On Thursday, January 24, Tom Mayes, Vice President and Senior Counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, delivered a keynote lecture on “Why Old Places Matter” at our 61st Annual Meeting.

Mr. Mayes is the author of many articles relating to, and has lectured widely on, preservation easements, shipwreck protection, historic house museums, accessibility, preservation public policy, and the future of historic preservation. For many years, he taught historic preservation law at the University of Maryland. A recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Rome Prize in Historic Preservation in 2013, Mr. Mayes received his B.A. with honors in History in 1981 and his J.D. in 1985 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in writing from Johns Hopkins University.

“Why Old Places Matter”

Why do old places matter to people? Tom Mayes explores some of the key insights and new information from his recently published book, Why Old Places Matter (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018). Tom also discusses potential new directions of research about the deep relationship between people and place, as well as implications for historic preservation.