On February 17, 2006 Gale A. Norton, Secretary of the Interior, announced that the Rev. George B. Hitchcock House has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. The National Historic Landmark designation is the highest such recognition accorded by our nation to historic properties. Today, fewer than 2,500 historic places bear this distinction. The National Historic Landmark designation is an official recognition by the federal government of a historic property's national significance. These special places embody the actual sites where significant historical events occurred, or where prominent Americans worked or lived, and represent the ideas that shaped our nation.