Heritage roadway declared

A picturesque and gracious stretch of American highway just got a lot more gravitas — and security.

The 175-mile corridor between Gettysburg and Monticello is officially the “Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area.” No wonder. It passes by nine presidential homes, 73 historic areas in four states, significant battlefields and legendary sites from four wars, 15 historic communities, pristine forests, rolling hills, sparkling rivers and quaint little byways.

Oh, yes — and Camp David.

President Bush endorsed the new designation yesterday as part of the Consolidated Natural Resources Act, bipartisan legislation that also included new provisions or modifications for several national parks, water projects and energy programs.

The designation caps off a 12-year effort by a persistent collaborative consisting of 150 public and private organizations — plus lawmakers, local officials, landowners and concerned citizenry as well as town councils, sheep farms and country stores.

Along with tending the sometimes fragile evidence of American history, the group seeks to protect the area from commercial development and draw in the discriminating “heritage” tourist.

The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership has powerful friends; board members include National Geographic Society Chairman Gilbert M. Grosvenor, National Trust for Historic Preservation President Richard Moe and Susan Eisenhower — granddaughter of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“No area in America could possibly be more deserving of this status,” said Sen. John W. Warner.

The Virginia Republican originally sponsored the popular legislation, which was passed by the Senate on April 10 by a vote of 91 to 4. Co-sponsors included Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin, Maryland Democrat and Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican.

Mr. Cardin yesterday applauded the roadway’s new status, calling it “a wonderful opportunity to ensure that future generations have a much better appreciation of America’s past.”

Once called the “Old Carolina Road,” what is now Route 15 winds along through the newly minted heritage area, skirting the Shenandoah Mountains, the nation’s largest concentration of Civil War battlefields and grand homes of American leaders. The names of the homes have a poetic cadence all on their own: Ash Lawn, Oak Hill, Montebello, Monticello, Montpelier.

The roadway will be the 38th “National Heritage Area” established by Congress, managed by partnerships among federal, state, and local governments and the private sector.

The corridor will be tended by both the National Park Service and the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, a Virginia-based nonprofit entity whose sole purpose is to “make known the wealth of the Hallowed Ground’s offerings,” Mr. Warner said.