National Historic Sites (United States) - National Historic Sites

National Historic Sites

See also: List of areas in the United States National Park System#National Historic Sites

National Historic Sites are federally owned and administered. The proper noun term "National Historic Site" refers to federally staffed properties, usually federally owned. There are currently 90 National Historic Sites, of which 78 are official NPS units, 11 are NPS affiliated areas, one is managed by the US Forest Service, and one by the Bureau of Land Management. Some other federally administered sites are National Historical Parks.

Derived from the Historic Sites Act of 1935, a number of Historic Sites were established by United States Secretaries of the Interior, but most have been authorized by acts of Congress. In 1937, the first National Historic Site was created in Salem, Massachusetts in order to preserve and interpret the maritime history of New England and the United States.

There is one International Historic Site in the US park system, a unique designation given to Saint Croix Island, Maine, on the New Brunswick border. The title, given to the site of the first permanent French settlement in America, recognizes the influence that has had on both Canada and the United States. The National Park Service does not distinguish among these designations in terms of their preservation or management policies.