MORAL COMPASS: Great Places to Go Where the Going Does Good

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heritage travel, Historic Places, National Historic Landmarks, National Parks

Obama Designates New National Monuments Honoring Civil Rights History; Expands Monuments in Oregon, California; Promotes Diversity

January 12, 2017 MoralCompass

*President Obama is taking action to expand the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, in Oregon and California © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, today, President Obama is designating three new national monuments honoring our country’s civil rights history and taking new steps to promote diversity in our national parks and other public lands. Building on the Administration’s commitment to protecting places that are culturally and historically significant and that reflect the story of all Americans, today’s designations will protect historic sites in Alabama and South Carolina that played an important role in American history stretching from the Civil War to the civil rights movement.

In addition, President Obama is taking new steps to promote diversity and inclusivity in our nation’s system of national parks, national forests, monuments and other public lands and waters, directing agencies including the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to work to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to experience our great outdoors and engage in decisions about how our public lands and waters are managed, and to prioritize building a more inclusive Federal workforce that is reflective of the diversity of our Nation.

Also, President Obama took action to expand two national monuments: expanding the existing California Coastal National Monument by 6,230 acres; and expanding the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in California and Oregon.

New Civil Rights Monuments

The new monuments are the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Freedom Riders National Monument and Reconstruction Era National Monument.

Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument: The Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument will protect the historic A.G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham, Alabama, which served at one point as the headquarters for the civil rights campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that helped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The monument will also tell the stories associated with other nearby Birmingham historic sites, including the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church– which was the site of a bombing in 1963; and Kelly Ingram Park, where Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Bull Connor turned hoses and dogs on young civil rights protesters.
Freedom Riders National Monument: The Freedom Riders National Monument is located in Anniston, Alabama and contains two sites that help underscore the Freedom Riders’ importance to the civil rights movement. The monument includes the Greyhound Bus Station where a racially integrated bus of Freedom Riders attempting to test desegregation was attacked in the spring of 1961, and the site where the same bus was firebombed and burned some minutes later.
Reconstruction Era National Monument: Located in coastal South Carolina, the new Reconstruction Era National Monument encompasses four sites throughout Beaufort County that tell the vibrant story of the robust community developed by freed former African American slaves in the Reconstruction Era South. This designation includes the Brick Baptist Church and Darrah Hall at the existing Penn Center on St. Helena Island as well as the Old Firehouse in downtown Beaufort and parts of Camp Saxton in Port Royal where the Emancipation Proclamation was read on New Year’s Day in 1863. These sites establish the first unit of the National Park System focused on telling the story of Reconstruction.

Protection for these sites is strongly supported by the local communities, elected officials, and a wide variety of stakeholders including civil rights organizations, environmental justice groups and historic preservation groups. Each designation was also supported by legislation introduced by members of the Alabama and South Carolina delegations.

“These monuments preserve the vibrant history of the Reconstruction Era and its role in redefining freedom,” President Obama stated. “They tell the important stories of the citizens who helped launch the civil rights movement in Birmingham and the Freedom Riders whose bravery raised national awareness of segregation and violence. These stories are part of our shared history. From designating Stonewall National Monument, our country’s first national monument honoring the LGBT movement, to recognizing the movement for women’s equality through the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, I have sought to build a more inclusive National Park System and ensure that our national parks, monuments and public lands are fully reflective of our nation’s diverse history and culture.”

Promoting Diversity and Inclusivity in Managing Our Public Lands and Water

In addition, President Obama is taking new steps to promote diversity and inclusivity in our nation’s system of national parks, national forests, monuments and other public lands and waters. Today, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum directing the agencies charged with managing the vast majority of America’s public lands and waters – the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – to work to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to experience our great outdoors and engage in decisions about how our public lands and waters are managed. The Memorandum also directs agencies to prioritize building a more inclusive Federal workforce that is reflective of the diversity of our Nation.

Expansion of National Monuments Protecting Natural Resources in California and Oregon

In addition to the new designations honoring African American history, today, President Obama is expanding two existing national monuments to protect critical biodiversity, important historic and natural resources and vital wildlife habitat in California and Oregon.

Expansion of California Coastal National Monument: Today, President Obama is expanding the existing California Coastal National Monument by 6,230 acres to include six additional coastal sites proposed for protection in legislation introduced by members of the California Congressional delegation in 2015. The monument was originally designated in 2000 by President Bill Clinton and expanded by President Obama in 2014 to include Point-Arena-Stornetta in Mendocino County. Today’s expansion will protect incredible coastal natural resources, scenic views, and areas of cultural and historical significance, including sites that provide insight into the Native peoples who first lived along California’s coast and places still important to local tribes today.
Expansion of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument: Located in southwest Oregon and northern California, the current Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument protects the significant biodiversity at the intersection of three distinct bioregions, including wildlife habitat for nearly 200 species of birds. Drawing from two different reports compiled by the scientific community as well as a legislation introduced in the Senate in 2015, today’s expansion will protect more than 42,000 additional acres of public land in Oregon and approximately 5,000 acres in California to increase vital habitat connectivity, watershed protection, and landscape-scale resilience for the area’s unique biological values, particularly in the face of growing impacts from climate change.

“Over the last 8 years, I have sought to work with local communities, Tribal governments, businesses, sportsmen, members of Congress and others to protect the most important public lands for the benefit of future generations,” President Obama stated. “Today’s actions will help ensure that more of our country’s history will be preserved and celebrated, and that more of our outdoors will be protected for all to experience and enjoy.”

Historic Places, Historic Preservation, National Historic Landmarks

Interior Department Announces 24 New National Historic Landmarks

January 11, 2017 MoralCompass

Last remaining original lock on the original Erie Canal, Lockport, NY, sits beside the enlarged New York State Barge Canal, which was just designated a national historic landmark © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

WASHINGTON – As the National Park Service enters its second century of service and strives to tell a more inclusive and diverse story of America’s history, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell has announced the designation of 24 new National Historic Landmarks.

The National Historic Landmarks Program recognizes historic properties of exceptional value to the nation and promotes the preservation efforts of federal, state, and local agencies and Native American tribes, as well as those of private organizations and individuals. The program is one of more than a dozen administered by the National Park Service that provide states and local communities technical assistance, recognition and funding to help preserve our nation’s shared history, and create close-to-home recreation opportunities.

“These 24 new designations depict different threads of the American story that have been told through activism, architecture, music, and religious observance,” said Secretary Jewell. “Their designation ensures future generations have the ability to learn from the past as we preserve and protect the historic value of these properties and the more than 2,500 other landmarks nationwide.”

If not already so recognized, properties designated as National Historic Landmarks are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

“As the National Park Service kicks off its second century of stewardship of America’s natural and historic treasures, we look forward to connecting new generations of Americans to the places and stories recognized as National Historic Landmarks today,” said National Park Service Acting Director Michael T. Reynolds.

The 24 national historic landmarks announced today are:

The assassination of Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963, in the carport of the Medgar and Myrlie Evers House in Jackson, Mississippi, became one of the catalysts for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His assassination also forced Myrlie Evers into a more prominent role for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Both Medgar and Myrlie were major contributors to advancing the goals of the civil rights movement on a national level. Medgar Evers was the first nationally significant civil rights leader to be murdered.
The Wyandotte National Burying Ground (Eliza Burton Conley Burial Site) in Kansas City, Kansas, serves as tangible evidence of the consequences of federal American Indian removal policy to a tribal population and its identity during the nineteenth century. The property is also associated with Eliza (Lyda) Burton Conley who was the first attorney to raise the legal argument that American Indian burying grounds are entitled to protection by the Federal Government and to claim that the descendants of treaty signatories have the right to sue to enforce treaty provisions.
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City represents the idea of the African Diaspora, a revolutionizing model for studying the history and culture of people of African descent that used a global, transnational perspective. The idea and the person who promoted it, Arthur (Arturo) Alfonso Schomburg (1874-1938), an Afro-Latino immigrant and self-taught bibliophile, reflect the multicultural experience of America and the ideals that all Americans should have intellectual freedom and social equality.
As one of the three New Deal greenbelt towns built by the Federal Government, the Greenhills Historic District in Greenhills, Ohio, shaped the federal response to the Great Depression and represents highly important aspects of New Deal policy, an important period in the evolution of the American suburb. The village is an outstanding representation of the American Garden City movement and a nationally significant historic residential suburb.
On April 20, 1970, community residents occupied Chicano Park in San Diego, California, in an ultimately successful effort to prevent the construction of a California Highway Patrol substation on land where the City of San Diego had promised the neighborhood a community park. Representative of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, Chicano Park has become a cultural and recreational gathering place for the Chicano community and is the location of the Chicano Park Monumental Murals, an exceptional assemblage of master mural artwork painted on the freeway bridge supports.
Casa José Antonio Navarro in San Antonio, Texas, was the home of Tejano statesman and historian José Antonio Navarro (1795-1871), a political leader whose prolific career as statesman and defender of Tejano rights shaped the destiny of Texas as an independent Republic and as part of the United States of America. His commitments to both American ideals and to the rights of Texan Mexican Americans make him one of the leading figures of the American Southwest under three sovereignties.
The Neutra Studio and Residences (VDL Research House) in Los Angeles, California, is associated with Richard Neutra, a nationally and internationally seminal figure of the twentieth century Modern movement in architecture. During the 1940s, as Neutra’s work evolved, he also became the well-recognized founder of mid-century “California Modern” architecture. The VDL Research House is the only property where one can see the progression of his style over a period of years and is among the key properties to understanding the national significance of Richard Neutra.
The Keim Homestead in Oley, Pennsylvania, is an exceptionally intact example of early German American domestic vernacular architecture. Constructed ca. 1753, the main house and the ancillary building (which served in effect as an extension of the main dwelling under a separate roof), together represent methods of construction, elements of architectural decoration, and patterns of dwelling and domestic outbuilding layout and design that were characteristic of the German American tradition of the mid-eighteenth century.
Constructed in 1758, Schifferstadt is an outstanding example of a Georgian-period house influenced by German American cultural and construction traditions, located in Frederick, Maryland. With its exterior Georgian architectural style and many ethnically Germanic features on the interior, the house embodies how German immigrants chose to retain much of their cultural heritage within their houses while exhibiting their social and economic status on the exterior.
This massive early-twentieth century enlargement of New York’s canal system was an embodiment of a Progressive Era emphasis on public works. The New York State Barge Canal was built explicitly to counter the growing monopoly of railroad corporations over the American economy. The spine of the canal is a direct descendant of the Erie Canal, which opened the interior of North America to settlement and commercial agriculture, transforming the Atlantic economy.
The Kimball Village Site (13PM4) in Plymouth county, Iowa, is an exceptionally well-preserved, circa CE 1100-1250, Plains Village site. This site embodies all of the distinctive characteristics of early indigenous farmers, settlements, and material culture that typify early Plains Village sites. This was a transformative chapter in North American mid-continental history when people switched from hunting and gathering and small-scale crop production to a nucleated sedentary lifestyle based on intensive maize horticulture and compact villages of substantive timber lodges.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission Chapel (McDonnell Hall) in San Jose, California, connected the Mexican American civil rights movement, Catholic ministry to ethnic Mexicans, and ongoing efforts to organize ethnic Mexican migrant farmworkers. The chapel was the home for the Community Service Organization (CSO) whose work helped to spur the emergence of César Chávez as a community organizer, civil rights leader, and labor rights leader between 1952 and 1962. The work carried out at the chapel ultimately helped shape modern American Latino identity.
As headquarters for Petrified Forest National Park in Apache County, Arizona, the Painted Desert Community Complex is the largest and the most fully articulated expression of the decade-long Mission 66 program which addressed postwar national park needs for up-to-date facilities and improved visitor experiences, while limiting impacts to natural resources. Designed by renowned architects Richard J. Neutra and Robert E. Alexander in the International Style, the complex contains the many park headquarter functions including a new property type—the visitor center.
W. A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop in Rices Landing, Pennsylvania, is an outstanding example of a small, family-owned, twentieth-century foundry and machine shop. “Job shops” like W. A. Young & Sons, which did custom jobs for a variety of clients, were an important component of the American industrial economy facilitated by the development of machine tools and line-shaft power systems in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. The property includes perhaps the finest collection of machine tools found in a small job shop.
The Davis-Ferris Organ, built for a New York City Episcopal church in 1846-1847, is an example of the technical and mechanical achievements in the pre-Civil War American organ-building industry. Forty years later, the organ was sold to the Round Lake Camp Meeting in Upstate New York to accompany the popular Methodist summer gatherings. It eventually anchored a transition to a Chautauqua-style institution of culture, education, and enlightenment. This organ is a record of American music-making covering both sacred and secular genres.
The Pauli Murray Family Home in Durham, North Carolina, is associated with ground-breaking civil rights activist, lawyer, educator, writer, and Episcopal priest Pauli Murray. She served as a bridge figure between social movements through her advocacy for both women’s and civil rights. Her efforts were critical to retaining “sex” in Title VII, a fundamental legal protection for women against employment discrimination. After decades of work for black civil rights, her vision for a civil rights association for women became the National Organization for Women (NOW).
Constructed in 1860 as the Allen’s Mill Bridge, Eldean Bridge in Miami County, Ohio, is an excellent example of nineteenth-century covered bridge construction and its span is a rare surviving Long truss, a highly significant nineteenth-century timber truss type. Eldean Bridge is the most structurally intact of less than a dozen surviving Long truss covered bridges in the United States.
Constructed in 1876 by J. J. Daniels, one of the nation’s most prolific covered bridge builders, West Union Bridge in Parke County, Indiana, is an outstanding, intact example of the Burr truss, a highly-significant American timber bridge type that was widely used for a century. West Union Bridge is one of the most visually impressive and structurally intact of approximately 180 surviving Burr truss covered bridges in the United States.
Built in the late 1920s, Omaha Union Station in Omaha Nebraska, is one of the most distinctive and complete examples of Art Deco architecture in the nation. The station outstandingly expresses the style’s innovative and diverse surface ornamentation inspired by the machine age. As one of the earliest Art Deco train stations designed by the Union Pacific (UP) Railroad, its ultra-modern appearance was a major departure from previous railroad station designs.
The George Read II House, built by a prominent Philadelphia family in New Castle, Delaware, is an exceptional example of Federal style architecture in the mid-Atlantic region. The house is especially valuable in understanding the evolution of American architecture during the early years of the nation. It is a rare survivor that exemplifies the city of Philadelphia where the Federal style was first manifested.
The Biesterfeldt Site in Ransom County, North Dakota, is an earth lodge village site culturally identifiable as having been occupied by the Cheyenne Indians ca. 1724-1780. As the only known representative of that relatively brief period in their history during which they pursued a horticultural way of life, the archeological site has the potential to yield critical information on the history of that tribe and various neighboring tribes. Biesterfeldt also has the potential to inform us about the development of Plains Indian culture during a period of intense and dramatic change.
Walrus Islands Archeological District near Togiak, Alaska, is one of the few remaining places with evidence of human occupation of the Bering Sea continental shelf when sea levels were substantially lower than at present. At least 6,000 years ago, the earliest inhabitants of Round Island, one of seven islands in the district, were marine-adapted and practiced more generalized settlement and subsistence patterns, including hunting walrus on the beaches, than previously recognized by Alaska researchers.
48GO305, commonly referenced in archeological literature as “Hell Gap Paleoindian Site,” located in Goshen County, Wyoming, contains evidence of repeated occupations by nine Paleoindian cultural complexes in well-stratified deposits. To date, no other excavated Paleoindian site in North America contains a record that includes all of the cultural complexes known on the Plains spanning from between 13,000 and 8,500 years ago. Since its discovery and initial investigation, 48GO305 has been associated with cutting edge research in the field of Paleoindian archeology.
The May 4, 1970, Kent State Shootings Site in Kent, Ohio, is where the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four Kent State University students and wounded nine during a protest on the campus. This event affected public opinion of the Vietnam War, increased the movement against the war, and engendered prompt changes in military policy for civil disturbances, especially for the National Guard. Later court trials resulted in a ruling by the Supreme Court that the executive branch of government does not enjoy absolute immunity for its actions, establishing a legal precedent.

Along with these new designations, Secretary Jewell announced updates to several previously recognized National Historic Landmarks. These updates include boundary changes, updated documentation, and/or name changes for: the Indiana War Memorials Historic District, Indianapolis, Indiana; the Old Salem Historic District in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia; the Hamilton Grange in New York City; Maison Olivier in St. Martinsville, Louisiana; and Ball’s Bluff Battlefield Historic District in Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland.

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Going Places, Near & Far: Cycle the Erie Canal Tour Affords Extraordinary View of ‘Real America’

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bike trips, cycling trips, ecotourism, Historic Places, Historic Preservation, New York State tourism, US Travel

NYS Proposes Completing 750-Mile Long Empire State Trail by 2020; Erie Canal Designated National Landmark

January 11, 2017 MoralCompass

Biking the Erie Canal trail, Medina, NY. Governor Cuomo is proposing to fill the gaps in the 400-mile canalway and other greenways to create a 750-mile long network, which would be the largest state multi-use trail network in the nation © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, in his 2017 State of the State policy pronouncements, has proposed completing the Hudson River Valley Greenway and Erie Canalway trails by 2020 to create the Empire State Trail, the largest state multi-use trail in the nation. To achieve this, the state will develop 350 miles of new trail in three phases to create a 750-mile pathway for hiking and biking along scenic vistas and through charming, historic communities. The Empire State Trail will span much of the state, from the New York Harbor up through the Adirondack Mountains to the Canadian border – and from the shores of Lake Erie along the historic Erie Canal to the heart of the Capital Region.

“The scenic ‎natural beauty that spans every corner of this state is key to our prosperity, vital to our future and part of who we are as New Yorkers,” Governor Cuomo said. “The Empire State Trail, once completed, will be the nation’s largest state multi-use trail network, providing residents and visitors alike unprecedented access to New York’s outdoor treasures, driving tourism and economic activity to communities across the state and helping to protect our environmental resources for generations to come.”

New York’s existing Hudson River Valley Greenway and the Erie Canalway are two of the most renowned multi-use trailways in the United States, but both trails remain unfinished with a number of gaps across the state. Currently, the Hudson River Valley Greenway is nearly 50 percent complete and crosses the Appalachian Trail, spanning over 260 miles between the Manhattan Battery and Lake George. The trail closely, and in many places parallels State Bike Route 9, which extends the Greenway an additional 130 miles along Lake Champlain to the Canadian border. The Hudson River Valley Greenway generates more than $21 million in economic impact annually from visitors stopping in communities along the trails.

The Erie Canalway is nearly 80 percent complete and runs approximately 360 miles along the storied Erie Canal, connecting Buffalo to Albany. The Governor’s commitment to complete this trail coincides with the bicentennial of the Erie Canal, as construction of the engineering marvel begin in 1817. Each year, approximately 1.5 million people use the Erie Canalway Trail along the historic Erie Canal, resulting in an estimated $253 million in economic activity from visitor spending. The Buffalo-Pendleton segment is the most heavily used part of the Canalway Trail with approximately 350,000 annual users. With this proposal, remaining gaps will be completed, connecting the two trails to establish the New York’s Empire State Trail.

Once the Empire State Trail is complete, the trails will attract more hikers, bikers, and cross country skiers than ever before and provide access to destinations, heritage areas, and historic sites and districts including:

Hudson River Valley Greenway

Battery Park, NYC
· Walkway Over the Hudson, Poughkeepsie
· Olana State Historic Site, Hudson
· Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, Kinderhook
· Schodack Island State Park, Schodack Landing
· Saratoga National Battlefield, Stillwater
· Fort Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga

Erie Canalway Trail

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Historic Site, Buffalo
· Buffalo State Park, Buffalo
· The Salt Museum on Onondaga Lake, Liverpool
· The Montezuma National Wild Refuge, Seneca Falls
· The Great New York State Fair, Syracuse
· Oriskany Battlefield State Historic Site, Oriskany
· Fort Stanwix National Monument, Rome

This extensive trail network will enhance community connectivity and support healthy lifestyles by providing both urban and rural communities access to endless outdoor recreational opportunities. These long distance destination trails are economic drivers that can generate $1.5 – 5 million in annual economic impact for surrounding communities. Additionally, this trail network is expected to support an estimated 9.6 jobs for every $1 million invested, and every dollar will yield $3 in direct medical benefits for surrounding communities. The trails will also draw tourists from around the world to explore New York’s striking landscapes and rich history, while enjoying local bed and breakfasts, hotels, restaurants, wineries, breweries, farmsteads, and cultural attractions along the way.

Empire State Trail Website and Mobile App Launch

A new trail website and mobile app will launch to further connect New Yorkers and visitors to the state’s great outdoors. Both the website and app will feature a list of greenways, trails with hiking descriptions, and their level of difficulty. The app will allow users to find services and attractions nearby using location services with the option to share the user’s exact location with friends, or first responders, in the case of an emergency. Social sharing options will also be available, to share photos on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. A live tour map, walking and driving directions, are available as well as an elevation reader that lets users know when trails cross hills and mountains.

The trail system will provide travelers access to a number of signature attractions, all of which can be found on the website and mobile app, including Battery Park, Walkway Over the Hudson, Corning Preserve, Lake George, Schenectady Rivers Casino, the Erie Canal Museum, the Buffalo Naval Military Park, local breweries, and other lodging accommodations and family-friendly destinations found along the Empire State Trail.

“Parks, historic sites, and heritage areas are the very fabric of our local communities and the Empire State Trail will further connect these treasured resources with all New Yorkers, neighbors and friends,” said New York State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey. “Governor Cuomo is rejuvenating the state park system and now with the creation of the Empire State Trail we are deepening the connection and sharing many of these wonderful treasures and all it takes is a bike ride or casual stroll.”

“New York’s natural resources are truly world class destinations and through Governor Cuomo’s leadership, the new Empire State Trail will establish important connections to offer residents and visitors even more opportunities to experience all the state has to offer,” said New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos. “I look forward to working with our partners in State Parks, to expand and enhance marketing of all the outdoor adventures one can have throughout the state, and continuing to help communities across the state capitalize on the economic potential of outdoor recreation.”

New York State Canal Corporation Director Brian Stratton said, “Tens of thousands of people already use the Canal trail year-round for hiking, biking, jogging and cross-country skiing. I’m beyond thrilled that Governor Cuomo has proposed completing the trail along the entire length of the Erie Canal. Now, more people will be able to enjoy all this iconic waterway has to offer as we celebrate the canal system’s bicentennial in 2017.”

Meanwhile, the US Department of Interior has just designated New York State Barge Canal as a national historic landmark. “This massive early-twentieth century enlargement of New York’s canal system was an embodiment of a Progressive Era emphasis on public works. The New York State Barge Canal was built explicitly to counter the growing monopoly of railroad corporations over the American economy. The spine of the canal is a direct descendant of the Erie Canal, which opened the interior of North America to settlement and commercial agriculture, transforming the Atlantic economy.”

19^th Annual Cycle the Erie 400-Mile Ride Returns July 9-16

Each year, Parks & Trails New York, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating and raising funds for the maintenance of New York’s trails and greenways, organizes an eight-day, 400-mile trip from one end of the Erie Canal in Buffalo, to the end, in Albany. The 19^th annual Cycle the Erie Canal , is scheduled July 9-16, 2017, just in time to celebrate the beginning of the bicentennial celebration of the Canal.

*Cycle the Erie riders along the canalway outside of Fairport, NY © 2017 Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Join more than 650 cyclists from across the country and the world cycling and visiting iconic port towns such as Lockport and Brockport, and places rich in history such as Seneca Falls and Rome, and visit charming small towns, museums, and historic sites which collectively tell the story of America. Marvel at the natural beauty of the rolling farmland of America’s original frontier and experience 19^th century engineering innovation.

The trip is supported, which means your luggage and camping gear is transported from each campsite (typically schools and recreation centers) to the next, so all you have to do is cycle from one attraction to the next. A team of SAG vehicles provides peace of mind knowing that you’ll be taken care of if you need mechanical support.

There are some updates for 2017:

Return shuttle: for the third consecutive year, we’ll be offering riders from Buffalo and points west our shuttle from Albany back to Buffalo at the end of the ride.
Erie Canal Trailblazers: Interested in cycling the whole tour for $100? Become a Cycle the Erie Canal Trailblazer and fundraise to help PTNY Close the Gaps in the Erie Canalway Trail. Registration is only $100 and includes a free Cycle the Erie Canal jersey, guidebook, and special recognition on the tour. Trailblazer registration also opens on January 3.
Cycle the Erie Canal Jersey: A must-have souvenir from the ride. Other merchandise options for this year’s ride include a commemorative Cycle the Erie Canal pint glass, an ECT sticker, our best-selling guidebook, and new for 2017, a Cycle the Erie Canal cap. Visit the PTNY shop for more information about these items.
Four-day and Weekend Options: If you don’t have the time for the entire eight-day tour, consider a shorter getaway on the Erie Canalway Trail. PTNY’s four-day and weekend options allowing you to fit the tour to your schedule. They are also great for families with kids and inexperienced riders.

See our series:

Going Places, Near & Far: Cycle the Erie Bike Tour Crosses Finish in Albany

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Cultural Travel, heritage travel, Historic Places, Historic Preservation

American Indian Intertribal PowWow at Jamestown Settlement, Williamsburg, Oct 1-2

August 20, 2016 MoralCompass

Kevin Locke performs Hoop Dance. Jamestown Settlement is hosting an American Indian Intertribal PowWow Oct. 1-2, 2016

WILLIAMSBURG, Va.– Jamestown Settlement, a museum of 17th-century Virginia history and culture, will present an American Indian Intertribal Powwow on Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2, featuring song and dance by members of American Indian tribes, storytelling and a film presentation.

An Evening Concert & Flute Workshops With Kevin Locke

A highlight of the weekend event will be a Saturday evening performance by folk artist Kevin Locke, a world-renowned Hoop Dancer, an indigenous Northern Plains flute player and storyteller. Locke, Native American Music Award winner for 2009 Record of the Year and National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellow, will perform traditional songs and original music from his 12 albums, most recently The First Flute, Open Circle, Keepers of the Dream and Dream Catcher, combining songs on flute with American Indian stories touching on the Lakota culture and sign language. At the conclusion of the evening, accompanied by Powwow singers, Locke will perform a hoop dance, an athletic healing dance in which he uses 28 hoops to form various animals and shapes. Audience members will be selected to learn and take part in this traditional hoop dance. The evening concert begins at 6:30 p.m., and admission is $10 for adults and $5 for ages 6-12.

As a Lakota and Anishinabe, Locke works with young people on American Indian reservations to ensure the survival and growth of the indigenous culture and shares the culture’s legacies with others during his world travels. Locke will offer flute workshops at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday in which he will show children how to build and paint their own flute and teach them a song. Participants during the Saturday workshops will be invited to perform with Locke during the Saturday evening performance, and those participating in the Sunday workshops can take part in the Sunday daytime Powwow dancing event. Flute workshops require advance reservations and cost $40 per person on Saturday (includes museum admission to daytime event and evening concert) and $35 on Sunday (includes museum admission to daytime event). Each workshop, designed for ages 8 and older, is limited to 15 participants.

American Indian Intertribal Powwow activities from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. include:

Powwow Singing & Dancing

A Grand Entry with a parade of dancers will take place at 12:30 p.m. each day in a dance circle on the museum mall, followed by an afternoon of singing and dancing until 4:30 p.m. Master of Ceremonies will be David White Buffalo, a member of the Sincagu band of the Lakota Nation, and Arena Director will be Clark Stewart of the Chickahominy Tribe. Among the featured singers will be Thunder Voices of the Lumbee, from Lumberton, N.C.; Zotigh Singers of the Kiowa, from Oklahoma; and The White Buffalo Singers of the Lakota, from Rosebud, S.D.

Film Presentation

Visitors can view the one-hour documentary film “Rising Voices” 10 a.m. and 12:30 and 3 p.m. each day to learn about the endangered indigenous language of the Lakota people at. The film is part of The Language Conservancy’s ongoing effort to preserve and revitalize languages in North America. Following the film, elders and first-language speakers from the Lakota in South Dakota and Crow in Montana will be on hand to discuss the film and facilitate children’s activities.

Storytelling

Grace Ostrum of the Accohannock will present American Indian stories at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. each day.

Birds of Prey

A “Birds of Prey” program, featuring falcons and other raptors, will be presented on the museum mall by Eagle Pines Falconry at 11:45 a.m. each day of the event.

‘Bartering for a Continent’ Special Exhibition

Jamestown Settlement visitors also can enjoy the “Bartering for a Continent: How Anglo-Indian Trade Shaped America” special exhibition through December 10, exploring the importance of trade between American Indians and English colonists, from the founding of Jamestown through the American Revolution, and the role of Virginia in the development of a new world of exchange in goods and commodities across the North American continent.

Basket Workshops

Powhatan Indians in the 17th century made baskets of bark, grasses and vines to carry items harvested on land and from waterways. Visitors can pre-register for a two-hour workshop at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. October 1 and 2 to discover the process of making twined baskets and take it home. Workshops are $20 per person and limited to 15 participants.

Jamestown Settlement features an introductory film, expansive exhibition galleries that chronicle the nation’s 17th-century beginnings in Virginia in the context of its Powhatan Indian, English and west central African cultures, and historical interpretation at outdoor re-creations of a Powhatan village, the three ships that brought America’s first permanent English colonists to Virginia in 1607, and a colonial fort.

The Jamestown Settlement Special Exhibition, Bartering for a Continent: How Anglo-Indian Trade Shaped America, is on view June 4 – December 10, 2016.

The American Indian Intertribal Powwow daytime event is included with admission: $17.00 for adults, $8.00 for ages 6 through 12, and children under 6 are free. Separate admission is required for the Saturday evening concert with Kevin Locke and advance reservations required for flute and basket workshops. Tickets are available at https://jyfemail.jyf.virginia.gov/eStore/.

Jamestown Settlement, located at State Route 31 and the Colonial Parkway (2110 Jamestown Road), is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For more information about the American Indian Intertribal Powwow, call (888) 593-4682 toll-free or (757) 253-4838 or visit http://www.historyisfun.org/jamestown-settlement/powwow/

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Historic Places, Women's History

New Sculpture Commemorates Tennessee’s Role in Ratifying Women’s Right to Vote

August 20, 2016 MoralCompass

*Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument (Dean Dixon photo; PRNewsFoto/Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monume)*

NASHVILLE, Tenn.– A monument celebrating Tennessee’s pivotal role in securing victory for woman suffrage was unveiled on Women’s Equality Day, Aug. 26, 2016, in Nashville’s Centennial Park.

Tennessee was the last state of the then 48 states that could possibly ratify the 19^th Amendment which granted all American women the right to vote in 1920. Editorial cartoonists called the state “The Perfect 36” since three-quarters of the states were necessary for ratification.

This privately funded $900,000 monument is sculpted by renowned Nashville artist Alan LeQuire, who created the 19^th Amendment bas relief sculpture that hangs inside the Tennessee State Capitol and Athena Parthenos inside The Parthenon at Centennial Park.

A photo hung at The Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville immortalizes the fact that the hotel was headquarters for both the Suffragettes and the anti-Suffragette movements lobbying the Tennessee Legislature, which ultimately became the last state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

It features five women who were actually in Nashville during the final ratification effort – Anne Dallas Dudley of Nashville; Frankie Pierce of Nashville; Sue Shelton White of Jackson; Abby Crawford Milton of Chattanooga; and Carrie Chapman Catt, the national suffrage leader who came to Nashville during the summer of 1920 to direct the pro-suffrage forces and stayed at the Hermitage Hotel.

“There is nothing outside the state capitol building that depicts this historic event. By having this monument in Centennial Park, which has a historic connection to the suffrage movement, it will be seen by thousands of visitors,” said Paula F. Casey of Memphis, who is Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument, Inc., board president.

Casey, who helped publish The Perfect 36: Tennessee Delivers Woman Suffrage(www.theperfect36.com), said the statewide volunteer board has worked for nearly six years to get the monument completed.

“We’ve overcome a lot of obstacles to make this happen. What we had to go through pales in comparison to the struggle the suffragists went through to win the right to vote for us,” she said. “This monument is for the ages. A hundred years from now, people will be reading about these remarkable women. Public art is forever.”

For more information, go to www.tnsuffragemonument.org.

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heritage travel, Historic Places, Historic Preservation

New UNESCO World Heritage Sites Designated for Germany

August 10, 2016 MoralCompass

On July 17, 2016, the two Le Corbusier houses at the Weissenhof Estate in the Southern German city of Stuttgart were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, making it the first World Heritage Site for Stuttgart and the 41st for Germany.

As part of a transnational joint application, Stuttgart and destinations in seven other countries applied to have 17 of Le Corbusier’s buildings listed due to the architect’s outstanding contribution to Modernism. The two Stuttgart houses are the architect’s only buildings in Germany and include the Weissenhof Museum, which illustrates the radical change in architecture around the time of the Second World War as well as Le Corbusier’s visionary thinking.

Germany’s other 40 UNESCO World Heritage Sites include the majestic Cologne Cathedral, the expansive Wadden Sea habitat, Classical Weimar and Regensburg’s charming Old Town. They can be explored on eight different themed routes, from natural wonders to architecture to palaces and parks.

For more information about Germany’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, visit www.germany.travel/unesco.
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Historic Places, Historic Preservation, National Parks

Obama Designates Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument in Washington DC

April 11, 2016 MoralCompass

Women's Suffrage Rally at Alva Vanderbilt Belmont’s Marble House, Newport, Rhode Island, 1914 (credit: The Preservation Society of Newport County) — *Women’s Suffrage Rally at Alva Vanderbilt Belmont’s Marble House, Newport, Rhode Island, 1914 (credit: The Preservation Society of Newport County)*

On this year’s Equal Pay Day, April 12, President Obama is designating a new national monument at a historic location in Washington, D.C., to honor the movement for women’s equality. The new Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument will protect the iconic house that has served as the headquarters for the National Woman’s Party since 1929. From this house, known in recent years as the Sewall-Belmont House, members of the Party led the movement for women’s equality, authoring more than 600 pieces of federal, state and local legislation in support of equal rights.

The designation will permanently protect one of the oldest standing houses near the U.S. Capitol and help preserve an extensive archival collection that documents the history, strategies, tactics and accomplishments of the movement to secure women’s suffrage and equal rights in the United States and across the globe.

Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, seen in a portrait in Marble Hall, worked to pass the 19th Amendment. (credit: The Preservation Society of Newport County) — Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, seen in a portrait in Marble Hall, worked to pass the 19th Amendment.
(credit: The Preservation Society of Newport County)

The new monument is named for former Party president, activist and suffragist Alva Belmont (known also as Alva Vanderbilt), who was a major benefactor of the National Woman’s Party, and Alice Paul, who founded the Party and was the chief strategist and leader in the Party’s ongoing fight for women’s political, social, and economic equality.

After playing an instrumental role in the passage and ratification of the 19^thAmendment guaranteeing women’s suffrage, Paul led the Party’s advocacy work from the house, including drafting updated Equal Rights Amendment text, writing provisions that were later included in the Civil Rights Act to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender, and working to get women’s equality language incorporated in the U.N. Charter. A fierce advocate for women’s equality her entire life, Paul died in 1977 at the age of ninety-two.

Efforts to protect the site date back to the early 1970s, and more recent proposals to include the site in the National Park System have garnered Congressional support – including bipartisan legislation introduced by Senator Mikulski – as well as strong support from local elected officials, community leaders, women’s organizations, conservation groups and historians. The National Park Foundation will announce that David Rubenstein is contributing $1 million dollars to support the site and address immediate restoration needs.

In 1997, the National Woman’s Party became an educational organization and today, seeks to educate the public about the ongoing women’s rights equality movement.

In addition to protecting more land and water than any President in history – more than 265 million acres – President Obama has sought to protect places that are diverse, culturally and historically significant, and that reflect the story of all Americans. By honoring the history and accomplishments of the movement for women’s equality, tomorrow’s designation will build on this effort towards a more inclusive National Park System and tell the story of women’s fight for equality for generations to come. Our national parks and other protected sites that represent America’s diverse history and culture will continue to be an important priority for the Administration as the country celebrates the National Park Service Centennial this year.

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