A Call to Action for the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS)

This is America at 250: Let's Celebrate the Plurality of Our American Heritage

by the ASLA Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) Leadership Team

"Methuselah" Willow Oak, east of northbound lanes, near Belle Haven Marina parking lot, Arlington, Arlington County, VA. Significance: The "Methuselah" Willow Oak (Quercus phellos) is significant because of its longevity and exceptional size. It is also significant because of the respect its stature apparently commanded during the construction of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, as the road alignment appears to have been altered in order to preserve the massive tree.

For the past 16 years, ASLA has collaborated with the National Park Service to support the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) Challenge, a competition to document historic landscapes that tell the stories of our nation.

Andrew Jackson Southern Magnolia, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, west of south portico, Washington, DC (Witness Tree Protection Program). Significance: The Andrew Jackson Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) at the White House is significant because of its size, longevity, location, and association with President Andrew Jackson.

In ordinary times, we would be jointly promoting the 17th annual HALS Challenge, but these are extraordinary times. As such, ASLA is now calling on its members, students, historians, and other practitioners to submit documentation of historic landscapes in our communities.

Frederick Douglass White Oak, 1411 West Street, Southeast, Northeast of front porch, Washington, DC. Significance: The Frederick Douglass White Oak (Quercus alba) is significant because of its size, longevity, and association with Frederick Douglass, one of the leading abolitionists of the nineteenth century. It commands a prominent location on the property, witnessed his long hours of work, and is the largest tree remaining from when Frederick Douglass lived at Cedar Hill, where he died on February 20, 1895.

This is an open call to complete a historical report that highlights the history, significance, and character-defining features of a selected landscape. Optional measured drawings or large-format photographs may accompany the report. All completed reports become part of the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection at the Library of Congress, contributing to the most comprehensive archive of American designed and vernacular landscapes.

In recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of United States, we are encouraging reports that broadly address the theme of landscapes of liberty and freedom.

Middle Ford American Sycamore, Thomas Farm, east side of Monocacy River, upper portion of hill, field west of MD Route 355, Frederick, Frederick County, MD (Witness Tree Protection Program). Significance: The Middle Ford American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) is significant because of its longevity and exceptional size. It is also significant due to its association with the original Georgetown Road and the Middle Ford ferry crossing and tavern during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, as well as its proximity to the Civil War Battle of Monocacy.

Across the nation, the idea of liberty has taken root and evolved through the land itself-expressed in battlefields and memorials, public squares and protest sites, trails of migration and emancipation, parks of public gathering, and landscapes that have borne witness to both oppression and liberation. These places reveal the complex and ongoing pursuit of freedom in all its forms-political, cultural, environmental, and personal.

Highlands Hammock State Park, 5931 Hammock Road, Sebring, Highlands County, FL. Significance: Highlands Hammock State Park is significant in the early twentieth-century history of Florida as one of the nine state park units created through state planning for natural resource conservation, recreation, and tourism during the New Deal era.

Through this year's optional theme, we seek to honor the diverse stories of freedom that define the American landscape and to recognize that liberty, like the land itself, is both a heritage and a living pursuit. The theme is also meant to serve as a suggestion to help you select a landscape, but this is not a competition, so this call is open to all historic landscape submissions. We will recognize all submitted reports at the ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture in September.

Exhibit Quarry, 36 Reservation Avenue, Pipestone, Pipestone County, MN. Significance: Originally developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps-Indian Division (CCC-ID), the Exhibit Quarry was remodeled by the Mission 66 project and remains part of the trail exhibit as part of the Mission 66 development.

Mother Waldron Playground, bounded by Pohukaina Street, Cooke Street, Halekauwila Street, and former Coral Street right-of-way, Honolulu, Honolulu County, HI. Significance: Mother Waldron Playground is significant as an urban recreational site associated with the philosophy of the early twentieth century organized play and playground movements in the United States.

We challenge you to celebrate the plurality of place by contributing to the Historic American Landscapes Survey and build up our national archive in the Library of Congress. To answer the call of this challenge is to strengthen the role and presence of the landscape architecture profession in shaping our country by bringing light to landscape histories and our shared American heritage.

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Arch, Mississippi River between Washington & Poplar Streets, Saint Louis, MO. Significance: Designed by Eero Saarinen, the 630' stainless-steel arch is the tallest monument in the country.

Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, Bell Laboratories Road, Holmdel, Monmouth County, NJ. Significance: Bell Labs is a significant pioneering example of a type of modern American suburban landscape that has been variously termed a corporate campus, corporate estate, corporate villa or industrial Versailles.

Submission Information

Information on how to describe and analyze historic landscapes for the HALS collection can be found in the HALS History Guidelines. You may also contact your state ASLA Chapter's volunteer HALS Liaison for assistance.

Complete submissions should include the following elements:

HALS Short Format Historical Report
Use the HALS Short Format Report Template to describe the history, significance, and character-defining features of the documented landscape.

Copyright Release Form
All entries should include a signed Copyright Release Form acknowledging that all materials in the submission will be dedicated to the public domain. Since the copyright status of some materials is uncertain, please do not reproduce any graphics in your HALS documentation unless they are covered by a signed copyright release or clearly in the public domain.

Supplemental Measured Drawings or Photographs
While not required, HALS historical reports can be supplemented with measured drawings or large-format photographs of the documented landscape. Drawings must comply with the requirements of the HALS Guidelines for Drawings; large-format photographs must comply with the HABS/HAER/HALS Photography Guidelines. Electronic copies of the drawings or photographs should be included in the submission.

Southern Pacific Railroad Water Settling Reservoir, Yuma Crossing, south bank of Colorado River at foot of Madison Avenue, Yuma, Yuma County, AZ. Significance: The railroad, reaching Arizona Territory form California in 1877, was the first railroad to arrive in Arizona and the second to be built eastward from the West, connecting with the Texas Pacific east of El Paso. The South Pacific Railroad Water Settling Reservoir was probably the first water works in Arizona to provide treated (settled) water by a system of underground pipes to the residents and businesses of a community as well as to railroad locomotives and other railroad facilities.

Olompali State Historic Park, Mary Burdell Garden, U.S. Highway 101, Novato, Marin County, CA. Significance: The Mary Burdell Victorian Garden is a notable example of formal Victorian garden design. It represents the distinctive characteristics and aesthetics advocated by garden designers and horticulturists of the period 1850-1890 such as Andrew Jackson Downing and was one of the earlier gardens of this type to be designed in the Bay Area.

Deadline

Completed submissions must be received by August 31, 2026, to be recognized at the ASLA 2026 Conference on Landscape Architecture in September.

If you don't meet this deadline, please continue to work on your report and submit it when you're finished! This too, is worthy of a celebration!

Email complete submissions to [email protected]for acknowledgement at the ASLA Conference, and to Scott Keyes at the National Park Service, [email protected], following the Donated Documentation guidelines for addition to the Library of Congress collection.

U.S. Capitol, Statue of Freedom, intersection of North, South, & East Capitol Streets & Capitol Mall, Washington, DC. Significance: The bronze Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford is the crowning feature of the dome of the United States Capitol.

For more about the Heritage Documentation Programs-documented (Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS)) landscapes and sites featured in this post's images:

"Methuselah" Willow Oak, HALS VA-15

Andrew Jackson Southern Magnolia, HALS DC-14

Frederick Douglass White Oak, HALS DC-2

Middle Ford American Sycamore, HALS MD-10

Highlands Hammock State Park, HALS FL-10

Exhibit Quarry, HAER MN-120

Mother Waldron Playground, HALS HI-27

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Arch, HAER MO-40

Bell Laboratories, HALS NJ-7

Southern Pacific Railroad Water, HAER AZ-66

Olompali State Historic Park, HALS CA-4

U.S. Capitol, Statue of Freedom, HABS DC-38-C

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