The Wilkinson and Slater Mills along the banks of the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, RI.

The NPS Takes a Fresh Look at the Blackstone River Valley
In October 2006, Congress passed legislation to reauthorize the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission for an additional five years. While the Blackstone River Valley was designated a National Heritage Corridor in perpetuity by Congress, the federal management presence will only exist as long as the federally created Corridor Commission continues to operate.

The reauthorization legislation also required the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a Special Resource Study (SRS) to explore the potential for a permanent National Park Service (NPS) presence in the Blackstone Valley. A possible result of the study could be Congressional action creating a new unit of the National Park System in the Blackstone Valley. The SRS, which is being managed by staff from the NPS’ Northeast Regional Office, will focus on sites and landscape features that contribute to the understanding of the Blackstone Valley as the birthplace of the American industrial revolution.

To learn about the study process itself, please to see the current informational bulletin.

In February, 2008 a group of six scholars came to the Blackstone Valley to review the nationally significant resources of the region and the themes that can be best interpreted here. Each of the scholars then produced a short paper on their views of the region, and how the Blackstone Valley fits into the current scholarship on industrialization in America. To see these papers, click the links below.

Alison Kim Hoagland:
Professor of History & Preservation, Michigan Technological University

Gary Kulik:
Independent Consultant

Gabrielle Lanier:
Associate Professor of History, James Madison University

Walter Licht:
Annenberg Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania

David Meyer:
Professor of Sociology, Brown University

Jonathan Prude:Associate Professor of History, Emory University

To view the National Park Service's Planning, Environment and Public Comment page devoted to this study click here.