S958NOV18

TheWeekInCongress.com

Week Ending November 18, 2005

S.958 A bill to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Star-Spangled Banner Trail in the States of Maryland and Virginia and the District of Columbia as a National Historic Trail.

BRIEF

From the committee report: “National Historic Trails are components of the National Trails System which commemorate major routes of historic travel and major events that have shaped American history. To date, 15 National Historic Trails have been established, including the Lewis and Clark, Pony Express, Selma to Montgomery, Trail of Tears, and most recently the El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trails. To be designated as a National Historic Trail, a trail must meet three basic criteria: it must be nationally significant, have a documented route through maps or journals, and provide recreational opportunities.

Presently there is little recognition of the events that made up the War of 1812 outside of Fort McHenry. The sites along the National Historic Trail would mark some of the most important events of the War of 1812. The trail, commemorating the only combined naval and land attack on the United States, begins with the June 1814 battles between the British Navy and the American Chesapeake Flotilla in St. Leonard's Creek in Calvert County, and ends at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, site of the composition of our National Anthem, and the defeat of the British. A series of land and water trails connecting these important sites would provide the public with a thematically consistent account of the events that made up the War of 1812.”

Sponsor: Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)

Vote: Passed Senate by Unanimous Consent November 16, 2005

Cost to the taxpayers: CBO estimates that establishing, developing, and administering the proposed historic trail would cost about $2 million over the 2006-2010 period.