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Paid for by Supersure Insurance Agency, llc,
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a licensed insurance agency.
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It was a lovely reminder of how inspiring, how rich the American heritage is.
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A new online guide to American heritage sites is underway with the goal of giving families a trustworthy one stop resource for planning educational visits. The site gives insider tips for tourist activities and even grades the sites for the accuracy of their information.
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In today's episode, we speak to the woman spearheading the endeavor about the goals of the program and why it's so important to pass on the American story to the next generation. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley and this is a weekend episode of Morning Wire. Joining us now is Brenda Heifera, Assistant director and research Fellow for the Simon center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Brenda, thanks for coming on.
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It's a pleasure to be here.
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So the Heritage foundation has recently started compiling a list of historic sites across all 50 states. Just tell us what was the inspiration for doing this.
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Yeah, so the Heritage Guide to Historic Site is a product that pinpoints and evaluates historic sites all around the country. Places like battlefields and forts, but also places like Mark Twain's house. Those are part of the American story as well, and it pinpoints these places. And each site page provides information about what are the main tours and exhibits on offer, some recommended readings. Why is this place significant? You know, what happened here? And then tips for families which could be things like, you know, this tour may be accurate but may not be age appropriate. So the goal of that is to encourage people, American citizens, to go to historic sites to celebrate America 250 this summer. This is how we re educate ourselves about our heritage. So that's one goal. And the second piece is the third party accountability piece of each site receives a grade of A, B or C with A being good, B being a mixed bag, and C being actively distorted based on accuracy and comprehension, proportionality and ideological bias.
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Now is this site that you're making competing with a pre existing site that maybe the government does, or is this a whole new enterprise that you're working on?
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No, it's completely new. There's nothing out there like it because it evaluates all kinds of sites. So a lot of other sites focus on, you know, only sites owned by the National Park Service or only sites in a specific state. This covers them all. We have 130 so far. We have at least one in every state with the hope that folks will be able to find one within driving distance so they can make those family excursions. And it's also user friendly, which some of those other sites are a little bit of a mixed bag, I would say.
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Now what are some of the notable sites just off the top of your head that you have already reviewed and put on your website?
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There are the big ones, of course, like Gettysburg Speaker Newt Gingrich was kind enough to review that site for us. So battlefields. But also I would say some of my favorite sites, Mount Vernon, of course, which preserves the indispensable man, George Washington. They're doing a great job. But some of my favorite are actually the lesser known, kind of off the beaten track sites. So we have Noah Webster's House of Webster Dictionary fame and the evaluator of that site talks about the importance of language for forming a common culture and a common character. So these sites are wonderful in that they each tell an individual story, but they come together to tell the American story, which is not just battlefields and forts. It's also the words of the Gettysburg Address and the Declaration of Independence. It's the spirit of American enterprise with the Wright brothers. It's John Trumbull's paintings at Mount Vernon. It's so rich and wonderful.
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Imagine inviting about a dozen friends to pray in your home and your city, telling you to get the government's permission first. That's what happened to Daniel Grand, a devout Orthodox Jew in University Heights, Ohio. When he planned a small prayer meeting in his home. The city ordered him to get a permit, classified his house as a place of religious assembly, and even recruited his neighbors to spy on him and report any violations. To get the permit, Daniel would have to stop living in his own home. An impossible choice abandon his faith or give up his house. Yet when he filed a lawsuit to exercise his constitutional rights, federal courts told him he needed to complete the permitting process first. If you're thinking this can't be happening in America, you're not alone. That's why Alliance Defending Freedom and Oreck, Harrington and Sutcliffe are representing Daniel at the U.S. supreme Court. ADF never bills its clients for their defense, but that's only possible because of supporters like you. Right now. Your gift will be doubled by a generous matching grant. Twice the impact to defend Daniel and every American's freedom to pray at home, but only while matching funds last. Go to ADF.com wire or text wire to 83848 to give today with Alliance Defending Freedom. Your gift defends religious freedom for all. Again, that's joinadf.com wire or text wire to 83848.
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You all know I am always staying abreast of the new Quince merchandise and lately they have been putting out some great summer stuff. So for example, this blue dress, it's new, it's very anthropology, very church appropriate. I love it. I also really love this new cream top. Plus they have many, many linen items. I have had this white linen dress for a few years now. I wear it constantly in the summer and I'm actually thinking about getting it in the black sh as well. They also make awesome accessories. I currently have my eye on this crescent shaped purse and this leather belt which looks a lot like the viral one from Madewell, but it's about half the price. And as I've discussed before, Quint's uses the same ethical factories as the designer labels, the same high quality natural fibers like linen, cotton, leather, cashmere, etc. But they sell direct to consumers for a fraction of the cost. So elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com wire for free shipping on your order and for 365 day returns now available in Canada, too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com wire for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's quince.com wire. Now, this seems like a very large enterprise to take on how big is your team and who's making the decisions about which sites to include and who's doing the research.
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Yes. So we wanted the most significant and popular sites in each state. We did have to cap some because there are so many wonderful places in Virginia and Massachusetts. Others, like Alaska, were a little bit harder to find a site in that state. But it's wonderful. And what was really important for this project is we selected evaluators whose backgrounds are relevant for the site themselves. So we had a lot of historians, but we also had architects and poets. We had a poet review Edgar Allan Poe's House, which adds to the charm of the guide because they love what they're writing about and they want to tell you more about it. But that also really helps with the accountability piece because some of these sites are quite sneaky in their historical distortions. And the casual observer, or someone who's going to learn, which is most of us. Right, that's why we go to these places. We want to learn about something we don't know much about. Those sneaky distortions can be hard to catch. So we wanted folks who would be able to find those and write about those.
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Yeah, I wanted to ask you not to bring the negative energy here, but I wanted to ask you specifically about that. Did you find a lot of distortion in a lot of these sites?
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Sadly, quite a bit. So James Madison's home, Montpelier, he was the father of the Constitution. He's an incredibly important figure. There are no exhibits dedicated to James Madison at his own home. So that's a problem of, you know, not including relevant material that needs to be included. The full story of America certainly includes James Madison. So there are those sorts of problems. There's this trend of her historical historic sites wanting to engage in activism rather than their inherent value as centers of civic education. So there's nothing wrong with activism for adults. You know, anyone is free to rally for a cause or to address a political issue. And there are many such organizations, but there's only one, Monticello. So we believe that these places should focus on what makes them inherently valuable. And they can do, and often should do a. But if they don't address that, then they have fallen short of their stewardship and their civic duty.
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The Trump administration has focused on this on some levels with national parks. Have they looked into some of the sites that you guys have rated and are asking for revisions, et cetera?
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So this was an independent project. About 30% of the sites on our guide are owned by the National Park Service. And I would say they're doing an okay job. There are certainly instances. None of them get a C. So none of them are the worst sites on the guide, but quite a number of them do get a B. And some of the issues that have been identified, some National Park Service have adopted the progressive view of the civil rights movement and will contend, for example, that that extends to LGBTQ rights and materials. And so some of our historic sites, particularly during Pride Month, which we alert parents to, there are those kinds of issues that we're seeing now.
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Are you planning on to have, like, a coffee table book or something? I mean, I'm just thinking, to me, as a consumer, that would be something I'd be interested in. How big is this project?
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So it's 130 sites so far. We say, so this is something. It is a living, breathing project. Just as America250 continues after this summer, we're going to continue this project after this summer. So we're going to update it regularly. And there's a form on the website where anyone can go in and say, here's another site that you should go to, or, things have changed since you were last there. We do have an activity book for kids that people can print out, and we might have printed materials in the future, but right now, because we want to be able to update this regularly, it is a website@historicsites.heritage.org so having visited
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many of these sites and looked into this, has your view of history or American history been changed in any way?
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I would say it was a lovely reminder of just reading through the evaluations of how inspiring, how rich the American heritage is to revisit things like Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and that kind of spirit of imagination that you get inculcated when you read those books. And that's, I think, why some of these sites are so important. They're a way that we introduce our children to the national narrative that is the American story. We help them develop their moral imagination. So just the sheer diversity of their architectural sites. There are John Trumbull's paintings. There's the Gettysburg Address, there's Independence Hall. And it's just. Just reading them is so inspiring. It's going to make you want to visit. It's going to make you want to take your families. These are, you know, as a bonus touch grass activities, no screens involved. And that's wonderful for families, that opportunity. But this is how we re educate ourselves and remind ourselves who we are as Americans.
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All right. Well, Brenda, thank you so much for coming on and speaking with us today.
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It was a real pleasure. Thank you for having me.
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That was Brenda Heifera, assistant director and research fellow for the Simon center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation. And this has been a weekend edition of MORNING Wire.
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