I) Lewis
II) Clark
III) Genealogy
>Preservation
>>Legislation
National Historic Landmark ProgramNational Historic Preservation Act
Virginia Department of Historic Resources
Legislation in Albemarle County
Legislation in Charlottesville
Owning an Historic Home
For Family HeritageFor Historical Interest
Letting the Public In
Museum at Buena VistaLewis and Clark Exploratory Center
Legislation
"The historical and cultural foundations of the nation should be preserved as a living part of our community life and development in order to give a sense of orientation to the American people."
~National Historic Preservation Act, 1966
During the 1960s, the federal government and states across the country began to pass legislation to preserve sites of historic significance. The most important pieces of legislation for the homes relating to Lewis and Clark in central Virginia were the National Historic Landmark Program, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission. All of these programs focused on creating a list of historic homes, places, and features, which were important to the nation's or a state's heritage. None of these programs imposed restrictions on the owners of these historic places in that if the holder wished to sell the property, demolish the house, or change any features of the house, the owner was free to do so. Instead, these plans focused on creating awareness of and educating the public about these homes in an effort to preserve them.
In all of these programs, the legislation stipulated that local communities could establish tougher regulations to protect historic homes. Albemarle County's Board of Supervisors created a committee to explore preservation legislation that focuses on education for the public and homeowners. Only in the city of Charlottesville, the county seat of Albemarle County, was there legislation that dictated what homeowners could and could not do. Although Charlottesville's approach was different from Virginia's and the nation's approach to preserving homes, all of these measures still revolve around public awareness to establish these structures and tracts of land as important to the history of the local community, Virginia, and the United States.