The National
Trust for Historic Preservation has named Buffalo one its 2009 Dozen
Distinctive Destinations, citing the city’s “staggering range of cultural
resources as well as some of the country’s most captivating architecture” as
the rationale for Buffalo’s inclusion on this very prestigious list. Since
2000, the Trust has annually selected communities across the United States that
offer cultural and recreational experiences different from the typical vacation
destination. In the Trust’s estimation, Buffalo convincingly meets this
standard.
The
designation had been sought by the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors
Bureau on two previous occasions, but it wasn’t until this year that the Trust
felt that Buffalo met its criteria, an indication of how far the community has
come in recent years as projects such as the Darwin Martin House, Burchfield
Penney and Erie Canal Harbor have come to fruition.
In making the announcement
of this year’s list, National Trust President Richard Moe was quoted as saying “The
interweaving of great architecture, landscape architecture and important
historic sites makes Buffalo a must-see destination.”
The Trust
announcement also made note of the Albright-Knox, Shea’s Performing Arts Center,
the Botanical Gardens, Elmwood Village and Buffalo’s summers -“the most
temperate in the Northeast.”
The 2009 Dozen
Distinctive Destinations list includes destinations such as Athens, Ga., Fort
Worth, Tex., Santa Barbara, Ca., Santa Fe, N.M., and Lake Geneva, Wis.