National Heritage Areas are not national park units, but are a public-private partnership aimed preserving and promoting a local historical or cultural context, while providing an opportunity for heritage tourism.

National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are designated by Congress as places where natural, cultural, and historic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally important landscape. Through their resources, NHAs tell nationally important stories that celebrate our nation’s diverse heritage. NHAs are lived-in landscapes. Consequently, NHA entities collaborate with communities to determine how to make heritage relevant to local interests and needs.

– What is a National Heritage Area? (via NPS)

Here’s an interactive map showing NHA boundaries. As you’ll see, many of them include rather large areas (the entire state of Tennessee is one big NHA!), so “what counts as a visit” is a bit more unclear than with many other quests.

Completed (53)

1. Abraham Lincoln NHA
2. Appalachian Forest NHA
3. Arabia Mountain NHA
4. Atchafalaya NHA
5. Augusta Canal NHA
6. Aviation NHA
7. Baltimore NHA
8. Blue Ridge NHA
9. Cache la Poudre River NHA
10. Cane River NHA
11. Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership
12. Coal National Heritage Area
13. Crossroads of the American Revolution NHA
14. Delaware and Lehigh NHC
15. Erie Canalway NHC
16. Essex NHA
17. Freedom’s Frontier NHA
18. Freedom’s Way NHA
19. Great Basin NHA
20. Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor
21. Illinois and Michigan Canal NHC
22. John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley NHC
23. Journey Through Hallowed Ground NHA
24. Kenai Mountains – Turnagain Arm NHA
25. Lackawanna Heritage Valley NHA
26. Last Green Valley NHC
27. Maritime Washington NHA
28. Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley NHA
29. Mississippi Delta NHA
30. Mississippi Gulf Coast NHA
31. Mississippi Hills NHA
32. Mormon Pioneer NHA
33. Mountains to Sound Greenway NHA
34. MotorCities NHA
35. Muscle Shoals NHA
36. Niagara Falls NHA
37. Northern Plains NHA
38. Northern Rio Grande NHA
39. Ohio and Erie Canal National Heritage Canalway
40. Oil Region NHA
41. Path of Progress National Heritage Tour Route
42. Rivers of Steel NHA
43. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta NHA
44. Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District
45. Sangre de Cristo NHA
46. Santa Cruz Valley NHA
47. Schuylkill River Valley NHA
48. Silos and Smokestacks NHA
49. South Carolina NHC
50. Susquehanna NHA
51. Tennessee Civil War NHA
52. Upper Housatonic Valley NHA
53. Wheeling NHA

Remaining (2)

1. South Park NHA
2. Yuma Crossing NHA

Quest adopted: May 2021
Last updated: September 5, 2021