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TwHP in Heritage & Historic Preservation

National Park Service

Teaching with Historic Places

Heritage Education Services

Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) uses properties listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects. TwHP has created a variety of products and activities that help teachers bring historic
places into the classroom.

Preserve America

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The Preserve America initiative recognizes communities that:
protect and celebrate their heritage;
use their historic assets for economic development and community revitalization; and
encourage people to experience and appreciate local historic resources through education and heritage tourism programs.
Preserve America is a White House initiative in cooperation with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; the U.S. Departments of Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Education; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities; and the President's Council on Environmental Quality.

In honor of the Preserve America initiative, Teaching with Historic Places has posted on the web the following lesson plans that feature historic sites in Preserve America Communities. These lessons, based on sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places, are free and ready for immediate classroom use by students in history and social studies classes. The lessons are listed alphabetically by states and then by communities within the states.

• Huntsville, Alabama America's Space Program: Exploring a New Frontier
Discover how NASA, private industry, and research institutions across the country cooperated to develop and implement the complex technology that enabled man to land on the moon.

• Mobile, AlabamaFort Morgan and the Battle of Mobile Bay
Follow Admiral Farragut's attack on Fort Morgan and Mobile Bay, and consider the human reaction to technologies such as ironclads and underwater mines.

• Tampa, FloridaYbor City: Cigar Capital of the World
Discover how immigrant cigar makers in this section of Tampa, Florida, adapted to life in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century while maintaining their ethnic identity.

• Las Vegas, NevadaThe Old Mormon Fort: Birthplace of Las Vegas, Nevada
Learn how an obscure settlement created during Mormon expansion grew into a well-known and prosperous American city, and consider factors that hinder or contribute to the evolution of early settlements into permanent communities, towns, and cities.

• Rensselaer County, New YorkThe Battle of Bennington: An American Victory
Learn how a battle in a tiny valley near the frontier in northern New York helped determine whether the American colonies would become an independent nation. Also understand why a town in Vermont erected a monument to the battle.

• Astoria, OregonThe Lewis and Clark Expedition: Documenting the Uncharted Northwest Learn how the 1804-1806 expedition effectively opened the Northwest to the influence of the United States, established relations with numerous American Indian nations, and gathered useful scientific documentation about the West. [The property is Fort Clatsop in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Astoria]

• Connellsville, PennsylvaniaCarnegie Libraries: The Future Made Bright
Discover how and why industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie chose libraries to be among his greatest benefactions to the U.S., and assess the impact of libraries on American society.

• Montgomery County, PennsylvaniaAt a Crossroads: The King of Prussia Inn
Learn how transportation routes affected a local inn, how archeology revealed the inn's use over time, and how preservation efforts saved the historic site from suburban sprawl.

• Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaIndependence Hall: International Symbol of Freedom Learn about Independence Hall and about how the international influence of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution led to the designation of the building in which they were adopted as a World Heritage Site. The Liberty Bell: From Obscurity to Icon
Analyze the influences that shaped the symbolic meaning of the bell, and evaluate the various claims as to how and when it was cracked.

• Harris County, TexasAmerica's Space Program: Exploring a New Frontier
Discover how NASA, private industry, and research institutions across the country cooperated to develop and implement the complex technology that enabled man to land on the moon.

• Bennington, VermontThe Battle of Bennington: An American Victory
Learn how a battle in a tiny valley near the frontier in northern New York helped determine whether the American colonies would become an independent nation. Also understand why a town in Vermont erected a monument to the battle.

• Prince William County, VirginiaFirst Battle of Manassas: An End to Innocence
Study personal accounts of soldiers who fought in the first battle of the Civil War, and discover how the day set the tone for the many bloody battles to come.

• King County, WashingtonGold Fever! Seattle Outfits the Klondike Gold Rush
Examine how the discovery of gold in Canada's remote Klondike region touched off the last great gold rush, creating an economic boom that changed the city of Seattle forever.

• Spokane, WashingtonCarnegie Libraries: The Future Made Bright
Discover how and why industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie chose libraries to be among his greatest benefactions to the U.S., and assess the impact of libraries on American society. Roadside Attractions
Follow the highways of the 1920s and 1930s, exploring the whimsical, extravagant architecture that came with American auto culture.

For more information about the Preserve America initiative and other designated communities, please visit the Preserve America website.