Woodlawn Cemetery named National Historic Landmark


New Yorkers have always known that Woodlawn Cemetery was someplace special. This Bronx burial ground is the final home for many of the rich and famous. It’s beautiful too, a parklike setting with 400 acres of ornate headstones and mausoleums, such as this one for Frank Winfield Woolworth. Yes, that Woolworth.

Founded in 1863 in an age when wealthy families vied with each other to have the most elaborate mausoleum, it attracts thousands of visitors a year who don’t even know anyone buried there. The public certainly knows of many of them: Harry Carey, David Farragut, Duke Ellington, Fiorello La Guardia, Frank Belknap Long, Herman Melville, Bat Masterson, and Joseph Pulitzer to name a few.

Now the cemetery has been named a national Historic Landmark, the highest honor that can be given to a U.S. historic site. Visiting Woodlawn makes a soothing and contemplative break from the high-powered vibe of New York City. If you like cemetery art, check out our picks of creepy and beautiful cemeteries around the world.

[Image courtesy Woodlawn Cemetery]

World Heritage Site new “Tentative List”: Places to Love: Civil Rights Movement Sites

For the Gadling series “World Heritage Site new “Tentative List”: Places to Love” we are covering the 14 sites that have been submitted for possible inclusion as an official World Heritage Site in the United States. The sites will not be posted in order of importance or in the order they appear on the list.

Number 1

Name of site: Civil Rights Movement Sites

Location: Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama.

Reason for importance (in a nutshell): Three churches, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery and the Bethel Baptist and 16th Street Baptist Churches in Birmingham, all historically African-American, played significant roles during the Civil Rights Movement.

Jamie’s Take: Of all the places on the new Tentative Sites list, these are perhaps the most humble and each hold enormous significance to American history. During Black History month, this is a fitting time to pay tribute. Here’s why:

Picture Martin Luther King Jr. standing at the simple pulpit of what was then called Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. From 1954 to1960, he was the pastor of this church, preaching his message that pulled people into a movement that changed history. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was organized from here. The church today looks similar to what it did back then–even the pulpit is still there.

In Birmingham on September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church. Hatred killed four girls while they were putting on their choir robes. Members of the Klu Klux Klan were responsible. The bombing played a large role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The church, in the heart of the Civil Rights District of Birmingham, still operates as a church today. In 1873, when it was founded, it was the first African American church to in Birmingham.

From 1956-1961, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) was headquartered at the Bethel Baptist Church. The early Civil Rights movement efforts were organized here, including the Freedom Ride bus trip that helped lead to the desegregation of bus transportation. This church was bombed several times and is now a National Historic Landmark.

WHS new “Tentative List”: Places to Love–Petrified Forest National Park

For the Gadling series “World Heritage Site new “Tentative List”: Places to Love” we are covering the 14 sites that have been submitted for possible inclusion as an official World Heritage Site in the United States. The sites will not be posted in order of importance or in the order they appear on the list.

Number 13

Name of Site: Petrified Forest National Park

Location: In Arizona almost halfway between Albuquerque, New Mexico (204 miles) and Phoenix, Arizona (259 miles)

Reason for importance in a nutshell: 10,000 years of human history + deposits of petrified wood that date to the Late Triassic paleo-ecosystem (205-225 million years ago) + dinosaur fossils and more + “one of the most diverse collections of prehistoric pottery fragments in the Southwest.”

Jamie’s Take: I’ve been here at least three times and can vouch that the beauty of the Petrified Forest is not just the petrified wood or the fossils. The Painted Desert is part of the Petrified Forest National Park. Here, the landscape is the kind you could look at every day for a year and never get bored. Depending on the angle of the sun, colors change from burnt orange to purpley blue. The mix of human existance with the natural world is the calling card, but this a physically facinating part of the United States. For anyone who grew up living around forests and grass covered scenery, here’s a place to see what all those layers of earth look like.

While you’re visiting, check out the Painted Desert Inn which is a National Historic Landmark. The dining room and lunchroom are decorated with murals depicting Hopi culture. Also in the park is a section of original Route 66 highway. Another worthwhile stop is the Rainbow Forest Museum. Interpretive displays and a film explain the significance of the area. If you can’t make it any time soon, here’s a virtual tour.

Topaz Japanese Internment Camp Joins Others as National Historic Landmark

If you’ve ever read the novel Snow Falling on Cedars or seen the movie, perhaps you remember the scenes that took place in a Japanese internment camp. I recall David Guterson’s prose about the dust and wind that whipped through the camp where one of the main characters and his family were taken during WWII. The internment camps that were set up in the United States to house 120,000 Japanese-Americans after the Pearl Harbor attack are still evident in the buildings and barbed wire that remain. Most of the buildings are gone, however.

When I read about the Topaz Internment Camp becoming a National Historic Landmark, I thought about those scenes. Because of its national historic status, what’s left of the camp will remain as a witness to this piece of American history. The dedication ceremony was on June 30 and now the camp is a museum. Here’s a news clip of the dedication day. The footage includes interviews with former detainees and historic film clips. If you click on the photo you’ll go to normaltoilet’s Flickr page where other photos and descriptions are posted. You’ll also be able to read the sign better.

Six of the other ten internment camps are designated as National Historic Landmarks as well.

The Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho is part of the National Park System.