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Overview

Published January 2026 on Publications of the National Register of Historic Places (NPS)

For preparers of New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places nominations and fellow SHPO staff.

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Excerpt from Introduction

[/vc_column_text][vc_message color=”warning” message_box_color=”warning” icon_fontawesome=”” css=””]This publication compliments the guidance provided in National Register Bulletins by providing examples on specific topics.[/vc_message][vc_row_inner el_class=”hpo-callout-text”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”hpo-intro-paragraph”]The National Register of Historic Places includes a variety of landscapes, from botanical gardens to cemeteries to golf courses, and each of these properties is properly classified as a site. However, properties classified as buildings or structures may have a landscape associated with them, such as an urban high-rise with a plaza or a farmhouse with fields and pastures, yet these associative landscapes are not consistently addressed in nominations. While a property’s setting is routinely evaluated in the context of assessing a property’s integrity and while there may be some mention of the landscaping (e.g., the plants), the landscape (i.e., the intentional arrangement of softscape, hardscape, and open space) has not been consistently documented and critically evaluated in nominations as to whether a property’s landscape is (or is not) a contributing resource.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]The National Park Service has issued guidance for addressing landscapes, such as National Register Bulletin: Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Rural Historic Landscapes, National Register Bulletin: How to Evaluate and Nominate Designed Historic Landscapes, and Preservation Briefs: Protecting Cultural Landscapes: Planning, Treatment and Management of Historic Landscapes, as well as topic-specific bulletins on cemeteries and battlefields. However, these documents focus on the identification and evaluation of properties where a building is not the primary resource. By contrast, this issue of the Best Practices Review examines landscapes associated with buildings and offers examples for addressing these landscapes as contributing resources in nominations.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1758815062001{margin-bottom: 32px !important;}”][info-box-shortcode icon=”fa fa-solid fa-rectangle-list” title=”Table of Contents”]

• Introduction
• Setting or Contributing Resource or Both?
• Site or Structure or Either?
• Counting landscape resources and establishing boundaries

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