National Historic Site ( NHS ) and National Historical Park ( NHP ) are designations for officially recognized areas of nationally historic significance in the United States. They are usually owned and managed by the federal government. An NHS usually contains a single historical feature directly associated with its subject, while an NHP is an area that generally extends beyond single properties or buildings to include a mix of historic and later structures and sometimes significant natural features.
29-557: The Salem Maritime National Historic Site is a National Historic Site consisting of 12 historic structures, one replica tall-ship, and about 9 acres (36,000 m) of land along the waterfront of Salem Harbor in Salem, Massachusetts , United States. Salem Maritime is the first National Historic Site established in the United States (March 17, 1938). It interprets the Triangle Trade during
58-566: A Federal Historical Reserve; the report recommended including two sites, Jockey Hollow and the Ford Mansion. In January 1933, a conference including NPS representatives, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior , and civic and business leaders from the Morris County area, drafted a bill supporting the creation of a national historical park, with "the rank and dignity equal to the scenic program in
87-591: A conceptual framework, whereby both new and existing park units would be examined more holistically for ways to study history such as "creating social movements and institutions," "developing the American economy," and "peopling places." In the 20th century, potential new park units have been recommended not so much on "an orderly, balanced, and comprehensive" preservation of "outstanding examples", as Chief Historian Ronald Lee put it, but on those mandated to be studied by Congress, most of whose requests are recommended against by
116-703: A high hilltop overlooking Morristown, and is believed to have been the site of a signal fire and earthworks . Ford Mansion in Morristown was the site of the "hard winter" (December 1779 – May 1780) quarters of George Washington and the Continental Army . That winter remains the coldest on record for New Jersey. Theodosia Ford, widow of Jacob Ford Jr., and her four children shared their household with Washington, his staff, including Alexander Hamilton , their servants and sometimes their family members. Martha Washington traveled from Mount Vernon to Morristown to spend
145-745: A park is not itself "historic", but can be called "historical" when it contains historic resources. It is the resources which are historic, not the park. There are 63 national historical parks. Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park was formally established by the United States and Canada in 1998, the year of the centennial of the gold rush the park commemorates. The park comprises Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Washington and Alaska (above) and Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site in British Columbia. Tens of thousands of prospectors took this trail in hopes of making their fortunes in
174-432: A shop in this building. It was one of many that served Salem households by selling candles, oils, clothing, tin, and glassware. Besides stocking general groceries such as grain, cheese, dried beans and rum, the store attracted customers with many foreign imported goods and luxuries from Europe, Asia and Africa. The store continued to operate as a retail space throughout the nineteenth century. Later occupants included painters,
203-552: A tobacconist, and a wine and liquor merchant. A short walk from the Salem Maritime National Historic Site are the Chestnut Street District , Federal Street District , Downtown Salem District , Bridge Street Neck Historic District , Charter Street Historic District , Crombie Street District , Derby Waterfront District , Essex Institute Historic District , Salem Willows Historic District and
232-483: Is not yet owned or formally developed by the National Park Service, but may eventually be owned and established as a national historic site. National historical parks tend to be larger and more complex than national historic sites. In the United States, sites are "historic", while parks are "historical". The NPS explains that a site can be intrinsically historic, while a park is a modern legal invention. As such,
261-569: The Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown battlefield in Virginia as one of the first new historical areas, and it was renamed a national historical park in 1936. It then established Morristown National Historical Park , the 1779–1780 winter encampment of the Continental Army in New Jersey, on March 2, 1933, as the first NHP: The U.S. House committee noted that the new designation was logical for
290-895: The Klondike River district of Yukon . Download coordinates as: Morristown National Historical Park Morristown National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park , headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey , consisting of four sites important during the American Revolutionary War : Jockey Hollow , Ford Mansion , Fort Nonsense , and Washington's Headquarters Museum. The sites are located in Morristown and Harding Township , both in Morris County , and in Bernardsville in Somerset County . With its establishment on March 2, 1933, Morristown became
319-490: The National Park Service , which runs the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, released figures and statistics for 2012: there were 756,038 visitors to Salem who spent an estimated $ 40,000,000. The National Park Service celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2016. The site preserves and interprets numerous maritime resources in the form of artifacts, collections and structures, including: By 1836, Charles Dexter had
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#1732844893110348-646: The Salem Common Historic District . National Historic Sites (United States) As of 2024, there are 63 NHPs and 85 NHSes. Most NHPs and NHSs are managed by the National Park Service (NPS). Some federally designated sites are owned by local authorities or privately owned, but are authorized to request assistance from the NPS as affiliated areas. One property is managed by the U.S. Forest Service , Grey Towers National Historic Site . Since October 15, 1966, all historic areas, including NHPs and NHSs, in
377-652: The colonial period, in cotton, rum, sugar and slaves; the actions of privateers during the American Revolution ; and global maritime trade with the Far East , after independence. The National Park Service manages both the National Historic Site and a Regional Visitor Center in downtown Salem. The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior . In 2014,
406-638: The country's first National Historical Park . On October 15, 1966, citing its significance in archeology, architecture, and military history, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places . Jockey Hollow , a few miles south of Morristown, New Jersey along Route 202 in Harding Township , was the site of a Continental Army encampment. It was from here that the entire Pennsylvania contingent mutinied and later, 200 New Jersey soldiers attempted to emulate them. Fort Nonsense occupied
435-523: The 1950s, the Mission 66 program revived historic studies that had lagged during World War II and saw the creation of the National Historic Landmarks program as a method to recognize important sites. From the 1960s to 1990s, the NPS evolved from a thematic framework, in which numerous specific themes and subthemes of American history were expected to each be included in some way in the system, to
464-544: The Interior , but most have been authorized by acts of Congress . In 1937, the first NHS was created in Salem, Massachusetts , in order to preserve and interpret the maritime history of New England and the United States. There is one National Historic Area in the US park system, a unique designation given to the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area . There is one International Historic Site in
493-638: The NPS are automatically listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). There are also about 90,000 NRHP sites, the large majority of which are neither owned nor managed by the NPS. Of these, about 2,600 have been designated at the highest status as National Historic Landmark (NHL) sites. After its founding in 1916, the National Park Service initially oversaw sites of primarily scenic and natural significance, including national parks and national monuments . Historians soon began recommending preservation of sites relating to human history. Congress created Colonial National Monument in 1930 to protect
522-444: The NPS developed criteria for nationally significant historic sites in the late 1930s, it aimed to identify unique sites that could each tell a broad story and would fit together to cover all aspects of American history. Surveys of sites were guided by themes and chronologies to ensure a diverse and comprehensive selection of those most representative of different eras and geographies, with less political influence over site selection. In
551-672: The NPS's mandate. In 1935, Congress passed the Historic Sites Act ( Pub. L. 49–666 ), which established that "it is a national policy to preserve for public use historic sites, buildings and objects of national significance for the inspiration and benefit of the people of the United States." This expanded upon the Antiquities Act of 1906, which gave the President the ability to order "the protection of objects of historic and scientific interest." The Historic Sites Act directed
580-461: The NPS. A 1973 NPS publication outlined policies for administration of historical areas, which were distinct from its natural and recreational areas. This included not only NHSs and NHPs but also national military parks, national battlefields, national battlefield parks, national battlefield sites, national memorials, and some national monuments; at that time there were 178 such areas, and management focused on "maintaining and where necessary restoring
609-550: The National Park Service to survey historic sites which may be of national significance, as well as restore and acquire properties. The Historic American Buildings Survey began to document the country's architectural heritage and identify buildings for potential protection. Initially the Secretary of the Interior could designate national historic sites, though this did not include funding for acquition or administration without congressional action. Salem Maritime National Historic Site
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#1732844893110638-505: The US park system, a unique designation given to Saint Croix Island , Maine, on the New Brunswick border. The title, given to the site of the first permanent French settlement in America, recognizes the influence that it has had on both Canada and the United States. The NPS does not distinguish among these designations in terms of their preservation or management policies. The following site
667-614: The West." The bill for creating the Morristown National Historical Park was submitted to Congress in mid-January (H.R. 14302; S. 5469) and was supported by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur , who called it "the most important park project before this department at the present time." In March 1933, in the last days of Herbert Hoover 's presidency, the 72nd Congress established Morristown as
696-465: The area and set a new precedent, with comparison to the national military parks , which were then in the War Department. The park's establishment allowed the NPS to have an administrative historical program with professional historians. President Franklin D. Roosevelt reorganized the agency to also oversee memorials and military parks with historic significance later in 1933, substantially broadening
725-566: The historical integrity of structures, sites and objects significant to the commemoration or illustration of the historical story". But because most units contained a combination of natural, historic, and recreational lands, the General Authorities Act of 1970 made all areas equal within the National Park System ; separate policy manuals for each were replaced in 1975 with one that would tailor policies in each park respective to
754-407: The museum. The New Jersey Brigade Encampment Site is located south of Jockey Hollow in Bernardsville in Somerset County . It was the encampment for approximately 1,300 Continental Army soldiers over the 1779-1780 winter. In April 1932, the National Park Service (NPS) published a report recommending that the site of the Continental Army 's winter encampments in 1776-77 and 1779-80 become
783-574: The purpose of zones within. National historic sites are generally federally owned and administered properties, though some remain under private or local government ownership. There are currently 86 NHSs, of which 76 are official NPS units, 9 are NPS affiliated areas, and one is managed by the United States Forest Service . Derived from the Historic Sites Act of 1935, a number of NHSs were established by United States Secretaries of
812-428: The winter with her husband. Washington's Headquarters Museum , the adjacent museum is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday from September–June and seven days a week from July- August from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM. The museum has three exhibit rooms and a sales area. A video production, Morristown: Where America Survived ( New Jersey Network , 2009) is shown. The Ford Mansion is shown only by guided tour, which begins in
841-601: Was the first place to be preserved as a national historic site, created by Secretary Harold L. Ickes 's secretarial order on March 17, 1938. It had followed his designation of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in 1935; many historic sites in the National Park System continue to be protected under different designation types. Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site was designated later that year, another example of industrial heritage. As
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