The Liberty Trail

Client Background

The American Battlefield Trust preserves and interprets historic battlefields across the country. The Liberty Trail initiative highlights Revolutionary War history and helps visitors plan trips, explore key sites, and learn about important events and people. The website acts as both a historical resource and a tourism tool, serving travelers, educators, students, and heritage organizations.

Project Context

The Liberty Trail website was built by the Interactive Knowledge team as a fully custom Drupal 11 implementation. The platform supports content sourced from multiple APIs, including the Trust’s battlefields.org data, National Park Service endpoints, and custom feeds for biographies and events. The theme follows a strong visual identity with historical map textures, state badges, and interactive elements that help visitors explore history across the east coast.

My Role and Contributions

I contributed to development and support across several parts of the project, including:

• Front end styling and layout updates in the custom ik_client theme
• SCSS adjustments for page templates, trail site layouts, tours, and interactive components
• Updates and fixes inside the custom libertytrail_core module
• Support for mapping features, including markers, filters, and page level map components
• Debugging API integration issues related to Battlefields and NPS content
• Accessibility improvements for interactive elements, tab systems, and carousels
• Theme template refinements for biography pages, tour pages, and trail site pages
• General maintenance, QA, and Pantheon environment support

My work helped improve both the user facing design and the editorial experience for staff who create and manage content.

Key Features

• Interactive map of trail sites with filters and detail pages
• Multi state landing pages with unique branding and content
• Tour builder pages with audio tours and GPS mapped stops
• Dynamic itineraries and travel inspiration content
• Historical biographies and event listings sourced from external APIs
• Accessible hero slideshows, carousels, and tabbed interfaces
• Mobile friendly layouts and touch interactions
• Custom shields and partner branding for each state

Challenges and Solutions

External data consistency

API content from battlefields.org and NPS varies in format. I contributed to debugging issues in the libertytrail_core module where incoming data needed sanitation, mapping, or fallback logic before being displayed.

Map interaction patterns

Pages with maps required consistent marker behavior, filters, and loading states. I refined front end logic and SCSS for stable map layouts across screen sizes.

Page specific styling complexity

The site has many page types with unique layouts including trail sites, tours, biographies, and itineraries. I handled SCSS organization and template updates that kept the theme consistent and manageable.

Accessibility across custom components

Interactive elements like carousels, accordions, and tab systems required accessible markup. I updated attributes, roles, and focus behavior to support assistive technologies.

Deployment and Testing

• Local development using Lando
• Pantheon multidev workflow for safe testing
• Configuration export and import management
• Cross device testing for interactive maps, tours, and carousels
• Support with Solr indexing for search features

Results

• A stable, engaging, and visually distinctive platform for Revolutionary War tourism
• Improved map behavior and content presentation across multiple page types
• Better accessibility and consistency in theme components
• More reliable API based content through module level fixes
• A stronger editorial workflow for the American Battlefield Trust team

Value Added

• A multi state tourism guide backed by Drupal
• Rich historical storytelling with interactive media
• A flexible theme that supports many content types and layouts
• Scalable architecture that integrates with external data sources
• A reliable and accessible public site seen by a wide audience