---
kind: "section"
citation: "16 U.S.C. § 81e"
title: "16"
title_heading: "Conservation"
number: "81e"
heading: "Acquisition of property; condemnation proceedings"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/16/81e"
units:
  - "Chapter 1 — National Parks, Military Parks, Monuments, and Seashores"
  - "Subchapter IX — Colonial National Historical Park"
---

# §81e. Acquisition of property; condemnation proceedings


The [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) of the Interior is authorized to accept donations of land, interest in land, buildings, structures, and other property within the boundaries of said [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) as determined and fixed hereunder and donations of funds for the purchase and/or maintenance thereof, the evidence of title to such lands to be satisfactory to the [Secretary](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-1) of the Interior: Provided, That he may [acquire](/usc/16/620e.md?p=1) on behalf of the United States by purchase when purchasable at prices deemed by him reasonable, otherwise by condemnation under the provisions of [section 3113 of title 40](/usc/40/3113.md), such tracts of land within the said [park](/usc/16/410r–5.md?p=c-3) as may be necessary for the completion thereof: Provided further, That condemnation proceedings herein provided for shall not be had, exercised, or resorted to as to lands belonging to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, a corporation chartered under the laws of Virginia, or to the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, or to any other lands in said city except such lands as may be required for a right-of-way not exceeding two hundred feet in width through the city of Williamsburg to connect with highways or parkways leading from Williamsburg to Jamestown and to Yorktown.


## Source credit

(July 3, 1930, ch. 837, § 3, 46 Stat. 856; June 5, 1936, ch. 525, § 2, 49 Stat. 1483.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

“Section 3113 of title 40” substituted in text for “the Act of August 1, 1888 (U.S.C., title 40, secs. 257, 258; 25 Stat. 357)” on authority of Pub. L. 107–217, § 5(c), Aug. 21, 2002, 116 Stat. 1303, the first section of which enacted Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works.

Section was formerly classified to section 443b of this title.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Change of Name

Act June 5, 1936, changed “Colonial National Monument” to “Colonial National Historical Park.”