The National Historic Landmark program is administered by the National Park Service, a branch of the Department of the Interior. The National Park Service determines which properties meet NHL criteria and makes nomination recommendations after an owner notification process.[4] The Secretary of the Interior reviews nominations and, based on a set of predetermined criteria, makes a decision on NHL designation or a determination of eligibility for designation.[5] Both public and privately owned properties are designated as NHLs. This designation provides indirect, partial protection of the historic integrity of the properties, via tax incentives, grants, monitoring of threats, and other means.[4] Owners may object to the nomination of the property as an NHL. When this is the case the Secretary of the Interior can only designate a site as eligible for designation.[5]
NHLs are also included on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), historic properties that the National Park Service deems to be worthy of preservation. The primary difference between an NHL and a NRHP listing is that the NHLs are determined to have national significance, while other NRHP properties are deemed significant at the local or state level.[4] The NHLs in Alabama comprise 3% of the approximately 1178 properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama.
This structure, built in 1840, is described by the National Park Service as an "unusually sophisticated" Greek Revival style plantation house. The interior contains a stairway that ascends in a series of double flights and bridge-like landings to an observatory on the rooftop that offers views of the plantation.[11][12]
This archaeological site contains eighteen mounds from the Mississippian cultural period. Located on Mound Island within the Mobile-Tensaw river delta, the site was occupied between AD 1250 and 1550. Scholars believe that it functioned as a social, political, religious, and trade center for the Mobile Delta region and the central Gulf Coast.[14]
This church was a starting point for the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965, and it played a major role in the events that led to the adoption of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The national reaction to Selma's "Bloody Sunday March" is widely credited with making the passage of the Voting Rights Act politically viable in the United States Congress.[15]
The Italianate style Old City Hall and Southern Market in Mobile was completed in 1857. This building exemplifies the 19th-century American trend toward structures that served multiple civic functions.[16]
This was the home of antitrust legislator Henry De Lamar Clayton, Jr. He was the author of the Clayton Antitrust Act, an act that prohibited particular types of conduct that were deemed to not be in the best interest of a competitive market. He was appointed as a Federal District Judge in 1914, and became recognized as an advocate for judicial reform.[17]
This was the home of educator Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry. He played a large role in the expansion and improvement of the public school system and the establishment of training schools for teachers throughout the South.[18]
Martin Luther King Jr. was the pastor of this church from 1954 to 1960. The Montgomery Improvement Association, which was headed by Dr. King, had its headquarters in the church and organized the Montgomery bus boycott from this site in 1955.[19]
Launched on May 12, 1941, this was the first of the Gato-classsubmarines completed before World War II. It represents what was the standard design for American fleet submarines at the beginning of that war. The USS Drum sank fifteen Japanese ships and earned twelve battle stars.[20]
This Gothic Revival church was built in 1859, and is considered by the National Park Service as one of the most pristine examples of Ecclesiastical Gothic architecture in the South. It is also one of the least-altered structures designed by architect Frank Wills.[21]
Fort Mitchell represents three periods of interaction with Native Americans. The first period is the martial aspect of Manifest Destiny, when the Creek Indian Nation was defeated and forced to concede land.; the second represents the Indian Factory; the last concerns U.S. government attempts to honor treaty obligations.[23]
This Greek Revival mansion was designated an NHL because it is considered one of the most unusual examples of that architectural style in the United States. It was built over the course of eighteen years by amateur architect and planter Nathan Bryan Whitfield. It is one of the few Greek Revival homes that features the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders of architecture.[27]
This church was built in 1836 and is one of the oldest and least-altered Greek Revival church buildings in the United States. The architectural design is by James Gallier, James Dakin, and Charles Dakin.[28]
This plantation house was completed in 1860 and is one of the best preserved examples of Richard Upjohn's distinctive asymmetrical Italian villa style. It is the only surviving residential example of Upjohn's Italian villa style that was especially designed to suit the Southern climate and the plantation lifestyle.[30]
Constructed in 1898, this is an example of late 19th-century commercial architecture. It served as the focal point of transportation into Montgomery. The train shed is significant in that it shows the adaptation of bridge-building techniques to shelter structures, an important step in the history of American engineering.[33]
Moundville was first settled in the 10th century and represents a major period of Mississippian culture in the Southern United States. It acted as the center for a southerly diffusion of this culture toward the Gulf Coast.[34] It was the second largest site of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in Illinois.
This structure was built in 1955 to provide a simulated zero-gravity environment in which engineers, designers, and astronauts could perform the various phases of research needed to gain firsthand knowledge concerning design and operation problems associated with working in space. It contributed significantly to the United States space program, especially Project Gemini, the Apollo program, Skylab, and the Space Shuttle.[35]
This site was built in 1957 by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and was the primary center responsible for the development of large vehicles and rocket propulsion systems. The Saturn Family of launch vehicles was developed here under the direction of Wernher von Braun. The Saturn V remains the most powerful launch vehicle ever brought to operational status, from a height, weight and payload standpoint.[38]
This steel frame structure was built in 1953 and is the oldest static firing facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center. It was important in the development of the Jupiter-C and Mercury/Redstone vehicles that launched the first U.S. satellite and the first U.S. manned spaceflight.[39]
This small Carpenter Gothic church, with wooden buttresses, was built in 1853, and shows the influence of 19th-century architectural leader Richard Upjohn. It is considered one of the Southeast's outstanding examples of the picturesque movement in American church building.[40]
Built in 1964 to conduct mechanical and vibrational tests on the fully assembled Saturn V rocket; major problems capable of causing failure of the vehicle were discovered and corrected here.[41]
This church was used as a meeting place, training center, and as a departure point for marches during the Civil Rights Movement. It was the site of a bombing by the Ku Klux Klan on September 15, 1963, in which four young girls were killed and twenty-two others were injured.[43]
Built from 1881 to 1882, this is the oldest remaining blast furnace in the state. Its NHL designation represents Alabama's early 20th-century preeminence in the production of pig iron and cast iron, an example of a post-Civil War effort to industrialize the agrarian South.[44]
This archaeological site was occupied by people of the Apalachicola Province and Yuchi tribes. During the 17th century, towns of Apalachicola Province allied with the Spanish in Florida against the English in Carolina and were ultimately destroyed as a culture. The Yuchi tribe settled here later and constantly shifted their alliances with various European powers, until they were displaced by the expanding American frontier in the Southeast in the early 19th century.[48]
^"Units in the National Park System"(PDF). National Park Service Office of Public Affairs. U.S. Department of the Interior. July 17, 2008. Retrieved December 23, 2008.
^ abNumbers represent an alphabetical ordering by significant words. Various colorings, defined here, differentiate National Historic Landmarks and historic districts from other NRHP buildings, structures, sites or objects.
^The eight-digit number below each date is the number assigned to each location in the National Register Information System database, which can be viewed by clicking the number.
^"ALABAMA, USS (Battleship)". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Apalachicola Fort Site". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Barton Hall". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on April 3, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Bottle Creek Site". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"City Hall (Mobile)". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Henry D. Clayton House". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"J.L.M. Curry Home". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"DRUM, USS (Submarine)". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"First Confederate Capitol". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Fort Mitchell Site". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Fort Morgan". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Fort Toulouse Site". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Foster Auditorium". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Gaineswood". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Kenworthy Hall". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"MONTGOMERY (Snagboat)". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Moundville Site". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Redstone Test Stand". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"St. Andrew's Church". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Sloss Blast Furnaces". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Tuskegee Institute". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on February 18, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Wilson Dam". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
^"Yuchi Town Site". National Historic Landmarks Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
