other stops on our tour at www.c-span.org/citiestour. you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's public television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. >> piscataway park in maryland sits 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 and the native american piscataway tribal lands. ms. hayes: we are on the banks of the potomac, as you can see.

we are directly across from mount vernon. piscataway park is a national park that was signed into legislation by john f. kennedy in 1961. it came about because a congresswoman from ohio, frances payne bolton, a member of the mount vernon ladies association, bought a farm right here where we are standing. it was for sale in the 1950's. 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 was the alice ferguson 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 cooperation 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 pier, a boat dock, heritage breed 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 the state of maryland in 2012 after a long, hard fight. we've been working very closely with all bands of the piscataway to find a 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 sheep, both are on the livestock conservancies endangered list, meaning there are less than 200 in 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 created in 1957. 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 about wastewater treatment 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 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. so she bought the farm, they started this effort to protect six miles of shoreline, and very 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. in 1968, piscataway park was 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. the park was 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. we really embarked on this process of making it a working landscape. we created the national colonial farm, one of the first living history farms in the country. actually, that was created in 1958, and we acquired 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. we had a geneticist on staff at one point who back-bred virginia seed corn, and when that is

growing around the country, it came from the foundation. we have always been involved in ways to get people to care about the land. we need to get them to connect with the land. we have 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. they have been important partners 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 being developed, and they will put easements on it and sell it. i grew up in montana and

wyoming. we had a great 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. chest for more information about piscataway park, please visit foundation website. this is american history tv. on "q&a," in his book "a fine mess, author and journalist tr reid looks at tax systems around the world. >> i went to the world bank and the imf. i said, who has a good tax code? they know. they said, go to new zealand. here is why. followed the basic principle -- pblr. brought me base, lower the

rates. they used to have a texas to mike ours. hundreds of exemptions and deductions, and therefore very high rates. they got rid of all of them. your employer pays health insurance, that's income to your. in new zealand, if you get free 20 bucksthat is worth a month. they taxi on that as income and no deductions. you want to give to charity, that is great. were not giving you a tax break. you do that -- you tax everything and give no writeups, then you can set the rates very, very low. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." >> each week, american history "reel america" brings archival films. >> this is a poor country, very much like it was before the

world0 -- before the war, but with the mark of war upon it. american troops are stationed here still. we are here, t a while. although the war is over on the remainield, we nurses with the troops wherever they are, to be ready to care for the wounded and to fight the internal battle against disease and sickness. when a new group of nurses arrives at the airport, it is always something of an event. there's not usually much time lost between arriving and being assigned duties of the hospital. there's plenty of work to be done here. each new nurse has a job waiting for her.

at any rate, korea a new nurse is given a proper outfit as a protection against the cold. the key to the costume is not fashion, but utility. it is not mink, but it is warm. to try on a is nice hat and not wonder if it is the right one. does it do something for you? you bet. it keeps you cozy at five below. all over the world, wherever our troops are stationed, army nurses are a soldier in the battle against sickness and pain. skill and knowledge both required if she is to fulfill her role as an army nurse.

>> american history tv was at the angle meeting of historians in new orleans, and we spoke to the historian about what life was like for newspaper boys in the cities and the railroads at the turn of the 20th century. this interview was about 10 minutes. >> you have a fourth climbing book -- forthcoming book entitled "a history of america's newsboys." who were the newsboys? >> they were the children of the poor, to put it very simply. which meant they were immigrants . they were born. they were girls. they were old people. my definition of the newsboy is arely these