The National Historic Landmark program is designed to highlight historic properties across the country with extraordinary significance to United States history. According to the program website, there are currently less than 2,500 such landmarks nationwide, which is less than 3 percent of the number properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Like the National Register, inclusion as a National Historic Landmark does not guarantee preservation – in fact, an owner can proceed without notice to alter or even demolish the property, as long as no federal funding is used. Nevertheless, it represents the most important designation an individual building, group of buildings or site can obtain.

In Ohio, National Historic Landmark status has been extended to almost 70 properties, including important sites such as Manasseh Cutler Hall on the campus of Ohio University, the Fallen Timbers battlefield in Lucas County, the John Rankin House in Ripley, and the Kirtland Temple in Lake County. According to this story in the Cincinnati Enquirer, on December 16 two new Ohio sites were approved to join this important list, both in Hamilton County – Spring Grove Cemetery and the Village of Mariemont.

Spring Grove Cemetery has been a place of outstanding natural beauty and quiet repose since its founding in 1844. The founders of the cemetery took their cue from scenic cemeteries such as the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where the natural surroundings are important in generating an atmosphere of respect and peace. Well-known individuals interred at Spring Grove include Salmon P. Chase, former Governor of Ohio, Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln, and Chief Justice of the United States; Levi Coffin, American educator and abolitionist, and William Cooper Procter and James Norris Gamble, founders of Proctor and Gamble.  Click here to visit Spring Grove online.

Mariemont is a planned community established in the 1920s, and is known for the beauty of its setting and its collection of Neo-Tudor and Neo-Georgian architecture. The website of the Mariemont Preservation Foundation contains a wealth of information about the village, including an online tour. The mastermind behind the project was John Nolen, noted town planner from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Photo: Mariemont Inn, Mariemont/kwei/Creative Commons License