Ohio Valley residents will join thousands of people around the country as part of a nationwide celebration of National Preservation Month this May.

“This Place Matters” is the theme of the celebration, which is sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and locally by the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp.

WHNAC is encouraging citizens to participate in the “This Place Matters” campaign. Wheeling residents can show pride in their community by taking a picture in front of their favorite historic site holding a sign stating “This Place Matters.” They can then forward the picture to be posted on the The Intelligencer’s CU Web site and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Web site.

“We feel this is a novel and engaging way for the entire community to get involved in preservation awareness,” said Jeremy Morris, project manager with WNHAC. “Wheeling is a treasure trove of beautiful architecture and engineering jewels.”

Wheeling lays claim to the state’s oldest bridge still in service, the Elm Grove Bridge, and the state’s most significant bridge, the Wheeling Suspension Bridge. The 2300 block of Chapline Street has been defined by the National Park Service as the best example of high-style Victorian architecture in the state. In a single block of North Wheeling, one can find architecture from each decade of the Victorian era.