Road Trips Through History

This week’s reading of Dwight Young’s, Road Trips through History: a Collection of Essays from Preservation Magazine, highlights the important issues regarding historic preservation. As its title suggests, this book is a compilation of essays written by Dwight Young who has worked at the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 1977. Young’s essays touch on everything from historic buildings, historic districts, cemeteries, sculptures, architecture, battlefields, and downtown districts. Young brings a fresh perspective to the preservation movement. Although preservation is his job, his essays demonstrate not just the battles over certain preservation projects, but also the everyday occurrences of preservation around us especially at the grassroots level. The term historic preservation generally brings to mind images of dilapidated old homes that usually were the site of an historic event or an historic person’s life, however Young’s essays dispel these preconceived notions. His essays on architecture are quite illuminating; Young discusses how the design of a building (or monument for that matter) can bring history to life, so to speak. Several of his essays describe the emotional responses to buildings that their design brings forth from even the most casual observer, and it is this reason more so than their historical significance that Young cites for their preservation.

Along with the emotional response people have towards certain structures, the personal affiliation one can make with said structure is also one of the more important reasons to preserve such a site according to Young. A site that offers a personal narrative that many others can relate to is much more intriguing and worth rehabilitating and preserving rather than destroying to make room for new and modern structures that lack that warm inviting nature; these new modern marvels lack that “je ne sais quoi” which attracts people to historic landmarks. These essays show the cultural importance for historic preservation. It is more than saving sites related to great men and battlefields and sites of historical relevance; it is about capturing that cultural significance which plays a role in the lives of everyday men and women. In other words, an old 1950s diner has just as much importance as a civil war battlefield. When it comes down to it, those places that generate nostalgia of the “good old days” are just as historically significant as the home of George Washington, or the site of the Gettysburg Address. Young’s passionate drive for preservation is reflected in this collection of essays which illustrate to the reader the social and cultural implications of saving these relics of our past, whether it is of a national, local, or cultural importance to our society.