The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources is pleased to announce that New Hampshire’s Five Year Preservation Plan: Points of Interest and Touring Map is now available online. Based on input from the preservation community from across the state, the plan lays out priorities and directions for preserving and promoting New Hampshire’s historical and archeological resources during the next five years.
The National Park Service asks each state to develop a State Historic Preservation Plan every five years. New Hampshire’s plan documents what all of New Hampshire—businesses, not-for-profit organizations, individuals, and public agencies —hopes to do to preserve the state’s historical buildings, neighborhoods, downtowns, archaeological sites and traditional landscapes.
The National Parks Service, which approves each state’s plan, wrote to Historical Resources that New Hampshire’s plan will “provide helpful guidance not only to your own office, but also for your preservation partners throughout New Hampshire. We congratulate you on your excellent revised State Plan.”
The Division of Historical Resources collected information for the Preservation Plan at five public listening sessions held throughout the state in 2010. At these sessions, members of the public were asked what they thought New Hampshire’s historic preservation success stories were in the previous five years; what social, economic, political, legal and environmental trends impact these resources; which goals and objectives should be pursued in the next five years; and other issues related to historic preservation.
For the first time, the Division of Historical Resources created a blog to distribute updates, share session discussions, and compare concerns and comments across the state. A large online audience responded to a short questionnaire. Together, this gathered information forms the basis for the plan, particularly for the sections on success stories, trends, and goals and actions. Questionnaire results and the minutes from the public brainstorming sessions appear in the plan appendices.
“Hearing from so many people has been the highlight of assembling this plan,” said Elizabeth Muzzey, director of the Division of Historical Resources and state historic preservation officer. “The Division is grateful to everyone for their assistance and for all of the inspiring success stories. We look forward to working with our partners to implement many of the action items in the plan during the next five years.”
New Hampshire’s Five Year Preservation Plan: Points of Interest and Touring Map is now available for download. The Division of Historical Resources is also seeking sponsorship to fund the publication of the plan in printed format, in order to distribute a copy to every public library in the state.
