Reminders:
- Only the top 10 of the 11 quizzes, and top 3 of the 4 Critical Thinking Short Answer Exercises, are counted towards final grade. Assessments with the lowest score is dropped from the calculations.
- Neighborhood Portfolios can be packaged in a variety of ways; be creative. You can use the site reports (and the feedback provided on each report...) to assemble a real estate portfolio to advertise why people might want to live there, or generate a new Wikipedia page describing various aspects of your site, or craft the introductory Current Environment chapter of a hypothetical Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), or whatever triggers your interest. Prepare an integrated description of your site, so the words flow between sections (don't just staple site reports together). Add graphics to illustrate the points you make about your site, including pictures and maps. American Memory at the Library of Congress and Virginia Memory at the Library of Virginia are rich sites, along with David Rumsey Map Collection. Your own photographs of your site are also encouraged.
Tourism and transportation are intimately connected. A sorta-interesting place next to a major highway can attract tourists. On the other hand, a place that's far from the highway has to offer something special in order to draw tourists.
We just finished Cider Week in Virginia. Colonial Virginians knew how to ferment cider in different styles, manipulating tannin, acid and sugar the way brewers create different types of beer today. Johnny Appleseed planted all those apple trees with the expectation that people would use most of the fruit to make hard cider, not to eat apples directly as food.
Today, hard cider in Virginia can have to 10% in alcohol content, if no extra sugar is added. If "chaptalized," then anything with more than 7% alcohol is labeled apple wine. To get the right flavors and alcohol levels, Foggy Ridge Cidery in Carroll County uses 30 types of apples in its different blends.
Foggy Ridge Cidery is a destination visit near the unincorporated community of Dugspur in Carroll County and far from any major highway. People have to intentionally plan a visit to that cidery. Foggy Ridge Cidery - and Blacksnake Meadery, located a mile away - must offer something unique and special, in order to get people to drive to the middle of nowhere.
Two years ago the Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry held his Cider Week kickoff event at Bold Rock Cidery in Nelson County. Bold Rock was built in isolated Nellysford (check it out...) because nearby wineries were already attracting a crowd of tourists from Charlottesville. Marketing 101 suggested the wisdom of opening something "different" like a cidery, rather than another yawn... winery.
Nelson County now has 5 wineries, 3 breweries, and the cidery along a stretch of US 151. That's a critical mass of fun places to visit, even though US 151 is not near a major urban center. The tourism office advertises the highway as "Nelson 151 - Virginia's Weekend Address" and attracts visitors driving on I-64 and I-81.
While driving in Virginia, you will see plenty of signs advertising wineries and perhaps stop in by chance - but how far would you drive on two-lane country roads just to see another run-of-the-mill winery?
Wineries are tourist destinations, not industrial facilities making wine. The Blue Ridge Whiskey Wine Loop was not established for local residents to get in touch with local culture. It was created as a marketing exercise, and designed to attract visitors from the nearest population centers. When tourists are tired of national monuments in DC or Northern Virginia residents want a weekend vacation, they can follow the Blue Ridge Whiskey Wine Loop, taking a day-long trip to the other side of the Blue Ridge and spending money in a different region of Virginia.
The 2+ million residents in Fairfax/Arlington/Alexandria/DC, and all the tourists who visit the region are an obvious target audience for wineries, but distance matters almost as much as the quality of the wine. The LaGrange winery was developed in western Prince William County to intercept tourists headed to the Blue Ridge. Then the Bull Run winery opened, east of Manassas National Battlefield Park and closer to DC. Then, Paradise Springs Winery opened even closer...
In real estate, three things determine value - location, location, and location... What's next - the Winery at Ballston Metro Station?
wineries were built closer to the customers in Northern Virginia - and quality of the terroir was irrelevant to the locations
Source: Virginia Wine, Northern Virginia
if craft beer operations are located everywhere in urban areas - will they be special enough to become tourist magnets like wineries, or will craft breweries just be neighborhood gathering spots?
Source: CheersVA
Federal land ownership in Virginia, as of 2003
(US Forest Service owns the majority of Federal land in Virginia)
Source: US Geological Survey National Atlas
strategy #1 in tourism requires Virginia to have a unique "brand" - potential tourists need to be stimulated to leave home, and those who leave home need to be encouraged to visit Virginia rather than Pennsylvania, California, Bermuda, wherever
Virginia is different, unique, special for numerous reasons - but is slavery really suitable as a tourist attraction?
Yes, Hampton, Richmond, and Fredericksburg have competed to become the host location for a museum that focuses on slavery.
When Disney planned a theme park in Northern Virginia near Haymarket in Prince William County, it proposed to re-create the slave experience in America as some form of entertainment. That tone-deaf approach to cultural sensitivities generated some of the controversy that ultimately blocked Disney America from being constructed.
The site has been developed since 1994 for upscale subdivisions such as Piedmont Station and Dominion Valley on Route 15. Development by Disney was perceived as environmental damage, but the choice was not Disney vs. "leave that valuable land untouched as forest and fields."
Tourism officials in Hampton, Richmond, and Fredericksburg focus on the number of people who might visit a museum, whether or not the site is intended to leave the visitor feeling cheerful. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC has represented the past, warts and all. Proposals for slavery museums in Virginia have promised to represent the full range of the slave experience.
the two recreational lakes at Twin Lakes reflect Virginia's old separate-but-equal approach to segregating the races
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
slave history is often obscured/omitted, but not at Sudley in Fairfax County
Virginia State Parks
After the state purchased land and donated it to the Federal government to create Shenandoah National Park, Virginia shifted focus and established a system of state parks in 1936. Work by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) created roads, cabins, and lakes during the Great Depression.
are they evenly distributed, with just as many north of the James River as there are parks south of that river?
locate Twin Lakes, where two separate parks were merged into Twin Lakes State Park for a particular reason: to block desegregation of the rest of the state parks. Whites swam at Goodwin Lake, blacks swam at Prince Edward Lake.
The land for Twin Lakes State Park was initially bought from struggling farmers by the federal government during the Great Depression. Two parks, Goodwin Lake and Prince Edward Lake, were founded in 1939 and until the early 1960s were run as two racially segregated parks.
In 1948, a black banker from Danville sued to force full public access to Staunton River State Park. In response, the state continued to maintain Staunton River State Park as a whites-only facility, but upgraded Prince Edward Lake into "Prince Edward State Park for Negroes." (At the time, the US Supreme Court allowed the separate-but-equal approach to implement racial segregation in public schools, public parks, etc., though facilities for non-whites in Virginia were rarely equal in quantity or quality.) The 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court and finally the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed blatant segregation at public facilities. Prince Edward and nearby Goodwin Lake state parks merged formally in 1976, and the site was renamed Twin Lakes State Park in 1986.1
The state considered leasing/selling all of the state parks in the 1950's, fearing Federal courts would order the state integrate state-owned recreation sites. Virginia even closed Seashore State Park (now called "First Landing") in 1955. After Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the state reopened all facilities at Seashore, including cabins, and ended its whites-only policies in state parks.2
the first 6 state parks (circled in red) were located in the Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, and Valley and Ridge physiographic provinces
Source: Virginia State Parks, Find A Park
At least one Federal park in Virginia maintained segregated facilities as well.
What is now Prince William Forest Park created five overnight "cabin camps." By tradition, park officials reserved Camps 1 and 4 for blacks-only and Camps 2,3, and 5 for whites-only.
There were even separate entrance roads to the segregated camps. The currentoday's entrance to the National Park Service's trailer campground off Route 234 was the entrance to the "colored" camps.
The Washington Office of the National Park Service sought to integrate the park and build just one road, but the Regional Director wrote in 1939 "If we are to be realistic in our approach to recreation planning in southern states, we must recognize and observe the long-standing attitudes and customs of the people, which require, as a fundamental, that recreational areas and facilities for the two races be kept entirely separated."3
Prince William Forest Park was managed by the National Park Service, but Federal officials allowed racial segregation there to avoid conflict with state laws and traditions
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
Did Manassas make a profit, or even recover its costs, from the city's financial support of the 150th anniversary of the first Battle of Manassas in 2011?
the Governor's Palace at Williamsburg was reconstructed primarily with private donations from John D. Rockefeller Jr., rather than public funds
In November 2012, voters in Virginia Beach supported extending Norfolk’s light rail line (the "Tide") into Virginia Beach, to Town Center or even all the way to the resort area along the Atlantic Ocean. Business leaders support that light rail extension because it would help create a larger, more economically-integrated market that could stimulate new businesses... and even attract a top-tier professional sports team.
The Sacramento Kings never moved to Virginia Beach. Once again, a major league sports team used the idea of moving to Hampton Roads just as a bargaining chip to get a better deal elsewhere.
In 2016, Virginia Beach voters rejected extending the light rail line; the "Tide" went in and but then it went out, and no rail-based transit system will get to the Oceanfront for at least another decade or two. Along with the transportation infrastructure and associated development, Virginia Beach may have lost the ability to finance an arena and attract a team from the National Hockey League (NHL) or the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Virginia had plans to capitalize on the 100th anniversary of powered aviation with an Aviation World's Fair at Newport News, even though the first flight of the Wright brothers occurred in North Carolina
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
2003 Aviation World's Fair - the "big event" that never happened at Newport News
There were grand plans for a 2003 extravaganza at Newport News airport, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Orville and Wilbur Wright's first flight.
Planners projected 60-65 pavilions, 1,600 exhibits, "thematic halls depicting milestones in the history of flight, and special exhibits on themes including women in aviation, ballooning, airlines, mechanics, experimental aircraft, aviation sports and more. The funding for the event — estimated at up to $40 million — will come from sales of exhibit space, sponsorships, and admission fees in the neighborhood of $20 per day for adults."4
The event was cancelled due to Virginia's 2002 budget crunch, when the state eliminated funding to subsidize the event.
Public funding is key to many tourism initiatives. Businesses in an area may benefit, based on economic analyses, but benefits are spread widely. It is difficult for business owners of individual restaurants, etc. to see how they will receive a fair return on their investment. Selling bonds to finance roads, canals, and railroads to spur a local economy was a successful financing strategy in the 1800's, but is not viable for funding tourism events today. Instead, many communities impose a special tax on meals and hotel rooms to finance advertising and tourism events. The financing is pay-as-you-go, with grants made for specific projects after taxes have been collected.
Tourism is a business. Every business has risks... and occasionally, elected officials choose to minimize risk by saying "no" to funding requests.
In contrast to the 2003 Aviation Worlds Fair, Manassas and Prince William County went "all in" for the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas in 2011. Politicians declared that investment to increase tourism was successful - but decide for yourself if it was a good deal.
Every grant request to increase tourism-related business will claim a positive benefit/cost ratio, but should every grant request be funded? Where would you draw the line?
the space shuttle Enterprise was replaced with the Discovery in 2012 to help the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport attract even more aviation-oriented tourists
Source: Smithsonian, Shuttles Nose to Nose
Bike Virginia is a non-profit, non-government organization that organizes an annual bicycle festival in rural areas of Virginia. Bike Virginia started in 1982 as a tour around Jamestown and across the river to Chippokes Plantation, then grew into a statewide bicycle tour drawing as many as 2,000 riders for the annual event.
In 2013, the six-day ride was in the Valley and Ridge province near Buena Vista/Roanoke.
Bike Virginia promises to bring 1,200 bikers plus their support teams to whatever communities convince the Bike Virginia organizers to put them on the route - a process to obtain an economic boost from tourism that echoes the way communities competed to get a long-term economic boost from a new railroad. (130 years ago, "Big Lick" grew into Roanoke after donating land to shape the route of the Norfolk and Western.)
Registration cost for the 2013 Bike Virginia ride was around $600. Riders got to follow a route organized to meet their capabilities, through communities mobilized to provide food/housing/supplies. Riders paid for their housing, plus the chicken dinners and BBQ's they bought in the evenings (though there was a registration option to pay for catered meals).
Bike Virginia is a delightful social experience, a brief bonus to local communities, and - in theory - a very successful business model. Do the math: $600 x 1200 riders = ??? gross revenue.
Despite the revenue, the event has struggled financially. In 2011 during the economic recession, Bike Virginia's revenue was only $7.00 greater than expenses.
High Bridge State Park offers a hiking/biking trail across the Appomattox River on a former railroad trestle near Farmville
Source: Virginia State Parks, Plan your own bridge day adventure
Climate matters. The Lego Corporation once considered building Legoland on the Cherry Hill Peninsula north of Quantico (now known as Potomac Shores), to tap into the tourists that visit DC. Lego finally chose to build in Carlsbad, California. The weather is warmer in the winter there, so the tourism season is year-round.
Similarly, the planned new Disneyland (Disney America) near Haymarket was projected to close during the winter, but the advocates for building that project failed to note that the thousands of new tourism-related jobs would have been minimum wage *and* part-time.
As if Virginia does not have enough authentically-historical places to visit, the Virginia Tourism Corporation capitalized upon the release of the movie Lincoln in November 2012 and announced a Lincoln Movie Trail. Places where scenes were filmed, or the actors were sighted during production, are now being marketed as tourist attractions. You can imagine yourself not only as Lincoln sitting in Jefferson Davis's chair in 1865, but also as Daniel Day Lewis eating at a Richmond area restaurant.
Back in 2003, a non-government historical organization donated a statue of Lincoln and his son Tad to be erected at the site of Tredegar Iron Works, a key Confederate industrial site where cannon and shells were made in 1861-65. The Sons of Confederate Veterans organized demonstrations against installing the statue in Richmond, claiming that the heritage of Richmond was being abused by honoring the president of the United States during the Civil War.
Virginia has located welcome centers where major highways first cross into the state - except for I-95 in Northern Virginia
Source: Virginia Tourism Corporation, Welcome Centers
Welcome Centers
if you drive into Virginia on I-64, I-77, I-81, I-85, or even cross the border on I-95 from North Carolina, how far must you drive before seeing a Welcome Center?
Note the location of the closest welcome center on I-95 or I-66 in Northern Virginia, which could steer visitors already visiting the national capital to examine specific locations in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax (such as Mount Vernon).
Only a small percentage of tourists go as far west on I-66 or as far south on I-95 to the locations of "Welcome to Virginia - spend money here" centers. Northern Virginia tourism officials complain that locating a welcome center in Arlington/Fairfax would encourage more DC-focused tourists to spend more time (and spend more money) in Virginia - but where would you put a visitor center closer to DC?
during Garden Week in April, historic private homes such as Mt. Airy on the Northern Neck are often opened to the public
Think citizens in urban areas are more likely to be in favor of using tax dollars to buy land for public parks, because there's more need for public recreational space in urban areas?
go to QuickFacts, and scroll to the bottom to see "Land Area" and "Persons per square mile" (population density) in the year 2010
use those same Census statistics to identify how many "housing units" were in Virginia in 2015 (the number has increased since 2010...)
select a county on the QuickFacts website. Assuming each housing unit has an individual place in which residents can play, determine the number of private play areas (i. e. backyards of housing units...) for the county that you selected.
Think that assumption is valid, or flawed? In your experience, do all housing units - including urban apartments - have a private backyard?
Article XI of the Constitution of Virginia (adopted 1970)
"To the end that the people have clean air, pure water, and the use and enjoyment for recreation of adequate public lands, waters, and other natural resources, it shall be the policy of the Commonwealth to conserve, develop, and utilize its natural resources, its public lands, and its historical sites and buildings. Further, it shall be the Commonwealth's policy to protect its atmosphere, lands, and waters from pollution, impairment, or destruction, for the benefit, enjoyment, and general welfare of the people of the Commonwealth..
some nationally-significant natural areas, such as Mount Vernon and Luray Caverns, are privately-owned and managed for business more than for preservation
natural rock formations were reshaped to get the right notes for the Stalacpipe Organ at Luray Caverns
Source: Wikipedia, The Great Stalacpipe Organ
Legend holds that young George Washington surveyed the Natural Bridge site for Lord Fairfax, and carved his initials on the bridge about 15-20 feet above the creek.
There are "G.W." initials there, but there is no historical evidence that Washington ever did a survey of Natural Bridge. So why manufacture the legend?
Attaching Washington's name to the bridge was expected to increase visitation, under the assumption that travelers were interested in Washington in particular. Lots of places advertised "George Washington slept here." Natural Bridge may have decided to advertise that George Washington did something more unusual; he carved his name in stone.
Tourism fads come and go, as so does the popularity of presidents. The decline in the value of George Washington's name is evidenced by the shift in the label of the February 22nd holiday, from "Washington's Birthday" to "Presidents Day."
In addition to a garden maze, car museum, and other attractions, Luray Caverns has a Stalacpipe Organ. Rubber-tipped mallets strike stalactites that were shaved down as necessary to create separate musical notes. A recording of Kate Smith singing "God Bless America" was once part of the underground tour at Luray Caverns, too.
Would shaving stalactites be appropriate at a national or state park? Should government agencies get into competition with private-sector organizations to attract tourists?
Modification of natural resources and addition of commercial entertainment is not part of the core mission of the National Park Service:5
The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. (Emphasis added.)
At times, the National Park Service rolls out the slogan Parks Are For People. The preserve-the-parks-for-future-generations responsibility is constantly in tension with the make-the-parks-accessible-so-people-enjoy-visiting challenge.
As custodian of national treasures, the National Park Service would not carve George Washington's initials on the rock at Yosemite to hype visitation and increase revenue, or install artificial attractions such as a rock organ at Mammoth Cave... but that Federal agency does not have to pay property taxes or make a profit, either.
cave formation ("speleothem") at Grand Caverns near Grottoes, the first commercial tourist cave in Virginia
Edward Everett, who helped the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association raise 1/3 of the funding to purchase Mount Vernon, was the main speaker at Gettysburg in 1863. He orated for two hours, while President Lincoln delivered his address in two minutes.
Ann Pamela Cunningham defined the management objective for the site with her charge Let one spot in this grand country of ours be saved from "change!"
Mount Vernon is a non-profit, non-government organization; guides leading tours through the mansion house are paid staff and occasionally volunteer docents, but not government employees. The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association must raise enough revenue to offset expenses, but fees paid by tourists are not sufficient to maintain 250-year old buildings or build the recently-opened $100 million complex of museums and orientation/education centers.
The trick? Generous donors. As noted by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association:6
Mount Vernon does not accept grants from federal, state, or local governments, and no tax dollars are expended to support its purposes. Primary sources of income are revenue from the retail and dining facilities, ticket sales, and generous donations from foundations, corporations, and individuals.
George Washington's farms are now developed as subdivisions, surrounding the mansion house at Mount Vernon
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
are they evenly distributed across the state? are they concentrated on the Coastal Plain like National Wildlife Refuges administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service?
"preserves" are purchased for a different purpose than "parks," and managed for resource protection rather than for visitor enjoyment (some are even closed to public use)
what percentage of "preserves" are near the population centers of Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Hampton Roads?
if you were running the land acquisition program to conserve natural areas, would your priority be to purchase the greatest number of acres (perhaps in Southwestern Virginia) or to purchase natural areas near the greatest number of potential visitors?
how far is Crows Nest Natural Area Preserve from the location where Pocahontas was captured in 1613?
It's not Federal land. It's not a state park with a campground or cabins. It's not a county recreation site, with soccer fields and lights. It is not designated wilderness. Should places like Crows Nest Natural Area Preserve be preserved with tax dollars, if public use is so limited?
Do we need more "special places" that do not get developed, or do we have enough for the current and future population? If we need more areas, should the government purchase them? What is your priority - active recreation (ballfields), passive recreation (hiking/birdwatching), or resource preservation areas with no human use allowed?
Crows Nest Natural Area Preserve is located between Accokeek and Potomac Creeks, tributaries of the Potomac River
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
"Wilderness" is an official designation used for Federal lands, not state/county/private lands. Wilderness areas are designated by Congress to recognize places where human-caused disturbance appears to be minimal. The Wilderness Act of 1964 defined it: "A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."
Ideally, visitors to wilderness areas can imagine themselves in the North America that existed before colonization by Europeans. In an area designated as wilderness, use of mechanized equipment - trucks, chain saws, even bicycles - is prohibited in almost all situations. (Trail maintenance is done with hand tools, but wheelchairs for persons with disabilities and emergency rescue by helicopter are permitted.)
Wilderness areas are open to public use. Hunting and fishing are allowed in wilderness areas managed by the US Forest Service in Virginia. In wilderness areas in Virginia managed by the National Park Service, fishing is permitted but hunting is prohibited. Designation as wilderness does limit the use of motorized equipment so the experience within a wilderness area will be "untrammeled," but does not increase/decrease opportunities for hunting.
Hike in a wilderness area, and you will get away from the modern world - but you will still see contrails in the sky from modern jets, and you will see high-tech backpacks and other equipment carried by other hikers. In Virginia, if you seek to get far far away from the modern world, a wilderness experience still requires a "willing suspension of disbelief" comparable to reading a novel.
Why did Williamsburg survive? After the state capital moved to Richmond in 1780, the economy of Williamsburg declined substantially. Many old buildings were not torn down and replaced by new structures. Buildings at Williamsburg just sat there and got older and older, while new buildings were constructed in Richmond, Alexandria, and other places.
Poverty protected colonial history, until Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin convinced John D. Rockefeller Jr. to finance restoration of the old structures. Survival was followed by restoration, creating the unique tourist destination that we see today.
Colonial Williamsburg is a not-for-profit, non-government organization. It operates like a business, because it is a business and not a public agency funded by taxes.
Colonial Williamsburg does take advantage of government tax credits and occasional grants, but almost all of its funding is dependent upon tourists who pay an entrance fee, stay in the organization's hotels, and buy food/books/trinkets at the organization's retail outlets.
When tourism dropped in 2008, the Colonial Williamsburg organization used savings in the bank to survive until the economy recovered and more tourists arrived - but Colonial Williamsburg also sold property, laid off workers, and reduced expenses.
One more time just to be sure:
Who provided the primary funding to restore Colonial Williamsburg: taxpayers, or private donors?
Who provides the primary funding to operate Colonial Williamsburg now: taxpayers, or visitors?
Who manages Colonial Williamsburg now: National Park Service, Virginia State Parks, City of Williamsburg - or "none of the above"?
Looking at the spreadsheet above: which units managed by the National Park Service get the most visitors?
"Recreation Visitors" are calculated by counting the number of unique individuals who go to a site in person.
"Recreation Visitor Day" is defined as one person visiting a site for 12 hours, or two people visiting for 6 hours each, or three people visiting for 4 hours each...
Statistics can be your friend, if you are in the tourism business.
The definition of "visit" is different from a "visitor." A visitor who comes to Manassas Battlefield on both a Saturday and a Sunday will be counted twice, generating two visits.
Compare the ratio of Recreation Visitor Day/Recreation Visitors for Shenandoah National Park (0.64) vs. Manassas National Battlefield Park (0.06). Visitors to Shenandoah National Park spend more hours within the park exploring, hiking, and camping, while Manassas National Battlefield Park gets quick in-and-out visitors.
Tourism officials everywhere focus on attracting more visitors, but Fairfax/Prince William officials also want Manassas National Battlefield Park visitors to stay longer. Ideally, visitors would stay long enough to get hungry and stop at a local restaurant to eat, or at a local store to shop - generating additional tax revenues for local jurisdictions.
Simply driving through a park on a major highway does not count as a "visit." Statistics for "visits" are designed to exclude commuter traffic on George Washington Memorial Parkway, and to exclude people driving on highways such as Route 33 across Blue Ridge but not stopping to see anything in Shenandoah National Park. Manassas National Battlefield Park can not count the commuters on Route 29/Route 234 to inflate its visitation statistics and justify a bigger budget.
OK, maybe. Any government official can tell you that there are lies, damned lies... and statistics.
Look at the statistics for George Washington Memorial Parkway, compared to Blue Ridge Parkway. There are a zillion hikers, bikers, and tourists of various stripes using the George Washington Memorial Parkway... but there may be a few people just-driving-through-to-get-somewhere getting counted as well.
After control of the US Congress shifted to the Republican Party in 1994, there were reports that parks with less than 1 million visitors/year would see greater reductions in their budget. The Manassas National Battlefield Park data shows spike in visitation for 1994... (For 2011, the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas, the park reported 659,740 visitors.)
Distribution of National Park Visitor Spending, 2009
Source: Michigan State University, Economic Impacts of Recreation and Tourism Money Generation Model- Version 2
The National Park Service generates over 20 million visits each year to less than 20 places, in a state with a total population of 8 million.7
There must be a lot of locals who visit parks repeatedly, or a lot of out-of-state visitors coming to see someplace special in Virginia.
Direct effects cover businesses selling goods and services directly to park visitors. Secondary effects include the impacts of the local businesses/individuals spending the money that was earned from those visitors. On a national basis, local visitors represent about 29% of all visits, but only 10% of all visitor spending. Visitors who drive more than 60 miles are more likely to buy a meal and stay in a local hotel, spending more money. Conventions and visitor bureaus in Virginia are often funded by a tax on hotels and meals, so it makes sense to spend that tax money advertising in Ohio and New England rather than locally.
Nationally in 2010, roughly 30% of park visits were day trips by local residents, 40% were day trips from 60 miles or more, and 30% involved an overnight stay near the park.8
Visitors who drive at least 60 miles are more likely to spend the night and thus spend more money on lodging/food, so tourism officials focus their advertising to attract overnight visitors. Virginia's advertising focus: attract visitors from Canada.
the decline in visitors to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia between 2008-2013 has tourism officials scrambling to market that unit of the National Park System, increasing economic activity by tourists
Source: National Park Service, Recreation Visitation By State and by Park for Year: 2013
Economic Impacts of Visitor Spending at National Park Service Units in Virginia, 2010 An * with a percentage indicates the park is located in more than one state and only part of the economic activity is assigned to this state
("Overnight stays" are within the park itself - many tourist benefits come from renting motel rooms outside the park.
No one camps overnight at Manassas National Battlefield Park, but the hotels nearby benefit from Civil War tourists.)
Source: Michigan State University NPS Money Generation Model, Visitor Spending and Economic Impacts For National Park Units
this partnership of various government agencies, non-government organizations (NGO's), and private businesses helps to market the tourist-related sites along about 150 roads in the United States
the Journey Through Hallowed Ground connects Gettysburg to Monticello - see map
the Journey Through Hallowed Ground is a partnership of communities that seek to attract tourists by preserving both the landscape (as seen from a car driving down the highway) and highlighting historic sites along the route
if you were responsible for drawing the boundaries of the Journey through Hallowed Ground Byway, would you move the route west of the sprawl at Gainesville/Haymarket in Prince William County?
the Journey Through Hallowed Ground goes through modern development on Route 15 north of Gainseville/Haymarket (yellow line),
but could be redirected west (green line) into more-rural Fauquier County
Source: US Geological Survey, Thoroughfare Fap 7.5x7.5 topograhic quadrangle (2013)
How do you attract tourists to southwestern Virginia, far from major population centers and with poor access to interstate highways and airports offering commercial passenger service? Answer: identify a 330-mile stretch of road that highlights places associated with "The Homeplace of America's Music," including The Carter Family Fold perpetuating acoustic music at the base of Clinch Mountain and other hotspots of country music.
A place that offers a unique experience can attract long-term visitors who spend money at local hotels and restaurants. In contrast, a place such as Fair Oaks Mall or Fairfax Town Center attracts short-term shoppers.
It's easy for economic development specialists in southwestern Virginia to see that country music offered a special experience that might attract visitors. No real estate developer wanted to build a shopping district in Maces Springs (homeplace of the Carter family) because there were no potential customers for a Macy's or McDonalds there.
In contrast, property owners and developers have more options in places such as the downtown of Fairfax City, Manassas, or Fredericksburg, and the waterfront of Alexandria. Tearing down old structures and building 4-story mixed use buildings (combining retail on the first floor with commercial/residential use on the top floors) is a viable option in those cities. The tradeoff: replacing funky architecture with standardized structures alters the character of a place, affecting its ability to attract tourists.
The Crooked Road links 9 major "heritage music" sites and 60 affiliated venues/festivals in 19 counties of Southwestern Virginia
Source: The Crooked Road
Abingdon, a little town located in Washington County, attracts tourists because it offers historical, cultural, and natural sites to visit. Emigrants traveled the old Wilderness Road that connected Pennsylvania to the "bluegrass" section of Kentucky (now I-81).
Daniel Boone gave the town its original name, Wolf Hills, in 1760 after his dogs were attacked by wolves there.
The Barter Theater opened in 1933, in the depths of the Depression, when actors decided they could make a living there. The theater-goers lacked cash at that time, but were willing to "trade ham for Hamlet." Today, the Barter Theater is Virginia's official State Theater, and performances are good enough to attract tourists from New York.
Abingdon is the county seat of in Washington County, which has less than 55,000 residents - but Abingdon is on I-81, only a 5-hour drive from DC
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
Site Visit:
What makes your site historic? What happened there to make the place "special"?
What else was happening in Virginia at that time? What was the context of the events that make your site special? Identify 2-3 other places in Virginia that are associated with the times/event that occurred at your site. For example, if your site is associated with Massive Resistance to desegregation in the 1950's, decribe 2-3 other places related to civil rights that are also located in Virginia. If there's a Civil War connection - well, it's easy to pick some sites with a similar where similar battles, encampments, or occupations occurred.
What other officially-identified historic buildings are located at or near your particular site? You can use the Virginia Landmarks Register to help, or check the website of your county historic society.
Based on the date of whatever historic event occurred there, how many generations back would you have to go in your family genealogy to find a relative of yours that was alive at that time? (Assume a generation is 30 years, unless you know the family history. For example, you may know that your great-great grandfather was living in Germany back when Alexandria was occupied by a Union force on May 24, 1861.)
How would you describe your site on a highway tourism marker? Those signs have just enough space for 100 words - so write 100 words, emphasizing whatever you think is most appropriate.
Sudley Post Office, one of three buildings still remaining from 1861 at Manassas Battlefield
Reminders:
