Heritage Tourism

Cultural heritage tourism is traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present. It includes historic, cultural and natural attractions. This site has been developed as a resource for organizations and individuals who are developing, marketing or managing cultural heritage tourism attractions or programs. These cultural heritage tourism “practitioners” can come from a variety of fields—tourism, historic preservation, the arts, humanities, museums, economic development, main street, heritage areas, and many other fields. Practitioners can include non-profit organizations, government entities, federal agencies and coalitions formed to bring these and other partners together. While the variety of different partners contribute to the richness of cultural heritage tourism, it can also make it more difficult to track down resources and how-to information. This electronic clearinghouse includes information provided by many different members of Partners in Tourism, a coalition of the national organizations and agencies with an interest in cultural heritage tourism. For those just getting started, there are guiding principles and how-to steps for launching a new effort. The success stories featured here will both inspire and inform, and the resources section includes key contacts in virtually every state as well as national resources for funding, technical assistance and other programs. These elements are the first step in building a comprehensive clearinghouse of cultural heritage tourism information, and we welcome your feedback.

Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the United States. Forty-two years before the English colonized Jamestown and fifty-five years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, the Spanish established at St. Augustine this nation's first enduring settlement. The architectural legacy of the city's past is much younger, testimony to the impermanent quality of the earliest structures and to St. Augustine's troubled history. Only the venerable Castillo de San Marcos, completed in the late seventeenth century, survived destruction of the city by invading British forces in 1702. Vestiges of the First Spanish Colonial Period (1565-1764) remain today in St. Augustine in the form of the town plan originally laid out by Governor Gonzalo Méndez de Canzo in the late sixteenth century and in the narrow streets and balconied houses that are identified with the architecture introduced by settlers from Spain. Throughout the modern city and within its Historic Colonial District, there remain thirty-six buildings of colonial origin and another forty that are reconstructed models of colonial buildings. St. Augustine can boast that it contains the only urban nucleus in the United States whose street pattern and architectural ambiance reflect Spanish origins.

Vermont has an abundance of historic resources which illustrate its history from pre-European inhabitation to the present. In addition to being an an effective educational tool for residents, students and tourists, these historic sites and museums are an important source of revenue for Vermont's communities. In Vermont, there are thirteen National Historic Landmarks, thirteen state owned historic sites, numerous underwater archaeological sites, over one hundred National Register historic districts and over 8,500 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation maintains an inventory of the state's historic buildings through the Vermont Historic Sites and Structures Survey. This expanding list presently contains approximately 30,000 buildings that are worthy of preservation. In addition, there is an abundance of privately owned historic museums and sites for people to visit year round. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vermont's Heritage Museums,Historic Sites and Resources National Register Historic Districts in Vermont Vermont's State Owned Historic Sites What is Heritage Tourism? Themes in Vermont History Related Publications Visit the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing Home Page Visit The Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance Home Page

Welcome to the Center for Heritage Tourism in Historic Louisville, Kentucky. The information center for visitors and small conventions Louisville, Kentucky is a city full of historic architecture and neighborhoods dating from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, as yet undiscovered by Heritage Tourists. But that is changing. Whether you are on vacation, or just traveling through, Historic Louisville offers a tremendous number of sites, activities and events to keep you busy for a couple of hours or a couple of weeks. And if you are looking for a place to hold a conference, small convention, or reunion, just imagine meeting in an historic mansion in the heart of a beautiful historic district. In Louisville you can browse through the largest contiguous collection of Victorian Homes in the United States. There are over 14,000 houses in Louisville's Landmarks Districts ranging from a simple three room shotgun house to the 12,000 square foot mansion.. And some of them, like the Thomas Edison House, the Brennan House, the Conrad / Caldwell House, and others, are open for tours.

The Bear River Heritage Area straddles the Idaho-Utah border where the Great Basin and the Rocky Mountains meet. It is home to a strong agricultural economy, history-laced landscape, and abundant natural beauty. Retrace the footsteps of early fur traders, Mormon settlers, and generations of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. Come and experience the unique and varied cultural heritage found within the Bear River Basin of Northern Utah and Southeastern Idaho. This website is your guide to a fascinating variety of natural, historical and cultural experiences. Let us share how this land and these people have enriched our lives.

Cultural Tourism DC (CTdc) strengthens the image and economy of Washington, DC, neighborhood by neighborhood, by linking more than 185 DC cultural and neighborhood organizations with partners in tourism, hospitality, government, and business. CTdc offers an innovative model for maximizing the economic impact of cultural tourism in urban neighborhoods and helps residents and tourists discover and experience Washington's authentic arts and culture.