Today, the House of Representatives joined the United States Senate in passing legislation to designate the Journey Through Hallowed Ground a National Heritage Area (JTHG NHA). The legislation, S. 2739, passed the Senate on April 10, 2008, by a vote of 91 to 4 and in the House today by a vote of 291 to 117. This Act of Congress recognizes the unparalleled cultural, historic and scenic resources within the entire JTHG corridor—the region that generally follows the Old Carolina Road (Rt. 15/231) from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania through Maryland, to Monticello in Albemarle County, VA.
This region, known as Where America Happened™, holds more American history than any other region in the country with nine Presidential homes (Ash Lawn-Highland and Oak Hill (Monroe), Kennedy’s Country Home, Camp Hoover, Eisenhower National Historic Site, Montebello (Taylor), Monticello (Jefferson), Montpelier (Madison), Pine Knot (Roosevelt), and Camp David, 73 National Historic Districts, the largest collection of Civil War Battlefields, significant sites from the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, 15 historic Main Street communities, numerous scenic roads, rivers and landscapes.