Multi-State National Heritage Areas (Non-Units)

Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership National Heritage Area (New York, Vermont)

7/25/2012 First stop, Saratoga Spa State Park (NHL). The carbonated water which vents in springs and geysers in this area is rich in minerals and salts, leading to the development of bath houses, research facilities and a drink hall, as well as performing arts facilities. I parked at the large and very attractive Saratoga Performing Arts Complex and walked around on a beautiful day. Photographed the Hall of Springs, which was built in 1933 for patrons to enjoy the drinking the spring waters. On the road a short way to try and find the Petrified Gardens NHL which we had noted as “Not Visitable” but I thought I had found a small park to take credit for it. However, there was nothing around my waypoint so I bailed and headed another short distance and parked near Congress Park and walked over to it for Canfield Casino and Congress Park NHL [both this and the Spa in the Champlain Valley NHA in VT]. This is the site of the former Congress Spring Bottling, and the park includes a landscape design by Frederick Law Olmsted; the Canfield Casino building was built in 1870. I could have visited the history museum inside but it didn’t seem too interesting so I hit the road.

Panorama of the Hall of Springs

A closer view ...

... and another

Detail on the Spa

Interpretive signage

Canfield Casino

Another view

The NHL plaque

10/18/2020 First stop in town only a little way from the hotel - Emma Willard House NHL, the 1809 to 1819 home of the influential pioneer in the development of women's education in the U.S. This NHL is in the CVNHP NHA [VT all day](everybody wins). Just a quick photo-op here on the closed Middlebury College campus. From there to Ferrisburgh and Rokeby NHL, also in the CVNHP NHA. This is a 1780s farmstead, known for its association with Rowland T. Robinson, a Quaker and ardent abolitionist who openly sheltered escaped slaves at Rokeby as part of the Underground Railroad. It was pleasant walking around here on a nice fall day checking out the main house, agricultural and other outbuildings, and farm artifacts. ... On to Shelburne for some sites. First, Shelburne Farms NHL in the CVNHP NHA. The large farm area is nationally significant as a well-preserved example of a late 19th century Gilded Age "ornamental farm", with architecture by Robert Henderson Robertson and landscaping by Frederick Law Olmsted. The parking lot was very full, but we got a lucky spot. Some people were shopping at the farm store, but many were walking the grounds of the huge property. We got an orientation from a very nice woman and realized how much walking could be involved. Luckily, our original destination, the Farm Barn, was only a little less than a mile away, which we knocked off easily on the beautiful day. The Barn is really beautiful - great combination of different stones, varied colored shingles, copper, etc. After a nice walk around, saying hello to some sleeping horses, we headed back. In town, we encountered the disappointment for the day. Our goal was to go to the large Shelburne Museum park to see the ... Colchester Reef Lighthouse in the CVNHP NHA. Colchester Reef Lighthouse was a lighthouse off Colchester Point in Lake Champlain and moved to the Shelburne Museum. Unfortunately, the gates to the park were closed. So, we did the best we could taking photos through the fence along the road. The lighthouse wasn’t bad ... We drove into Richmond and parked right outside the door of the Round Church NHL, in the CVNHP NHA. Built in 1812–1813, it is a well-preserved example of a sixteen-sided meeting house, built to serve the town as well as five Protestant congregations. Just photos of the outside of the unusual structure. ... At the top of the Lake we jumped on the Lakes to Locks Passage NSB/AAR, which we followed to our last NHL, the NSB eventually ending up where we started in Waterford near Cohoes. On the NSB, we stopped first at Plattsburgh Bay NHL in Plattsburgh. This is the site of the Battle of Plattsburgh, a naval and land engagement fought on September 11, 1814 late in the War of 1812 where British forces were repulsed by Americans. There is a large monument to the discovery of Lake Champlain here, and nice views of the Lake, all in the CVNHP NHA.

Vermont signage ...

... for Emma Wilard House

Ken photoing ...

... the NHL plaque

Vermont signage ...

... and local info ...

... for Rokeby NHL

Ken at work

Me and Ken at Rokeby

Long morning shadows

Ken photoing ...

... the NHL plaque

Shelburne Farms map

Some spooky characters

The barn area from afar ...

... and closer

A cool 180

Close-up of the barn ...

... and some detail

A nice fall shot

Colchester Reef Lighthouse

Some info on ...

... Round Church NHL

Stealing shots of ...

... the interior

Ken photoing ...

... the NHL plaque

A view of another side

Me photoing ...

... the first NSB sign

Me again ...

... at the official NSB start

Some NSB ...

... views along ...

... the Lake

The NSB itself

NYS signage for ...

Plattsburgh Bay NHL

A view of the Bay side

Lots of info on ...

... the CVNHP NHA

Ken photoing ...

... the NHL plaque

A view of the Bay ...

... with me and Ken

10/19/2020 Crown Point State Historic Site. For our last stop in the area we drove just a very short way, parking further away than we planned due to roads being gated, to walk to the Crown Point Light, in the CVNHA [VT]. The original 1838 lighthouse served until the early 1900s, when the outside was stripped and redone in the monumental style it has now, in celebration of the Lake Champlain discovery tercentenary. It only served as an active lighthouse in that form for fourteen years, but it really is an unusual memorial nevertheless.

A view of the lighthouse area

A little closer of one side ...

... and the other

Some of the detail with Champlain

5/31/2019 Pony Express National Historic Trail. Harry S Truman Presidential Library and Museum. ... Liberty Memorial NHL (Kansas City). The National World War I Museum and Memorial of the United States opened to the public as the Liberty Memorial museum in 1926. Although it was almost 5:00 and we were too late to go up in the tower, we enjoyed walking around it, and got a nice view of the city from the base. Also in the FFNHA [MO]. ... Shawnee Mission NHL (Fairway). Shawnee Indian Mission SHP. ... Wyandotte National Burying Ground (Eliza Burton Conley Burial Site) NHL (Kansas City). Established 1843, after the Wyandot had arrived following removal from Ohio, later with Conley fighting to preserve it. Also known as the Huron Indian Cemetery and part of FFNHA [KS]. We took a walk through the length of the cemetery, spotting Conley’s grave along the way.

The Truman Library and Museum

Oval Office replica

Me reading period newspapers

Ken stumping ...

... and viewing period magazine covers

The courtyard

Truman graves

Truman's office

Liberty Memorial ...

... with a selfie

Ken taking a photo of ...

... the NHL plaque

Cool statue

Long view of Kansas City

Cemetery sign

Me reading LOTS of interpretive panels

Ken taking a photo of ...

... the NHL plaque

The cemetery ...

... and Conley grave

6/1/2019 Drove west into Topeka and stopped at the Capitol building, with no traffic and nobody around. The Kansas Statehouse is the building housing the executive and legislative branches of government for Kansas. We did our photos of the traditional but very impressive and attractive building out front, then took a walk around it on another great day, albeit a little warmer and muggier than it has been. We stopped at two locations as part of the FFNHA [KS]. One was a plate in the ground commemorating where (too be) Vice President Charles Curtis accepted the party nomination for Vice President. The other had a little more substance - a little monument commemorating a number of things including Kansas History and the Kansa Tribe. Brown vs Board of Education NHS ... stopped in Lawrence at Constant Park for a Kansas marker with information about Lawrence and the slavery/free-state issue. The reason for stopping was that the site is in the FFNHA.

Nice view of the capitol building

Curtis plaque

Kansas monument ...

... with interpretive panels

Park sign

Ken at ...

... interpretive sign

7/9/2010 Off the highway west near Boston to Lexington and the National Heritage Museum, one of the many sites in the Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area [MA]. This museum, run by the Masons, had some general US history exhibits, a nice main section on the battle of Lexington and Concord and revolutionary period living, and an excellent special exhibit of fantastic photographs of the 58 National Parks.

National Heritage Museum

Liberty exhibit sign

One of the exhibits

7/14/2019 ... while I walked up the road to Orchard House [in Freedom’s Way NHA]. This was the longtime home of Amos Bronson Alcott and his family, including his daughter Louisa May, who wrote and set her novel Little Women there. I just did photos here, and bought some cold water, then walked back ...

The sign for ...

Orchard House

Another view

The NHL plaque

7/15/2019 ... we continued north to where we planned to spend time until we needed to head home – Fruitlands [Harvard, in Freedom’s Way NHA]. The name being a nod to “Fruit of the Land”, it was a Utopian agrarian commune created by Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane in the 1840s, based on Transcendentalist principles. Since it was just about noon, we elected to get lunch in the open tent-like structure at the visitor’s center, wide open to pleasant breezes and with a fantastic view of the mountains in the distance. After enjoying an excellent soup and sandwich lunch, Mom got another cart ride and I walked down to the Wayside Gallery where we got an overview of how the whole Fruitlands Museum complex evolved under the care of Clara Endicott Sears. We then walked around the other areas: Fruitlands Farmhouse – the core of the NHL, where the Alcotts (including Louisa May, inspiring parts of Little Women) lived during the communal experiment led by Alcott; Shaker Gallery – the former office for the Shaker community of Harvard, and recently filmed as part of a 2019 movie “Little Women”; in fact, much of the furnishings were temporarily in the Art Gallery; Native American Gallery – instead of going in we checked out the cool longhouse and dugout canoes outside; Art Gallery – displays of the Shaker furnishings usually in the Shaker Gallery as well as Hudson River School paintings.

The VC from the entrance ...

... and orientation sign

Nice lunch view!

Fruitlands Farmhouse

Me photoing ...

... the NHL plaque

Outside detail

Living area ...

... and big fireplace

Cool artwork from books

Shaker gallery

Me at the longhouse

Art gallery outside ...

... and inside

4/23/2022 Moving on another short drive we arrived in Milford, NH for a Freedom’s Way NHA site. We knew it was in a parklike area, but it took us a little shifting of the car and looking around a lakeshore to spot the monument/statue for Harriet E. Wilson, the first African-American woman to publish a novel. Got a few photos of her and the park lake.

The monument ...

... with Ken and me

Ken and me

Ken reading over her shoulder ...

... some of her work

9/17/2009 Headed out south from [Little Sahara RA] to see some Great Basin NHA [UT] sights. First stop, the Topaz Internment Site [Central Utah Relocation Center NHL]. This was one of many WWII Japanese camps. It’s really out in the middle of nowhere. All that is left are some foundations and marked areas where the camp was. Continued into Delta to the GB Museum. This little place has rocks and minerals, Indian stuff, things from pioneer and more recent history and, outside, a restored living quarters barrack from the Topaz camp, along with a pioneer cabin and farm implements. It was a good snapshot of GB life. Final stop for GB, Fort Deseret SP. Not much here but the outer wall of the fort for protection from the Indians.

Topaz sign

Topaz Interment Site area

Great Basin Museum sign ...

... and the museum

Some of the many exhibits

A Topaz barracks

Topaz area map

An example living area

Fort Deseret sign

Signage, and the fort in the distance

A view along the fort wall

5/23/2014 ... Information on Schellbourne Stage Station (in the Great Basin NHA [NV]) ... stopped at Ward Charcoal Ovens SHP (in the Great Basin NHA [NV]). The ovens, built in 1876 by itinerant Italian masons who specialized in the ovens, prepared charcoal from locally-harvested timber for use in the smelters at Ward. The remaining structures were pretty impressive in their construction and we made goofy noises inside where there were cool acoustics.

Info on the Schellbourne Stage Station

The Ward Charcol sign ...

... and info

A view of the remaining ovens

A close-up of the construction

Ward Charcoal Mural

United By Our Children Mural

Pony Express Mural

Liberty Pit Mural

Gullah Geechee National Heritage Corridor (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina)

4/10/2009 On to St. Helena Island and the Penn Center NHL District in the Gullah/Geechee NHA [SC]. This is the first black school in the US (mid 1800s). We strolled around very pretty grounds with live oak/magnolias and observed the different buildings (houses, church, etc.). Another beautiful day and while there wasn’t a lot here we enjoyed it.

Penn School sign ...

... and the school

Mom by a small house ...

... and a larger home

Different style

Interesting architecture

Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia)

10/14/2010 ... then headed north hitting the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Byway for JTHG NHA [VA] sites, first stopping at Cedar Mountain Battlefield. There was lots of different signage here including the classic Civil War explanatory plaques telling about Stonewall Jackson, Pope and the battle. Continued up the road to Culpeper and the Culpeper National Cemetery. I expected old stuff here but only found modern headstones like Dad’s. Went a bit more to Graffiti House at Brandy Station which housed both Union and Confederate injured from the battle of Brandy Station where they wrote stuff on the walls (hence the name). This is now an information center but was closed. We headed back just a bit for a road-side marker (one of very many in the area) about the Battle of Brandy Station.

Cedar Mountain sign

The battlefield

Lots of interpretive signage!

Me by a plaque

Culpeper Cemetery sign

The Cemetery

Graffiti House sign ...

... and the house

Brandy Station battle info

5/26/2016 The town of Frederick is in the Journey Through Hallowed Ground NHA. Monacy National Battlefield, also in the JTHG NHA as well as an NHL.

Informative signage

Frederick town view one, ...

... two, ...

... and three

6/26/2018 Waterford Historic District (Waterford). Established around 1733, the entire village and surrounding countryside is noted for its well-preserved 18th and 19th-century character. This is in the Journey Through Hallowed Ground (JTHG) NHA [VA]. I drove through the narrow roads of the quaint town, stopping at the Waterford Mill and Catoctin Church for representative photos. From here I followed a route along the Washington Heritage Trail NSB into WV, with one NPS stop and two NHLs: Jefferson County Courthouse in Courthouse [NHL, official in 2023] in Charles Town. The building is historically notable as the site of two trials for treason: John Brown in 1859 and unionizing coal miners in 1922. This is also in the JTHG NHA [WV].

Entering Waterford

The back of the mill ...

... and the front

Interpretive signage

Catoctin Church

Signage about ...

Jefferson County Courthouse

Another view

7/4/1999 Headed to Norwich and went to Yantic Falls/Indian Leap. This is where Uncas led the Mohegans against the Narragansett. Also went to the Indian Burial Ground with a monument to Uncas. These are in the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley NHC [CT, now Last Green Valley NHC].

Interpretive signage

6/12/2021 Headed north, arriving at Bigelow Hollow State Park in Union around 11:45. Right inside the park I spotted a small sign for “Pond View Picnic”, and pulled in. We needed some plastic on the seats to prevent a wet butt, and paper towel on the table, but otherwise enjoyed a nice sandwich lunch (from home) overlooking the pond. This Park is in the relatively new Last Green Valley NHA [CT]. For another site in the same NHA we continued to North Oxford and the Clara Barton Birthplace. Here we got a very good 1/2 hour+ private tour of the house by a very informed guide (she was researching Barton for a book).

The park sign

The outside of the home

CVlara beats COVID

A couple of ...

... nicely restored rooms

Where Clara was born

An early first aid kit

Clara out front

11/8/2007 Stopped at Beckley Furnace (East Canaan) in the Upper Housatonic NHA [CT]. This is the ruins of an old blast furnace with the “blast” being provided by a turbine driven by the nearby river. Very pretty area on a cold, crisp day. Checked out some of the interpretive signs and the river area, then back on the road south on 7. Crossed the Housatonic at Bull’s Bridge over a single-lane covered bridge. Parked nearby and walked back to the bridge and along the river which ran with nice rapids. Also a very pretty area. Walked back up the road and on a trail into the woods, first to a lookout platform over the gorge, then down a hiking trail.

National Heritage Areas (Non-Units) - Multi-State