[On October
1st, 1890, Congress established California’s Yosemite National Park. So this
week I’ll AmericanStudy Yosemite and four other amazing National Parks, leading
up to a special weekend post on their counterparts, National Historic Sites.]
On two
interesting comparisons for one of our newest National Parks.
Earlier this
month, as a small part of a very large Congressional bill (the National Defense
Authorization Act of 2015), the longstanding
Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor was upgraded, becoming (after
a decade of efforts and activism) the Blackstone River Valley National Historical
Park. As that second linked article suggests, the change is far more than
semantic—gaining National Park status brings with it a great deal of
development and support, linking the area to the National Park Service and
turning it into much more of a organized and coherent entity than had been
possible in the prior incarnation. The self-proclaimed (American) “Birthplace
of the Industrial Revolution,” an area running along the potent Blackstone
River from Worcester all the way to Providence, Rhode Island (making it one of
the few National Parks to span multiple states), will now be presented
and interpreted in all its historical and social significance for
generations to come.
The new park’s
multi-state span is one of a few things that differentiate it from most of its
fellow National Parks, but I would still highlight a couple of comparisons that
can shed light on what and how this park might achieve its goals most
effectively. Salem,
Massachusetts is home to a wonderful park, the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.
Featuring a dozen buildings, multiple wharfs, a
reconstructed tall ship, and a number of other elements, the Salem Maritime
park does an excellent job interpreting multiple centuries and stages of work,
community, and life in the city and region. The Derby Wharf section
alone includes all those centuries and stages in its different buildings and
placards. Compared, for example, to battlefield national parks such as Gettysburg or Yorktown, which focus on a few
days’ worth of historical events and issues, the Blackstone River Valley Park
will have to cover more than a century of industrial and social history and
culture, and the Salem Maritime National Historic Site provides an excellent
model for doing so successfully.
On the other
hand, Salem Maritime occupies an area of a few square miles; the Blackstone
River Valley Park will cover (as has the Heritage Corridor) a distance of some
forty-five miles, to say nothing of how far it extends on both sides of the
river. For a comparison with that element, I would turn to one of the national
parks around which I grew up: Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park. The Skyline
Drive, a winding, scenic road atop the Blue Ridge Mountains, travels more
than 100 miles, and yet is all part of the same unified national park identity
and interpretation, with its many distinct stops and areas comprising their own
unique identities yet tied together consistently and coherently. While
Shenandoah and Skyline focus much more on natural rather than historical or
cultural subjects, this large yet linked and coherent park community offers a
rich and successful model for how a park as spacious and far-reaching as
Blackstone River Valley can move through its many different places and
communities yet maintain that overarching sense identity and history. I’ll be
interested to see how Blackstone River Valley takes its next steps!
Next Park
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Other National Parks you’d highlight?
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