This bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess whether the Canterbury Shaker Village National Historic Landmark should be designated as a National Heritage Area called the Canterbury Shaker Village National Heritage Area. The study area is the geographic boundaries of the Canterbury Shaker Village National Historic Landmark in Merrimack County. The Secretary must consult with State and local historic preservation officers, historical societies, tourism offices, and other appropriate organizations and government agencies and follow section 120103(a) of title 54, United States Code.
The bill text includes findings about the site. Canterbury Shaker Village was established in 1792 and played a central role in the history of the Shaker movement and the Second Great Awakening. The Shakers were a communal, celibate religious group known for work, music, dance, equality of the sexes, pacifism, and technological inventions. The site became a nonprofit museum in 1969, was named a National Historic Landmark in 1992, and today includes about 700 acres, 25 buildings, archaeological resources, gardens, orchards, a cemetery, roads, stone walls, and manmade ponds.
The bill only requires a federal study. The study will evaluate whether designation as a National Heritage Area is suitable and feasible. The study includes consultation with local and state groups. The bill does not itself create a National Heritage Area, change land ownership, or authorize specific funding or new protections. No publicly available information on timeline or next steps is included in the bill text.
No publicly available information on projected costs, funding sources, or federal spending is included in the bill text.
The bill text presents reasons supporters would give: Canterbury Shaker Village has long historical importance, a well-documented cultural landscape, and educational and aesthetic value. Supporters point to the site’s role in Shaker history, its intact buildings and archaeological resources, its nonprofit museum status, and its 1992 National Historic Landmark designation as justification for studying a National Heritage Area designation.
No publicly available information on opposition, objections, or counterarguments is included in the bill text.