SIMSBURY, Conn. - A northern Connecticut town now owns a former tobacco farm where Martin Luther King Jr. spent some of his teenage years.

More than 75 years ago, the 288 acre Meadowood property in Simsbury partnered with Atlanta's Morehouse College to send students to work on the farm to pay tuition. MLK later described it as an early moment where he had "an inescapable urge to serve society."

Through a ballot measure in May, Simsbury residents overwhelmingly voted to purchase and preserve the land. Already partially lost to subdivision, Simsbury First Selectman Eric Wellman said the town hopes to tell the whole history of Meadowood.

"His time in Simsbury helped inform some of the modern civil rights movement," said Wellman. "And this project makes sense whether you're interested in historic preservation or the environment, or even preserving agriculture in Connecticut."

Through grant funding and support from The Trust for Public Land and Connecticut's Historic Preservation Office, Simsbury was able to purchase the land for $2.5 million. One hundred and forty acres will be preserved as recreational open space, with 116 acres for agriculture.

Simsbury has also received a $400,000 grant to preserve and rehabilitate some of the large tobacco barns on the property. Catherine Labadia, staff archaeologist at the State Historic Preservation Office, said it's critical to preserve spaces like Meadowood that are rich with African American history.

"When you have a place like this, where you can touch the past, I think it makes you have a different sense of how the past touches us, how we connect to it," said Labadia. "Who we were, where we've been, how we've come along."

Only 2% of sites on the National Register of Historic Places focus on Black Americans. Simsbury leaders say they'll work with residents on what they'd like to see for Meadowood's future.

They also want to apply for the property to become part of the Connecticut Freedom Trail, which celebrates the state's African American legacy.

Summer brings plenty of opportunities to get out and discover hidden historic treasures in your community, and preservation advocates are encouraging Wyoming residents to dig deeper.

Clint Gilchrist, chairperson of the Sublette County Historic Preservation Board, recently led an effort to survey some 50 of the county's historically significant places, which found thirteen properties were eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

"What I think this survey did was not only bring out the importance of those community buildings," Gilchrist observed. "All of a sudden it's not just a building you drive by anymore, it's a building that represents those people who used to live in the community, and some of the people that were important to building the community."

Gilchrist said the national spotlight has increased interest in preserving historic buildings and other sites.

Sublette County Commissioners got on board after learning federal funding was available to survey sites constructed before 1940, identified by local tax assessors. They applied for grants through the state Historic Preservation Office, secured matching funds, and hired a professional to do the work.

Cultural research specialists, which can include historians, historical architects or archaeologists, travel to each property and assess its historical integrity. Gilchrist explained they then make a determination on whether it should be added to the National Register of Historic Places.

"Does it still look like when it was built?" Gilchrist outlined. "Has it been greatly modified? Has it not? What are the historical features that represent the era it was built? So if it was built in 1930, what are the features on the building that are still part of that 1930 feel?"

One site near Big Piney is still in use today by oil and gas companies. Belco Village, named after the petroleum company that set up shop in the 1950s, sits on a site established through a depression-era New Deal program which put men to work building national parks, bridges and other infrastructure.

"When they brought the CCC program here, the Civilian Conservation Corps, they built a whole series of barracks for the men who were here to work," Gilchrist pointed out. "And those barracks are located at the exact site that this Belco Village is now located."

Congress is considering a new bill to establish a national historical park honoring union organizer Cesar Chavez and the farmworker movement he led.

The new park would include the existing national monument in Keene, plus the site of the first headquarters in Delano and the Santa Rita Center in Phoenix, Arizona. U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz - D-CA - co-sponsored the House version of the bill.

"Growing up the son of farm workers in Coachella, I remember seeing Cesar Chavez organize our parents," said Ruiz. "And he was an inspiration to all of us then and he continues to be an inspiration to me to this day and to many of us."

McDonnell Hall in San Jose is likely to be added to the park in the future. The bill also would establish a national historic trail along the 300-mile march route taken by farmworkers between Delano and Sacramento in 1966.

Ruiz said part of the National Park Service's mandate is to tell the nation's story - and all groups should see their achievements honored.

"It's so important to elevate the voices of individuals and the movements like the farmworkers who are such an essential part of our nation's history, our culture, our economy," said Ruiz. "And that's why it's so important to tell their stories as well."

Right now only a small percentage of the nation's national historic sites honor Americans of color.

Five properties are newly added to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places this Historic Preservation Month.

The list includes two cemeteries, an old academy building and town firehose house, a 1720s Colonial-style home and what used to be a dairy barn.

Lake View Cemetery in Center Harbor overlooks the Bay, and is known as a well-preserved example of an early 19th-century rural cemetery. Union Cemetery in Portsmouth is smaller and urban, and was established in 1844.

Ben Wilson - state historic preservation officer and director of the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources - noted that cemeteries can be some of the most valuable historical resources.

"Cemeteries are sort of a microcosm of society, and they have a lot to tell us about our local communities - about fashion, about art," said Wilson. "A lot of cemeteries contain public sculpture and really speak about who we are as a people."

Wilson said the Boscawen Academy structure represents the age of academy building - he said academies in New England were the predecessors of today's public and private school systems.

From the 1720s, the John Gregg House is the only remaining home of the original 20 Irish-Scottish families who settled in Nutfield. And New Hampshire's farm heritage is represented in the Houston Barn on the outskirts of Hopkinton.

Wilson added that preserving some of New Hampshire's older buildings can bring environmental benefits.

"We often talk about how we become more energy efficient and try to find ways to conserve energy, deal with climate change," said Wilson. "And really, one of the most energy-efficient buildings is the building that's already built. "

Renovating existing buildings for energy efficiency almost always uses less energy than building from scratch, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Wilson added that the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources has launched a 'historic highway marker quest' - if folks visit at least ten highway markers this month, they can fill out a form on the website and receive a prize.