Heritage Q&A with Rob Shenk of the Civil War Preservation Trust

As we continue our series of questions and answers from people with a passion for heritage and cultural travel, we interview Rob Shenk, director of Internet strategy and development for the Civil War Preservation Trust. Rob is also the leader of Gozaic's Civil War History Buffs Circle.

Prior to joining the Civil War Preservation Trust, Rob served as senior vice president of E*TRADE Financial, where he helped to develop E*TRADE’s Web and retail banking offerings. Rob’s redesign of the E*TRADE Web banking platform led to a 2005 Webby Award and top rankings from Forbes, SmartMoney, and Money Magazine. Prior to working at E*TRADE, Rob spent six years at America Online (AOL), where he was responsible for the development and operation of the Personal Finance Channel, the most heavily visited interactive financial site of its time. Prior to his time at AOL, Rob spent five years in the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer for Strike Fighter Squadron 147 on the USS Nimitz and in the Naval Surface Warfare Command.

Rob received a master’s degree in National Security Studies from Georgetown University and a bachelor of arts in Political Economy from the University of California at Berkeley.

Where is your hometown?
Menlo Park, California

Where do you live now?
Great Falls, Virginia

Is there one place in the world you would recommend that people visit?
Tough question, there are so many places! Having just returned from a visit to Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Park in Illinois, I know that I could strongly recommend a visit. At New Salem, Abraham Lincoln’s hometown while he was a young adult, you truly get the sense of how adventuresome, industrious and rugged our American ancestors truly were.

Where was your last work project?
I work for the Civil War Preservation Trust, and we all just returned from our Grand Review event in Springfield, Illinois. From there we were able to visit a tremendous number of the historic sites associated with Abraham Lincoln, from his family home to his law office, the Old State House, New Salem, the new Lincoln Museum and more.

Where was your last vacation?
My last vacation was at our family cabin in the Mother Lode section of the Sierra Nevadas in California. There are many great California Gold Rush towns all around, including Jamestown, Sonora, Angel’s Camp and Columbia, and each is filled with all sorts of great gold rush history.

In your travels, have you found any heritage or cultural place that made you say "this is where I belong," "this place defines me," or "I am home," "I must work here"?
In my line of work I have the great privilege of being able to visit the battlefields and historic sites associated with the American Civil War. From my first visit to a Civil War battlefield as a young high school student to my frequent wanderings today, I am always mesmerized by the very places where this great conflict played out: deep inside the gun galleries of Fort Sumter, standing in Robert E. Lee’s bedroom at Arlington House, crawling over boulders at Little Round Top, following Stonewall Jackson’s forested path at Chancellorsville, standing amongst the plain graves at Carnton, crawling through the forts of Mobile Bay, to looking upon Lincoln’s box at Ford’s Theater – each fills me with a sense of history and wonderment.

Is there one heritage site or destination that you always wanted to visit, but never had the time?
The list grows and grows! Here are a few places that are on my shortlist of sites that I really want to see: Fort Ticonderoga, Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga, the Alhambra in Andalusia, Tikal and Istanbul.