Cultural Landscape Report for Eisenhower National Historic Site, Updated Existing Conditions, Analysis, and Treatment

Desilets, Danielle

The Eisenhower National Historic Site (NHS) outside of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, preserves the home and farm of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the thirty-fourth President of the United States. Established by Congress in 1967, the site “is of outstanding historical significance to the people of the United States because of its close association with the life and work of General Eisenhower and because of its relation to the historic battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War.” The site is located in south central Pennsylvania within Cumberland Township of Adams County and lies just three miles southwest of the town of Gettysburg. Eisenhower National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service (NPS), shares administrative functions and a superintendent with Gettysburg National Military Park (NMP). Consisting of 690 acres, the Eisenhower NHS includes four distinct farms. Farm 1 was purchased by General and Mrs. Eisenhower in 1951 and includes an extensive ornamental landscape in addition to the working farm. Two adjacent farms, Farms 2 and 3, were purchased by General Eisenhower’s friend and business partner W. Alton Jones in the mid-1950s and were jointly used in the Eisenhower Farms cattle and agricultural operations. A fourth farm, the Clement Redding Farm, is an adjoining property acquired by the NPS in 1979 to preserve the historic scene and western views from the Eisenhower Farms. A Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) is the primary document used in the treatment and long-term management of cultural landscapes. It provides site managers with a comprehensive site history, identifies important landscape characteristics for the property, compares and analyzes the historic and existing conditions, discusses the site’s significance and historic integrity, and provides treatment recommendations to guide future site development and stewardship. This CLR is essentially an addendum to the 2005 and 2006 CLR, Volumes 1 and 2. It documents the existing landscape conditions, summarizes the changes since the 2005 Volume 1, reevaluates the analysis and integrity based on those changes. A comprehensive site history, record of existing conditions, and analysis of significance and integrity was included in the 2005, Volume 1 report and has not been reiterated herein. Finally, this CLR updates the treatment recommendations which were included in the 2006, Volume 2. The project evaluated the relevance of the treatment recommendations, as well as introduced new landscape treatment measures drawing on insights gathered from park staff and partners.

Cultural Landscape Report for Eisenhower National Historic Site, Updated Existing Conditions, Analysis, and Treatment

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