Hidden in Plain Sight

The Old Santa Fe Trail Building is now used as a regional headquarters for the National Park Service. The large adobe building, built in the 1930s with New Deal Labor, blends into the surrounding landscape. Courtyards, exterior adobe and stucco walls, and planting features define the cultural landscape. The building takes its name from the proximity to the Santa Fe National Historic Trail, which was used primarily between 1821 and 1880.

Hidden from nearby highways and subdivisions by a screen of trees, Oxon Hill Farm is one of the few remaining agricultural landscapes in Prince George's County, Maryland. This place, where kids from the nearby city have encountered farm areas and learned how syrup is made, was also a witness to war and a landscape of healing. The house vibrated in the midst of the War of 1812, and later it was intended to be a place of calm for mentally ill patients and members of the poor.

Manzanar National Historic Site is the best-preserved of the Japanese American War Relocation Centers operated by the U.S. Government between 1942 and 1945. Incarcerees endured harsh living conditions and created a self-sustainable community by transforming the extreme desert environment into a more livable landscape. Today, historic fruit trees survive from the period as an indication of the resiliency of the incarcerated individuals who cared for them.

Everglades National Park is usually recognized for its natural resources, but not as many people know about park's association with the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1962, the detection of weapons in Cuba led to the movement of military personnel to south Florida in order to prepare for a possible invasion. Florida's HM69 Nike Missile Base consisted of the Control Area and the Launch Area. Many reminders of this history in the Everglades, often overlooked, remain.

John Muir National Historic Site is one of the landscapes intimately associated with the life of John Muir, the conservationist and national park advocate who lived at this farm for decades until his death in 1914. The property contains a large Italianate house, orchards, and an adobe house. Muir became business partners with settler John Strentzel in the 1880s and helped to manage and develop the already-successful farm. Today, the park is actively restoring the orchards.

The Klondike Gold Rush (1897-1898) sparked an influx of fortune seekers to the Canadian interior. Transportation systems were quickly developed to aid the movement of new arrivals and goods over the rugged terrain. Michael J. Heney, also known as the "Irish Prince," was responsible for authorizing and supervising construction of successful railroad routes in Alaska.

The street sounds of New Bedford, Massachusetts, can be familiar and easy to overlook. With a little insight into the history of the area and some attentive listening and observation, the sound of the landscape can supply a better understanding of its character. Narrow streets with short blocks and cobblestone paving are reminders of the pedestrian and horse activity that once clamored through the streets of this busy seaport.

Dr. John Croghan of Louisville, Kentucky recognized certain qualities of the air at Mammoth Cave. He believed the uniform temperature and humidity would be therapeutic for patients with tuberculosis, and in 1842 he invited 16 patients to take up residence in the cave. He developed an experimental hospital treatment facility within the cave, around the same time that tourism was expanding.