Cultural Landscape Study and Management Plan: Plains High School

Whitcomb, Lisa

The Plains High School is part of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site which was established by Congress in December 1987. Attended by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, the significance and integrity of the school building has been studied, documented, and its restoration begun while the historic importance of the surrounding landscape was initially ignored. The landscape has several historically significant features that relate directly to the park’s legislative mandate to: preserve the key sites and structures associated with Jimmy Carter during his life span, provide for the interpretation of the life and presidency of Jimmy Carter, present the history of a small, rural southern town. At the Superintendent’s request, the “Plains High School Cultural Landscape Study and Management Plan” was prepared to preserve the historic integrity of the landscape. The document serves several objectives: to study and document the significance and integrity of the landscape; to adapt the site for future use as a visitor and community center as called for in the General Management Plan; to provide a management plan to preserve, restore, or rehabilitate significant resources and guide future development of the site. The document is presented in three chapters and contains both a cultural landscape study and management plan for the historic landscape of Plains High School in Plains, Georgia. Chapter I documents the significance of the historic landscape through an inventory of existing conditions, description of historic conditions, and analysis of the significance and integrity of the landscape. The procedure used to establish significance of the landscape was adapted from the process developed for historic structures. At the time this study was completed, NPS standards for historic landscapes had not been formalized. Chapter II presents three alternative plans for the site. The alternatives were developed using the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation, are based on the cultural landscape study, and address appropriate future uses of the site. The management plan in Chapter III includes a site plan and management guidelines. The best features from each alternative were compiled to form the plan. The criteria used to select these features were based on accommodating future use with minimal impact to the resource and, restoring historic conditions only if it is necessary for the visitor’s understanding of the significance of the resource.

Cultural Landscape Study and Management Plan: Plains High School

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