National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Region and Boston National Historical Park
Boston, Massachusetts
A master plan for Boston’s Freedom Trail that created a new interpretive strategy and visitor experience, established a support foundation, and spurred city investment.
Recognition:
Boston Society of Architects—Willo von Moltke Urban Design Award
Project Highlights:
- Although promoted as group, the disparate sites of Boston's Freedom Trail lacked an overall interpretive strategy or a cohesive approach to wayfinding. Institutional relationships among the sites were fractured and visitation statistics had plateaued.
- Working closely with the NPS, the directors of private historic sites, and business, cultural, and political leaders, Goody Clancy led an interdisciplinary team that devised a cohesive new vision and phased ten-year strategic plan for the Trail.
Strategy:
Identify and establish an action plan for meeting capital and operating costs, identifying new revenue sources, addressing operating and management issues, and nurturing potential partnerships.
- Goody Clancy developed an interpretative strategy that transformed the Trail into a narrative story told as a series of chapters along the route and at individual sites. It employed a variety of tools, ranging from living history in the streets of Boston to the incorporation of a new transportation service and visitor orientation center.
- The plan established a foundation that dramatically increased fundraising and undertook extensive interpretive improvements.
- The project revived city investment in the Trail after 20 years of dormancy.