The Most Endangered Places of America

Every year, The National Trust for Historic Preservation creates a list of the most endangered places in America. This is done with the objective of making something in order to change these facts. This way we can keep historic places from falling into pieces. We are responsible of keeping every piece of culture there is intact in order to save our history. This 2012’s places include a mountain, a Chinatown, a house from a famous jazz artist and other surprising places. The National Trust never came with such a list before. So it is interesting to know what they have to say about these places.

This year, The Trust also introduced a new concept. This is a “watch list”. What they mean by this is some kind of observation list in which they include those places that seem to be in danger of being endangered. This way it is easier to keep track of places and prevent them from being on the endangered list.

The president of the Trust, Stephanie Meeks, commented that the objective of creating such a list is encouraging people from around these places to take care of their landmarks and historic places. It is also meant to impulse people to look for a solution for the place as well, even if they don’t live near it. So basically this list’s objective is to make people aware of the places and the important pieces of history that are about to end unless we do something about it.

This Year’s most endangered historic places are:

Bear Butte Meade County, S.D. – This is a very tall mountain measuring more than 4,400 feet tall. In the Black Hills of South Dakota, people tend to call this mountain the Mato Paha. The Trust reports that this mountain is actually a sacred place for about 17 tribes, and this is the main reason why it has to be respected and kept from being destroyed.

John Coltrane House, Dix Hills, NY – This house belonged to John Coltrane. He was one of the most known jazz artists of history. He lived in this house with his family for a long time until he died in 1967. A group in that time took ownership of the place. However, this group is today going through a difficult economical moment and counts with no funds to hold the house.

Isaac Manchester Farm, Avella, Pa. – A 400 acre farm in which eight generations of a family lived is something to really take care of. This is actually considered a time capsule of the whole farming process there was through the years and its evolution. Sadly, it is threaten by cal mining in the area.

Greater Chaco Landscape, N.M. – There is a wide variety of historical, native places in north New Mexico. However, oil and gas exploitation in the area are really representing a strong thread for this exceptional piece of American history in New Mexico.

National Soldiers Home Historic District, Milwaukee, Wis. – this campus has hosted thousands of veteran soldiers. This is why the place is considered a real piece of the bravest soldiers in the United States. This is a place in which thousands of incredible heroes have laid their heads to rest after serving their country. Today, it suffers from deferred maintenance.

China Alley, Hanford, Calif. – Chinese immigrants came to American land, in California, about 130 years ago. They actually plant their roots in the San Joaquin Valley and built themselves what we know today as the china town. These days, people consider this area to be a touristic place, which is almost entirely truth. However, people that work and leave there have caused strong damages in the installations, and the authorities are not moving a finger to stop so.