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Map of National Heritage Areas across the National Park Service system. Terrain of the continental United States is shown in beige and rivers in blue. The boundaries of National Heritage Areas are shaded orange, yellow, purple, blue, or brown.

Extended Description

This description will move from east to west and north to south to list parks in each state by region, though not all states have heritage areas.

Eastern Region

This region includes Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Washington, DC, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. National Heritage Areas are the most densely spaced in this region. Eleven sites are numbered and labeled with a key above the map. Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership straddles Vermont and New York, which also includes Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, Niagara Falls National Heritage Area and number 8, Maurice D. Hincey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.

Essex National Heritage Area and number 10, Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area straddle New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Number 9, Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area and Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor continue from Massachusetts into Connecticut. Number 11, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, encompasses areas in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area is in New Jersey and sites in Pennsylvania include number 1, Oil Region National Heritage Area, number 2, Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, number 3, Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission, number 4, Susquehanna National Heritage Area, number 5, Schuylkill River National Heritage Area, number 6, Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, and number 3, Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission, and number 7, Lackawanna Valley National Heritage Area.

Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area stretches from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland and into Virginia. Just west of that is Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District, also in Virginia, and Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area and Wheeling National Heritage Area in West Virginia. Blue Ridge National Heritage Area is in North Carolina and South Carolina National Heritage Corridor reaches across the bottom of that state. Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area and Augusta Canal National Heritage Area are in Georgia, and Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor runs along the coastlines of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and into northern Florida.

Central Region

Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Area and National Aviation Heritage Area are in Ohio, National Coal Heritage Area in Kentucky, and Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area in Alabama. Returning north to Michigan is Motor Cities National Heritage Area, and Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor covers areas in both states. Illinois also includes three sites of Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area.

Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area is in Iowa, and Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area spans the Missouri and Kansas state line. Continuing south are Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area, Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, and Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area in that state and Cane River National Heritage Area and Atchafalaya National Heritage Area in Louisiana.

Again moving from north to south, Northern Plains National Heritage Area is in North Dakota, and Cache La Poudre River National Heritage Area, South Park National Heritage Area, and Sangre de Criston National Heritage Area are in Colorado.

Western Region

Washington includes Maritime Washington National Heritage Area and Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area. The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area is in Utah, and Great Basin National Heritage Area spans Utah and Nevada. Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area is in New Mexico, and Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area and Santa Cruz Valley are in Arizona. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area is in California, and, finally, Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area is in Alaska, which is shown as an inset map below. Text there reads, “Alaska is reduced in size relative to contiguous US.”