INQ-300 | Historic Preservation

Full Title: History and Decay: Approaches to Historic Preservation

Topic Description:

Who decides if something is “historically significant” and how do we as a community help choose? Students in this course will examine the ways in which historical sites (graveyards, buildings, neighborhoods, and parks) have been either preserved or demolished in the Roanoke Valley. Even with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 there are still loopholes in which certain historically significant sites go unnoticed, fall into decay, or are actively demolished in place of new construction. With help from the instructor, students will choose an endangered local site, explore the criteria for designating its significance, conduct historical research, and write and submit a proposal for local and state recognition, with hopes of saving it. For their final projects, students will propose and defend an intervention strategy aimed at saving the said place. Occasionally, if the site allows, students will also implement some level of effort into cleaning up, documenting, and preserving a site.

Counts as Global? No

Topic Approved: April 2014