered from all 

three surveys.

For more information, visit http://www.cr.nps.gov/

crdi/research.htm

PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVES
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

MARCH 2006

National Register 

Nominations

Caridad de la Vega, Rustin Quaide

National Conference of State Historic 

Preservation Officers

Rockefeller Park and Cleveland 

Cultural Gardens Historic District

The Rockefeller Park and 

Cleveland Cultural Gardens 

Historic District was listed in 

the National Register of Historic 

Places for its significance in 

the areas of entertainment and 

recreation, community planning 

and development, and ethnic 

heritage. Rockefeller Park, a 

large urban park designed in the 

Victorian Picturesque style, is 

located in Cleveland, Ohio, and 

sits in a residential area located in 

the eastern section of the city. The 

park contains such resources as a 

lagoon, rock outcroppings, varying 

ornamental plantings, and concrete 

as well as masonry bridges. Part of 

the recreation and parks movement 

that swept the United States 

during the turn of the century, 

Rockefeller Park comprises part of 

an unbroken chain of parklands 

that span from Lake Erie to Shaker 

Heights, a suburban community 

located south of the park. 

The Cleveland Cultural 

Gardens, located within the park, 

is significant for reflecting the 

cultural diversity of Cleveland. 

During the late 19th and early 20th 

centuries, Cleveland attracted 

groups from central, southern, and 

eastern Europe. The city’s cultural 

make-up is displayed through the 

garden’s design elements as they 

represent the traditional arts and 

architecture of the culture being 

showcased. Sculptures by worldrenowned sculptor Alexander 

Archipenko and Cleveland-born 

Czech-American sculptor Frank 

Jirouch ornament the Cleveland 

Cultural Gardens. The park’s 

period of significance spans from 

1894 to 1954, encompassing the City 

Beautiful Movement, era of the 

New Deal, as well as other themes 

and periods. 

The Hungarian Garden is one of many 

resources found at the Rockefeller 

Park and Cultural Gardens located in 

Cleveland, Ohio. Courtesy of Roy Hampton.

page 6

STATE INITIATIVES
page 7

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

In 1886, the Delaware Conference 

of the Methodist Episcopal Church 

established a school on Maryland’s 

eastern shore to offer higher 

education to African American 

students. The Delaware Conference 

Academy, later known as the 

Princess Anne Academy, opened 

with an enrollment of 9 students, 

rising to 37 over the course of the 

year. In 1948, after changing from 

a junior college to a four-year 

school, it was renamed Maryland 

State College, and in 1970, became 

the University of Maryland Eastern 

Shore. During that time, the school 

served students throughout the 

Middle Atlantic region with a 

program in agricultural sciences. 

The University of Maryland 

Eastern Shore was listed in the 

National Register of Historic Places 

for its association with higher 

education and ethnic heritage.

The Spring Place Historic District

The Spring Place Historic District 

in Murray County, Georgia, is 

a small crossroads community 

encompassing historic residential 

and commercial resources that 

developed around the holdings of 

James Vann, a Cherokee chief, and 

the establishment of a Moravian 

mission. Vann and the Cherokee 

had been trading in the area since 

the 1770s, and the Vann family 

became prosperous as a result. It 

was Chief Vann’s concern for the 

educational and spiritual wellbeing of the area’s Cherokees 

that prompted him to offer the 

Moravian missionaries a site in the 

area. Vann provided financial and 

logistical support for the mission 

upon its establishment in what 

is now Murray County, Georgia, 

around 1801. The Moravian Mission 

provided a school for the Cherokee 

in Murray County. The mission 

became known for its influence in 

Native American communities—

most Cherokee chiefs were 

educated by the Moravians and 

the chiefs consulted with the 

missionaries on critical matters. 

Vann’s son, Joseph, inherited 

the family home and plantation 

after Chief Vann’s death in 1809. 

The Vann House hosted President 

James Monroe during his 1819 tour 

of the Southeast and the Cherokee 

Nation. The discovery of gold in 

the Northern Georgia Mountains 

led to an increase in European 

settlement and call for the removal 

of the Cherokee and other Native 

American groups from the area, 

culminating in the Trail of Tears. 

Cameron School

Cameron School is located 

in Nashville, Tennessee, in a 

predominantly African American 

community known as Trimble 

Bottom, located approximately four 

miles southeast of the State Capitol. 

The school is significant for its 

association with the community’s 

African American heritage, and 

in the areas of social history and 

education. Cameron’s period of 

significance spans from 1939, when 

segregated education in the United 

States was the norm, up to 1954. 

Built in a modified Late Gothic 

Revival style by the Public Works 

Administration (PWA) for African 

Americans in Nashville, the school 

provided a community gathering 

place, and offered neighborhood 

outreach programs. 

The school is named after 

Nashville native Henry Alvin 

Cameron, a science teacher who 

taught at another local segregated 

school, known as the Pearl School, 

from 1897 until 1917, at which time 

he volunteered for World War I 

(Top) J.T. Williams Hall, named for a 

former chief executive officer, serves 

as the main administration building for the University of Maryland 

Eastern Shore. Courtesy of the Maryland 

State Historic Preservation Office.
and died in service to his country. 

It stands as one of the first schools 

in Nashville to honor of an African 

American and served as one of the 

central social institutions for the 

African American community. 

Rio Grande City Downtown 

Historic District

Rio Grande City Downtown 

Historic District was listed in 

the National Register of Historic 

Places for its significance in the 

areas of architecture, community 

planning and development, and 

ethnic heritage. Located in Rio 

Grande City, Texas, a town on the 

United States-Mexican border, the 

district consists of 84 contributing 

resources, a large majority of which 

are commercial and domestic 

structures. 

The district’s buildings are 

mainly examples of vernacular 

types particular to the region of 

South Texas from the latter part 

of the 19th century, showcasing 

architectural influences from 

Mexico, but also characteristics 

germane to the other ethnic groups 

that settled the area, notably 

(Above) The Renaga-Headley-Edgerton House located on Second Street, is one 

of 84 contributing resources to the Rio Grande City Downtown Historic District, 

Texas. Courtesy of Terri Myers.

(Left) Odd Fellows Hall once served as a meeting hall for the African American 

community, Blacksburg, Virginia, during the first half of the 19th century. 

Courtesy of Michael J. Pulice.

(Below) Cameron is one of two African American schools built in Nashville, 

Tennessee, as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal Era programs. Courtesy of Carroll Van 

West.

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

MARCH 2006
page 9

TRIBAL INITIATIVES

Tribal Historic 

Preservation Officers

As of November 28, 2005, the 

Native American tribes with 

officially recognized Tribal Historic 

Preservation Offices include:

• Absentee Shawnee Tribe (Oklahoma)

• Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians 

(California)

• Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens 

Valley (California)

• Bishop Paiute Tribe (California)

• Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe of Indians 

(California)

• Caddo Tribe of Oklahoma (Oklahoma)

• Catawba Indian Nation (South 

Carolina)

• Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (South 

Dakota)

• Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky 

Boy’s Reservation (Montana)

• Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma 

(Oklahoma)

• Confederated Salish and Kootenai 

Tribes of the Flathead Nation 

(Montana)

• Confederated Tribes of the Colville 

Reservation (Washington)

• Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 

Reservation (Oregon)

• Confederated Tribes of the Warm 

Springs Reservation in Oregon 

(Oregon) 

• Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians 

(North Carolina)

• The Ho-Chunk Nation (Wisconsin)

• Hualapai Tribe (Arizona)

• Keweenaw Bay Indian Community 

(Michigan)

• Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake 

Superior Chippewa Indians of 

Wisconsin (Wisconsin)

• Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake 

Superior Chippewa Indians 

(Wisconsin)

• Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake 

Superior Chippewa Indians 

(Michigan)

• Leech Lake Band of Chippewa Indians 

(Minnesota) 

• Lummi Nation (Washington)

• Makah Tribe (Washington)

• Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin 

(Wisconsin)

• Mescalero Apache Tribe (New Mexico)

• Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians 

(Minnesota)

• Narragansett Indian Tribe (Rhode 

Island)

• Navajo Nation (Arizona)

• Northern Cheyenne Tribe (Montana)

• Onieda Nation of Wisconsin 

(Wisconsin)

• Passamaquoddy Tribe (Maine)

• Penobscot Nation (Maine)

• Poarch Band of Creek Indians 

(Alabama)

• Pueblo of Zuni (New Mexico)

• Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior 

Chippewas (Wisconsin)

• Seneca Nation of Indians (New York)

• Sisseton-Wahpenton Oyate (South 

Dakota)

• Skokomish Indian Tribe (Washington)

• Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians 

(Utah)

• Smith River Rancheria (California)

• Spokane Tribe of Indians (Washington) 

• Squaxin Island Tribe (Washington)

• Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (North 

Dakota)

• Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band 

of Mohican Indians (Wisconsin)

• Table Bluff Reservation-Wiyot Tribe 

(California)

• Timbisha Shoshone Tribe (California) 

• Tunica-Biloxi Indians of Louisiana 

(Louisiana) 

• Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa 

(North Dakota) 

• Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head 

(Massachusetts) 

• White Earth Band of Minnesota 

Chippewa (Minnesota)

• White Mountain Apache Tribe 

(Arizona)

• Yurok Tribe (California)

For more information on THPOs, contact James 

Bird at 202/354-1837, e-mail: james_bird@nps.gov.

French, Spanish and Germans. 

Rio Grande City boasts one of the 

best concentrations of vernacular 

architecture in the South Texas 

corridor that extends from Laredo 

to Brownsville. Although the town 

was not officially platted until 1848 

by founder Henry Clay Davis, the 

district’s period of significance 

spans from 1840 to 1940, just prior 

to U.S. involvement in World War II. 

Odd Fellows Hall

Odd Fellows Hall, located in 

the community of New Town, is 

situated in the southwest section 

of the downtown commercial 

area of Blacksburg, Virginia. The 

hall was listed in the National 

Register of Historic Places for its 

association with the community’s 

African American ethnic heritage. 

Built of wooden construction, 

the hall is designed in a simple 

vernacular style. The hall’s period 

of significance spans from 1905 

to 1955, when it was used by the 

local African American community 

as a gathering place for social 

functions at a time in American 

history when public facilities 

were racially segregated. The first 

floor of the hall was utilized on a 

weekly basis for social gatherings, 

including church suppers, dances, 

and community meetings, while 

the second floor was reserved 

as meeting space for members 

of the society. Odd Fellows Hall 

stands as one of the few remaining 

structures in New Town, once 

the social center of the local 

African American community. 

Once desegregation took place 

throughout the South in the 1960s, 

the hall ceased to serve as a social 

and fraternal organization for the 

community.
HERITAGE 

MATTERS

MARCH 2006

page 10

Announcements

Supporting a Year of the Museum 

Resolution in Your Community

In conjunction with its centennial 

anniversary, the American 

Association of Museums (AAM) 

has declared 2006 the Year of 

Museum. It is a time to celebrate 

the many ways museums enrich 

our lives and our communities. It 

represents the beginning of a major 

national effort to encourage all 

Americans to experience, celebrate, 

and support the museums in their 

communities. Communities can 

highlight these local efforts and 

participate by working with state 

and local officials to propose 

resolutions to recognize the Year of 

the Museum.

Year of the Museum resolutions 

are significant gestures by local 

officials to convey the importance 

of museums to the public. The 

resolutions were crafted to include 

a broad spectrum of museums 

of all disciplines and sizes. They 

should celebrate and make the 

case for museums—as places of 

discovery, community, and life-long 

learning. 

For more information about the Year of the 

Museum, to register your museum, and to find 

resources for creating a resolution and getting it 

passed, visit www.aam-us.org/yom. 

African American Architects 

Receive Prestigious Award for 

Excellence in Design

The Freelon Group Architects and 

RTKL partnership, which designed 

the newly opened Reginald F. 

Lewis Museum of African American 

History and Culture, has won the 

“2005 Public Building of the Year 

Award” presented by the American 

Institute of Architects/ Maryland 

state chapter (AIA Maryland). The 

prestigious award was presented 

at AIA Maryland’s Annual 2005 

Design Awards program held 

September 28, 2005, at the Music 

Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, 

Maryland. Led by Phil Freelon 

and Gary Bowden, the partnership 

had previously received the 2001 

Isosceles Award for architectural 

design excellence. 

AIA Maryland celebrates 

the design accomplishment of 

architects in Maryland with this 

annual event. The competition 

is open to individual members 

and firms whose principals are 

members of AIA Maryland. The 

2005 AIA Maryland Design Awards 

aim to encourage and recognize 

distinguished architectural 

achievement and focus public 

attention on the architect’s role in 

shaping the quality of life through 

design excellence.

To learn more about the Reginald F. Lewis 

Museum or to obtain visitor information, please 

visit the Museum’s website at http://www.

AfricanAmericanCulture.org or call 443/263-1800.

Vernacular Architecture Forum 

Solicits Nominations for the 

Paul E. Buchanan Award for 

Excellence in Field Work and 

Interpretation

The Vernacular Architecture Forum 

(VAF) seeks nominations for the 

Paul E. Buchanan Award for 2006. 

Initiated by VAF in 1993, the award 

recognizes excellence in field 

work and interpretative projects 

that contribute significantly to 

our knowledge of vernacular 

architecture and landscape studies. 

Paul E. Buchanan served for 

over 30 years as the Director of 

Architectural Research at Colonial 

Williamsburg Foundation, setting 

the standard for architectural 

fieldwork in America. 

Projects completed in 

2004 and 2005 are eligible for 

consideration and may include, 

but are not limited to architectural 

recording projects (including 

HABS/HAER), historic structures 

reports, cultural resource surveys, 

historic designation studies, and 

preservation plans.

The award will be announced 

at the 2006 VAF Conference in 

New York City. Winner of the 

2005 Buchanan Award was (The 

corporation for) Jefferson’s 

Poplar Forest, for its pathbreaking research, restoration, 

and interpretation of Thomas 

Jefferson’s Villa Retreat, and 

associated field school. 

For more information, please contact Mark 

Reinberger, University of Georgia, reinberg@uga.

edu.

Conferences

March 2006

Museums and the Web 2006

Archives and Museums Infomatics 

will host “Museums and the Web 

2006” on March 22-25, 2006, in 

Albuquerque, New Mexico. The 

conference will address the social, 

cultural, design, technological, 

economic, and organizational 

issues of culture and heritage 

online. Taking an international 

perspective, senior speakers with 

extensive experience in Web 

development will review and 

analyze the issues and impacts of 

networked cultural and natural 

heritage. 

MW2006 will feature plenary 

sessions, parallel sessions, 

museum project demonstrations, 

commercial exhibits, miniworkshops, professional fora, a 

usability lab, a design “Crit Room,” 

and the Best of the Web awards. 

Presentations will include “Linking 

Minority Communities Through the 

ANNOUNCEMENTS, CONFERENCES, 

AND EVENTS 
page 11

Web” and “The Online and Onsite 

Holocaust Museum Exhibition as 

an Informational Resource.” 

For more information, visit http://www.archimuse.

com/mw2006/index.html.

April 2006

OAH/NCPH Joint Conference

The 99th annual Meeting of 

the Organization of American 

Historians (OAH) and the 28th 

annual Meeting of the National 

Council on Public History (NCPH) 

will be held jointly at the Hilton 

Washington Hotel in Washington, 

DC, April 19-22, 2006. The program 

theme, “Our America/Nuestra 

América” is meant to explore the 

many meanings of “America” for 

people living in North America and 

beyond. Touching on the concept 

of Nuestra Ameríca as articulated 

by 19th-century Cuban poet and 

patriot José Martí, this year’s 

program committee has designed 

a meeting which expands the 

definition of “America” beyond 

borders and across bodies of water, 

and will engage us in debates about 

the place of the United States in the 

Western hemisphere and the world.

Events

Preservation-related 

Commemorations 

• African American Heritage 

Month (February)

• Asian American/Pacific Islander 

Heritage Month (May)

• Historic Preservation Month 

(May)

• 100th Anniversary of the 

Antiquities Act of 1906 (June 8)

• Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month 

(September 15–October 15)

• 40th Anniversary of the National 

Historic Preservation Act 

(October 15)

• American Indian Heritage 

Month (November)

and Gulf Coast states’ historic 

preservation offices (SHPOs), 

sent teams to assist in condition 

assessments, rehabilitation and 

restoration efforts, and the work 

of determining the viability of the 

remaining cultural and historic 

fabric. The American Association 

of Museums (AAM) created “First 

Reports” webpages to report on 

museums and cultural resources 

in the wake of both hurricanes 

Katrina and Rita. The National 

Park Service detailed professionals 

to other agencies to assist in 

the documentation process, as 

well as emergency stabilization 

of structures and protection of 

archeological sites.

FEMA provided much of 

the technical assistance in the 

aftermath of the hurricanes. 

Strategic planning with the SHPOs 

about historic preservation needs 

and hazard mitigation occupy much 

of its operations. The AIA Disaster 

Response and Recovery Program’s 

primary mission was assisting small 

property owners with condition 

assessments and member architects 

with support. In conjunction 

with the American Planning 

Association, AIA presented the 

Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding 

Conference in New Orleans on 

November 10-12, 2005, to address 

pressing needs and explore 

strategies needed to facilitate 

recovery efforts. The conference 

was cosponsored by other 

organizations, such as the National 

Trust for Historic Preservation, 

the American Society of Civil 

Engineers, and the Louisiana 

Recovery Authority. 

Natural disasters affecting 

historic properties are not new nor 

are they limited to the Gulf Coast. 

Tornados rip through the Plains 

and Midwest annually and forest 

fires destroy acres of woodlands in 

the West, while ruining lives. FEMA 

deals with disasters regularly—on 

average 49 disasters a year since 

1991—but nothing comparable 

to last hurricane season. As the 

estimates begin to come in, the cost 

to our nation’s cultural heritage, 

from grand buildings to vernacular 

neighborhoods, will be calculated 

not only in dollars, but in absences 

and memories. 

For more information, visit http://www.aia.org/

about_katrina_aid; http://www.fema.gov/ehp/; and 

http://www.ncshpo.org. 

An aerial view of the flooded historic St. Louis Cemetery one week after 

hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. The post-hurricane flooding resulted 

from breaches in the levees surrounding the city. Courtesy of Chris Usher for TIME.

From KATRINA, page 1
FIRST CLASS MAIL

Postage & Fees Paid

U.S. Department 

of the Interior

National Park Service

1849 C Street, NW (2280)

Washington, DC 20240

Fran P. Mainella

Director

Janet Snyder Matthews

Associate Director

Cultural Resources 

Antoinette J. Lee

Assistant Associate 

Director, Historical 

Documentation Programs

John W. Roberts

Acting Chief, National 

Register/National Historic 

Landmarks Programs

Brian D. Joyner

Heritage Matters Editor

Mission of the 

National Park Service

The National Park Service is dedicated 

to conserving unimpaired the natural 

and cultural resources and the values of 

the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this 

and future generations. The Service also 

cooperates with partners to extend the 

benefits of natural and cultural resource 

conservation and outdoor recreation 

throughout this country and the world.

Heritage Matters, sponsored by the 

Cultural Resources Programs of the 

National Park Service, is published twicea-year and is free of charge. Readers are 

invited to submit short articles and notices 

for inclusion. (Limit submissions to fewer 

than 600 words and include author’s name 

and affiliation. Photographs or slides 

are welcome.) Please submit newsletter items in writing or electronically to: 

Brian D. Joyner, Editor, Heritage Matters,

DOI/National Park Service, 1849 C Street, 

NW (2280), Washington, DC 20240. Phone: 

202/354-2276, email: brian_joyner@nps.gov.

Visit the website for the NPS Cultural 

Resources Diversity Program: www.

cr.nps.gov/crdi

HERITAGE 

MATTERS

MARCH 2006

 CONTENTS

H E R I TA G E M AT T E R S

NPS ACTIVITIES, pages 2-4

Creole Focus: HABS photographs in Natchitoches, 

Louisiana, p. 2

Cultural Resources Diversity Internship Program, 

p. 4

National Historic Landmarks designated, p. 4

PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVES, pages 1, 5

Historic Preservation and the Aftermath of 

Hurricane Katrina, p. 1

Presenting Race and Slavery at Historic Sites 

Research Project, p. 5

STATE INITIATIVES, pages 6-9

National Register Nominations, p. 6

• Rockefeller Park and Cleveland Cultural 

Gardens Historic District, Cleveland, Ohio

• University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess 

Anne, Maryland

• The Spring Place Historic District, Murray 

County, Georgia

• Cameron School, Nashville, Tennessee

• Rio Grande City Downtown Historic District, 

Rio Grande City, Texas

• Odd Fellows Hall, Blacksburg, Virginia

TRIBAL INITIATIVES, page 9

Tribal Historic Preservation Officers list, p. 9

ANNOUNCEMENTS, CONFERENCES, AND EVENTS, 

pages 10-11

Announcements, p. 10

AAM’s “Year of the Museum” Resolution, p. 10

Public Building of the Year Award for Reginald F. 

Lewis Museum of African American History and 

Culture in Baltimore, p. 10

Nominations Open for Paul E. Buchanan Award 

for Excellence in Field Work and Interpretation, 

p. 10

Conferences, p. 10

Museums and the Web 2006, March 2006, 

Albuquerque, New Mexico, p. 10

Organization of American Historians/ National 

Council on Public History Joint Conference, April 

2006, Washington, DC, p. 11

Events, p. 11

Preservation-related Commemorations, p. 11

page 12

This material is based upon work conducted under a cooperative agreement between the U.S. 

Department of the Interior, National Park Service, and the National Conference of State Historic 

Preservation Officers. Views and conclusions in this material are those of the authors and should not be 

interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or 

commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Hurricane Katrina’s wreckage in 

Gulfport, Mississippi, illustrates the 

heavy toll on lives, property, heritage, 

and wildlife. See page 1. Photo courtesy 

of Chris Usher for Time.