Whitney Farm in the town of Sherborn Massachusettes has retained the integrity of the 19th century farmstead.
| Rural Americans protect their communities for a variety of reasons. Some begin their endeavors because of a burning issue a proposed highway next to a scenic river or a shopping mall planned for prime farmland. Others become involved because they sense a general threat often increased or unplanned development and believe that existing efforts are inadequate to counteract it. Saving America's Countryside, 1997 (Johns Hopkins Press) Across the United States, snowballing residential and industrial development is threatening our nation's cultural landscape heritage, and, as a result, millions of acres of rural landscapes from family farms and expansive ranchlands to formerly-active industrial sites are being lost to sprawl an increasing and unprecedented peril. . Within this context of accelerated change and lack of continuity, it is not sufficient to acknowledge that well-planned development enhances everyone's property value. What can be done when the benefits of conservation are long term but the profits of development are short term? With Landslide: Working Landscapes, the Cultural Landscape Foundation places a spotlight on seven at-risk landscapes across America , which accordingly demand our attention. In 2002, the Cultural Landscape Foundation focused on designed landscapes. The most-recently announced collection identifies historic rural landscapes where people worked the land: farms and ranches, shipyards and railroad yards. Many of these places are also rich in cultural values, often identified with a community, an ethnic group, or a site that reflects the cultural identity of ordinary working people who shaped the landscape. From a small family farm to tens of thousands of acres of vernacular lands, Landslide: Working Landscapes celebrates this astonishing and fragile aspect of our cultural patrimony. |
The Sites 01 Acoma Pueblo 02 Agate Bay 04 Buckland VA 07 Whitney Farm
IN THE NEWS >> When the Siren Last Wails: What's in store for the aging industrial landscape of Agate Bay? >> Preservation Alliance of Minnesota names Agate Bay as one of its endangered historic resource. >> Cienega Corridor Makes the List >> Embracing the Past In Tiny Buckland, VA |
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