Northern Neck National Heritage Area

Public Input Event October 29, 2024

The Northern Neck National Heritage Area (NNNHA) seeks public input on the development of the Management Plan. On October 29th, the NNNHA is hosting a Regional Exchange from 1pm to 5pm at the Lancaster Community Library in the upstairs meeting room at 16 Town Centre Drive in Kilmarnock.

The Regional Exchange is designed to engage attendees to participate in facilitated discussions on topics that will shape the NNNHA Management Plan. Information gathered in breakout sessions will be refined into strategies to be considered for inclusion in the plan. The following topics will be discussed:

Telling the Story: Interpretation and Education
Enhancing Our Economy: Heritage Tourism and Economic Development
Preserving What Matters: Historic Preservation
Our Amazing Outdoors: Natural Resource Conservation and Recreation
Cultural Conversation: Living Traditions
Promoting the Past: Marketing Northern Neck Heritage

“The Northern Neck National Heritage Area was designated by Congress in December of 2022 in recognition of the Northern Neck’s distinctive landscape and history,” said Jerry W. Davis, Executive Director of the Northern Neck Planning District Commission (NNPDC), which oversees the Northern Neck Tourism Commission. The Northern Neck Tourism Commission is the local coordinating entity for the Northern Neck National Heritage Area.

“The goal of a National Heritage Area is to create a community-driven network to support historic preservation, natural resource conservation, recreation, heritage tourism, and educational projects,” Davis said. “The Regional Exchange continues the process to develop a management plan that will reflect the interests of our communities in guiding the National Heritage Area’s work.”

The Northern Neck National Heritage Area boundary includes King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland Counties. The National Heritage Area works in partnership with the National Park Service which will provide technical assistance and funding.

The management plan is being developed by a team led by Point Heritage Development Consulting, LLC (PointHDC), which includes some of the country’s top experts in working with National Heritage Areas. The consultant team is working with the Northern Neck Tourism Commission, NNPDC staff, and the public to develop the plan which will be approved by the National Park Service and the Secretary of the Interior. Once approved, the Northern Neck National Heritage Area will be eligible to receive federal funds to support implementation of programs and projects included in the management plan.

For more information on historic sites, activities, events, and recreation in the region, visit northernneck.org.

Contact: Jerry W. Davis, AICP
Organization: Northern Neck Planning District Commission
Email: jdavis@nnpdc17.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 333-1900 ext. 22

Northern Neck National Heritage Area Regional Exchange
~ A regional exchange for public input on the development of the Management Plan for the Northern Neck National Heritage Area – to be held October 29, 2024, 1pm to 5pm in Kilmarnock. ~

The Northern Neck Tourism Commission has been assigned as the Local Coordinating Entity (LCE) for the Northern Neck NHA. It will first work with the National Park Service on the preparation of a Management Plan for the Northern Neck National Heritage Area. The Plan will define the purpose, mission, and operations of the NHA. Current members of the Northern Neck Tourism Commission by organization are:

A.T. Johnson High School Museum
Belle Grove Plantation Bed & Breakfast
Belle Isle State Park
Caledon State Park
George Washington Birthplace National Monument
Historic Christ Church
Holley Graded School
James Monroe Birthplace
King George Economic Development & Tourism
Menokin
Northern Neck Farm Museum
Northern Neck Land Conservancy
Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society
Northern Neck Planning District Commission (chair)
Omega Protein
Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Rappahannock Tribe
Rice’s Hotel/Hughlett’s Tavern
Stratford Hall
The Tides Inn
Westmoreland State Park

Virtual Public Meeting April 18, 2024

For Immediate Release
April 4, 2024

Contact: Jerry W. Davis, AICP, Executive Director
Organization: Northern Neck Planning District Commission
Email: jdavis@nnpdc17.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 333-1900 ext 22
Northern Neck National Heritage Area Hosts Virtual Public Meeting April 18

Warsaw – The public is invited to participate and provide input as planning for the future of the Northern Neck National Heritage Area at a virtual public meeting on April 18, at 7pm. The link to the public meeting is here (Meeting ID: 864 0487 5251 Passcode: 964556).

Two previous in-person meetings were held in March. This virtual meeting is planned to provide an additional opportunity for public engagement.

“The Northern Neck National Heritage Area was designated by Congress in December of 2022 in recognition of the Northern Neck’s nationally significant history,” said Jerry W. Davis, Executive Director of the Northern Neck Planning District Commission (NNPDC), which oversees the Northern Neck Tourism Commission.

The Northern Neck Tourism Commission is the local coordinating entity for the Northern Neck National Heritage Area.

“The goal of a National Heritage Area is to create a community-driven network to support historic preservation, natural resource conservation, recreation, heritage tourism, and educational projects,” Davis said. “These two meetings will begin a process to develop a management plan that will reflect the interests of our communities in guiding the National Heritage Area’s work.”

The management plan will be developed by a team led by Point Heritage Development Consulting, LLC (PointHDC), which includes some of the country’s top experts in working with National Heritage Areas.

The consultant team will work with the Northern Neck Tourism Commission, NNPDC staff, and the public to develop the plan which will be approved by the National Park Service and the Secretary of the Interior. Once approved, the Northern Neck National Heritage Area will be eligible to receive federal funds to support implementation of programs and projects included in the management plan.

The public meeting will include a presentation on the process and timeline for development of the management plan, examples of success stories from other National Heritage Areas, and a discussion session with participants to share what they consider important opportunities to develop and sustain the area’s heritage and culture.

March 2024 Public Meetings

The first two public meetings (in early March 2024) were meant to introduce the team led by Nancy Morgan, Principal at Point Heritage Development Consulting, to the public and to the members of the Local Coordinating Entity (LCE) for the Northern Neck National Heritage Area.

“There are seven different themes that make the [Northern Neck] region significant,” Morgan said. And she listed them on her presentation as follows:

The waterways, the connectivity and isolation of the land between two rivers
A representative Chesapeake Bay landscape
The importance of Native American, people who have been here for millennia, but this is not only a story of the past but also of the present
Early American politics in the Northern Neck (George Washington’s Birthplace, James Madison, James Monroe, Stratford Hall), a concentration of sites of early American history, and of leaders
The marine industry, oysters, lifeways that go with aquaculture
Persistence of place, people who have an identity and pride of place and agricultural landscape
Attitude of independence. Many people here who contributed to the idea of freedom—the stories of African Americans and Native Americans and their achievements

The team of consultants also discussed what the Heritage Area Management Plan, to be developed over the next year, will look like once completed, and how it will be used to implement the NHA’s goals.

The other members of the consulting team are Augie Carlino, Randall Gross, and Peter Samuel. Along with Nancy Morgan, what the Northern Neck Planning District Commission considers

Northern Neck National Heritage Area Hosts Public Meetings in March

For Immediate Release
February 22, 2024

Contact: Jerry W. Davis, AICP, Executive Director
Organization: Northern Neck Planning District Commission
Email: jdavis@nnpdc17.state.va.us
Phone: (804) 333-1900 ext. 22

Warsaw – The public is invited to participate and provide input as planning for the future of the Northern Neck National Heritage Area begins with two public meetings.

The first public input meeting will be held at A.T. Johnson High School Museum at 18849 Kings Highway in Montross on Monday, March 4, at 5pm.

The second public input meeting will be held at the Northumberland Public Library at 7204 Northumberland Highway in Heathsville on Wednesday, March 6, at 12:30pm.

“The goal of a National Heritage Area is to create a community-driven network to support historic preservation, natural resource conservation, recreation, heritage tourism, and educational projects,” Davis said. “These two meetings will begin a process to develop a management plan that will reflect the interests of our communities in guiding the National Heritage Area’s work.”

Once approved, the Northern Neck National Heritage Area will be eligible to receive federal funds to support implementation of programs and projects included in the management plan.

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Launch and Celebration of the Northern Neck National Heritage Area

July 17, 2023

STRATFORD HALL — The Northern Neck officially launched the Northern Neck National Heritage Area with a celebration at Stratford Hall today, more than two decades after the Northern Neck Planning District Commission—working with numerous stakeholders, elected representatives, and the National Park Service—began the effort to earn National Heritage Area (NHA) designation for the region.

A National Heritage Area, said the Northern Neck Planning District Commission’s Executive Director, Jerry W. Davis, defines “places where historic, cultural, and natural resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally-important landscape.” That perfectly describes the Northern Neck.

Erik S. Kreusch, National Heritage Area Coordinator at the Northeast Regional Office of the National Park Service in Philadelphia, addressed the next step in the process. “We have three years to develop a Management Plan,” said Kreusch. Its goal is to make the organization sustainable to allow the Northern Neck National Heritage Area to honor the history of the Northern Neck, engage museums, the community, and the region’s tribes to tell their stories. All this “aligns very much with the mission of the National Park Service,” he added.

Elizabeth S. Vehmeyer, Assistant Coordinator for the National Heritage Area Program at the National Park Service in Washington DC, explained that although the first Historic National Area was designated in 1984, and today there are 62 of them in 36 states, the Northern Neck became one, in January of 2023, along with the establishment of a system of National Heritage Areas across the country. “NHAs are grassroots efforts,” Vehmeyer said, “community-driven public-private partnerships that support, preserve, promote, and celebrate our nation’s history, its cultures, its peoples and places. They are partners with the National Park Service.” A National Heritage Area does not create ownership by the Federal Government, she added, the way a National Park would. “NHAs are administered locally, making your participation and your voice in this process welcome and essential for the success of the National Heritage Area,” she said.

Darryl E. Fisher, Chairman of the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors, welcoming guests to the Launch and Celebration Program of the Northern Neck National Heritage Area at Stratford Hall, July 17, 2023.

After welcoming remarks—by James M. Long, Chairman of the Northern Neck Planning District Commission; Darryl E. Fisher, Chairman of the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors; and Karen L. Daly, President of Stratford Hall—the speakers thanked the numerous groups and individuals who made earning the NHA designation possible. Among the key figures who contributed to the effort were the late Congresswoman Joann Davis, who in 2001 invited the National Park Service to begin working with the Northern Neck Planning District Commission, and the late Dr. Paul Reber, Executive Director at Stratford Hall and Chairman of the Northern Neck Tourism Commission. “Paul and I made many a trip to Washington DC to meet with our Congressional representatives and Congressional staffs during the feasibility study process,” said Jerry Davis.

Davis also thanked the assistance of former State Delegate and Secretary of National Resources Tayloe Murphy, Virginia Tourism Chief Executive Alisa Bailey, Senators George Allen, John Warner, Jim Webb, Mark Warner, and Tim Kaine, and Representative Rob Wittman, who spoke in favor of the National Heritage Area Act bill on the House Floor in December of 2022. Also, Chief Anne Richardson of the Rappahannock Tribe and Lisa Hull, Coordinator of the Northern Neck Tourism Commission.

*From left to right: Jerry W. Davis, Northern Neck Planning District Commission; Karen Daly, Stratford Hall*

The National Heritage Area Local Coordinating Entity

A.T. Johnson High School Museum
Belle Grove Plantation Bed & Breakfast
Belle Isle State Park
Caledon State Park
George Washington Birthplace National Monument
Historic Christ Church
Holley Graded School
James Monroe Birthplace
King George Economic Development & Tourism
Menokin
Northern Neck Farm Museum
Northern Neck Land Conservancy
Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society
Northern Neck Planning District Commission (chair)
Omega Protein
Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Rappahannock Tribe
Rice’s Hotel/Hughlett’s Tavern
Stratford Hall
The Tides Inn
Westmoreland State Park

The celebration itself at Stratford Hall was a reflection of the public-private partnership that has begun. Aside from Karen Daly, who made the Great House and East Garden of Stratford Hall available for the gathering, it included the participation of Brian Oliff and his staff from Angelo’s in Montross, musicians Pam and Bill Gurley, Ingleside Winery (sponsored by All Points Broadband), Commonwealth Florist in Warsaw, and Clements Tent Rentals in Warsaw.

From left to right: Karen Daly, Stratford Hall; Melissa Cobern, National Park Service – George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Erik Kreusch, National Park Service – Northeast Regional Office, Liz Vehmeyer, National Park Service – National Heritage Areas Program; Shaun Eyring, National Park Service – Cultural Resource Chief, Northeast Regional Office, Deborah Lawton, National Park Service – George Washington Birthplace National Monument; Dustin Baker, National Park Service – George Washington Birthplace National Monument.

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December 22, 2022

WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) and U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) applauded passage of their legislation to preserve invaluable local resources and help generate economic activity in the Northern Neck. By officially designating the region as a National Heritage Area (NHA), the Northern Neck National Heritage Area Act will deliver critical federal dollars, encourage public-private partnerships, and assign a specific entity – the Northern Neck Tourism Commission – to help protect the Northern Neck’s natural, cultural, scenic, and recreational resources. After unanimously passing the Senate, the House voted today to approve the bill, which now heads to President Biden for his signature.

NPS defines National Heritage Areas as congressionally designated places where “natural, cultural, and historic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally important landscape.” Through their resources, NHAs communicate “nationally important stories” that celebrate the nation’s diverse heritage. Under this legislation, the NHA designation would apply to the land between the Potomac River and Rappahannock River, spanning King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland counties.

“The Northern Neck is a national treasure, and a source of immense pride, history and economic development for the Commonwealth,” said Rep. Wittman and Sens. Warner and Kaine. “We’re proud to have worked together on this successful bipartisan effort to highlight the natural beauty of the Northern Neck and leverage federal dollars to spur long-lasting economic opportunity in the region.”

The legislation follows the completion of the Northern Neck National Heritage Area Feasibility Study, which concluded that the Northern Neck’s themes, local traditions, and natural and historic resources retain “sufficient integrity and opportunities for public engagement” to be eligible for an NHA designation.

This legislation would also make federal funding available to the region and empower the Northern Neck Tourism Commission to carry out an area management plan by:

Protecting and restoring relevant historic sites and buildings;
Carrying out programs and projects that recognize, protect, and enhance important resources;
Developing recreational and educational opportunities in the area;
Establishing and maintaining interpretive exhibits and programs;
Promoting a wide range of partnerships among the federal government, state, tribal and local governments, organizations, and individuals;
Increasing public awareness and appreciation for natural, historical, scenic, and cultural resources in the area; and
Ensuring that clear, consistent, and appropriate signs identifying points of public access and sires of interest are posted throughout the area.

“The Northern Neck has been working together for over 20 years in pursuit of the National Heritage Area Designation,” said Jerry W. Davis, AICP, Executive Director of the Northern Neck Planning District Commission. “With designation, the Northern Neck Region will have a greater voice in sharing its stories, which contribute to understanding the early origins of our nation. The National Heritage Area Designation recognizes the region for the special place it is, historically, culturally, and for its natural resources. It aligns with the region’s tourism strategy as an important economic development driver in this rural area.”

Rep. Wittman, Sen. Warner, and Sen. Kaine have long advocated for the designation of the Northern Neck as a National Heritage Area.

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Background

In 2009, Congress passed legislation directing the National Park Service to determine the feasibility of designating the Northern Neck of Virginia as a national heritage area.

National Heritage Areas are places where historic, cultural, and natural resources combine to form cohesive, nationally important landscapes. Unlike national parks, National Heritage Areas are lived-in landscapes. Consequently, National Heritage Areas entities collaborate with communities to determine how to make heritage relevant to local interests and needs.

For more information and details of the study’s findings, visit the Northern Neck National Heritage Area Feasibility Study.

Additional documentation of the study can be found here.