Orlando Sentinel
May 30, 2003

National Trust lists `most endangered' historic landmarks
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The Minute Man National Historical Park outside Boston marks the site where the American Revolution began. The Mount Bethel Baptist Church was a gathering spot for Martin Luther King Jr.'s march on Washington in 1963.

Both places are steeped in history. And both are under siege, according to a nonprofit preservation group.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the Minute Man park and the Baptist church on its 2003 list of the United States' most endangered historic places. The list was released Thursday.

The park, which covers more than 900 acres, includes original segments of the 1775 "Battle Road" connecting Lexington and Concord, Mass. It is where the famed Minutemen, tipped off by Paul Revere, first met the British Redcoats for bloody skirmishes that opened America's war for independence.

"One of the most important historic places in the country is slowly being degraded by noise, congestion and visual intrusions," said Peter Brink, the National Trust's senior vice president. His organization is protesting expanded flights at the Hanscom Field regional airport, which sits in the middle of the park.

In a first for the annual list, urban religious buildings were included. Mount Bethel, one of the six houses of worship the trust singled out, needs a major maintenance overhaul and a new electrical system, Brink said.

Other religious institutions, such as the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Synagogue in New York, are suffering from a serious lack of money for repairs.

Another site on the list is described as "North America's greatest collection of historic bathhouses." Bathhouse Row in Arkansas' Hot Springs National Park consists of eight Victorian bathhouses, most of them built in the early 1900s for travelers visiting the "healing" thermal springs. The trust said six of the eight bathhouses are vacant and deteriorating.

The landmark TWA Terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York also made the list. Portions of the gull-shaped terminal are slated for demolition to make way for a new building.

These places are "important because they tell our story as Americans," Brink said.

Based in Washington, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is a 250,000-member, privately funded organization dedicated to preserving American landmarks.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press
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