[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8638 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8638

To amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Washington Spy 
         Ring National Historic Trail, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 30, 2026

Mr. Suozzi (for himself and Mr. LaLota) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Washington Spy 
         Ring National Historic Trail, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Washington Spy Ring National 
Historic Trail Designation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Culper Spy Ring was a group of American 
        Revolutionaries who gathered intelligence on British troop 
        movements and fortifications in Manhattan, Long Island, and 
        elsewhere for General George Washington.
            (2) The Culper Spy Ring is credited with uncovering 
        Benedict Arnold's conspiracy to surrender West Point to the 
        British and saving the Franco-American alliance by uncovering 
        plans to ambush the French army in Rhode Island.
            (3) Key locations used by the Culper Spy Ring include--
                    (A) Raynham Hall in Oyster Bay, New York, the home 
                of intelligence operative Robert Townsend;
                    (B) the Arsenal (also known as the Job Sammis 
                House) in Huntington, New York, which was used to store 
                gunpowder during the British occupation of Long Island 
                and the town of Huntington;
                    (C) the Brewster House, a tavern in Setauket, New 
                York, owned by the Brewster family and used to spy on 
                British officers and transfer information to General 
                Washington across the Long Island Sound; and
                    (D) generally, the byways and highways connecting 
                these sites.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF THE WASHINGTON SPY RING NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL.

    Section 5(a) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)) 
is amended--
            (1) by redesignating the second paragraph (31) (relating to 
        Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail) as paragraph 
        (32); and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(33) Washington spy ring national historic trail.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Washington Spy Ring National 
                Historic Trail, a trail of approximately 50 miles of 
                village, town, and city streets and New York Route 25A, 
                from Great Neck, New York, along Long Island's North 
                Shore, through Nassau and Suffolk Counties, to Port 
                Jefferson, New York, following the route generally 
                depicted on the map titled `Proposed Washington Spy 
                Ring National Historic Trail Extent and Key Locations', 
                numbered NERO 962/198100, and dated November 2025.
                    ``(B) Availability of map.--The map described in 
                subparagraph (A) shall be on file and available for 
                public inspection in the appropriate office of the 
                Secretary of the Interior.
                    ``(C) Administration.--In cooperation with the 
                Secretary of the Interior, the Washington Spy Ring 
                National Historic Trail designated by this paragraph 
                shall be administered by the North Shore Promotion 
                Alliance, an organization described in section 
                501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 
                exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such 
                Code.''.
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