Start your search engines to plan heritage trip

Places and events that qualify as heritage tourism are not limited to battlefields or living-history museums.

By ROBERT N. JENKINS
Published March 27, 2005

The Web site www.alhfam.org/alhfam.links.html has links to about 160 home pages of living-history, agricultural and open-air museums in the United States and Canada. And the National Register of Historic Places suggests dozens of routes to take to enjoy heritage sites; go to www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/

Some events are seasonal - there are any number of "historic home" tours when the weather turns nice - while others attractions are year-round, such as Boston's famed Freedom Trail, leading strollers to significant places in one of the nation's most historic cities.

There are even river cruises themed to history. For instance, Historic Tours & Cruises Inc. has space for its "Civil War Cruise" on the Delta Queen paddle wheel steamboat from Sept. 18-25. It begins in Chattanooga and ends in Cincinnati. The Delta Queen will cruise the Tennessee and Ohio rivers, with stops planned for Savannah, Tenn., (close to the location of the Battle of Shiloh) and Paducah, Ky.

Onboard will be specialists on Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and on the importance of the Union controlling the Mississippi River.

Prices include round-trip airfare and transfers, beginning at $1,232 per person, based on double occupancy.

For a brochure or to make reservations, contact Don Eslinger, Historic Tours & Cruises Inc. by phone or fax at 714 536-3434; e-mail to HistTours1@aol.com Or go to www.deltaqueen.com and click on Delta Queen.

GETTING STARTED: The easiest way to find heritage tourism is to contact the national, state or local agencies and organizations that preserve and promote such sites. To view the possibilities, type into a search engine the name of a state or city followed by the word "tourism." Most of these Web sites have pages discussing historic attractions.

If you have a theme you want to follow - the Civil War, cattle trails of the Old West, paths used by pioneers in the wagon trains 150 years ago, immigration to the New World - type that into the search engine, too.

While there are innumerable books of varying expertise on themes big and small - the Civil War is one of the most-written about events in history - a basic reference locating where significant things in this country happened is the National Geographic Guide to America's Historic Places. It is a nicely illustrated paperback devoting more than 370 pages to brief discussions of about 2,500 sites.

STATE BY STATE: Here is a quick sampling of resources for sites in the Southeast or of special interest: Florida: While the nation's oldest city, St. Augustine, may be the best-known example of heritage tourism in the state, there are plenty of other pieces of the past you can visit. As a matter of fact, we are in the middle of Florida Heritage Month, which runs through April 15. For the calendar of events, searchable by date or county, go to www.floridaheritagemonth.com/calendar.cfm Also online is the list of state-certified Florida Heritage Sites, maintained by the state's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs.

Pinellas and Hillsborough counties each have 10 of these historical markers. They designate such places and events as Albert Whitted Airport - location of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, which is deemed the world's first regularly scheduled commercial airline, beginning service in 1914 - the Tarpon Springs sponge docks, and Tampa, as the port from which 16,000 soldiers sailed to Cuba to fight in the brief Spanish-American War.

A good place to start your research is with the Florida Heritage Tourism Interactive Catalog. This online list can be searched by county or by 23 theme categories, including lighthouses, gardens, preserves and sanctuaries, national historic landmarks and museums. Go to www.flheritage.com/services/sites/fht/ The state's public-private tourism promotion agency, Visit Florida, has made it even easier to trace history in the state by creating 17 driving tours. Themes include the heritage of Florida's African-Americans, Jews, Women, Cubans and American Indians, as well as World War II and lighthouses.

For more information, call toll-free 1-888-735-2872, or visit www.visitflorida.com The state's Division of Historical Resources also publishes the magazine Florida History and the Arts; go to www.flheritage.com/services/magazine to read the past five years' issues or to order a subscription.

Virginia: While this state is famed for producing many of the Founding Fathers and early presidents and is the site of Colonial Williamsburg, perhaps the best-known living-history museum, more Civil War battles occurred in Virginia than in any other state.

The Virginia Tourism Corp. has done a remarkable job in promoting sites involved with these events - as well as broader themes such as the life of the state's African-Americans, historic churches, agriculture and genealogy. The Web site, at www.virginia.org/home.asp has dozens of pages just on historical sites and trails.

And like Maryland, Virginia has produced impressive pamphlets that serve as both road maps and history lessons regarding the Civil War. Three times a year the state publishes a tabloid newspaper about upcoming war anniversary dates and observances such as re-enactments.

For a free package including the brochures, a standard highway map and more, call toll-free 1-888-248-4592, seven days a week. The tourism office's Web site pages on the Civil War are at www.virginia.org/site/features.asp?FeatureID=198

South Carolina: The National Park Service designated an eight-year period to commemorate the 225th anniversary of the Revolutionary War - from the time the first shots were fired until the end of the war, 1775-1782.

At least 200 Revolutionary War battles and skirmishes were fought in this former colony, more than in any other. The state is marketing that history this year under the banner Battleground of Freedom. For information on sites and museums, as well as details on where The Patriot was filmed, call toll-free 1-800-968-5909; for a listing of commemorative events, go to www.southcarolinarevwar.com

For information about the area where parts of The Patriot were filmed, go to www.chmuseums.org The state also has a series of detailed maps and brochures on the 240 miles of its section of the National Heritage Corridor, which runs through numerous states; go to www.heritagecorridor.org

Maryland: The state has several Web pages, including some suggested itineraries, each keyed to a specific theme such as either of the two great wars, the Chesapeake Bay, bustling Baltimore, etc. Go to www.mdwelcome.org/planning_a_md_visit/heritage.asp or call toll-free 1-888-248-4597 for Civil War information and maps, or toll-free 1-866-772-1812 for the Star-Spangled Banner Trail brochure. These phones are staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

North Carolina: Typing in the keyword "heritage" in the search engine of this state's tourism agency Web site produces 16 pages of listings. There are also 13 themed trails to drive; maps for each can be requested by calling toll-free 1-800-847-4862, or by downloading the maps from the Web site: www.visitnc.com

The state has recently linked 80 sites in a Civil War Trail, following troop movements in 1865. The public-private North Carolina Civil War Tourism Council has designated nine trails, including four that follow major highways. Contact the council at www.nccivilwar.com

Georgia: The state Web site has reports on more than 50 communities considered to have historic value from their founding by early European settlers. The state's Civil War Commission has identified about 400 sites, from battlefields to prisons to hospitals, grouped on eight trails. The Web site is at www.georgia.gov/00/home/0,2125,4802,00.html

The Georgia Agrirama is a 29-year-old complex, on about 95 acres, that presents life from about 1870 to 1910. More than 35 authentic structures have been moved here from around the state. Displays focus on farm communities, industrial sites and a rural town.

Fees are $7 for adults, $6 for those 56 and older, $4 for children 4-16, free to those 3 or younger. Located in Tifton, at the junction of Interstate 75 and U.S. 82, the complex is open year-round except for Sundays and Mondays, and the major holidays. Contact the Agrirama at 229 386-3848 or toll-free 1-800-767-1875; e-mail: market@agrirama.com the Web site is www.agrirama.com.

In downtown Atlanta, two historic structures and a modern one form the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. The smallest is at 501 Auburn Ave. - the two-story home in which King was born, in 1929, and where he grew up.

Two blocks west is Ebenezer Baptist Church, where his father and grandfather had been the pastors. And nearby is the National Park Service Visitors Center, an expansive facility tracing the battle for civil rights.

All three structures are open daily, though the church is closed on Sunday mornings and may be closed for funerals. The home can be toured only with a ranger. There are no entrance fees, but donations are accepted. For details, go to www.nps.gov/malu/index.html call 404 331-5190, or for a recorded visitor information message, (404) 331-6922.

Tennessee: The state's tourism Web site, www.tnvacation.com divides Tennessee into nine regions, each with its own history and culture section. Listings under Southeast Heritage Trails, for instance, include 41 sites - everything from grave sites to museums to the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn built to include an old railroad station, its guests can sleep in former railway cars.

The National Civil Rights Museum is at 450 Mulberry St., Memphis; 901 521-9699, www.civilrightsmuseum.org

Admission prices are: adults, $11; those 55 and older, $9; students with college ID, $9; children ages 4-17, $7.50; younger children, free. It is closed Tuesdays. It is generally open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. other days, but opens at 1 p.m. Sundays.

Pennsylvania: The state's tourism Web site is at www.visitpa.com/visitpa/home.do hundreds of pages are available depending on what you type into the search engine or which general category you choose.

The Eastern State Penitentiary's Web site (www.EasternState.org) notes there are more than 50 prison museums around the world and provides links to several.

Because the prison is no longer heated, it is open April through November, Wednesdays to Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission prices are: adults, $9; students and seniors, $7; children 7-12, $4; children 6 or younger not admitted. Not all areas are wheelchair-accessible.

The phone number is (215) 236-3300.

[Last modified March 25, 2005, 10:50:03]