National Register of Historic Places question

Hosensack · Feb 21, 2010

Is any property on this register off limits or is it a site by site basis? In short is it worth asking permission? I found an old foundation(mostly in tact) . I did a search to find the property owner and found out it was owned by a local private school. A very prominent historic figure is rumored to have stayed there, however when visiting the schools site it was noted that it is on the national historic reg. I was going to ask the school for permission, but if these are automatically, by law, off limits I prefer to not waste my time.

Mark S. · Feb 21, 2010

It is completely up to the property owner. They have full say so over it. The Historic register listings is just that. It is simply recognizing it. The owner can do whatever they want with the property. They could even demolish a structure if they want to. Of course there would no longer be any "historic register" if they did so. The federal government has no control over the property.

Now there are many in the historic and archaeological communities that will probably try to tell you different but they are either uninformed or intentionally misleading.

Check out this link. http://www.nps.gov/nr/owners.htm

Tom_in_CA · Feb 21, 2010

mark s. is correct. If you get one of those handy-dandy plaques set on a marker on the street outside your place (because it used to be a stage stop, or a historic church, or a battle site, etc....) it is still .... YOUR PLACE. One time I stayed at a historic bed-&-breakfast Inn, that had one of those historical marker plaques mounted in a stone foundation in the front yard. The inn-keeper gave me permission to hunt the front lawn, and I detected all around the plaque (found some coins back to the 1800s). Point is, I was detecting right around the plaque, no problem.

DigginThePast · Feb 21, 2010

Yup, Mark S got it.

Funny story. In most cases to get your home on the National Register you need to start at your State level for nomination. I called the gentleman in Connecticut that handled all the nominations (at that time) to inquire about nominating my own home. He asked a bunch of questions which I answered and he told me that the property would easily qualify if what I told him was accurate. He then told me that he would provide me with a phone number for a woman that would do the research and that the cost usually runs around $5,000.00 (not a typo). I then told him that I had a State Historic Survey of my property in hand as well as numerous books that listed the property and it's owners. He had the nerve to suggest that I provide that information to the researcher to make her job easier! That was as far as I went with that idea as there really is no protection for the property in the event of a municipal project, which was my main concern.

jeff of pa · Feb 22, 2010

DigginThePast said:
Yup, Mark S got it.

Funny story. In most cases to get your home on the National Register you need to start at your State level for nomination. I called the gentleman in Connecticut that handled all the nominations (at that time) to inquire about nominating my own home. He asked a bunch of questions which I answered and he told me that the property would easily qualify if what I told him was accurate. He then told me that he would provide me with a phone number for a woman that would do the research and that the cost usually runs around $5,000.00 (not a typo). I then told him that I had a State Historic Survey of my property in hand as well as numerous books that listed the property and it's owners. He had the nerve to suggest that I provide that information to the researcher to make her job easier! That was as far as I went with that idea as there really is no protection for the property in the event of a municipal project, which was my main concern.

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