On the banks of the Fox River in Northeast Illinois is a one-room house on a 60-acre property near Plano, approximately 56 miles southwest of Chicago. Built by Dr. Edith Farnsworth as a weekend home and getaway from her life as a physician-scientist, the house has, since its inception, been known for its Modernist design. While the property has had many owners in its lifetime, it is now a National Trust Historic Site. In 2021, the historic site formally became known as the Edith Farnsworth House, part of a long overdue recognition of the site as the home of Dr. Edith Farnsworth rather than sin ..read more

Shamrock, Texas, has a population of just 1,773. Yet, at the height of the tourist season, as many as 15,000 visitors can show up in one day. Shamrock sits on the historic Route 66 and is home to the 1936 Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Café. The Art Deco masterwork is one of the most photographed buildings on the Mother Road, said Crystal Hermesmeyer, economic development director for the city of Shamrock. But for all of that interest, the café in the historic building seats just 33 people at a time. So, over the years, the city, which owns the building, has come up with other strategies to impr ..read more

When thinking of painters and trees, Bob Ross may be the first to come to mind. However, painters were charmed by “happy little trees” for centuries before Ross. Artists like Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt, and those from the Hudson River School, captured the beauty of the country’s majestic landscapes. It is through their eyes that many came to see these unique places for the first time. These works captured imaginations and helped the national park movement take root by making people realize that these places were worth preserving for future generations. The National Trust for Historic Pr ..read more

As of January 2024, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has destroyed nearly a quarter of a million buildings, most of them private homes, according to the Kyiv School of Economics. Universities, health care facilities, and public infrastructure are also among the wreckage. The World Bank estimates that it will cost more than $400 billion to reconstruct the country. But rebuilding Ukraine is about more than just new roofs, walls, and foundations. Considering the cultural losses that each demolished building represents, and carefully weaving that history back into the reconstruction process, is just a ..read more

While Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax “speaks for the trees,” do you ever wonder what the trees would say if they could talk for themselves? As witnesses to the world passing by, just imagine the stories they must have from the generations of human history they experienced in one lifetime. It is this earthly connection that makes trees so precious, and sometimes, even after the tree themselves have been lost, we humans make a choice to transform their physical form so that their memory lives on. Here are eight historic trees that form the landscape at National Trust Historic Sites. Perhaps if you sit qu ..read more

On October 25, 2023, the Center for Health Care and Healthy Living in Baltimore, Maryland, officially opened its doors in the newly renovated Hebrew Orphan Asylum. A national historic site since 2010, the building had served as an orphanage in the late 19th and early 20th century, and then as a hospital for 66 years, but sat unoccupied since 1989. Rehabilitated over more than a decade by the Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation with support from Baltimore Heritage, and with the help of federal and state tax credits, the site is again serving as a beacon of community care in the maj ..read more

To walk into Villa Finale: Museum & Gardens in San Antonio, Texas is to walk into Walter Mathis’ vision. Filled with over 12 thousand artifacts this home represents approximately 20 percent of the collections owned by the National Trust. Built by a hardware merchant in 1876 the Italianate mansion tells the story of an evolving city. Walter Mathis, who bought the home in 1967, restored the site and an additional fourteen properties in the neighborhood leading the revitalization of the district. Today the King William Historic District serves as a gathering place for the community. If you ar ..read more

Historic place-savers pour their time, energy, resources (and sometimes a great deal of sweat and tears) into protecting places they care about. This May, our Preservation Month theme is “People Saving Places” to shine the spotlight on everyone doing the work of saving places—in big ways and small. The work that you’re doing matters. Your efforts are vital in ensuring that all Americans connect with their shared history, weaving together the intricate tapestry of our nation’s story. By celebrating “People Saving Places,” your work will inspire others to join the national effort to preserve Ame ..read more

Latinos in Heritage Conservation (LHC) was launched in 2014 as a national network of like-minded heritage practitioners, advocates, and scholars who recognized the need for a national organization that would focus specifically on Latine heritage preservation. “It was born out of this idea that within the traditional field of historic preservation, our heritage isn't recognized,” said Sehila Mota Casper, LHC executive director. The network was organized as a 501(c)(3) in 2020 and received a $750,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation in December 2021, which allowed it to bring on executive direct ..read more

For Charlotte Ashamu, director of International Programs at the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Yale University, inviting the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to be part of the first fellowship program for executive leaders within the African cultural institution space was a continuation of her life’s work: building stronger connections between African Americans and Africans. The decision was partly personal as well. “My heritage is that my mother is African American and my father is Nigerian, and in the work that I have done over the years, I've always wan ..read more