Hubbell Trading Post Cultural Landscape Report

DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVES (continued)

Issue 3: Visitor Interpretation

While this report provides abundant historical information that might readily supplement the park's existing interpretive programming it also stresses the need to encourage visitor's to informally explore the Hubbell landscape and experience it first-hand as one of the Hubbell family's guests might have done.

The introduction of formal interpretive waysides and other signage is strongly discouraged as it quickly alters the character of the landscape from an historic experience to a Park Service experience. The landscape has so much to offer visitor's without the addition of a new layer of features such as waysides.

A brochure focused on the Hubbell landscape's evolution and development through time might be of interest to many of the park's visitors and would allow them to discover the site's special areas and features on their own yet also provide them with some historical perspective and understanding of the changes they see.

The proposed rehabilitation of the vegetable gardens could provide for an interactive interpretive program that would allow visitors to see some of the crops that were historically grown by the Hubbell family. Many of the historically documented vegetable species and varieties grown by the Hubbell's are still available today through speciality nurseries such as Heirloom Seeds and Native Seed Search, two of several such organizations that specialize in the preservation of historical plants for commercial sale.