---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 410z–1"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "410z–1"
heading: "Acquisition of additional sites"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/410z-1"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter LVII — Boston National Historical Park"
---

# §410z–1. Acquisition of additional sites

- (a) **Studies—** In [addition](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-2) to the properties described in [section 410z of this title](/usc/16/410z.md), the [Secretary](/usc/16/410y.md?p=c) shall study the properties described in this section to determine the feasibility and suitability of including them within the Boston National Historical [Park](/usc/16/410y.md?p=a). In making such studies, he may enter into tentative agreements with any [owners](/usc/16/429b–3.md?p=4) thereof for their inclusion in said [park](/usc/16/410y.md?p=a) and he may enter into options, for a nominal consideration, for the purchase of such properties, but no additional properties may be added to the [park](/usc/16/410y.md?p=a) except by an act of the Congress. Studies shall be made of the following properties:
  - (1) Boston Common;
  - (2) Dillaway-Thomas House;
  - (3) Thomas Crease House (old Corner Book Store); and
  - (4) the following burying grounds: King’s Chapel, Granary, and Copp’s Hill.
- (b) **Cooperative agreements authorized—**
  - (1) In furtherance of the general purposes of this subchapter as prescribed in [section 410z of this title](/usc/16/410z.md), the [Secretary](/usc/16/410y.md?p=c) is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with the city of Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or any private organization to mark, interpret, restore, and/or provide technical assistance for the preservation and interpretation of any properties listed in [section 410z of this title](/usc/16/410z.md), or portions thereof, which, in his opinion, would best be preserved in private, municipal, or [State](/usc/16/410y.md?p=d) ownership, in connection with the Boston National Historical [Park](/usc/16/410y.md?p=a). Such agreements shall contain, but shall not be limited to, provisions that the [Secretary](/usc/16/410y.md?p=c), through the National [Park](/usc/16/410y.md?p=a) Service, shall have right of access at all reasonable times to all public portions of the property covered by such agreement for the purpose of conducting visitors through such properties and interpreting them to the public, that no changes or alterations shall be made in such properties except by mutual agreement between the [Secretary](/usc/16/410y.md?p=c) and the other parties to such agreements, except that no limitation or control of any kind over the use of any such properties customarily used for church purposes shall be imposed by any agreement. The agreements may contain specific provisions which outline in detail the extent of the participation by the [Secretary](/usc/16/410y.md?p=c) in the restoration, preservation, and maintenance of such historic properties.
  - (2) The [Secretary](/usc/16/410y.md?p=c) of the Interior is authorized to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Boston Public Library to provide for the distribution of informational and interpretive materials relating to the [park](/usc/16/410y.md?p=a) and to the Freedom Trail.
- (c) **Identification and marking of significant historical sites—** The [Secretary](/usc/16/410y.md?p=c) may identify other significant sites of the colonial and Revolutionary periods of American history in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and its environs, which are related to the historical [park](/usc/16/410y.md?p=a) created by this subchapter, and, with the consent of the [owner](/usc/16/429b–3.md?p=4) or [owners](/usc/16/429b–3.md?p=4) thereof, may mark them appropriately and make reference to them in any interpretive literature.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 93–431, § 3, Oct. 1, 1974, 88 Stat. 1185; Pub. L. 95–625, title III, § 310(b), Nov. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 3478; Pub. L. 104–333, div. I, title V, § 504, Nov. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 4155.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1996—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104–333 designated existing provisions as par. (1) and added par. (2).

1978—Subsec. (a)(4), (5). Pub. L. 95–625 struck out par. “(4) Dorchester Heights; and” and redesignated par. (5) as (4).