New Deal Roadside Landscape Features
By the 1920s automobile travel was becoming a favorite pastime. In the 1930s, with assistance from New Deal federal relief programs, the Minnesota Department of Highways began building facilities such as scenic overlooks and historical markers to serve travelers. The Minnesota Department of Transportation evaluated these facilities and found it owns a significant collection of historic roadside properties and is assessing sites in further detail and preparing documents to prioritize, manage, and preserve them. learn more...

Sustainable Military Earthworks Management
The ground plane has long been consciously shaped before, during, and after battle to provide cover and protection for soldiers. Managing these "earthworks" is a complex process requiring knowledge from a range of disciplines. It is an evolving science that requires an integrated approach to natural and cultural resource management. learn more...

Complete Series

04 | Revealing the Story of Virginius Island
In the 19th century, owners of a small island took advantage of its proximity to the US Armory at Harpers Ferry, VA to develop the only privately-owned land in the area with water-powered mills and industries. When the last residents left the island in the 1936, nature reclaimed the abandoned landscape, leaving behind only remnants of the past.

03 | The Reynolda Gardens (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
This is one of the best known works of Philadelphia-based landscape architect Thomas Sears. After years of decline, a rehabilitation plan for this garden was developed that evaluates the original design intent within the context of the landscape's contemporary use and stewardship.

02 | The Historic Columbia River Gorge (Oregon)
This was the first scenic highway constructed in the U.S.(b.1913-1922). Since the late 1980s, the road and associated historic designed landscapes have undergone rehabilitation. Highway segments abandoned in the 1930s and 1950s, now serve as trails.

01 | The Benjamin Franklin Parkway (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
This rehabilitation project focuses on the preservation treatment of the tree plantings on two central medians of a grand boulevard in the City of Philadelphia designed by French urban planner Jacques Gréber.

The goal of Currents is to examine and promote successful examples of the sound stewardship of cultural landscapes and to share these "success stories" with the broadest possible audience in a way that is both engaging and educational. All projects that are featured here will successfully apply the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and the Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes.

Cultural Landscape Currents is a product of the
Historic Landscape Initiative