Preserving the Buildings That Hold America’s Hardest Truths
NEW ORLEANS, LA, UNITED STATES, February 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — US Ghost Adventures, a small tour operator in over 200 cities, today announced its Year of Preservation initiative. This company-wide effort focuses on restoring historic properties and protecting the places and stories that have shaped America, including those that are often dark, difficult, or overlooked.
The initiative formalizes and expands the company’s ongoing commitment to historic preservation, making hands-on stewardship of significant properties a central part of its mission. While continuing its popular haunted tours, US Ghost Adventures has invested millions in acquiring and restoring landmark properties that might otherwise have been lost.
US Ghost Adventures’ owned and preserved properties include the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts, which has undergone a multi-year, multi-stage restoration totaling more than $350,000. Preservation work at the property included restoring architectural elements original to 1892, returning the exterior to its near original and historically accurate paint color, repairing and replacing rotting wood throughout the structure, and installing a period-appropriate roof.
US Ghost Adventures also owns the Villisca Axe Murders House where it is undertaking a comprehensive restoration of the adjacent Mary Peckham House, including the removal of outdated knob-and-tube electrical systems and a full structural rehabilitation to prepare the property for public access. Additional preserved properties include the Welty House in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
“The most difficult history to preserve is often the most important to protect,” said Lance Zaal, President of US Ghost Adventures. “Historic preservation isn’t about saving old buildings, it’s about saving the truth they carry.”
The Year of Preservation initiative addresses a critical gap in American historic preservation by protecting sites linked to tragic, violent, or uncomfortable events. US Ghost Adventures recognizes that preserving these locations is essential to understanding the full scope of American history.
“You can’t learn from history if you erase the places where it happened,” Zaal explained. “Preservation is not nostalgia. It’s responsibility.”
The initiative includes comprehensive restoration, such as structural repairs, period renovations, and ongoing maintenance to keep these properties accessible. The company also educates visitors on the social, cultural, and historical contexts that make these sites significant.
“The buildings we save today shape how future generations understand America,” Zaal said. “These aren’t just tourist attractions. They’re classrooms. They’re monuments to the real experiences of real people. When we preserve them, we’re making a statement about what we value as a society.”
As a small business, US Ghost Adventures operates locally in more than 200 cities nationwide, working with local guides and historians to keep historic sites active, interpreted, and publicly engaged as a means of preservation.
“Preservation doesn’t fail because people don’t care about history,” said Zaal. “It fails when historic places are allowed to fade from public view. Once a site is forgotten, it’s far easier to lose.”
US Ghost Adventures’ Year of Preservation will focus on city-specific initiatives, public storytelling efforts, and national advocacy around the importance of protecting America’s most fragile historic places.
About US Ghost Adventures
US Ghost Adventures is a small business that operates locally guided tours in historic cities across the United States. Through its Year of Preservation initiative, the company advocates for the protection of at-risk historic sites by actively stewarding and interpreting places that hold complex and often uncomfortable history, including historic and true crime sites it owns and has preserved. By keeping these places active and accessible to the public, US Ghost Adventures believes the visitors can engage more honestly with the past, learn from it, and ensure that historically significant sites remain standing for future generations.
Kelli Bloomquist
US Ghost Adventures
515-351-9300
PR@Tourismo.com
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