National Monument

Mission: To preserve the star-shaped fort, associated buildings, archaeology and landscapes as a perpetual national monument and as a shrine of the birthplace of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the nation's anthem, and to interpret the fort's military history in the defense of Baltimore during the War of 1812 for generations to come. The survival of the fort's giant 15-star flag in the "dawn's early light" of Sept. 14, 1814, after an unsuccessful British attack, inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem.

President Barack Obama set aside 480 acres on the Eastern Shore on Monday as a national monument to honor Harriet Tubman - a victory for advocates who have long sought to memorialize the abolitionist's role in leading dozens of slaves to freedom. Relying on a century-old federal law, Obama expanded a smaller park the state recently broke ground on in Dorchester County, where Tubman was born into slavery in 1822. The new designation places the rural land in the National Park Service's control, protecting it from development.

President Barack Obama set aside 480 acres on the Eastern Shore on Monday as a national monument to honor Harriet Tubman - a victory for advocates who have long sought to memorialize the abolitionist's role in leading dozens of slaves to freedom. Relying on a century-old federal law, Obama expanded a smaller park the state recently broke ground on in Dorchester County, where Tubman was born into slavery in 1822. The new designation places the rural land in the National Park Service's control, protecting it from development.

President Barack Obama will sign a proclamation Monday creating a Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument on the Eastern Shore, a designation long sought by advocates and a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The designation protects the land from development and complements plans to create a state park in Dorchester County, where Tubman was born, escaped slavery and helped lead other slaves to freedom. The monument will be managed by the National Park Service. Members of Maryland's congressional delegation have for years sought to approve funding to honor Tubman on the Eastern Shore.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. -- Hoping to galvanize his support among conservation-minded voters, President Clinton yesterday declared 1.7 million picturesque acres of federal land in southern Utah a national monument."

Harriet Tubman, Maryland's heroic conductor on the Underground Railroad and early leader for women's rights, may soon get the recognition she deserves if President Barack Obama accepts a proposal by Gov. Martin O'Malley, U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, and Rep. Andy Harris to create the Harriet Tubman National Monument. The state's formal request for consideration of a national monument, sent to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar last week, followed a public meeting held in Cambridge and attended by more than 80 people.

WASHINGTON - A coalition of environmental and conservation groups charged yesterday that President Bush's energy plan will imperil not only the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska but 15 other publicly owned scenic areas from the California coast to the Finger Lakes of New York. Speaking at a rally on the Capitol lawn, group leaders charged that the Bush plan would destroy wilderness areas while granting more than $27 billion in subsidies, tax savings, royalty exemptions and other benefits to the oil, coal and nuclear energy industries at a time of high profits.

AMERICA'S national monuments are once again the subject of controversy. As part of the appropriations bill for the Interior Department, the Senate voted this month to ban mineral extraction from the nation's national monuments. In June, the House voted overwhelmingly to ban mining and oil and gas drilling in the monuments. By history and tradition, when a national monument is designated by a president under the Antiquities Act of 1906, that land is withdrawn from mineral extraction, except for existing leases.

150 years ago in The Sun May 30: The Washington National Monument -- An association of "Young Men of Baltimore," has been formed for the purpose of attending the ceremony of laying the corner stone of the National Monument, to the "Father of his Country," on the 4th of July next.100 years ago in The Sun June 1: A pea-picker on the farm of Mr. Thomas Sapp, Back River, near the North Point Road, Patapsco Neck, who was known as Fritz Sweitzer, committed suicide yesterday afternoon while at work on the farm.

President Barack Obama will sign a proclamation Monday creating a Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument on the Eastern Shore, a designation long sought by advocates and a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The designation protects the land from development and complements plans to create a state park in Dorchester County, where Tubman was born, escaped slavery and helped lead other slaves to freedom. The monument will be managed by the National Park Service. Members of Maryland's congressional delegation have for years sought to approve funding to honor Tubman on the Eastern Shore.

Harriet Tubman, Maryland's heroic conductor on the Underground Railroad and early leader for women's rights, may soon get the recognition she deserves if President Barack Obama accepts a proposal by Gov. Martin O'Malley, U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, and Rep. Andy Harris to create the Harriet Tubman National Monument. The state's formal request for consideration of a national monument, sent to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar last week, followed a public meeting held in Cambridge and attended by more than 80 people.

A key document in the transition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from popular song to national anthem is coming home to Fort McHenry. A draft of the song's arrangement, drawn up in the early 20th century by a committee that included composer and bandleader John Philip Sousa, has been donated to the national monument and historic shrine by the woman whose father obtained it from his music teacher. "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as the national anthem by an act of Congress in 1931.

Look, no one wants people dancing at national monuments. Folks doing the electric slide at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial would ruin the spirit of reverence and reflection it inspires. Still, it is hard to believe we need a federal law, a court ruling or squadrons of police in order to enforce that restriction. Sadly, we have all three. It seems that one night in April 2008, a woman named Mary Brooke Oberwetter and some friends went to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington to celebrate the third president's 265th birthday with a silent, interpretative dance.

A Memorable Place Nature's eerie 'tents' in New Mexico By Chris Justice SPECIAL TO THE SUN Where are you?" "Here." "But where is that?" "Just follow the echoes."

I'm standing on the site of Ferry Farm, George Washington's boyhood home on the banks of the Rappahannock River in Virginia, near the spot where legend has it that the nation's first president flung a silver dollar across the rolling waters. I take a rock and throw. It lands -- plunk -- perhaps a third of the way across. Did the Father of Our Country really throw a silver dollar across the river? One can find the answer -- sort of -- at three of Washington's Virginia homes. George Washington Birthplace National Monument sits near the region's other famed river, the Potomac, about 40 miles east of Fredericksburg.

WASHINGTON - A coalition of environmental and conservation groups charged yesterday that President Bush's energy plan will imperil not only the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska but 15 other publicly owned scenic areas from the California coast to the Finger Lakes of New York. Speaking at a rally on the Capitol lawn, group leaders charged that the Bush plan would destroy wilderness areas while granting more than $27 billion in subsidies, tax savings, royalty exemptions and other benefits to the oil, coal and nuclear energy industries at a time of high profits.

WASHINGTON -- One year after President Clinton pleased environmentalists by declaring a wide swath of southern Utah a national monument, his administration decided yesterday to open the region to oil and gas drilling.The Bureau of Land Management, taking advantage of what critics say was a loosely worded presidential declaration, gave Conoco Inc. permission to explore for oil and gas in the new Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on the basis of a lease signed before Clinton declared the land off-limits.

Among a flood of last-minute actions by the Clinton administration late last week was a proposal to allow the Hopi Indians to gather hatchling golden eagles from nests at a national monument in Arizona for an ancient sacrificial ritual. A draft rule allowing the practice, which is opposed by many animal protection and environmental groups, had been on hold for months while lawyers at the Department of the Interior weighed laws protecting Indian religious freedoms and those protecting parks and birds of prey.

AMERICA'S national monuments are once again the subject of controversy. As part of the appropriations bill for the Interior Department, the Senate voted this month to ban mineral extraction from the nation's national monuments. In June, the House voted overwhelmingly to ban mining and oil and gas drilling in the monuments. By history and tradition, when a national monument is designated by a president under the Antiquities Act of 1906, that land is withdrawn from mineral extraction, except for existing leases.

Among a flood of last-minute actions by the Clinton administration late last week was a proposal to allow the Hopi Indians to gather hatchling golden eagles from nests at a national monument in Arizona for an ancient sacrificial ritual. A draft rule allowing the practice, which is opposed by many animal protection and environmental groups, had been on hold for months while lawyers at the Department of the Interior weighed laws protecting Indian religious freedoms and those protecting parks and birds of prey.