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Thoughts on Conserving African American Cemeteries

Across the country African American cemeteries have been abandoned, rediscovered, and identified as in need of preservation. Behind each of these individual stories is a complex hidden landscape created by enslavement, segregation, exclusion, and economic hardship. It is also a geography that reveals patterns of migration, forgotten settlements, demographic shifts as well as the strength and resilience of African American communities.

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Launching the Maritime Washington National Heritage Area

Watching the development of a national heritage area is a bit like observing the formation of a solar system. Partners large and small are attracted to the heritage area idea like planets around a sun and if the perceived benefits are powerful enough the gravitational force will bind them together around a unified vision. With the conservation movement’s interest in how to build effective large landscape networks examining how this actually happens on the ground might be productive. What lessons can we learn from the formation of the Washington Maritime National Heritage Area?

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headshots of two speakers

Registration Open for National Heritage Areas: Past, Present Future

Please join the Living Landscape Observer on June 15, 2022 from 1:00pm to 1:45pm for a moderated discussion with Alan Spears, Senior Director of Cultural Resources in the Government Affairs department of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and Sara Capen, Executive Director of the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area. Register now.

Read More »

Thoughts on Conserving African American Cemeteries

Across the country African American cemeteries have been abandoned, rediscovered, and identified as in need of preservation. Behind each of these individual stories is a complex hidden landscape created by enslavement, segregation, exclusion, and economic hardship. It is also a geography that reveals patterns of migration, forgotten settlements, demographic shifts as well as the strength and resilience of African American communities.

Read More »

Launching the Maritime Washington National Heritage Area

Watching the development of a national heritage area is a bit like observing the formation of a solar system. Partners large and small are attracted to the heritage area idea like planets around a sun and if the perceived benefits are powerful enough the gravitational force will bind them together around a unified vision. With the conservation movement’s interest in how to build effective large landscape networks examining how this actually happens on the ground might be productive. What lessons can we learn from the formation of the Washington Maritime National Heritage Area?

Read More »
headshots of two speakers

Registration Open for National Heritage Areas: Past, Present Future

Please join the Living Landscape Observer on June 15, 2022 from 1:00pm to 1:45pm for a moderated discussion with Alan Spears, Senior Director of Cultural Resources in the Government Affairs department of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and Sara Capen, Executive Director of the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area. Register now.

Read More »