The Virginia Piedmont, the gently rolling country east of the Blue Ridge, is one of the nation's most treasured rural landscapes - and one of its most endangered. In 1993, the Walt Disney Company's announcement of its plan to build an American history theme park in Haymarket, Virginia, within miles of some of the area's most significant historic sites, sparked intense debate about the impact of the proposed development on the Piedmont and its residents. The struggle that ensued, and Disney's eventual withdrawal of the plan, focused international attention on this beautiful and historic part of the world. With evocative photographs and delightfully informative text, Hallowed Ground takes readers on an insider's excursion down the scenic byways and into the storied past of this special region. Home to Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and a host of other great Americans, the Piedmont's graceful foothills and fertile soil helped nurture the ideas that inspired the American Revolution. During the Civil War, Piedmont fields and forests became bloody testing grounds for the nation's survival at places like Manassas, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness. Today, the region's quaint villages and quiet valleys face a different kind of threat from a "blacktop and concrete revolution", as historian James M. McPherson notes in his introduction. Whether in an image of the sunset reflecting off a puddle in a country lane in Delaplane, or in the story of Jack Jouett's midnight ride from Cuckoo Tavern to Charlottesville to warn Governor Jefferson that the British were coming, armchair travelers and born-and-bred Virginians alike will find in Hallowed Ground ample reason to preserve and protect thePiedmont.

Foreword : In search of the American cultural landscape / Dolores Hayden -- Considering nature and culture in historic landscape preservation / Robert Z. Melnick -- Selling heritage landscapes / Richard Francaviglia -- The history and preservation of urban parks and cemeteries / David Schuyler and Patricia M. O'Donnell -- Appropriating place in Puerto Rican barrios : preserving contemporary urban landscapes / Luis Aponte-Parés -- Considering the ordinary : vernacular landscapes in small towns and rural areas / Arnold R. Alanen -- Asian American imprints on the Western landscape / Gail Lee Dubrow -- Ethnographic landscapes : transforming nature into culture / Donald L. Hardesty -- Integrity as a value in cultural landscape preservation / Catherine Howett.

Long before the Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock, even before Christopher Columbus discovered America, the land we call North America was already the home of millions of people. Comprised of numerous different tribes, the descendants of these earliest American settlers live throughout the United States today. The cultures of the tribes are as different as the people themselves. As we move through the 21st century, large parts of these cultures—including entire languages—are at risk of being lost forever. Only by preserving them today can we ensure that these customs and traditions will remain alive for future Native American generations and other Americans alike.

"Douglas Brinkley and American Heritage have done a grand job. This is a first-rate book: fair, clear, and enormously welcome." - David McCullough "Douglas Brinkley's one-volume history is a riveting narrative of unique people who have come to call themselves American. There is no dust on these pages as the author brilliantly tells our national story with skill and brevity." In this rich and inspiring book, acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley takes us on the incredible journey of the United States - a nation formed from a vast countryside on whose fringes thirteen small British colonies fought for their freedom, then established a democratic nation that spanned the continent, and went on to become a world power. This book will be treasured by anyone interested in the story of America.