2025 Endangered Places

2025 Endangered Places List

The 2025 Endangered Places List, curated by the American Historical Conservation Alliance, highlights historic sites across the nation that are at risk of being lost due to development, neglect, vandalism, or historical erasure.

Each site on this list holds significant cultural, architectural, or historical value. Some are tied to well-known historical figures, while others represent overlooked but vital pieces of America’s story. What they all share is urgency without action; these places may disappear forever.

If you know of a historically significant site, such as a battlefield, cemetery, structure, or homestead, that deserves to be included, we welcome your submission.

📩 To submit a site for consideration, email:
📧 contact@saveourpast.org
Please include all known details, photographs (if available), and a clear explanation of the current threat.

Together, we can raise awareness, build partnerships, and take meaningful steps to save our past before it’s too late.

🔹 1. Fotheringay Plantation

📍 Elliston, Virginia

Summary:
Built in 1796 by Col. George Hancock, a Revolutionary War veteran and U.S. Congressman, Fotheringay is a rare and significant landmark of early American architecture and plantation history in western Virginia. The land holds not just the historic home, but deep cultural layers tied to Native American occupation, enslaved African Americans, and early settler life.

⚠️ Threat Level:

Proposed housing development threatens surrounding historic grounds
Unmarked cemeteries (including potential African American and Indigenous graves) may be disturbed
No current preservation easements or active protection efforts

Significance:

Former home of Col. George Hancock, notable Virginia figure
Tied to Revolutionary War history and early state politics
Possible archaeological remains related to slavery and Native American presence

Call to Action:

Urge Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources to investigate and protect the site
Support a full archaeological and preservation study
Join the American Historical Conservation Alliance in advocating for protection through media, education, and direct outreach

🔹 2. New River Gorge Historic Buildings

📍 Thurmond & surrounding districts, New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia

Summary:
The National Park Service has proposed the demolition of up to 19 historic structures within the New River Gorge area, including the storied Thurmond Depot and Prince Brothers General Store. These buildings, many dating to the early 20th century, reflect the rise of coal mining and rail commerce in Appalachia. Despite their historical value, they face imminent removal as part of federal infrastructure clean-up and safety plans.

⚠️ Threat Level:

Designated as “excess structures” by the National Park Service
Scheduled for possible demolition as early as 2025
Lack of active protection or preservation funding

Significance:

Thurmond and surrounding buildings are vital to understanding the coal and rail-driven economy of West Virginia
These structures represent rare remnants of Appalachian industrial town architecture
Located within a national park, they hold potential for adaptive reuse, education, and heritage tourism

Call to Action:

Advocate for preservation and adaptive reuse instead of demolition
Encourage local and national groups to pressure for protection measures
Support historical interpretation of these sites to honor regional identity and labor history

🔹 3. Shockoe Bottom (Slave Trade District)

📍 Richmond, Virginia

Summary:
Once the second-largest slave-trading hub in the United States, Shockoe Bottom was the site of auction houses, jails, and holding pens where thousands of enslaved African Americans were bought and sold before the Civil War. Key landmarks included Lumpkin’s Jail, known as “the Devil’s Half Acre,” and the Shockoe African Burial Ground, one of the oldest municipal burial grounds for free and enslaved Black people in the country. Despite its immense historical significance, much of the area remains unmarked, unprotected, and threatened by urban development.

⚠️ Threat Level:

Targeted by redevelopment plans (commercial, residential, and infrastructure projects)
Historic structures have been destroyed or paved over
Key burial and cultural sites lack physical protections or interpretive signage

Significance:

One of the most important surviving urban landscapes tied to the domestic slave trade
Site of Lumpkin’s Jail, Shockoe African Burial Ground, and major slave markets
Critical to understanding Richmond’s role as capital of the Confederacy and the economics of slavery in America

Call to Action:

Advocate for full archaeological surveys and memorialization
Support community efforts to protect the burial ground and preserve remaining historic land
Join the American Historical Conservation Alliance in raising awareness of the site’s cultural and historical value

🔹 4. Dudley Cemetery

📍 Fagg, Virginia

Summary:
Dudley Cemetery is a rural historic burial ground located in the Fagg area of Montgomery County, Virginia. With headstones dating back to the mid-1700s, it stands as one of the oldest cemeteries in the region. The site contains the graves of early settlers and generations of local families, offering a direct connection to the colonial and early American history of Southwest Virginia.

⚠️ Threat Level:

Numerous headstones have been vandalized or removed
The cemetery lacks fencing, signage, or ongoing maintenance
Continued neglect has left it vulnerable to deterioration and historical loss

Significance:

Home to documented graves from the 18th century, including some of Montgomery County’s earliest residents
Represents a rare surviving example of a pre-Revolutionary burial site in rural Virginia
Offers genealogical and historical insights into early settler life in the New River Valley

Call to Action:

Support preservation efforts including re-marking of graves and installation of protective fencing
Advocate for official historical recognition and site stewardship
Join the American Historical Conservation Alliance in promoting the protection of this vital piece of Virginia’s heritage through education, documentation, and public engagement

🔹 5. Fort George Island Tabby Ruins

📍 Fort George Island, Jacksonville, Florida

Summary:
Located within the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, the Fort George Island Tabby Ruins include the remains of mid-19th-century plantation structures built using tabby concrete, a mixture of lime, sand, water, and oyster shells. These ruins, most notably the Thomson Tabby House foundation and associated outbuildings, offer rare surviving examples of coastal tabby construction in Florida and are tied to the region’s antebellum plantation history.

⚠️ Threat Level:

Exposed to coastal erosion, vegetation overgrowth, and structural decay
Lack of formal stabilization plans or preservation oversight
At risk from storm damage, vandalism, and uncontrolled foot traffic

Significance:

Features rare examples of historic tabby concrete architecture, once used in plantation construction across the southeastern seaboard
Represents a tangible connection to 19th-century coastal plantation life and labor
Offers educational value in both building technique and historical context, including the lives of the enslaved individuals who likely constructed and maintained the structures

Call to Action:

Support preservation planning focused on stabilizing remaining ruins and protecting the site from environmental degradation
Promote historical interpretation through signage and public education
Encourage partnerships between preservation groups and park authorities to fund documentation and conservation efforts

🔹 6. Nathan Bedford Forrest Boyhood Home

📍 Chapel Hill, Tennessee

Summary:
This early 19th-century log house was the boyhood home of Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate general and controversial historical figure. The structure, built in the 1820s, stands as one of the few surviving sites directly linked to Forrest’s early life. Although privately owned and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the site faces increasing threats due to vandalism, political pressure, and a lack of public preservation support.

⚠️ Threat Level:

Frequent vandalism and trespassing, with damages reported to the structure and grounds
Public funding and historical support withdrawn amid controversy surrounding Forrest’s legacy
Limited preservation oversight and a lack of protective infrastructure on-site

Significance:

One of the few intact physical locations tied to Forrest’s life prior to the Civil War
Offers insight into early 19th-century rural life in Tennessee and the formative years of one of the war’s most infamous cavalry leaders
Despite controversy, the site holds historical value within Civil War scholarship and heritage interpretation

Call to Action:

Encourage protection of the structure regardless of modern political controversy, preservation is about history, not glorification
Support site security, stabilization, and controlled public access
Promote open historical interpretation that acknowledges the complexity of Forrest’s legacy while preserving the physical record of his early life

🔹 7. Fort Negley

📍 Nashville, Tennessee

Summary:
Constructed in 1862 after the Union occupation of Nashville, Fort Negley was the largest inland stone fort built during the Civil War. It holds national significance as one of the only Union forts built primarily by enslaved and free African American laborers, many of whom died during construction. Though now part of a city-managed park, the site has faced multiple threats, including proposed commercial development and long-term neglect.

⚠️ Threat Level:

Recent proposals have pushed to replace the fort with mixed-use commercial or private development
Site suffers from limited interpretation and uneven maintenance
Despite public outcry, preservation efforts remain vulnerable to shifting political and commercial interests

Significance:

A rare surviving example of a Union fort in the Deep South
Built by African Americans, many forcibly conscripted, who contributed to the war effort but often went unrecognized
Symbolizes both military strategy and the legacy of Black labor and sacrifice during the Civil War

Call to Action:

Advocate for permanent protection of Fort Negley and surrounding land from future development
Support comprehensive interpretation that highlights the roles of African Americans in its construction and the war
Engage local and national preservation groups to push for ongoing funding, signage, and historical programming

🔹 8. Harpers Ferry African American Heritage Sites

📍 Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

Summary:
While Harpers Ferry is nationally known for John Brown’s 1859 raid and its Civil War role, many of its surrounding African American historic sites remain unprotected, under-recognized, and at risk. These include historic churches, schools, homes, and burial grounds once central to the town’s free Black community and post–Civil War African American life. As development and tourism increase, these lesser-known sites face growing threats from neglect, encroachment, and lack of preservation resources.

⚠️ Threat Level:

Historic Black neighborhoods and burial sites lack protective status or funding
Urban development and rising property costs are pressuring longtime residents and historic Black institutions
Key locations connected to African American education and worship are deteriorating due to disuse and limited maintenance

Significance:

Harpers Ferry was a center of Black education and resilience, home to Storer College (founded in 1867) and the Niagara Movement’s 1906 meeting (precursor to the NAACP)
Several churches and cemeteries in the area date back to the 19th century and hold the stories of freedmen, educators, and laborers
These sites provide an essential counterpoint to the town’s Civil War and abolitionist legacy, telling the story of what came after

Call to Action:

Support documentation and preservation of African American historic buildings and burial grounds
Advocate for funding, local protection, and federal recognition of these community landmarks
Partner with historians, churches, and preservation groups to expand the narrative of Harpers Ferry beyond John Brown

If you know of a historic site, landmark, or place at risk and believe it should be considered for the 2026 Endangered Places List, we want to hear from you. Please send us a message with the location and a brief description of its historical significance, current condition, and any known threats. Community input plays a vital role in helping us identify and protect places that matter before they are lost.