National Historic Landmarks Program

On December 16, 2024, the Secretary of the Interior announced the designation of 19 new NHLs and 14 updated NHLs. We are thrilled to share these important places and stories!

During National Engineering Week, the NHL Program is excited to welcome one of the newest !

The Mr. Charlie Offshore Oil Rig in Morgan City, LA is significant as the first, the longest operating, and the oldest surviving Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU). Its design and success helped revolutionize the process of offshore oil drilling. Consisting of a portable oil rig atop a submersible barge, it was able to venture far out to sea to reach previously untapped oil fields. Mr. Charlie carried on board the equipment for drilling and the facilities to house a large crew of workers for extended periods.

Eventually drilling over 250 wells before being retired in 1986, Mr. Charlie illustrates the engineering ingenuity and creativity of a small business seeking to gain a foothold in a much larger industry. The newly formed company that developed Mr. Charlie, Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company (ODECO), grew to become, at one point, the largest drilling contractor in the world.

The rig was purchased in 1993 by the non-profit corporation International Petroleum Museum and Exposition Inc. and now preserved as The Rig Museum (https://www.rigmuseum.com/).

Designation honors both the landmark itself and the individuals and organizations who created and used it. Congratulations to the site stewards and advocates who preserve this historic place.

The Rig Museum



📷1: Aerial view of Mr. Charlie (stern), 2021. Courtesy of the International Petroleum Museum and Exposition.
📷2: Mr. Charlie in the process of submerging, with derrick lowered and stabilizers raised, 1954. The International Petroleum Museum and Exposition.

The NHL Program is excited to welcome the newest ! On December 16, 2024, the Secretary of the Interior announced the designation of 19 new NHLs and 14 updated NHLs. We are thrilled to share these important places and stories!

The Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth House and Studios, aka Sentinel Ranch in San Patricio, New Mexico, are nationally significant for the property’s association with renowned husband-and-wife painters Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth. Hurd was a Regionalist painter who created an extensive artistic record of the people and landscapes of south-central New Mexico. Wyeth was an accomplished Realist painter born into the Wyeth clan of artists in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. After moving to the ranch in the 1930s, Hurd painted and sketched ranch hands, neighbors, and landscapes of the region. Wyeth focused on portraits, painting some of the country’s wealthiest and most famous people, as well as still lifes that used flowers she grew at the ranch.

The couple supported each other’s artistic endeavors, and their working arrangement at the ranch reflected an unusual prioritization, particularly for the time, of both artists’ studio work. The highly productive careers of these two artists are exceptional examples of American art, encompassing the embrace of Realism and Regionalism in the depiction of Western-based landscapes, portraits, and still lifes.

Designation honors both the landmark itself and the individuals and organizations who created and used it. Congratulations to the site stewards and advocates who preserve this historic place.

New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs

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📷1: Interior of Henriette Wyeth studio, a brown-painted space with a large multi-paned window to the left and a large-framed piece of art on an easel to the right. NPS/Astrid Liverman.
📷2: View of Sentinel Ranch, which is composed of several stucco buildings with red tile roofs set in a lush green landscape. Steven Moffson, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

The NHL Program is excited to welcome the newest ! On December 16, 2024, the Secretary of the Interior announced the designation of 19 new NHLs and 14 updated NHLs. We are thrilled to share these important places and stories!

Watkins Mill, located in Clay County, Missouri, was designated an NHL in 1976. The mill, a largely self-sufficient complex, consisting of a factory on an intact rural farm landscape, produced yarn and fabric from 1860 to 1886. Now operated as Watkins Woolen Mill State Park and State Historic Site, the property also retains an extensive collection of original milling machinery.

The updated nomination added information about mill and farm operations, including the workforce, comprised of men, women, and children. In the early years, enslaved labor was also used.

The update also confirmed the NHL boundary, provided more complete architectural and archaeological resource descriptions, and additional information regarding the interrelationship between family life and industrial life.

Designation honors both the landmark itself and the individuals and organizations who created and used it. Congratulations to the site stewards and advocates who preserve this historic place.

Missouri State Parks



📷 1: Watkins Woolen Mill (exterior). Photo courtesy of the Watkins Mill Association.
📷 2: The second floor of Watkins Mill (interior) contains machines used for yarn production. Photo courtesy of the Watkins Mill Association.

The NHL Program is excited to welcome the newest ! On December 16, 2024, the Secretary of the Interior announced the designation of 19 new NHLs and 14 updated NHLs. We are thrilled to share these important places and stories!

Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove Plantation NHL in the upper Shenandoah Valley of Virginia was designated an NHL in 1969. At that time, the historic district was recognized for association with the Cedar Creek Battlefield, site of a major Civil War engagement that occurred on October 19, 1864. Part of the district is included within the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park. Belle Grove Plantation is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The nomination update provides more information about Cedar Creek Battlefield and Belle Grove Plantation during the Civil War. It also looks at the development and transformation of the cultural landscape in the context of the social, cultural, economic, and architectural history of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The district contains 18th- and 19th- century architectural resources, mill ruins, historic cemeteries, and archaeological sites that collectively tell the story of colonization and settlement in the region.

The nomination also includes a boundary change and more accurate inventory of contributing resources.

Designation honors both the landmark itself and the individuals and organizations who created and used it. Congratulations to the site stewards and advocates who preserve this historic place.



📷 1: View across Cedar Creek Battlefield, looking west towards the Red Hills plateau. Photo by Carleigh Hessian, EHT Traceries, April 2019.
📷 2: Belle Grove Plantation manor house, façade, looking north. Photo by John Gentry, EHT Traceries, June 2019.
📷 3: Log House at Smith Mill (private residence). Photo by Sarah Vonesh, EHT Traceries, April 2019.