Changing Perceptions 

of the American Cultural

Landscape

Theresa Campbell-Page 

National Conference of State Historic

Preservation Officers

Recent scholarship presented at the

“Places of Cultural Memory: African

Reflections on the American Landscape”

conference, in Atlanta, Georgia, encouraged Teaching with Historic Places

(TwHP) to take another look at our lesson

plan,“When Rice Was King.”TwHP, a program of the National Register of Historic

Places, offers a series of more than 70

online lessons for teachers of history and

other subjects.

The Atlanta conference developed out of

the realization that little was known

about African cultural heritage in the

United States. Likewise, while our lesson plan described the labor Africans

contributed to the emerging eighteenth

century American agricultural economy, it did not acknowledge prior

African expertise in rice cultivation.

Information from the conference

inspired us to revise the lesson’s focus

to include the examination of the 

origins of rice production and the 

cultural genesis of the communities

that use the lesson plan.

The lesson plan detailed the South’s

growing reliance on slave labor and the

steps involved in South Carolina rice

cultivation. Based on an essay written

for the conference by Judith Carney,

“Rice, Slaves, and Landscapes of

Cultural Memory,”(*) we added new

content, demonstrating the long history

of skilled rice cultivation in West Africa

that preceded the settlement of South

Carolina. Furthermore, the lesson now

National Park Service Activities

HERITAGE MATTERS

NEWS OF THE NATION’S DIVERSE CULTURAL HERITAGE

NOVEMBER 2001

Floodgates on a Carolina tidal plantation, c. 1920, allowed fresh water in to irrigate the rice beds. 

Courtesy of the Charleston Museum. page 1

The map illustrates inland and Tidewater rice systems used near the

Cooper River, South Carolina. Courtesy of Richard Porcher. 

• • • • • • upland • • 

• • • • • • 

• • • • 

• • 

• upland 

• 

.1, 

'"-

• 

• 

Rice Systems 

~-=:hl inland swamp 

tidal adapted from Richard Porcher 
page 2

specifies similarities between the

methods used in West Africa and

South Carolina, such as the successful

tidal production method, which

required manipulation of tidal flows to

attain high levels of productivity in

flood plains of rivers and streams.

Carney asserts that African-born slaves

provided the critical expertise that

made South Carolina rice cultivation

successful. Questions accompanying

the reading make the lesson plan users

consider slave contributions to agricultural advances and the effect this had

on the institution of slavery. Additional

questions ask students to consider

whether slaves were given credit for 

the experience and knowledge they

brought to rice cultivation.

Further revisions include an activity to

enhance appreciation of multicultural

contributions to different areas. Lesson

plan users research various cultures in

their community, e.g., Where did they

come from? What skills did they bring

to the area? They look for evidence

representing their influence, discuss

similarities and differences of the

groups, and conclude which one has

the most influence today.

Finally, we added supplementary

resources so lesson plan users could

further explore this topic. Changing the

lesson became a useful exercise in

keeping our materials current. New

evidence presented in the lesson will

help users examine the complex role of

slave labor in America, while highlighting the influence of African cultural

heritage on the American landscape.

For more information on Teaching with Historic

Places, visit our website at www.cr.nps.gov/

nr/twhp. To read the “When Rice Was King”

lesson plan, visit www.cr.nps.gov/

nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/3rice/3rice.htm.

* Judith Carney, “Rice, Slaves, and

Landscapes of Cultural Memory,” in Places of

Cultural Memory: African Reflections on the

American Cultural Landscape, Conference

Proceedings, May 9–12, 2001, Atlanta,

Georgia (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department

of the Interior, National Park Service, 2001).

Understanding and

Preserving Africanisms

in the USA

Brian D. Joyner

Cultural Resources Diversity Initiative

The “Places of Cultural Memory:

African Reflections on the American

Landscape” conference took place May

9–12, 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia. The

conference brought together academic

scholars and historic preservationists

to explore Africanisms—aspects of

African heritage—in the built environment in the Americas. Approximately

200 people participated in the landmark event.

Over the course of the conference,

speakers with interdisciplinary perspectives addressed African cultural

heritage in the Americas. Joseph E.

Harris of Howard University opened

the conference with a global perspective on the African Diaspora. Robert

Farris Thompson of Yale University

addressed reflections of African culture

throughout the arts of the New World.

These opening presentations were 

followed by thematic sessions on the

diaspora, agricultural lifeways and

technology, cultural landscapes, and

urban and rural communities.

In his comments on the session,

“Agricultural Lifeways and Technologies,” Ted Landsmark of the Boston

Architectural Center crystallized the

spirit of the conference. Landsmark

stated that much on this topic was

already known and available in print.

However, it was time for preservationists to take advantage of this scholarship and use it in preservation and 

cultural heritage efforts in their 

communities.

“Places of Cultural Memory” also

addressed the preservation concerns in

the Gullah/Geechee community of

South Carolina and the African Burial

Ground project in New York City. Each

of the sessions highlighted historic

preservation efforts and discussed

areas of conflict between community

needs, commercial desires, and governmental involvement.

The question asked in many different

ways at “Places of Cultural Memory”

conference was: what should we do

with this information? The underlying

theme of a need for confluence of academic scholarship and historic preservation seems to be the answer, in addition to use of the materials in the

development of heritage tourism

opportunities. The National Park

Service seeks to use the conference

papers and subsequent publications to

assist in disseminating the conference

contents. Hard copies of the conference

papers are available through the

Cultural Resources Diversity Initiative

program of the National Park Service;

electronic copies are available over the

Initiative’s website: www.cr.nps.gov/crdi.

For more information or to receive hard copies

of the papers, contact Brian Joyner, 202/343-

1000, or e-mail brian_joyner@nps.gov.

Teaching About African

American Heritage

Preservation and

Ethnographic Resources

Online

Audrey L. Brown 

Cultural Anthropologist

Archeology & Ethnography Program

The Archeology & Ethnography (A&E)

Program and the Stephen T. Mather

Training Center are co-sponsoring

development of a distance learning

course entitled “African American

Perspectives on Heritage Preservation

and Stewardship of Ethnographic

Resources.” The course will be a model

for an online course series: “Multicultural Heritage Preservation and Stewardship of Ethnographic Resources.”

Under the coordination of Audrey L.

Brown, the courses are being developed by the Curricula Work Group

(CWG), to provide National Park

Service staff with a greater competency

in managing and interpreting these

resources and in consultation with

other kinds of communication with

culturally diverse communities.

The CWG was formed to develop

courses for the online series. John

Hale, Superintendent, National Capital

Parks-East and Brett Williams, Chairperson, Department of Anthropology,

American University are project 

co-leaders. Together with other NPS

members, S. Terry Childs, Clarenda

Drake, Doris Fanelli, Antoinette Lee,

Cynthia Salter-Stith, Mark Scheopfle,

and Fredrick York, they bring expertise

in ethnography, cultural resource planning, management and interpretation,

historic preservation, web design,

online education methodologies and

African American cultural heritage.

The CWG also includes six universitybased anthropologists: Mario Gonzales

(Southwestern University), Stephen

Gregory (Columbia University), Pensiri

Ho (American University), Arlene

Torres, (University of Illinois), Lok CD

Siu (New York University) and Rosita

Worl (University of Alaska). Completing the group’s membership are John

Franklin and Olivia Cadaval, Center for

Folklife and Cultural Heritage,

Smithsonian Institution; Sandy Hoa

Dang, social activist and cultural performer; Marianna Blagburn, public

anthropologist; and Diane Dale, community historian. These group members bring expertise in the cultures of

Native Alaskans, African Americans,

Asian Americans, and Hispanic

Americans.

On January 7–10, 2002, the CWG will

participate in a Curriculum Development workshop at the Sumner School

in Washington, DC. Miki Crespi, Chief

Ethnographer, will conduct a session

called “Ethnographic Resources: What

Are They, Whose Are They and Why

Are They Important in Park Planning,

Management, and Interpretation?” Tony

Knapp, Program Manager, Cultural

Resources Stewardship Career Field,

will facilitate the discussions proceeding the session. The intent is to provide

National Park Service staff with a

greater competency in managing and

interpreting these resources in 

consultation with culturally diverse

communities.

Park staff and others with expertise in 

Pacific Islander, Asian American, Hispanic

American, or Native Alaskan cultures who 

wish to participate may contact Audrey Brown 

at audrey_brown@nps.gov. 
The Cultural Resources

Diversity Internship

Program Sponsors 20

Interns in Summer of

2001 

Moriba N. McDonald 

Cultural Resources Diversity Initiative

In the summer of 2001, the Cultural

Resources Diversity Internship Program

sponsored 20 undergraduate/graduate 

students. This 10-week summer program is designed as a career exploration experience for students who are

interested in applying their interest in

history, architecture, and related subjects to work at historic sites, public

preservation agencies, and private

preservation organizations. Through

this program, students can build their

resumes of work in the cultural

resources stewardship/historic preservation field.

In 2001, interns were assigned to work

at Independence National Historical

Park, National Register of Historic

Places, Advisory Council on Historic

Preservation, Maryland Historical Trust,

the Arizona State Historic Preservation

Office, and private non-profit organizations, including the National Trust for

Historic Preservation, the Dallas Historical Society, and the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County,

Pennsylvania. The intern sponsors were

selected competitively based on the

quality of the proposed project.

Student projects ranged from designing

a website for a historic slave cabin in

Maryland to cataloging historical artifacts related to Scott Joplin, indexing

archival items from the Texas Centennial, assisting the Maryland African

American Museum Corporation with

membership and outreach programs,

surveying historic places associated

with women’s history in New Jersey, and

conducting research on diverse American Revolutionary War heroes.

During the sixth week of the program,

the interns were invited to Washington,

DC to participate in a week-long career

workshop. The workshop included presentations by staff of the National Park

Service, the National Trust for Historic

Preservation, and the National Building

Museum. Students also toured the Shaw

neighborhood, the Moorland-Spingarn

Research Center at Howard University,

and the Frederick Douglass National

Historic Site. They worked in smaller

peer groups on topics related to their

intern projects and made presentations

on the final day of the workshop.

The Cultural Resources Diversity

Internship Program is funded by a grant

from the Challenge Cost Share Program

of the National Park Service; the

National Center for Cultural Resources,

National Park Service; the Everett Public

Service Internship Program; and the

intern sponsors. The Student Conservation Association is the administrative

partner for this program.

In the summer of 2002, the Cultural

Resources Diversity Internship Program

will sponsor another group of interns.

Students enrolled at Historically Black

Colleges and Universities, Hispanic

Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges,

and other minority schools and academic departments are encouraged to

apply to this program.

For additional information on the internship program, contact Moriba N. McDonald, 

e-mail:moriba_mcdonald@nps.gov. Intern 

applications should be directed to: Student

Conservation Association, 1800 North Kent

Street, Suite 102, Arlington, VA 22209 or visit

SCA at: www.sca-inc.org. The deadline for 

submitting intern applications to the Student

Conservation Association is March 1, 2002.

An Internship in Historic

Charleston

Nekya Young

Charleston, South Carolina has the oldest historic district in the nation. In

1931, the Charleston City Council established a permanent Board of Architectural Review to review plans for alterations and additions in the Old and

Historic Charleston District. Although it

has enjoyed more than 70 years of protection, historic Charleston continues to

evolve and meet new challenges.

In the summer of 2001, I was selected

as an intern in the National Park

Service’s Cultural Resources Diversity

Internship Program. My internship was

with the National Trust for Historic

Preservation Southern Office in

Charleston, South Carolina. During my 

10-week internship, I had the privilege

of working with various preservation

organizations, including the Preservation Society of Charleston, the Board

of Architectural Review, and City of

Charleston Preservation Planning

Department, while participating 

in the review of alterations to historic 

properties.

In my work with city planner, Eddie

Bellow of the City of Charleston

Preservation Planning Commission, I

was able to get a larger picture of

preservation planning and a behindthe-scenes look at the Board of

Architectural Review. Eddie and his

staff allowed me to see how they prepare materials about the properties that

go before the Board of Architectural

Review. I also interviewed staff members and asked them about the pros and

cons of preservation planning, their

educational backgrounds, and how that

led them to their present careers.

I also experienced the private sector

side of historic preservation with the

Preservation Society of Charleston.

While working with the Preservation

Society, I was able to pull together an

easement package, conduct research,

make site visits, and organize meetings

regarding easement acceptance.

At the offices of the National Trust for

Historic Preservation in Charleston, SC,

I assisted Sierra Neal with a five-year

plan for the Southeast Regional African

American Preservation Alliance conferences. I also participated in the review

of transportation-related projects in

Charleston, where five homes were

affected by a road-widening project for

a bridge, and in Savannah, Georgia

where a road-widening project was

located adjacent to a historic district.

During the summer, I interviewed several individuals who work in historic

preservation. They included Dwayne

Green, a lawyer and Vice Chair on the

Board of Architectural Review; Mary

Edmunds, Deputy State Historic

Preservation Officers for the State of

South Carolina; Vanessa TurnerMaybank, tourism director for the City

of Charleston; and Valerie Perry,

page 3

HERITAGE MATTERS Internships, Colleges, and Universities 

See INTERNSHIP, page 10, column 2

NOVEMBER 2001
Lower East Side

Conservancy Assists 

with Recognition of

Neighborhood and 

Two Synagogues 

The Lower East Side Conservancy

announced at a ceremony on April 19,

2001, that the historic Lower East Side

historic district in New York City has

been placed on the New York State and

National Registers of Historic Places in

recognition of the role the Lower East

Side played in our nation’s history. The

Lower East Side has the distinction of a

place of first settlement for almost

every immigrant group that has come

to America. Nomination for the Lower

East Side was co-sponsored by the

Conservancy and the Lower East Side

Business Improvement District.

In addition, two of the neighborhood’s

most important and historic synagogues, Beth Hamedrash Hagadol and

Kehila Kedosha Janina, were added to

the New York State and National Registers. At the June 21, 2001, presentation

in New York, the synagogues received a

combined total of more than $375,000

in grants and loans to enable them to

restore their building exteriors.

Beth Hamedrash Hagadol was built in

1852 as a Baptist church and became a

synagogue in 1885. In 1967 the synagogue was one of the first to become a

New York City Landmark when the congregation’s rabbi used the new landmark law to help prevent demolition of

the building. Kehila Kedosha Janina,

built in 1926, is the last remaining

Greek Romaniote synagogue in the

Western Hemisphere and houses a

museum of the history of Romaniote

Jews and the story of Greek Jews during

the Holocaust.

The Lower East Side Conservancy was

created in 1998 as a project of the

United Jewish Council of the East Side.

The Conservancy’s mission is to celebrate, preserve, and share the Jewish

heritage of the Lower East Side of New

York City. In addition to working in historic preservation with the local community, the Conservancy is developing

heritage tourism through its Insider’s

Tours of many of the local synagogues

and of the Lower East Side’s important

historic Jewish sites.

For more information contact Gail Morse,

Director of Tourism, The Lower East Side

Conservancy, 200 East Broadway, Suite 3A,

New York, NY 10002. Telephone: 212/598-

1200, fax: 212/598-4573, LESConservancy@

aol.com, www.nycjewishtours.org.

Immigrant Teenagers

Discover Their

Neighborhood: A Report

from Bensonhurst,

Brooklyn

Ned Kaufman

Vlad is 15 years old. He lives in

Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, but he has not

been there very long. He was born in

Russia, and Russian is his first language. Many of his friends have similar

stories, for Bensonhurst is one of New

York’s fastest-growing Russian communities. It has a rich heritage, sustained

by its inhabitants and their abiding connection with the neighborhood.

An eight-week after-school program at

the Jewish Community House, carried

out with funding from New York City

Councilman Kenneth Fisher’s New

American Youth Initiative, seeks to

understand what living in Bensonhurst

means to Vlad and his friends. The program starts with a question: “What are

the places you care about in your neighborhood?” Then the students discussed,

photographed, and wrote about aspects

of neighborhood life that were important to them. They interviewed Brooklyn Borough Historian John Manbeck.

They designed and assembled an exhibit, and presented it to the community at

an evening gathering.

The program had two valuable outcomes. First, the students learned to

care about their neighborhood in new

ways, to value places and opportunities

they had taken for granted. Second,

adults gained a better understanding of

the city as experienced by teenagers,

teenagers who had brought a fresh eye

and a different set of experiences.

The places the students singled out are

instructive. Home, the center of family

life and self; school; hang-out spots like

the pizza place, diner, pool hall, and the

deli. More hang-out spots are mentioned: the Jewish Community House

itself, a vibrant and nurturing gathering

place; and the lively shopping strip

under the “el” trains on 86th Street.

Finally, the local park, with its basketball and handball courts. Beyond the

confines of Bensonhurst, these youths

see themselves as citizens of the city

and roam it pretty widely via subway.

What makes a good neighborhood for

Russian immigrant teens in Bensonhurst? Good home, schools, public

spaces, places for hanging out, transit.

The basics that have made good urban

neighborhoods continue to do so. These

things create a neighborhood heritage

of places that sustain Vlad and his

friends from Moscow and Odessa as

they add a new layer to it.

Ned Kaufman is a cultural resource consultant

based in Yonkers, New York and director of the

program at the Jewish Community House.

Contact Ned Kaufman at 914/476-3045; e-mail:

nk290nk@aol.com.

St. Croix Heritage Trail

Now Navigable Online

The St. Croix Heritage Trail, a designated Millennium Legacy Trail maintained

by the St. Croix Landmarks Society,

received funding for a navigable web

site from the Federal Highway Administration through the Virgin Islands

Department of Public Works. The grant

funds several Heritage Trail publications and products including the design

and construction of several scenic

pullovers and overlooks along 28 miles

of the trail. The route consists of existing roadways and has been developed

as a joint effort of the St. Croix

Landmarks Society, the Virgin Islands

Department of Tourism, and the St.

Croix Chamber of Commerce.

The St. Croix Heritage Trail is a 72-mile 

driving tour that circles St. Croix, the

largest of the three United States Virgin

Islands and the site of one of the earliest American landings of Christopher

Columbus. The trail connects many of

St. Croix's rich natural and cultural heritage sites. This includes two worldHERITAGE MATTERS Community Initiatives

NOVEMBER 2001
class historic colonial towns, one of the

earliest American-European contact

points in the western hemisphere, an

eclectic mixture of churches, a prison,

and a large assemblage of eighteenth

and nineteenth century architectural

remains associated with Danish colonial rule and the sugar industry. Point

Udall, which is the eastern-most point

in the United States, is also included on

the Trail.

The site has photographs, maps, and

descriptions of St. Croix's attractions,

agriculture, natural areas, plantations,

culture, historic churches, animal life,

and vegetation. Links are provided for a

number of supporting companies and

organizations, as well as tour operators

that run tours of specific segments of

the St. Croix Heritage Trail. A link to the

Virgin Islands Department of Tourism

Web site also is included. The website

was developed locally by St. Croix business Media Mate Inc. Nancy Buckingham, St. Croix Heritage Trail coordinator said,“A community project such as

the Heritage Trail certainly benefits

from the exposure gained through a

website.”

For more information, contact Nancy

Buckingham, St. Croix Heritage Trail, 69 King

Street Frederiksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands

00840; phone, 340/713-8563. Visit the website

at www.stcroixheritagetrail.com.

Iron County Museum

Reflects Mining Culture

and Regional Diversity

Marcia Bernhardt 

Curator, Iron County Museum

The Iron County Museum, which was

established nearly 40 years ago has

grown from one building to 22, and is

one of the best kept secrets in the Upper

Peninsula of Michigan. The head frame,

used to lift tons of iron ore to the surface, is listed in the National Register of

Historic Places, and is one part of five

outdoor complexes. Depicting the history of the area are a logging camp, a

homestead, the mining area, and transportation, all moved to the grounds and

most over 100 years old.

The main building holds Heritage Hall,

dedicated to the 39 ethnic groups that

settled in the area. Early in its use, nine

nationalities—Native Americans,

Scandinavians (a combination of

Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and

Finnish) Polish, Croatian, Italian and

Cousin Jacks—held festivals and celebrated with folk tales, music, dance, and

culinary specialties. An artist from each

group was asked to portray characteristics of their nationality with paintings

on a beam, which stretched across the

hall with images of their heritage. While

the festivals have diminished to two—

Scandinavian and Italian—the beams

continue to remind the community of

its composition. In addition, the main

building contains over 100 exhibits on

life in the North.

The Museum has also undertaken several other preservation projects. It

maintains an area archives and has

published 15 books on local history.

Among the latest are Barns, Farms, and

Yarns, containing over 300 photos in

color of barns in the county, and Men,

Mines, and Memories, containing pictures of local mines. Both books contain

over 20 oral histories by people describing their lives and their occupations.

For more information, visit the website at

www.ironcountymuseum.org. 

The Wooden Canvas:

Documenting Historic

Aspen Art Carvings in

Southwest Colorado

Karen Thurman

Education Outreach Coordinator 

San Juan Mountains Association

At first it looks like graffiti left behind

by early travelers through the forest.

Upon closer inspection, however, the

carvings on the soft bark of aspen trees

tell a fascinating story of the lives of

Hispanic and Basque sheep herders, as

well as the challenges they encountered

with cattle ranchers who used the same

meadows to graze their herds. Ignored

for years, the stories told by arborglyphs

are being sought out by cultural historians and those interested in a unique

form of Hispanic folk art.

The Pine/Piedra Stock Driveway, located

in southwest Colorado, is a 27-mile long

ribbon of history that stretches from the

lowlands along the Colorado-New

Mexico border to the high meadows of

the Weminuche Wilderness. The driveway was used from 1900 to 1960 by

sheep and cattle ranchers to move their

herds from winter grazing grounds to

summer pasture in the San Juan

Mountains. Lonely, homesick, and

bored, Hispanic and Basque sheepherders would carve their names, dates,

and hometowns on the aspen trees,

documenting their existence to the next

person who passed by. Drawings of

homes, animals, and loves left behind

grace the aspen trees.

Cattle ranchers were using the driveway

as well, intent on bringing their livestock to the same high meadows used

by sheepherders. The aspen trunks

recorded the range wars, with trees

declaring “Cattle Only!” and others

warning “No cattle, only sheep allowed

here.” Contrasting to the graceful

Hispanic script, Anglo arborglyphs were

oftentimes big and bold, with chiseled

words that demanded to be noticed.

The ranching history marked on aspen

trees is slowly being lost, as aspens live

only 80–100 years. Blow downs, forest

fires, and vandalism are also taking

their toll. The San Juan Mountains

Association, a non-profit interpretive

organization located in Durango,

Colorado, has begun efforts to document the arborglyphs found on the

Pine/Piedra Stock Driveway and adjacent trails. Using GPS units and digital

cameras, volunteers painstakingly photograph, sketch, and note the location of

trees bearing carvings. In one summer,

volunteers have recorded almost a thousand arborglyphs. In the project’s next

phase, volunteers will use the information gathered to search for families of

the ranchers in an effort to gather oral

history about an almost-forgotten

lifestyle.

For more information, contact Karen Thurman

at kthurman@fs.fed.us, or visit the website at

www.sjma.org.

The arborglyphs on the Aspen trees

relay the stories of Hispanic and Basque

herders in the Southwest in the early

twentieth century. Photo courtesy of the San

Juan Mountains Association.

page 5
HERITAGE MATTERS State Activities 

NOVEMBER 2001

National Register

Listings

State Historic Preservation Offices 

continue to identify and document historic places associated with the nation’s

cultural groups. The properties

described in this section recently were

nominated by states and listed in the

National Register of Historic Places.

Bethel AME Church

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal

(AME) Church in Reno, Nevada, is the

oldest surviving African American institution in the state. Built in 1910, Bethel

AME was not only the seat of religious

observance, but also a center of social

interaction and participation. It was

added to the National Register June 12,

2001.

The property was listed on the strength

of the church’s social history. Bethel

AME fostered social equality through

its active role in the community, its

direct tie to the establishment of the

Reno-Sparks branch of the National

Association for the Advancement of

Colored People (NAACP), and its abiding dignity in the face of discrimination. Bethel AME Church is one of

Nevada’s most significant building associated with the history of its African

American population.

For more information, contact Mella Harmon,

Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs,

775/684-3447, e-mail; mrharmon@

clan.lib.nv.us.

Frank and Theresa Gomes House

Listed in the National Register on June

14, 2001, the Gomes House is significant

for its place in the social and ethnic history of the Makawao Portuguese community in Hawaii. Built in 1924, the

Gomes House represents a continuation

of the agricultural traditions Portuguese

immigrants maintained on the island 

of Maui.

Portuguese presence in Hawaii dates

back to the late eighteenth century.

Several successful Portuguese families

lived in Makawao, including the Gomes

family. The family, like other Portuguese

families, maintained their cultural ties

through ranching and farming (the

house sits on 21.5 acres of land, some of

which was leased out to the Ha’iku

Pineapple Company, some for raising

cattle), and the forno (outdoor oven)

behind the Gomes home. Traditionally,

homes with fornos were places for the

neighborhood’s women to gather several days each week. The Gomes residence

is exemplary of the contributions of

Portuguese immigrants to Maui’s 

heritage.

For more information, contact Timothy Johns,

Hawaii Department of Land & Natural

Resources, dlnr@exec.state.hi.us.

Located in Reno, Nevada, the Bethel AME church was listed in the National Register in recognition of its role in fostering

social equality in the community. Photo courtesy of Mella Rothwell Harmon.
Brightwell Shotgun Row

The Brightwell Shotgun Row was added

to the National Register, based on its

architecture, community planning and

development, and ethnic heritage.

Located in the New Town section of

Athens, Georgia, the double shotgun

house row on Barber Street was built

between 1935–1940 by Helen Brightwell,

and housed working class African

Americans.

The shotgun house is an African

American vernacular architectural

form, with roots in the Caribbean and

Africa, and is typically found in African

American neighborhoods throughout

the lower south. It also can be found as

far north as Ohio, and as far west as

Texas. However, the double shotgun

variety is unique to Georgia. The shotgun row in Athens is considered notable

due to the back-to-back configuration

of the six homes. The Brightwell

Shotgun Row was listed in the National

Register on June 14, 2001.

For more information, contact Richard Cloues,

Georgia Department of Natural Resources,

Historic Preservation Division,

richard_cloues@mail.dnr.state.ga.us.

page 7

The Frank and Theresa Gomes House was listed in the National Register in recognition of its place in the social and 

ethnic history of the Portuguese in Hawaii. Photo courtesy of Dawn E. Duensing.

The Brightwell Shotgun Row was listed in the National Register in 

recognition of the importance of the double shotgun house type. Photo courtesy of Georgia

Department of Natural Resources.
HERITAGE MATTERS Private Sector Initiatives

NOVEMBER 2001

“Growing Up in

Washington” Views the

Nation’s Capital Through

Children’s Eyes

Jill Connors

Exhibit Coordinator, The Historical

Society of Washington, DC

When most Americans think about

children in Washington they picture

school trips and tour buses at the

Smithsonian. Some children never visited Washington, they already lived here.

For them, the nation’s shrines served as

playgrounds. Their memories combine

the ordinary pleasures and pains of

childhood with the awareness of growing up in a special place. Washington is

a city of people with a rich and multilayered history who feel connected to

the city through community and neighborhood relationships.

Washington is historically a city of

black and white. Although Washington

is becoming increasingly multicultural,

it is still a city 66% African-American

and 27% white. Washington is also a

city that spills beyond its official

boundaries into the neighboring states

of Maryland and Virginia. It is a city

rich with the history of the Jewish community, German community, black

community, newer immigrant communities, service and government workers,

working class and wealthy, and generations of families.

The Historical Society of Washington,

DC began investigating the idea of

growing up in Washington several years

ago with a community oral history

interview initiative. Created around the

theme of childhood in Washington, it

has since grown into several projects,

including an exhibit currently on display at the Historical Society of Washington, DC and a book to be published

this fall through Arcadia Publishing.

The “Growing Up in Washington” project has added new scholarship on the

history of childhood by emphasizing

the importance of place in the experience of children. People identified

movie theaters, parks, and schools as

common places they visited as children.

The most common themes that were

repeatedly echoed in memories of place

were references to the importance of

movie theaters to children and the

impact of segregation on children.

“Growing Up in Washington” gives a

sampling of the experiences the children of Washington had over the past

century. Together these memories weave

a story of Washington and begin to

show the nuances of living in different

quadrants, in different neighborhoods,

in different religious affiliations, and in

different time periods over the past 

century. The immediacy of the stories

provides a sense of the social and cultural changes in the city over the past

hundred years.“Growing Up in Washington” captures what it means to be a

Washingtonian.

For more information, contact the Historical

Society of Washington, D.C. at 202/785-2068.

Looking Back and

Forward: Significant

Places of the GLBT

Community Conference

Held in San Francisco

Gerry Takano

The recognition of diversity sites as 

historic places has strengthened mainstream preservation interests in gay,

lesbian, bisexual and transgender

(GLBT) history, built environment, and

public space. Recently, San Francisco

became the venue for an international

conference that focused on the identification and interpretation of GBLT sites.

On June 21-22, 2001 the “Looking Back

and Forward: Significant Places of the

GLBT Community” conference was presented by the Friends of 1800, a grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated

to preserving significant historical and

Children in Washington stay cool on a hot and hazy summer day at the Columbus

Monument, Union Station Plaza, 1960. Photo courtesy of Gallagher Photo Collection, HSW Collections.
cultural resources, with a special 

interest in the preservation of sites

important to GBLT history.

The two-day conference opened with

the plenary session,“Rainbow Revitalization: The GLBT Role in the

American Historical Preservation

Movement” presented by William

Coburn, a historic preservation consultant based in Dearborn, Michigan.

Sessions that followed provided detailed

reports on the state of GLBT preservation work in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, Seattle, Detroit, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. On the final

day's plenary session, author Will

Fellows of Milwaukee read excerpts

from a forthcoming book, Preservation

Comrades, Gay Men as Keepers of

Culture.

Other conference activities included a

tour of San Francisco's City Hall, highlighting the assassination of openly gay

supervisor Harvey Milk. Accompanying

the official City Hall tour guide was

actor Jim Kennedy who supplemented

the official tour presentation with his

own commentary and audiotapes from

the time of Harvey Milk. Susan Stryker

of the GLBT Historical Society of

Northern California provided a walking

tour of the Tenderloin, providing historical documentation on transgender

presence in the area and pre-Stonewall

resistance at Compton's Cafeteria.

(Stonewall in New York City is the site of

the 1969 raid and demonstrations that

led to the modern gay and lesbian

movement and is a designated National

Historic Landmark.) Other outings

included a walk through the Hayes

Valley, a nearby neighborhood with an

emerging GLBT presence, as well as a

hard-hat tour of the Fallon Building,

undergoing restoration as a result of the

Friends of 1800's efforts.

Conference participation and support

included the GLBT Historical Society of

Northern California, San Francisco

Public Library's James Hormel Center,

and the Joie de Vivre, developers and

owners of the Hotel Bijou Conference

headquarters.

With local, national, and international

interest among activists, communitybased historians, and academics, additional conferences and activities related

to the GLBT built environment are

planned in the future by the Friends 

of 1800.

For further information, visit the website:

www.friendsof1800.org. Gerry Takano is principal in the firm of TBA West, an architectural and

planning firm based in San Francisco.

Washington, DC Unveils

Civil War to Civil Rights

Heritage Trail

On July 2, 2001, District of Columbia

Mayor Anthony Williams uncovered the

first sign of the city’s new 21-sign Civil

War to Civil Rights heritage trail. The

trail winds through the downtown

neighborhood and was developed in a

partnership between the Downtown DC

Business Improvement District and the

DC Heritage Tourism Coalition.

Professor Edward Smith, Chair of

American Studies at American

University in Washington, DC and project consultant, noted early on that the

war was the defining event in our 

country’s history and that it forever

changed Washington, DC as well.

Building on Professor Smith’s analysis,

the trail uses existing historic landmarks to help tell a two-fold story: how

the war transformed the city into the

center of national power, and how our

country and its capital have continued

to experience the challenge of realizing

the American dream of equal rights for

all its citizens.

Trail walkers will encounter places

where well known individuals lived and

worked before, during, and after the

Civil War: individuals such as nurse

Clara Barton; founder of the Contraband Relief Society to aid new freedmen, Elizabeth Keckley; poet and

wartime nurse, Walt Whitman; abolitionist and equal rights champion,

Frederick Douglass; Lincoln assassin,

John Wilkes Booth; and civil rights

leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. President

Lincoln’s presence pervades the trail,

from the church where he and his 

family worshipped, to the old Patent

Office where his second inaugural ball 

was held, to Ford’s Theatre where he

was assassinated.

In her introduction to the accompanying booklet, Kathryn Schneider Smith,

Executive Director of the DC Heritage

Tourism Coalition, relates DC’s trail to

other similar trails around the country.

Smith points out how Boston’s Freedom

Trail represents our colonial and

Revolutionary War history, and that in

Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell and

Independence Hall symbolize the creation of the new nation. In turn,

Washington, DC has been at the heart of

the struggle to preserve the Union and

fulfill its promise. The Civil War to Civil

Rights heritage trail helps residents and

visitors alike to understand the important role our nation’s capital played at

this crucial time and the continuing

impact of the ideals for which the Civil

War was fought.

For more information, contact Richard Busch,

Downtown Heritage Trail Project Manager, DC

Heritage Tourism Coalition, 202/661-7581, or

visit the website at www.dcheritage.org.

Participating in

Preservation

Kathleen May

Southwest Colorado Cultural Site

Stewardship Program

Southwest Colorado is home to infinite

archeological treasurers. The region was

at the heart of the prehistoric ancestral

Puebloan culture. It lay directly in the

path of adventurers and traders along

the Spanish Trail and boasted countless

boomtowns during the exploration and

settlement of the West. Today, thousands of highly visible, yet fragile, sites

of national and international significance can be found scattered among

southwest Colorado’s canyons, forests,

and mesa tops.

Urban and rural development,

increased site visitation, and a rise in

the level of vandalism and looting have

resulted in alarming damage to archeological sites. Cultural resource managers

and archeologists agree that the most

effective way to stem losses is through

public education and community

involvement.

page 9

Mayor Anthony Williams reads one of the new heritage trail signs during the Civil War

to Civil Rights heritage trail opening ceremony. Photo courtesy of Carole Kolker.
page 10

director of the Nathaniel Russell House

and a member of the city’s planning

commission. Most were minorities who

shared with me their experiences 

entering the preservation field and their

current roles in supporting historic

preservation in Charleston.

Because of this internship, my views on

preservation have completely changed.

Historically, the preservation field was

commonly known as an “elite” field.

During this internship I have been persuaded that the stereotype about

preservation is just a stereotype. The

field of preservation includes all races

and cultures. Thanks to the National

Park Service, the National Trust for

Historic Preservation, the city of

Charleston, and the Student Conservation Association, I now am interested

in pursuing a historic preservation

career.

A student at Tennessee State University, Nekya

Young participated in the Summer 2001 NPS

Cultural Resources Diversity Internship

Program. She also is a recipient of the National

Trust’s Emerging Preservation Leaders scholarship and attended the National Preservation

Conference in Providence, RI in October 2001.

The Underground

Railroad in Indiana

LeShone HoSang

The Underground Railroad (UGRR)

runs deep in the mythology of the

United States. What was depicted as a

structured organization spiriting slaves

to freedom, research has shown was

actually more of a loosely affiliated

group of people determined to assist

runaways in their attempts to flee the

harsh conditions of bondage. Faceless

individuals throughout the South and

North provided shelter, food, and whatever other resources needed to help.

I spent my summer helping the Hoosier

state interpret its role regarding the

UGRR. Through a ten-week internship

with the National Park Service Cultural

Resources Diversity Internship Program

and Student Conservation Association, I

worked with the Indiana Department of

Natural Resources-Division of Historic

Preservation and Archaeology (DHPA)

on its UGRR Initiative.

As an UGRR Initiative assistant, my 

primary responsibility was to help my

supervisor, Jeannie Reagan-Dinius,

organize the UGRR Summit. DHPA

awarded grants to seven Hoosiers to

research UGRR activity throughout

Indiana. Five of the researchers shared

their fascinating discoveries with the

general public at the Summit on August

4, 2001 at the Indiana Government

Center Auditorium. With an attendance

of over 60 people, including two

National Park Service regional representatives, Fox 59, and the Indianapolis

Star, the Summit proved to be a success.

Based on the research compiled by the

Summit presenters, I created a database

of UGRR sites and routes. I was able to

provide relevant information to those

interested. For example, I assisted a

North Carolina reporter find out about a

UGRR site in south central Indiana.

In addition to the Summit and database, I also worked with the Indiana

Freedom Trails (IFT), an organization of

volunteers who research and provide

educational programs on the Network

to Freedom application (IFT is to be

nationally recognized as an UGRR educational program), and updated the IFT

brochure.

Lastly, I also was the DHPA volunteer

coordinator for the Indiana Black Expo

(IBE), the largest cultural fair in the

nation. In this role, I attended the organizational meeting and registered DHPA

staff to volunteer in the DNR booth and

at the IBE.

My internship with DHPA was truly

rewarding, personally, professionally,

and educationally. I have a greater

appreciation for historic preservation

and renewed interest in history due to

my experience with the National Park

Service and the Student Conservation

Association.

LeShone HoSang, a junior at Georgetown

University, was an intern in the Summer 2001

NPS Cultural Resources Diversity Internship

Program.

University of Maryland

Creates Center for

Heritage Resources

Studies 

Paul Shackel

Associate Professor of Anthropology

University of Maryland

In December 2000, the University of

Maryland established the UM Center for

Heritage Resource Studies (UMCHRS).

The center sees the effects of

globalization and rapid technological

advances as major factors that will

impact the way we conserve our all

important cultural and natural heritage.

Transformations of the world's political

economy threaten those vital senses of

place and identity that have served to

sustain cultural and environmental

resources. The research in the Center

will focus on four readily apparent components of heritage and they include:

• Examining the recovery, celebration,

and interpretation of the past as a

necessary component of sustaining

local identity and sense of place.

• Understanding the uses and values

associated with the natural environment as expressed in cultural terms.

• Investigating the appreciation of cultural and natural places as a major

component as a way to maintain

locality and ensure the survival of

communities and locales that are

threatened by transformations in the

global economy.

• Analyzing the ways in which heritage

is expressed and used to further economic development and political

activity.

Heritage resource studies is an emerging

field. It is critical that this research be formulated in such a way that it can be readily applied by those who are responsible

for the management of our historic, cultural, and environmental resources, as

well as contribute to an increased public

awareness of the need for responsible

heritage development. UMCHRS is committed to strengthening our networks in

the professional community and making

it a leader in the field. The members

include; Paul A. Shackel, Director,

Associate Professor of Anthropology;

Mark P. Leone, Professor of Anthropology; Erve Chambers, Professor of

Anthropology; and Michael Paolisso,

Assistant Professor of Anthropology.

For more information, visit the web page at

http://www.bsos.umd.edu/anth/paullab/chrs.htm.

The Southwest Colorado Cultural Site

Stewardship Program (CSSP) was created in response to these concerns. A

key CSSP objective is to help preserve

and protect our irreplaceable cultural

resources by teaming volunteer stewards with endangered prehistoric and

historic archeological sites. Established

in 2000, CSSP has trained some 75 volunteer stewards, as well as a number of

recreational permittees to monitor and

report activities at or near dozens of

unattended cultural sites.

CSSP is one of several programs of the

San Juan Mountains Association

(SJMA) in Durango, Colorado. SJMA is

a nonprofit organization created in

1988 to help public land agencies

enhance personal and community

stewardship of southwest Colorado’s

natural and cultural resources through

interpretation, information, education

and volunteerism. CSSP is funded by

the Colorado Historical Society/State

Historical Fund, the San Juan National

Forest, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Four Corners Heritage

Council.

In August 2001, CSSP’s first annual

Stewardship conference brought speakers and registrants together from all

over Colorado and the Southwest.

Educators, archeologists, and other

experts conducted seminars on topics

ranging from the history and role of

archeological site stewardship, to techniques of monitoring, artifact and site

identification, oral history collection,

archival research, and heritage education. The conference—co-sponsored by

the Fort Lewis College Center of

Southwest Studies, the Office of

Community Services, and the San Juan

Public Lands Center—provided a

venue and opportunity for CSSP to

partner with the local community in a

joint effort to further preservation

efforts.

A key CSSP goal is to enhance heritage

education by disseminating accurate

preservation information through outreach programs, developing materials

that focus on site etiquette, and helping

to coordinate the efforts of various

organizations, federal agencies, and

members of the public under a cohesive site stewardship program.

For more information contact the San Juan

Mountains Association at (970) 385-1267.

INTERNSHIP from page 3
Bouki Blues Conference

and Festival

The West African Research Association

and the Association Ndar Label, in collaboration with the Municipality of

Saint Louis, the Institut Fondamental

d'Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop, and

the Conseil Regional de St. Louis will

hold an interdisciplinary, bilingual conference and music festival, January 6–

January 12, 2002 in St. Louis, Senegal.

The Bouki Blues Festival is the first of a

series of events that flows from the

work of historians who have established

the connection between Senegambia

and Louisiana.

Bouki is the Wolof name for the hyena,

a character that has survived in folktales from Florida, the Bahamas, and

Haiti. As a fictional character, the

appearance of Bouki symbolizes the

persistence of African culture in

America, and African wisdom at large.

Through music, dance, film, and visual

art, the Festival will highlight the

African basis of the culture of

Louisiana. The Festival aims to underscore the ways in which two multicultural societies were shaped by a common historical experience.

For more information, contact 

boukibluesfestival@hotmail.com.

NPCA’s Inaugural

Partners in Progress

Newsletter Available

The National Parks Conservation

Association’s Enhancing Cultural

Diversity Program released Partners in

Progress, a newsletter for the National

Parks Community Partners Program in

July 2001. The newsletter highlights the

activities of the Community Partners

programs around the country.

The Community Partners Program and

the newsletter have evolved out of

NPCA’s “America’s Parks—America’s

People: Mosaic in Motion” conference

that took place in San Francisco, CA in

1999. The conference called for diverse

communities and parks to form partnerships, with an increase in park

attendance by diverse individuals as the

goal. Cities including Miami, Boston,

Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and San

Francisco, started partnerships made

up of local and regional land management organizations, National Park

Service employees, and NPCA, and meet

monthly to raise the level of awareness

in communities through various events.

The newsletter is the latest feature of

the Community Partners Program.

For information about Partners in Progress, the

Community Partners Program, and NPCA, 

contact Alan Spears at 202/454-3384; email,

aspears@npca.org.

Archeologist Receives

the Cotter Award for

Research on Manzanar

National Park Service archeologist

Jeffery Burton received the John L.

Cotter Award for excellence in archeology for his work at Manzanar National

Historic Site and other sites where

Japanese Americans were confined during World War II. The award was given

to Burton in recognition of the Western

Archeological and Conservation Center’s work in documenting the structures, features, and artifacts remaining

at the sites related to the Japanese

American relocation.

The resulting report, entitled “Confinement and Ethnicity,” covers the ten

main relocation centers and highlights

some of the lesser-known sites associated with the internment. For example,

Burton’s research uncovered a link

between an abandoned prison site on

national forest land and Dr. Gordon

Hirabayashi, a civil rights activist who

had been imprisoned there for his stand

against the internment. As a result, a

United States Forest Service campground now at that location was 

renamed to honor him and an on-site

interpretive display on the internment

is nearing completion.

Burton’s archeological studies have

involved former internees and their

families, students, volunteers, government agency officials, White House

staff, and leaders of Japanese American

community organizations. His work at

Manzanar was recognized for its interdisciplinary research design, scientific

historical archeological analysis, broad

public involvement, and sharing of

research results through a variety of

media.

For more information on “Confinement and

Ethnicity,” visit website www.cr.nps.gov/history/

online_books/anthropolgy74/.

Printed proceedings of the “Places of Cultural Memory” conference are available from

NPS. For more information, see the page 2 article, “Understanding and Preserving

Africanisms in the USA.” Photo courtesy of Marcia Axtmann Smith Design/Communication.

page 11

HERITAGE MATTERS Conferences, Publications, Awards 

NOVEMBER 2001
HERITAGE MATTERS HERITAGE MATTERS

NOVEMBER 2001

NOVEMBER 2001

page 1 

National Park Service Activities

Changing Perceptions of the American Cultural

Landscape

page 2 continuation

Understanding and Preserving Africanisms in

the USA

Teaching About African American Heritage

Preservation and Ethnographic Resources

Online

page 3

Internships, Colleges, and Universities

The Cultural Resources Diversity Internship

Program Sponsors 20 Interns in Summer of

2001

An Internship in Historic Charleston

page 10 continuation

The Underground Railroad in Indiana

University of Maryland Creates Center for

Heritage Resources Studies

page 4

Community Initiatives

Lower East Side Conservancy Assists with

Recognition of Neighborhood and Two

Synagogues

Immigrant Teenagers Discover Their

Neighborhood: A Report from Bensonhurst,

Brooklyn

St. Croix Heritage Trail Now Navigable Online

Iron County Museum Reflects Mining Culture

and Regional Diversity

The Wooden Canvas: Documenting Historic

Aspen Art Carvings in Southwest Colorado

page 6

State Activities

National Register listings

Bethel AME Church

Frank and Theresa Gomes House

Brightwell Shotgun Row

page 8

Private Sector Initiatives

“Growing Up in Washington” Views the Nation’s

Capital Through Children’s Eyes

Looking Back and Forward: Significant Places

of the GLBT Community Conference Held in

San Francisco

Washington, DC Unveils Civil War to Civil

Rights Heritage Trail

Participating in Preservation

page 11

Conferences, Publications, Awards

Bouki Blues Conference and Festival

NPCA’s Inaugural Partners in Progress

Newsletter Available

Archeologist Receives the Cotter Award for

Research on Manzanar

National Park Service

1849 C Street, NW, Suite NC 350

Washington, DC 20240

FIRST CLASS MAIL

Postage & Fees Paid

U.S. Department of the Interior

G-83

Fran P Mainella

Director

Katherine H. Stevenson

Associate Director,

Cultural Resource

Stewardship and

Partnerships

John Robbins 

Assistant Director, 

Cultural Resources

Antoinette J. Lee

Special Projects Manager

Brian D. Joyner

Heritage Matters Editor

Moriba N. McDonald

Historian

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

twice-a-year and is free of charge.

Readers are invited to submit short articles and notices for inclusion. (Limit

submissions to fewer than 400 words

and include author’s name and affiliation. Black and white 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, Suite NC–350,

Washington, DC 20240. Phone: 202/343-

1000, e-mail: Brian_Joyner@nps.gov.

Visit the Web site for the NPS

Cultural Resources Diversity

Initiative: www.cr.nps.gov/crdi