UMW Center for Historic Preservation Announces 2026 Book Prize
A historical account of a road that never was is the winner of this year’s University of Mary Washington Center for Historic Preservation Book Prize.
Road to Nowhere: How a Highway Map Wrecked Baltimore tells the story of the lasting harm caused by the 1957 proposal of a highway slicing through Maryland’s once-vibrant Black middle-class Rosemont neighborhood. Written by historian Emily Lieb and published in November 2025 by University of Chicago Press, the book draws on land records, oral history, news items and policy documents to reveal the effects of the unfinished East-West Expressway.
UMW’s Center for Historic Preservation announced the book as its choice for the 2026 prize in May in recognition of Historic Preservation Month, which celebrates the heritage and architectural legacy of communities across the country. “This is an important event for our students and our community because it gives everybody a chance to think about the future of historic preservation in this country,” said Professor of Historic Preservation Christine Henry. “What’s new? What’s exciting? What new direction are preservationists taking the field?”
Road to Nowhere tells the story of Black families who were attracted to the Rosemont area after several white schools were converted into “colored” ones. In the 1950s, they enjoyed a community dotted with a sprawling park, corner stores and other amenities. But, by 1967, when city council voted to condemn hundreds of its homes to make way for the proposed expressway, residents faced deflated property values and predatory real estate deals.
While grounded in a specific place, the book reveals the long-term consequences of highway planning, urban renewal and the racialized policies that shaped development across the United States in the 20th century. The story serves as an inspiration to historic preservationists to trace the continued effects of discriminatory practices like blockbusting, redlining and prejudicial lending.
UMW’s Center for Historic Preservation Book Prize has been awarded annually since 1989 to works that break new ground or have great potential for contributing to the intellectual vitality of the preservation movement. “All the contenders are usually fantastic,” Henry said. “But we try to think about how much each book looks to the future. Which book will people in the field want to have on their bookshelf? Which book will inspire conversation?”
Each year, the department scours publishing houses for academic and professional books that explore aspects of preservation, from archaeology to urban restoration. Henry meets regularly with the current student recipient of Mary Washington’s Knight Family Scholarship for Historic Preservation to comb through abstracts and evaluate prospects. Meredith Colburn ’27 helped choose this year’s winner.
Finalists’ publishers are asked to submit copies, and the jury – comprised of preservation academics and professionals, who often are Mary Washington alumni, in addition to the student Knight fellow – evaluates them. The author receives a monetary prize and an invitation to give a lecture at UMW in the fall. The date of this year’s event will be announced in the coming weeks.
“We want something that seems to have the most potential for positively impacting the discipline, something people will use in the future as a great reference,” Henry said. “We’re looking for that spark.”
The 2026 UMW Historic Preservation Book Prize Committee includes:
Enterprise Community Investment Assistant Director Mandi Solomon Gold ’12
Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation Katherine Parker
Associate Professor of Historic Preservation Cristina Turdean
Knight Family Scholarship for Historic Preservation winner Meredith Colburn ’27
Premier Building Restoration Project Manager Emily Taggart Schricker ’15
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