WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Angus King (I-ME) today praised the announcement  that the Camden Amphitheatre and Public Library in Camden has been selected as a new national historic landmark.  The Camden Amphitheatre and Public Library is among 13 new national historic landmarks designated today by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Director of the National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis.

The Camden Amphitheatre and Public Library is one of the few public projects of Fletcher Steele, one of America’s premier practitioners of 20^th-century landscape design.  According to the National Historic Landmarks Program, it is an outstanding representation of the contributions made by the landscape architecture profession, private benefactors, and national associations to develop public landscapes in the United States that celebrated natural regional beauty, scenic character, and rich cultural history.

“The Camden Library is a treasure of the Maine coast and is a testament to the pride and determination of the residents of Camden,” said Senators Collins and King in a joint statement.  “The centerpiece of the grounds of the library is the beautiful, outdoor garden amphitheatre.  The Camden Amphitheatre retains its historic integrity, setting, original materials and the quality of original workmanship and design.  It continues to serve its historic purposes, as a public entertainment space, park, and garden for visitors and residents of the Town of Camden.”

National historic landmarks are nationally significant historic places that possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States. The program, established in 1935, is administered by the National Park Service on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior. Currently there are 2,540 designated national historic landmarks.

Other new national historic landmarks announced today include the following sites:

·     Camp NelsonHistoric and Archeological District, Jessamine County, Ky.  One of the nation’s largest recruitment and training centers for African American soldiers during the American Civil War, Camp Nelson is also significant as the site of a large refugee camp for the wives and children of the soldiers who were escaping slavery and seeking freedom.

·     Casa Dra. Concha Meléndez Ramírez, San Juan, Puerto Rico.  This was the residence and workspace of Dra. Concha Meléndez Ramírez, a prolific and prominent literary criticism voice in Generación del Treinta (Generation of 1930), a literary movement that shaped Puerto Rico’s 20^th-century national cultural identity.

·     Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Ala.  On March 7, 1965, civil rights marchers drawing attention to the need for voting rights legislation were attacked by law enforcement officials as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  The attack, which came to be known as “Bloody Sunday,” contributed to the introduction and passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, considered to be the single most effective piece of civil rightslegislation ever passed by the US Congress.

·     The Epic of American CivilizationMurals, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.  These murals are the most important work in the United States by muralist José Clemente Orozco, one of Mexico’s foremost mural artists of the early 20^th century.  Orozco conceived the murals as a representation of a North American continent characterized by the duality of indigenous and European historical experiences.  Though highly controversial in their day, the murals challenged traditional ways of thinking about the development of Aztec and Anglo-American civilizations in North America.   

·         George T. Stagg Distillery,Franklin County, Ky.  With resources dating from approximately 1880 to 1953, the George T. Stagg Distillery is a rare, intact example of an operating distillery before, during and after Prohibition.  It provides an unparalleled opportunity to study at one site the evolution of buildings and technology associated with the American whiskey industry. 

·     Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Hartford, Conn.  Though best known to modern audiences for her antislavery work, Harriet Beecher Stowe was widely recognized in her lifetime as a highly prolific and nationally significant reformer for a wide variety of causes.  Her longtime home in Hartford is associated with Stowe’s later career as a reformer on issues relating to the family and women’s roles.

·     Hinchliffe Stadium, Paterson, N.J.  Hinchliffe Stadium is an exceptional example of a Negro league baseball stadium in 20^th-century segregated America.  The stadium served as home field for teams such as the New York Black Yankees and the New York Cubans during a period when the institutionalized practice of “separate but equal” facilities was the accepted norm.  Eleven current members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame played at Hinchliffe Stadium.

·     Honey Springs Battlefield, McIntosh and Muskogee Counties, Okla.  By far the largest Civil War engagement of the 1861-1865 period of conflict within Indian Territory, the Battle of Honey Springs was the largest battle in Indian Territory in which Native Americans fought as members of both Union and Confederate armies.  It is also significant as the first and largest engagement in which Indian troops of both sides fought in the formalized style of Anglo-American warfare.

·     Old San Juan Historic District/Distrito Histórico del Viejo San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Old San Juan is the only existing representation of an almost 400-year-old Spanish Colonial city in the United States, and contains the largest collection of buildings representing four centuries of Spanish culture, religion, politics, and architecture.  It is the oldest city within the United States and its territories, and the district includes the oldest house, Christian church, executive mansion, convent, and military defenses in the country as well. 

·     Pear Valley, Eastville, Va.  Dating to 1740, the wood-frame house known as Pear Valley is an excellent, rare surviving example of the distinctive form of architecture that developed in the Chesapeake Bay region, illustrating how early settlers in the colonies adapted to their new environment.

·     Second Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Ill.  The Second Presbyterian Church represents the visual and philosophical precepts of the turn of the century Arts and Crafts design movement.  Its interior, the masterwork of noted architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, presents some of the finest examples of Arts and Crafts mural painting, sculpture, stained glass and crafting in metals, fabrics, wood and plaster.

·     Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.  One of the country’s oldest artists’ retreats, Yaddo has hosted more than 6,000 influential writers, visual artists and composers who shaped and imprinted American culture with a distinct national identity in the 20^th century.  Among the notable artists who have worked at Yaddo are Aaron Copland, Truman Capote, Leonard Bernstein, Flannery O’Connor, Sylvia Plath and Langston Hughes. 

The National Historic Landmarks Program, established in 1935, is administered by the National Park Service on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior.  The agency works with preservation officials and other partners interested in nominating a landmark.  Completed applications are reviewed by the National Park System Advisory Board, which makes recommendations for designation to the Secretary of the Interior.  If selected, property ownership remains intact but each site receives a designation letter, a plaque, and technical preservation advice.

Additional information on the designations can be found at www.nps.gov/history/nhl.

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