Inside the National Trust

By Arnold Berke

(Art by Richard Thompson)

The thorny problem of building a bus transfer station in Savannah is being resolved with help from the Trust. The regional transit authority had proposed a structure that the Historic Savannah Foundation, business and neighborhood groups, and others said would harm the historic district, marring its famous streets-and-squares plan and importing too much traffic. In 2002 the Trust's Legal Defense Fund stepped in, charging the Federal Transit Administration, a key project funder, with failing to heed federal preservation and transportation laws. As a result, and guided by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the fta told the transit authority to check out new choices. More mediation led to a new proposal—to rehab an unloved 1970s parking garage a half dozen blocks from the first location. The historic district's defenders, says Historic Savannah Executive Director Mark McDonald, "are much more comfortable with the latest site."

… If you'd like to submit a site (or sites) for the 2004 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, you've got until Jan. 20 to do so. And a cutoff date of Feb. 2 faces artistic types who want to enter the poster contest for Preservation Week (May 3 to May 9). For each, download an application from the Trust's Web site. Or call (202) 588-6141 for 11 Most and (202) 588-6037 for Preservation Week.

… Friends and colleagues of Nancy Campbell have honored the former Trust chairman by setting up the Nancy Campbell Preservation Leadership Fund. With $266,000 in gifts and pledges, the fund will be used by Trust presidents to support worthwhile causes, invest in initiatives, and intervene in critical issues. A volunteer extraordinaire, Campbell has been part of the Trust family for nearly a quarter-century, first as an advisor from Connecticut, then as chair from 1995 to 1999, and most recently as head of the very successful Campaign for America's Historic Places. Those interested in swelling the fund may call (202) 588-6063.

… Wondering where to buy those holiday presents? Does combat shopping at malls dismay you? A much better choice—other than Main Street, of course—is the museum stores that adorn many of the Trust's historic sites. If you're not lucky enough to live near one, then drop in on-line, where 13 of them have opened shop. Visit them at www.nationaltrust.org/shop/museum_shops.html. Another nifty pick is the new gift card from the Trust's Historic Hotels of America. Pack your friends off to inns, resorts, spas, and other one-of-a-kind hideaways, armed with the credit-card-ish rectangle (values start at $50). Call (866) 684-6835 or visit www.historichotels.org for the nearly 50 hotels that offer the card.

… Speaking of Main Street, the Trust program's first citywide offshoot, Boston Main Streets, is being lauded by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change and Rutgers University. Studying 19 local "solutions for America," they praise the Boston effort for expertly adapting the national model "to the needs of a large, diverse city."

… We've come a long way in the preservation movement, and spread far and wide. How to get your arms around it all—its history, philosophies, laws, and major players? The wide range and enormous number of places that have benefited? The movement's future? Try reading A Richer Heritage: Historic Preservation in the Twenty-First Century, a new book edited by Robert E. Stipe (University of North Carolina Press). Whether you're curious about the broader contours or just want to bone up on details—what exactly are clgs and shpos, habs/haer and Section 106?—this is the tome for you. (The National Trust gets its due, too.)

… An old train station in Hastings, Neb., has been restored by an even older company. The 1902 Burlington Railway depot, a Spanish colonial revival design by Thomas R. Kimball, was renewed inside and out by the Dutton-Lainson Co., a Hastings manufacturer, wholesaler, and printer that dates to 1886. Senior vice president and Trust member Gayle McClure led the project, funded partly by a federal transportation-enhancements grant. Among the reborn elements are the tile roof, beamed ceilings, doors and windows, brick and stucco walls, limestone arches, light fixtures, even the waiting platform. Headquartered in a landmark 1920s building across the street, the company uses the main part of the station to showcase its home improvement products, while Amtrak operates out of the gussied-up old baggage room. "We're pretty proud of the results," says McClure, pointing out that 98 percent of the work was done by local contractors.

… An attempt to dilute the enhancements grants, making them a discretionary rather than guaranteed part of state transportation spending, was crushed in September by a House vote of 327 to 90. Trust staff (especially those in public policy, law, and membership) and an army of others in the preservation, environmental, and design communities fought hard for the victory. The popular program, begun in 1992, has spent some $6 billion on such embellishments as bike and pedestrian trails, streetscaping, public art, and—dearest to our hearts—the restoration of train depots, bridges, lighthouses, and roads.

Read more from our current issue online, look for the November/December 2003 issue on newsstands, or subscribe to the magazine by joining the National Trust.