Tuesday, May 20 is the one-year anniversary of the opening of the Homestead Heritage Center at Homestead National Monument of America. Since opening its doors on May 20, 2007 - the 145th anniversary of the Homestead Act - tens of thousands of visitors have made their way to the site to learn from the facility's outstanding interpretive exhibits and marvel at its unique architecture. Due in large part to the Heritage Center, visitation to Homestead National Monument of America in 2007 exceeded 70,000, by far the busiest year in the monument's 72-year history. People from all 50 states and dozens of foreign nations have visited the Heritage Center, and reactions to the building have been overwhelmingly positive. One visitor from London, England, wrote in the monument's guest register that the Heritage Center makes Homestead National Monument of America a "must-see U.S.A. destination!" The building has already won several major design and tourism awards.
Visitation recently jumped again due to the April 2008 premiere of the monument's new film, Land of Dreams: Homesteading America. The film is a sweeping account of the Homestead Act's vast impacts on the United States and the world. It features interviews with living homesteaders, American Indians, women, African Americans, and homesteader descendants, all of whom provide their own perspectives and interpretations of homesteading history.
"Our staff couldn't be happier with the impact the Heritage Center has had on the monument," said Mark Engler, Superintendent of Homestead National Monument of America. "The building, exhibits, and film really help us do our job of explaining and interpreting homesteading history for our visitors. The many years of work and planning on the building were very much worth it."
Homestead National Monument of America is a unit of the National Park System located four miles west of Beatrice, Nebraska on State Highway 4. Admission to all exhibits, displays, events, and facilities, including the Homestead Heritage Center, is free of charge. The monument is open year-round except Thanksgiving Day, December 25, and January 1. For additional information, please call 402-223-3514 or visit www.nps.gov/home.
Caption: Designed to look like sod being pushed up by a plow, the Homestead Heritage Center, at Homestead National Monument of America, is symbolic in its appearance. This unique center, which is free of charge or requires no park permits, is open daily and houses the National Museum on Homesteading.
May 20, 2008 marks the one year anniversary of the opening of the Homestead Heritage Center and the 146th Anniversary of the Homestead Act of 1862.
