Jimmy Carter National Historic Site
The Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, located in Plains, preserves sites associated with James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. 39th President of the United States. These include his residence, boyhood farm and the town railroad depot, which served as his campaign headquarters during the 1976 election; the building which used to be Plains High School serves as the park's visitor center. As President Carter lives in Plains, the area surrounding the residence is under the protection of the United States Secret Service and is not open to the public; the Carters returned to Plains in 1981. The former President and First Lady Rosalynn Carter pursue many of the goals of his administration through the Carter Center in Atlanta, which has programs to alleviate human suffering and to promote human rights and world peace; when they are in Plains, Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church, open to the public. The former Plains High School, which both Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter attended, now serves as the park's visitor center and museum.
It features a classroom, principal's office, auditorium which have been restored to look as they would have when Jimmy Carter attended. An exact replica of the Resolute desk, which Jimmy Carter brought back to the Oval Office to use as his presidential desk, is exhibited, as is his 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. Other rooms feature exhibits that explain the lives of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, a short video focuses on the life of Jimmy Carter according to his friends and family; the farm in rural Archery where Jimmy lived from age four in 1928 until he left for college in 1941 has been restored to its appearance before electricity was installed in 1938. The former Plains Train Depot, where Carter headquartered his presidential campaign, now serves as a museum focusing on the 1976 Presidential Campaign and Election, it features exhibits. The train depot operated from 1888 until 1951, when all public transportation to and from the area ceased; the current home of the Carters, while not open to the public, is technically a part of the National Historic Site.
The Carters have lived in the home since 1961. During his presidency, it was used as his Summer White House. Official Park Service site "Life Portrait of Jimmy Carter", from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits, broadcast from the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, December 3, 1999 Jimmy Carter's Boyhood Home Media related to Jimmy Carter National Historic Site at Wikimedia Commons
Cherokee
The Cherokee are one of the indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in what is now southwestern North Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, the tips of western South Carolina and northeastern Georgia; the Cherokee language is part of the Iroquoian language group. In the 19th century, James Mooney, an American ethnographer, recorded one oral tradition that told of the tribe having migrated south in ancient times from the Great Lakes region, where other Iroquoian-speaking peoples lived. Today there are three federally recognized Cherokee tribes: the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. By the 19th century, European settlers in the United States classified the Cherokee of the Southeast as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes", because they were agrarian and lived in permanent villages and began to adopt some cultural and technological practices of the European American settlers.
The Cherokee were one of the first, if not the first, major non-European ethnic group to become U. S. citizens. Article 8 in the 1817 treaty with the Cherokee stated that Cherokees may wish to become citizens of the United States; the Cherokee Nation has more than 300,000 tribal members, making it the largest of the 567 federally recognized tribes in the United States. In addition, numerous groups claim Cherokee lineage, some of these are state-recognized. A total of more than 819,000 people are estimated to claim having Cherokee ancestry on the US census, which includes persons who are not enrolled members of any tribe. Of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, the Cherokee Nation and the UKB have headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma; the UKB are descendants of "Old Settlers", Cherokee who migrated to Arkansas and Oklahoma about 1817 prior to Indian Removal. They are related to the Cherokee who were forcibly relocated there in the 1830s under the Indian Removal Act; the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is on the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina.
A Cherokee language name for Cherokee people is Aniyvwiyaʔi, translating as "Principal People". Tsalagi is the Cherokee word for Cherokee. Many theories, though none proven, abound about the origin of the name "Cherokee", it may have been derived from the Choctaw word Cha-la-kee, which means "people who live in the mountains", or Choctaw Chi-luk-ik-bi, meaning "people who live in the cave country". The earliest Spanish transliteration of the name, from 1755, is recorded as Tchalaquei. Another theory is; the Iroquois Five Nations based in New York have called the Cherokee Oyata'ge'ronoñ. The word Cherokee means “people of different speech.” Anthropologists and historians have two main theories of Cherokee origins. One is that the Cherokee, an Iroquoian-speaking people, are relative latecomers to Southern Appalachia, who may have migrated in late prehistoric times from northern areas around the Great Lakes, the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee nations and other Iroquoian-speaking peoples.
Another theory is. Researchers in the 19th century recorded conversations with elders who recounted an oral tradition of the Cherokee people migrating south from the Great Lakes region in ancient times, they may have moved south into Muscogee Creek territory and settled at the sites of mounds built by the Mississippian culture and earlier moundbuilders. In the 19th century, European-American settlers mistakenly attributed several Mississippian culture sites in Georgia to the Cherokee, including Moundville and Etowah Mounds. However, other evidence shows that the Cherokee did not reach this part of Georgia until the late 18th century and could not have built the mounds; the Connestee people, believed to be ancestors of the Cherokee, occupied western North Carolina circa 200 to 600 CE. Pre-contact Cherokee are considered to be part of the Pisgah Phase of Southern Appalachia, which lasted from circa 1000 to 1500. Despite the consensus among most specialists in Southeast archeology and anthropology, some scholars contend that ancestors of the Cherokee people lived in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee for a far longer period of time.
During the late Archaic and Woodland Period, Native Americans in the region began to cultivate plants such as marsh elder, pigweed and some native squash. People created new art forms such as shell gorgets, adopted new technologies, developed an elaborate cycle of religious ceremonies. During the Mississippian culture-period, local women developed a new variety of maize called eastern flint corn, it resembled modern corn and produced larger crops. The successful cultivation of corn surpluses allowed the rise of larger, more complex chiefdoms consisting of several villages and concentrated populations during this period. Corn became celebrated among numerous peoples in religious ceremonies the Green Corn Ceremony. Much of what is known about pre-18th-century Native American cultures has come from records of Spanish expeditions; the earliest ones of the mid-16th-century encountered people of the Mississippian culture, the ancestors to tribes in the Southeast such as
Andersonville National Historic Site
The Andersonville National Historic Site, located near Andersonville, preserves the former Camp Sumter, a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp during the final twelve months of the American Civil War. Most of the site lies in southwestern Macon County, adjacent to the east side of the town of Andersonville; as well as the former prison, the site contains the Andersonville National Cemetery and the National Prisoner of War Museum. The prison was made in February 1864 and served to April 1865; the site was commanded by Captain Henry Wirz, tried and executed after the war for war crimes. It was overcrowded to four times its capacity, with an inadequate water supply, inadequate food rations, unsanitary conditions. Of the 45,000 Union prisoners held at Camp Sumter during the war, nearly 13,000 died; the chief causes of death were scurvy and dysentery. The prison, which opened in February 1864 covered about 16.5 acres of land enclosed by a 15-foot high stockade. In June 1864, it was enlarged to 26.5 acres.
The stockade was rectangular, of dimensions 1,620 feet by 779 feet. There were two entrances on the west side of the stockade, known as "north entrance" and "south entrance". Robert H. Kellogg, sergeant major in the 16th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, described his entry as a prisoner into the prison camp, May 2, 1864: As we entered the place, a spectacle met our eyes that froze our blood with horror, made our hearts fail within us. Before us were forms that had once been erect. Many of our men, in the heat and intensity of their feeling, exclaimed with earnestness. "Can this be hell?" "God protect us!" and all thought that he alone could bring them out alive from so terrible a place. In the center of the whole was a swamp, occupying about three or four acres of the narrowed limits, a part of this marshy place had been used by the prisoners as a sink, excrement covered the ground, the scent arising from, suffocating; the ground allotted to our ninety was near the edge of this plague-spot, how we were to live through the warm summer weather in the midst of such fearful surroundings, was more than we cared to think of just then.
Further descriptions of the camp can be found in the diary of Ransom Chadwick, a member of the 85th New York Infantry Regiment. Chadwick and his regimental mates were taken to the Andersonville Prison, arriving on April 30, 1864. An extensive and detailed diary was kept by John L. Ransom of his time as a prisoner at Andersonville. Father Peter Whelan arrived on 16 June 1864 to muster the resources of the Catholic church and help provide relief to the prisoners. At Andersonville, a light fence known as "the dead line" was erected 19 feet inside the stockade wall, it demarcated a no-man's land that kept prisoners away from the stockade wall, made of rough-hewn logs about 16 feet high and stakes driven into the ground. Anyone crossing or touching this "dead line" was shot without warning by sentries in the pigeon roosts. At this stage of the war, Andersonville Prison was undersupplied with food. By 1864, not only civilians living within the Confederacy but the soldiers of the Confederate Army itself were struggling to obtain sufficient quantities of food.
The shortage of fare was suffered by prisoners and Confederate personnel alike within the fort, but the prisoners received less than the guards, who unlike their captives did not become emaciated or suffer from scurvy. The latter was a major cause of the camp's high mortality rate, as well as dysentery and typhoid fever, which were the result of filthy living conditions and poor sanitation; when sufficient quantities of supplies were available, they were of poor quality and inadequately prepared. There were no new outfits given to prisoners, whose own clothing was falling to pieces. In some cases, garments were taken from the dead. John McElroy, a prisoner at Andersonville, recalled "Before one was cold his clothes would be appropriated and divided, I have seen many sharp fights between contesting claimants."Although the prison was surrounded by forest little wood was allowed to the prisoners for warmth or cooking. This, along with the lack of utensils, made it impossible for the prisoners to cook the meagre food rations they received, which consisted of poorly milled cornflour.
During the summer of 1864, Union prisoners suffered from hunger and disease. Within seven months, about a third had died from scurvy. In 1864, the Confederate Surgeon General asked Joseph Jones, an expert on infectious disease, to investigate the high mortality rate at the camp, he concluded that it was due to "scorbutic dysentery". In 2010, the historian Drisdelle said that hookworm disease, a condition not recognized or known during the Civil War, was the major cause of much of the fatalities amongst the prisoners; the water supply from Stockade Creek became polluted when too many Union prisoners were housed by the Confederate authorities within the prison walls. Part of the creek was used as a sink, the men were forced to wash themselves in the creek. At the time of the Civil War, the concept of a prisoner of
Atlanta Campaign
The Atlanta Campaign was a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War throughout northwest Georgia and the area around Atlanta during the summer of 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman invaded Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, beginning in May 1864, opposed by the Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston. Johnston's Army of Tennessee withdrew toward Atlanta in the face of successive flanking maneuvers by Sherman's group of armies. In July, the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, replaced Johnston with the more aggressive General John Bell Hood, who began challenging the Union Army in a series of costly frontal assaults. Hood's army was besieged in Atlanta and the city fell on September 2, setting the stage for Sherman's March to the Sea and hastening the end of the war; the Atlanta Campaign followed the Union victory in the Battles for Chattanooga in November 1863. After Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to general-in-chief of all Union armies, he left his favorite subordinate from his time in command of the Western Theater, William T. Sherman, in charge of the Western armies.
Grant's strategy was to apply pressure against the Confederacy in several coordinated offensives. While he, George G. Meade, Benjamin Butler, Franz Sigel, George Crook, William W. Averell advanced in Virginia against Robert E. Lee, Nathaniel Banks attempted to capture Mobile, Sherman was assigned the mission of defeating Johnston's army, capturing Atlanta, striking through Georgia and the Confederate heartland. At the start of the campaign, Sherman's Military Division of the Mississippi consisted of three armies: Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee, including the corps of Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge, Maj. Gen. Frank P. Blair, Jr.. When McPherson was killed at the Battle of Atlanta, Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard replaced him. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield's Army of the Ohio, consisting of Schofield's XXIII Corps and a cavalry division commanded by Maj. Gen. George Stoneman. Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas's Army of the Cumberland, including the corps of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, Maj. Gen. John M. Palmer, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, Brig. Gen. Washington L. Elliott.
After Howard took army command, David S. Stanley took over IV Corps. On paper at the beginning of the campaign, Sherman outnumbered Johnston 98,500 to 50,000, but his ranks were depleted by many furloughed soldiers, Johnston received 15,000 reinforcements from Alabama. However, by June, a steady stream of reinforcements brought Sherman's strength to 112,000. Opposing Sherman, the Army of Tennessee was commanded first by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, relieved of his command in mid-campaign and replaced by Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood; the four corps in the 50,000-man army were commanded by: Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee. Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood. Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk; when Polk was killed on June 14, Loring took over as commander of the corps but was replaced by Alexander P. Stewart on June 23. Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. Johnston was a conservative general with a reputation for withdrawing his army before serious contact would result, but in Georgia, he faced the much more aggressive Sherman. Johnston's army took up entrenched defensive positions in the campaign.
Sherman prudently avoided suicidal frontal assaults against most of these positions, instead maneuvering in flanking marches around the defenses as he advanced from Chattanooga towards Atlanta. Whenever Sherman flanked the defensive lines, Johnston would retreat to another prepared position. Both armies took advantage of the railroads as supply lines, with Johnston shortening his supply lines as he drew closer to Atlanta, Sherman lengthening his own. Johnston had entrenched his army on the long, high mountain of Rocky Face Ridge and eastward across Crow Valley; as Sherman approached, he decided to demonstrate against the position with two columns while he sent a third one through Snake Creek Gap, to the right, to hit the Western & Atlantic Railroad at Resaca, Georgia. The two columns engaged the enemy at Dug Gap. In the meantime, the third column, under McPherson, passed through Snake Creek Gap and on May 9 advanced to the outskirts of Resaca, where it found Confederates entrenched. Fearing defeat, McPherson pulled his column back to Snake Creek Gap.
On May 10, Sherman decided to join McPherson to take Resaca. The next morning, as he discovered Sherman's army withdrawing from their positions in front of Rocky Face Ridge, Johnston retired south towards Resaca. Union troops tested the Confederate lines around Resaca to pinpoint their whereabouts. Full scale fighting occurred on May 14, the Union troops were repulsed except on Johnston's right flank, where Sherman did not exploit his advantage. On May 15, the battle continued with no advantage to either side until Sherman sent a for
Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest
The Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in northern Georgia comprises two United States National Forests, the Oconee National Forest in eastern Georgia and the Chattahoochee National Forest located in the North Georgia Mountains. The Chattahoochee National Forest is composed of an western forest; the western forest contains Johns Mountain, Little Sand Mountain, Taylor Ridge. The combined total area of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest is 866,468 acres, of which the Chattahoochee National Forest comprises 750,145 acres and the Oconee National Forest comprises 116,232 acres; the county with the largest portion of the eastern forest is Rabun County, which has 148,684 acres within its boundaries. Numerous animals can be found in this forest including birds such as species of hawk, species of owl, ducks, sparrows, hummingbirds and cardinals. Mammalian species that roam in the forest are American black bear, coyote, a variety of bats, beaver, river otter, deer, weasel and foxes; the forest is known to be home to the mysterious blue glow of the Blue ghost firefly, Phausis reticulata and many species of fish and amphibians swim in the many streams and lakes.
The Chattahoochee National Forest takes its name from the Chattahoochee River whose headwaters begin in the North Georgia mountains. The River and the area were given the name by the English settlers who took the name from the Indians living here; the Cherokee and Creek Indians inhabited North Georgia. In one dialect of the Muskogean languages, Chatta means stone; these marked or flowered stones were in the Chattahoochee River at a settlement near Columbus, Georgia. In 1911, the United States Forest Service purchased 31,000 acres of land in Fannin, Gilmer and Union Counties from the Gennett family for $7 per acre; this land was the beginning of. The initial land purchases became a part of the Cherokee National Forest on June 14, 1920. Ranger Roscoe Nicholson, the first forest ranger in Georgia and had advised the Forest Service in its initial land purchases, continued the growth of the Chattahoochee by negotiating the purchase of most of the Forest Service land in what is now the Chattooga River Ranger District.
The Coleman River Scenic Area near Clayton, Georgia was dedicated to "Ranger Nick", as he was called, in honor of his promotion of conservation ideals. Ranger Arthur Woody promoted conservation and was a key figure in the early development of the Chattahoochee. Unwise land and resource use had caused the deer and trout populations to disappear in the North Georgia mountains and Woody brought trout and deer back to the area; the trout were shipped to Gainesville, hauled across the narrow, mountain roads and released in the streams. Woody purchased fawns with his own money, fed them until they could be released on what became the Blue Ridge Wildlife Management Area. Many landmarks in the Chattahoochee bear Ranger Woody’s name in tribute to his work. Sosebee Cove, a 175 acres tract of prize hardwood along GA 180 is set aside as a memorial to Woody, who negotiated its purchase for the Forest Service. On July 9, 1936, the Forest Service was reorganized to follow state boundaries and President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed the Chattahoochee a separate National Forest.
In 1936, the Chattahoochee was organized into the Blue Ridge and the Tallulah. In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed 96,000 acres of federal lands in central Georgia as the Oconee National Forest; the Oconee joined the Chattahoochee to become the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests of today. The Chattooga River was designated a Scenic River during the 1970s; the Chattooga remains one of the few free-flowing streams in the Southeast and is known for its white water rafting and scenery. The movie Deliverance was filmed on the Chattooga River, which became the fictional Cahulawassee River in the movie; the Chattahoochee National Forest today covers 18 north Georgia counties. The Chattahoochee has three ranger districts: Blue Ridge Ranger District, Office in Blairsville, GA Chattooga River Ranger District, Office in Tallulah Falls, GA Conasauga Ranger District, Office in Chatsworth, GAIt includes over 2,200 miles of rivers and streams. There are over 450 miles of hiking and other recreation trails, 1,600 miles of "roads."
In addition to the Chattooga River and the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River, natural attractions within it boundaries include the beginning of the 2,174-mile Appalachian Trail, Georgia's highpoint, Brasstown Bald and Anna Ruby Falls. The Chattahoochee includes ten wildernesses that are part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, all of which are managed by the United States Forest Service. Parts of these wilderness extend outside Chattahoochee National Forest; the wildernesses are: Big Frog Wilderness Blood Mountain Wilderness Brasstown Wilderness Cohutta Wilderness Ellicott Rock Wilderness Mark Trail Wilderness Raven Cliffs Wilderness Rich Mountain Wilderness Southern Nantahala Wilderness Tray Mountain WildernessThe Oconee National Forest today is spread over eight Georgia counties and is organized into one ranger district. The Oco
National Park Service
The National Park Service is an agency of the United States federal government that manages all national parks, many national monuments, other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. It was created on August 25, 1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior; the NPS is charged with a dual role of preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to its management, while making them available and accessible for public use and enjoyment. As of 2018, the NPS employs 27,000 employees who oversee 419 units, of which 61 are designated national parks. National parks and national monuments in the United States were individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior; the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior.
They wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service. On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that mandated the agency "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3, 1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933; the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasn't until that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, made use of this power. Deputy Director Horace M. Albright had suggested to President Roosevelt that the historic sites from the American Civil War should be managed by the National Park Service, rather than the War Department.
President Roosevelt issued two Executive orders to make it happen. These two executive orders not only transferred to the National Park Service all the War Department historic sites, but the national monuments managed by the Department of Agriculture and the parks in and around the capital, run by an independent office. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service and went to work on bringing park facilities up to the standards that the public expected; the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, a ten-year effort to upgrade and expand park facilities for the 50th anniversary of the Park Service. New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery and unique natural features to making parks accessible to the public.
Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States' national parks, which have grown in number over the years to 60. Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no state government to manage it, so the federal government assumed direct control. Yosemite National Park began as a state park. Yosemite was returned to federal ownership. At first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the civilian staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the federal government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, the National Park Service, to manage all national parks and some national monuments.
Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. The agency was given authority over other protected areas, many with varying designations as Congress created them; the National Park System includes. The title or designation of a unit need not include the term park; the System as a whole is considered to be a national treasure of the United States, some of the more famous national parks and monuments are sometimes referred to metaphorically as "crown jewels". The system encompasses 84.4 million acres, of which more than 4.3 million acres remain in private ownership. The largest unit is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. At 13,200,000 acres, it is over 16 percent of the entire system; the smallest unit in the system is Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, Pennsylvania, at 0.02 acre. In addition to administering its units and other properties, the National Park Service provides technical and financial assistance to several "affiliated areas" authorized by Congress.
The largest affiliated area is New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve at 1,164,025 acres. The smallest is Benjamin Franklin National Memorial at less than 0.01 acres. Although all units of the Nat
Historic districts in the United States
Historic districts in the United States are designated historic districts recognizing a group of buildings, properties, or sites by one of several entities on different levels as or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures and sites within a historic district are divided into two categories and non-contributing. Districts vary in size: some have hundreds of structures, while others have just a few; the U. S. federal government designates historic districts through the United States Department of Interior under the auspices of the National Park Service. Federally designated historic districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but listing imposes no restrictions on what property owners may do with a designated property. State-level historic districts may follow similar criteria or may require adherence to certain historic rehabilitation standards. Local historic district designation offers, by far, the most legal protection for historic properties because most land use decisions are made at the local level.
Local districts are administered by the county or municipal government. The first U. S. historic district was established in Charleston, South Carolina in 1931, predating the U. S. federal government designation by more than three decades. Charleston city government designated an "Old and Historic District" by local ordinance and created a board of architectural review to oversee it. New Orleans followed in 1937, establishing the Vieux Carré Commission and authorizing it to act to maintain the historic character of the city's French Quarter. Other localities picked up on the concept, with the city of Philadelphia enacting its historic preservation ordinance in 1955; the regulatory authority of local commissions and historic districts has been upheld as a legitimate use of government police power, most notably in Penn Central Transportation Co. v. City of New York; the Supreme Court case validated the protection of historic resources as "an permissible governmental goal." In 1966 the federal government created the National Register of Historic Places, soon after a report from the U.
S. Conference of Mayors had stated Americans suffered from "rootlessness." By the 1980s there were thousands of federally designated historic districts. Some states, such as Arizona, have passed referendums defending property rights that have stopped private property being designated historic without the property owner's consent or compensation for the historic overlay. Historic districts are two types of properties and non-contributing. Broadly defined, a contributing property is any property, structure or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make a historic district, listed locally or federally, significant. Different entities governmental, at both the state and national level in the United States, have differing definitions of contributing property but they all retain the same basic characteristics. In general, contributing properties are integral parts of the historic context and character of a historic district. In addition to the two types of classification within historic districts, properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places are classified into five broad categories.
They are, structure, site and object. All but the eponymous district category are applied to historic districts listed on the National Register. A listing on the National Register of Historic Places is governmental acknowledgment of a historic district. However, the Register is "an honorary status with some federal financial incentives." The National Register of Historic Places defines a historic district per U. S. federal law, last revised in 2004. According to the Register definition a historic district is: a geographically definable area, urban or rural, possessing a significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites, structures, or objects united by past events or aesthetically by plan or physical development. A district may comprise individual elements separated geographically but linked by association or history. Districts established under U. S. federal guidelines begin the process of designation through a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register is the official recognition by the U.
S. government of cultural resources worthy of preservation. While designation through the National Register does offer a district or property some protections, it is only in cases where the threatening action involves the federal government. If the federal government is not involved the listing on the National Register provides the site, property or district no protections. For example, if company A wants to tear down the hypothetical Smith House and company A is under contract with the state government of Illinois the federal designation would offer no protections. If, company A was under federal contract the Smith House would be protected. A federal designation is little more than recognition by the government that the resource is worthy of preservation. In general, the criteria for acceptance to the National Register are applied but there are considerations for exceptions to the criteria and historic districts have influence on some of those exceptions; the National Register does not list religious structures, moved structures, reconstructed structures, or properties that have achieved significance within the last 50 years.
However, if a property falls into one of those categories and are "integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria" an exception allowing their listing will be made. Historic dis
Media related to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park at Wikimedia Commons
