There are many activities relating to the maintenance of historical significance in the United States that fall under the label "Preservation," and the National Register of Historic Places and related programs have formalized much of that activity. This dissertation presents a case study of some of the intended and unintended results of the use of preservation tools in the historic town of Bethania, North Carolina. This study examines the results of the application of the National Register of Historic Places, National Historic Landmark designation, conservation land acquisition, and the use of public money resulting from these programs over a period of approximately two decades in Bethania. This examination treats ethical considerations involved in the application of these tools, based on results of their application, and a particular issue addressed here is the use of the tools of preservation to achieve political authority and power. The listing of 500 acres of Bethania landscape on the National Register of Historic Places altered, in a dramatic way, the town's visibility, prestige and ability to gain access to the benefits of public money, political autonomy and cultural prestige that would not otherwise be available. This gained increase in political power and access to benefits is in contrast to the inability of another group, contiguous to, but outside the National Register boundaries, to also gain access to these benefits. This occurred even though the excluded group also claims a deep relationship to historically significant landscape directly related to Bethania. The rigid formula of the National Register plays a role in this exclusion, as does the absence of other tools that might allow recognition and empowerment of the excluded group. These issues immediately emerged after the creation of the municipality of Bethania, purportedly based on the National Register Boundaries. The fact that the included group was largely white and the excluded group black, added racial conflict to the situation. These issues were carried to the Supreme Court of North Carolina as well as in a long and ongoing debate in the public media. The issues are still present and viewed as unresolved by the excluded community.
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