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| Maryland’s Upper Bay Salutes the new Star-Spangled Banner NHT with Cake and Holiday CheerOver 40 individuals and organizations celebrated and enjoyed an exquisitely-iced sheet cake showcasing the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail logo during the Head of the Bay Star-Spangled 200 Conference earlier this month. The dessert event, held at the National-Register listed Principio Furnace in Elkton, Maryland, was a highlight of the day-long conference, third in a series of six sponsored by the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission to encourage local residents, organizations and governments to share their War of 1812 history and collaborate on planning and events related to the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 in 2012-2015. The Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, a 290-mile land and water trail designated by Congress in 2008 to commemorate the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812 in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, will preserve and interpret the causes, events and outcomes of the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812, and, as a National Historic Trail, encourage recreation, preservation, education, and interpretation along the Trail at sites and places that provide an opportunity to reflect on this little-known time period in our nation’s history.
The conference series is just one illustration of how work already underway by the State of Maryland benefits the National Park Service as it develops a Trail comprehensive management plan. The plan, when completed in 2011, will identify the management priorities and actions to be undertaken by the NPS and its government, non-profit and private partners, which own the sites, parks, waterways, roads, and access points that comprise the Trail. The plan will incorporate the requirements for the proposed designation of the Trail’s land segments as a National Scenic Byway. The Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission has identified and begun prioritizing education, interpretation, infrastructure, and programming priorities, to be implemented through Scenic Byway funding and the Commission’s fundraising initiatives. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/stsp or www.starspangled200.org |