National Heritage Areas preserve landscapes and industries and honor the people, both past and present, who call the areas home.
They are places where the first airplanes were made or where coal was king.
The Endless Mountains Heritage Region (EMHR) is working towards that federal designation.
"We have so many amazing stories of national significance in this region," said Cain Chamberlin, executive director of EMHR.
The area, which includes Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties, is already a state designated heritage area.
"With the federal designation, we can definitely reach more partners that can help us spread that message, create more awareness across the country, and basically make our heritage area something we can be even more proud of than we already are," he said.
A group made up of people from across the four counties gathered in the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock on Thursday. The public meeting was one of the first steps in working towards the designation. EMHR is working with Point Heritage Development Consulting (Point HDC) on the project.
There are 62 National Heritage Areas in 32 states; six are in Pennsylvania, including the Lackawanna Heritage Valley. The Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Area was the first National Heritage Area — it was designated in 1984.
As of 2022, Heritage Areas are a National Park Service Program but are not considered National Parks. They have no impact on private property rights.
"This is a living landscape and that's one of the things that makes it really special," said Nancy Morgan, a consultant from Point HDC. "In short, a National Heritage Area … is a place where people and land have had an impact on each other for a really long time.”
Almost half of the National Heritage Areas are in the northeastern part of the county. Morgan said that’s where the idea really took hold and where there are many older industrial communities.
"National Heritage areas were a strategy to be able to build on the history and heritage that people were still really proud of, even if the industry has left," she said.
Historic preservation is prioritized in National Heritage Areas. For example, Rivers of Steel, in the Pittsburgh Area, preserved an abandoned building that was headquarters for a steel workers strike in 1892. It became the heritage area’s offices but also an exhibit space.
"That project was a catalyst for a lot of other economic development and revitalization then that happened in the area," Morgan said.
Morgan said to receive the designation, an area has to have many qualities including a nationally significant story.
"It has to have the resources left on the landscape that helped tell that story and it has to have an organization and a network of partners that can work together to care to develop and carry out a regional vision," she said.
Augio Carlino, also a consultant working on the project, picked the brains of the residents who attended the meeting.
“You all live here, you all work here," he said to the crowd. "You need to tell us what's important here, what's important to you.”
The group mentioned historical areas, like the town of Ricketts; state parks, like Salt Springs; and of course the Susquehanna River.
The wide ranging conversation touched on the lumber, coal and railroad industry, the original indigenous peoples from the region and how a national designation could help preserve many historical structures while bringing more awareness to the region’s rich history. They mentioned the abundance of outdoor recreation opportunities.
It takes an act of Congress to create a National Heritage Area.
“Working on that relationship with with the federal delegation is the absolute most critical piece of achieving that federal designation," said Morgan.
A representative from U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser's office was at the meeting.
PointHDC along with the EMHR will work on a feasibility study. They're also expecting to send out a community survey. There will be more community conversations.
For more details, visit emheritage.org.
