Preserving Historic Places. Protecting Community Legacy.
The Center for Historic Preservation is the preservation and cultural resource management division of the Institute for Family and Community History, dedicated to identifying, documenting, protecting, and interpreting the historic places that tell the story of Huntsville’s historically underserved and underdocumented communities. Through research, documentation, collections stewardship, and preservation planning, the Center works to ensure that significant neighborhoods, buildings, landscapes, and cultural resources are preserved for future generations.
The Center recognizes that historic preservation extends beyond protecting individual buildings. It encompasses neighborhoods, transportation corridors, industrial landscapes, churches, schools, cemeteries, public spaces, and the cultural traditions that define a community’s identity. By documenting both tangible and intangible heritage, the Center helps preserve the broader historical context of the people and places that contributed to Huntsville’s development.
A primary focus of the Center is supporting preservation initiatives connected to the Honey Hole community and its historic relationship with Southern Railway, now Norfolk Southern, while also documenting other significant neighborhoods and cultural landscapes throughout the region. The Center conducts historic resource surveys, prepares historic context studies, develops preservation plans, and assists with nominations to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage and the National Register of Historic Places. These efforts provide the historical foundation for community revitalization, heritage tourism, and informed planning.
The Center also serves as the Institute’s archival repository, preserving historical records, photographs, maps, oral histories, manuscripts, and other materials that document community life. Through professional collections management and digital preservation, these resources are safeguarded and made accessible for research, education, exhibitions, and public interpretation.
Working collaboratively with community organizations, property owners, government agencies, museums, universities, and preservation partners, the Center promotes preservation strategies that honor local history while supporting sustainable economic development. By integrating preservation planning with community engagement, the Center demonstrates how historic resources can become catalysts for education, neighborhood pride, and long-term investment.
Core Functions
- Historic resource surveys and cultural landscape documentation
- Historic context studies and preservation planning
- Alabama Register and National Register research and nominations
- Community archives and collections management
- Preservation of historic photographs, maps, manuscripts, and artifacts
- Cultural resource documentation and historical research
- Adaptive reuse and heritage-based revitalization planning
- Technical assistance for preservation projects
- Heritage tourism and interpretive planning
- Preservation education and community outreach
The Center for Historic Preservation reflects the Institute’s belief that preserving historic places is essential to preserving community identity. Every building, railroad corridor, church, school, and neighborhood contributes to a larger story of resilience, achievement, and transformation. By protecting these places and the histories they represent, the Center advances The Honey Hole, Inc.’s mission to preserve, rebrand, and promote historically significant communities while ensuring that their contributions remain a visible and valued part of Huntsville’s future.
Guiding Principle
“Historic preservation is more than saving buildings—it is preserving the places where people lived, worked, worshipped, learned, and built the communities that shaped our shared history.”