 the Rotunda at the University of Virginia |
 the Russell Fork at Breaks Interstate Park |  shopping center in Oakton |
What's your earliest memory of a specific place? Is it a back yard, a room in a house, a yard with a puppy? It's a special place to you, if you still remember it.
Most of the places that we have seen are blurred in our memories, but some locations stand out. Sometimes the place itself makes the memory distinctive, such as the view from the top of Dragons Tooth in Roanoke County. Sometimes you just happened to be at a place when something special happened. You may not remember where you were last Tuesday morning, but many adults know where they were on September 11, 2001.
More-mature adults remember where they were on November 22, 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated, and July 21, 1969 when humans first walked on the moon. Perhaps the emotional or unique content of that experience sears it into our neural circuits. It's common for our memories to purge the details of ordinary events, but to remember where we were when something important happened.
Are all Virginia places equally valuable, or are some places more "special" and more worthy of public funds for conservation?
the Rotunda at the University of Virginia |
the Russell Fork at Breaks Interstate Park | shopping center in Oakton |
For tourism purposes, historical associations are especially significant. People travel great distances to Virginia to see Jamestown, Williamsburg, old plantations, Yorktown, Civil War battlefields, etc.
The Virginia Tourism Corporation, a state-financed organization, markets Virginia historical sites heavily - those places are special and unique enough to justify a trip, while nearly every state has amusement parks with roller coasters like Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion. To finance the commemoration of the 400th anniversary at Jamestown, everyone registering (or renewing a car registration) in Virginia paid an extra $2 unless they read the fine print on the form and specifically opted out of paying the fee.
In January 2003, the kickoff of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial was held at Monticello. Many who remember their high school history may remember that President Thomas Jefferson initiated the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase and the contested territory to the west, so it made sense that Monticello would host an event. Albemarle County tourism officials wanted a crowd of visitors, because visitors spend money and generate additional tax revenues.
For the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, tourism officials in Bedford County advertised that they too had a connection. William Clarke married Julia Hancock in Botetourt County in 1808, and he kept the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition there for awhile.
Jamestown 2007, a sub-agency of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, took the lead to prepare for the 400th anniversary of the settlement at Jamestown. At the Federal level, Congress passed Public Law 106-565 to create the Jamestown 400th Commemoration Commission to stimulate national and international attention.
specialized license plate for Jamestown "commemoration"
Source: Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles
English communities joined as well. A Virginia Indian Festival was held in Gravesend (where Pocahontas is buried) in 2006. A replica of the Godspeed that sailed from Jamestown to Boston in 2006 visited various British ports in 2007.
Why sail a replica of the Godspeed to Boston? Obviously it was an easier trip from London than sailing a wooden ship to Los Angeles... and Virginia tourism officials targeted the Northeast for the 400th anniversary, trying to attract people who already had a sense of history to visit Jamestown.
John Smith was born in England at Willoughby, northeast of London near the English Channel.
Should the residents of Willoughby consider his birthplace to be "special"?
At one point, organizers hoped to sell tickets for 90,000 people to visit on the big 400th anniversary of Jamestown weekend, May 11-13, 2007. Local residents considered leaving town in order to avoid the crowds, just as occurs in communities that host the Summer Olympics. In the end, about 47,000 people visited that weekend.1 Tourism officials were satisfied that the investment in the commemoration was successful in increasing visits to the area, and increasing revenue from out-of-state visitors.
The 2007 Jamestown commemoration effort mimicked a strategy used in the 1976 Bicentennial of the United States: be "inclusive." Only 13 of the 50 states could link its formation directly back to 1776. The Bicentennial could have bee an East Coast regional affair. Instead, every state was encouraged to highlight its origins and cultural heritage. Hawaii and Alaska had limited connections to Jamestown and the Mayflower settlers, but the 1976 Bicentennial was designed to skip over minor historical details in order to include everyone in a national experience.
For the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the Virginia 2007 Community Program encouraged all communities, with or without a direct connection to the original Jamestown settlement, to show off their heritage and special qualities. Even the definition of communities was broad ("civic groups, schools, churches, neighborhoods, cities, towns or counties") in order to stimulate wide participation and appreciation of Virginia history.2
In 2008, tourism slowed in the Historic Triangle (Yorktown, Williamsburg, Jamestown). Bob Harris, vice president of tourism for the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance, noted:3
In anticipation of even more reductions in tourism after the economy collapsed in Fall, 2008, Colonial Williamsburg took dramatic steps. It outsourced the call center, eliminated almost 300 jobs, and even planned to close down all four taverns that cater to tourists in January/February, 2009. As noted in news coverage:4
the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg burned in 1781, and was rebuilt in 1934
The Virginia Tourism Corporation tracks the number of visitors to different destinations in the state, and the economic impact of tourism. In his campaign for governor in 2009, Bob McDonnell highlighted his desire to increase jobs related to tourism. Governor McDonnell got the General Assembly to provide more funding for attracting visitors, and in 2011 the Southeast Tourism Society gave him the Governmental Tourism Leadership Award.
Five of the top ten Virginia localities benefiting from tourism are were near Washington DC, one of the most special places in the world. Location, location, location enables those five Northern Virginia jurisdictions to attract tourists who were willing to see something a little "different," but unwilling to drive more than a few hours away from the main place they came to see. Prince William County has just one tourism site with national significance (Manassas Battlefield), but that site is an easy day trip for visitors staying in DC.
Top 10 Virginia localities for tourism in 2015 were the same as in 2012, though some places moved up or down a notch:5
Virginia milked every opportunity to draw tourists during the commemoration of the 150th Anniversary (the "sesquicentennial") of the Civil War. The Manassas National Battlefield Park kicked off the sesquicentennial with a re-enactment in 2011, but excessively hot weather cut into the crowds and forced the cancellation of some planned events. When Steven Spielberg’s film "Lincoln" opened in November, 2012, the Virginia Tourism Corporation launched the Lincoln Trail, identifying 40 places where the movie was filmed or the actors were spotted during production in 2011.6
Richmond may have been the capital of the Confederacy and Lincoln may have been the president of the other side during the "War of Northern Aggression" to unreconstructed Virginians - but 150 years later, the color of green swamped the distinctions between blue and gray. The state gave the "Lincoln" movie producers $4.6 million in incentives, because the economic impact of the production within Virginia was calculated to be $35 million.7
1. "2007 a mixed year for state tourism, despite Jamestown," The Virginian-Pilot, September 2, 2007, content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=131662&ran=107521 (last checked November 9, 2007)
2. "Frequently Asked Questions About Jamestown 2007," www.jamestown2007.org/about-faq.cfm (last checked November 9, 2007)
3. "Economy, gas prices slow down tourism in Historic Triangle," Newport News Daily Press, October 13, 2008, cached at http://www.dailypress.com/topic/travel/tourism-leisure/04014000.topichttp://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:wPe1el37LYcJ:www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_wjcctourism_1013oct13,0,5904152.story%3Ftrack%3Drss+%22fewer+tourists+and+fewer+dollars%22+Historic+Triangle&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us (last checked November 15, 2008)
4. "4 taverns to close for a slow winter," Newport News Daily Press, November 15, 2008, http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/va-news3_111508nov15,0,4612660.story (last checked November 15, 2008)
5. "2015 Economic Impact of Domestic Travel on Virginia and Localities ," Virginia Tourism Corporation, http://www.vatc.org/research/economicimpact/ (last checked November 19, 2016)
6. "‘Lincoln’ trail to highlight film sites," Virginia Business, November 15, 2012, http://www.virginiabusiness.com/index.php/news/article/321808/ (last checked November 24, 2012)
7. "Spielberg's Lincoln movie could mean $35M for Virginia," The Virginian-Pilot, November 8, 2011, http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/spielbergs-lincoln-movie-could-mean-35m-virginia (last checked November 12, 2013)