miracle event. >> our cities tour staff recently traveled to trenton, new jersey to learn about its rich history. learn more about trenton and other stops on our tour. visit our website. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. park in maryland since directly across the potomac river from george washington's mount vernon estate. the park was saved from development. we spoke with lisa hayes about the history of the park, the native american piscataway bible

lands -- tribal lands. ms. hayes: we are on the banks of the potomac, as you can see. we are directly across from mount vernon. this cat away park is a national park that was signed into legislation by john f. kennedy in 1961. it came about because a , francesoman from ohio payne bolton, a member of the mount vernon ladies association, bought a farm right here where we are standing. 1950's.or sale in the she bought it to prevent it from becoming developed, and then donated the land. the foundation helped lead a partnership of organizations on this area in preserving six miles of shoreline on the potomac river.

also involved with the alice foundation, the homeowners who live here in piscataway park, and individuals from the county. piscataway park is nearly 5000 acres. the foundation stewards 200 acres of the park through a corporation with the national park service. there is a section down the road called the creek site, which has a lovely boardwalk. there are some other entry points for piscataway park. we have a visitors center, five trails, a fishing. , heritage read animals, a colonial farm, and lots of opportunities to connect to the land. this is the heart of what was

the piscataway traditional homeland. it is sacred territory for the piscataway indians. they were finally recognized by 2012tate of maryland in after a long, hard fight. we've been working very closely with all bands of the diskette find a piscataway to means to connect people. the foundation is about preservation and conservation, so in addition to preserving this important piece of land, we are conserving heritage breed animals and heirloom seeds. our heritage breed livestock program, we breed milking devon cattle and hogs island cheap, both are on the livestock conservancies endangered list,

meaning there are less than 200 and the united states. part of conserving a breed is making sure that people are buying and eating the livestock. it is so critical to biodiversity. we don't want these genes to disappear. the foundation was actually 1957.d in it came into being because congresswoman frances payne bolton of ohio bought a farm here that was 500 acres to protect it from being developed. through the years, they talked treatmentewater plants, housing development, all kinds of things. in this community already were people who were living on five

acre parcels and very committed to preserving the environment. they had covenants on their property that actually became the model for the scenic easement, which is now a major toll in land conservation -- tool in land conservation. it was one of the first land trusts in the country. there is a big movement right now of large landscape conservation, this was one of the first right here on the potomac. farm, theyht the started this effort to protect and very of shoreline, soon it became clear that they were going to need to have the federal government involved to protect from eminent domain being used.

in 1961, kennedy signed the legislation to create the park, but it took years to put together all these parcels of land. people donated these easements. prince george's county where we are located became the first county in the country to make scenic easements tax-deductible. that was through the effort of this group of partners working together in the 1960's. the ladies from mount vernon, the ladies association, there is powerful voices. you get them involved and they are a force to be reckoned with. with their support, the foundation, that is how it all came together. park waspiscataway dedicated, and they were standing very near here. we have a wonderful picture of

frances payne bolton in her fur coat standing next to the chief of the piscataway indian nation and a lot of other people involved in the effort. dedicated, and then the foundation wanted to find a way -- it is wanting to preserve land, but preserving land does not cut it if you are not using the land in some way. people have to care about it. on thisy embarked process of making it a working landscape. we created the national colonial first livingthe history farms in the country. actually, that was created in 1958, and we acquire some historic buildings that were moved here. that was one way of getting

people engaged in the landscape. then we added the heritage breed livestock to the mix. -- had a geneticist on staff at one point who back fred , andnia scored seed corn when that is growing around the country, it came from the foundation. inhave always been involved ways to get people to can -- to care about the land, we need to get them to connect with the land. what other creative ways to do that. in 200 acres, we provide all of the visitors services, education, we do routine maintenance. there are no park rangers here. we really are the park stewards. we work closely with the national park service. we get an important part of our

funding from the national park service. partners been imported and will always be important partners because this is national park land. we also continue to work with the mount vernon ladies association. they have supported us throughout the years. they look at us as their boots on the ground. we are the ones listening and meeting people and hearing about , this piece of land may be developed, or they are talking about a cell phone tower here, or a pipeline there. we alert them. sometimes they have purchased land not in the park but near the park to protect it from they willloped, and put easements on it and sell it. i grew up in montana and wyoming. we had a good open spaces and i took them for granted.

i came to the east coast, and there are all these cities. i never knew about this park until i came to interview for a job. i stepped out, and i was captivated. it is a magical place. it is so rare to have this much land preserved so close to washington, d.c., and in the process of preserving this landscape so that people at mount vernon could look across the river and get the experience george and martha washington had , in the process of preserving that view, we have preserved one of the most important indigenous sites on the east coast. not to mention having such a beautiful place for people to escape from the chaos that is our everyday life, particularly

here near the nations capital. this is a special place. more information about diskette away park -- this cat piscataway park, please visit their website. this is american history tv. thehe roland company was hardest employer in trenton at the turn of the 20th century. coming up, learn about the innovations about this company that made the brooklyn bridge and golden gate bridge of possibility. i canmickens blair: --ely assert that wire bolt wire rope deserves the preference over hemp rope in all situations much e