Here’s a term that you might not have heard before:
“Heritage Tourism”
So? What does it mean?
Well, it means different things to different people.
For some, it means a place like Colonial Williamsburg. A place where the past comes to life and is interpreted for guests. A chance to interact with people who are dressed (or costumed) and act or communicate, as people would have been in the era they are portraying.
For others, it means a place that they can relate to from either personal or family history
For folks who have the hobby of re-enacting, the place may not be that important. Civil War (or as some prefer, the War Between the States) re-enactors are some of the more visible of these. There are all kinds of re-enactors, including the Renaissance faire crowd; World War II re-enactors (of both the Allied and Axis powers); Wild West re-enactors and a whole lot more. What they do, how they relate to each other and mundanes (aka the public) is their focus.
If these people are lucky enough, they may get the chance to recreate history on the same place where it occurred. Williamsburg and Gettysburg (no relation) are two of the more notable sites where this takes place.
Disney’s America was an effort that might have tried to cash in on the popularity of heritage tourism. How it would have fared is open to conjecture. But for my money, it would have been worth seeing how the folks at Imagineering would have tried.
The line between reality and fantasy is another challenge for heritage tourism. Fantasy tends toward the simpler times, and less complicated lifestyles. Reality may and should include the lack of modern conveniences such as refrigeration and sanitation. Life before deodorants, and daily bathing had its drawbacks. For as clean as Colonial Williamsburg is, it must have been an assault on the senses in its time. The same for the various re-enactors, as person hygiene certainly was not was it is in polite society today for the most part.
There are National Park sites such as Promontory Point in Utah (where the Golden Spike was driven to complete the first transcontinental railroad) where not only the people, but also the artifacts have been recreated. The steam locomotives (Union Pacific 119 and Central Pacific’s “Jupiter”) that met during the ceremonies to mark the event were scrapped long ago. For the centennial celebrations, similar locomotives were borrowed and stood in. The NPS recognized the visitor potential of the site and had the locomotives reproduced (albeit with modern safety appliances and conveniences such as natural gas for fuel instead of coal or wood). Today, these recreations steam on a regular schedule to offer visitors a glimpse of the past, brought back to life.
As fascinating as this is to me, I always have thought the people and why they were there was more important than the machinery. Another of my passions tends to be World War II aircraft. There is nothing sweeter than the sound of a Rolls Royce Merlin engine as it propels a P-51 Mustang at speed. I’m lucky enough to live in the flight path of an airport that has several of them that fly on a regular basis, and nothing gets my attention as quick as that sound.
That said… I’ve also been lucky enough to know a gentleman who flew them in active service. Sharing his experiences as a photo reconnaissance pilot enhanced my appreciation in a number of ways, but it was the human connection to the machine that made the biggest impression on me.
When it comes to personal history, my appreciation of railroading is particularly enhanced by the reasons behind the connection with man and machine. My great grandfather grew up in a small mining camp in central Nevada. Life was simple and hard. So when at the age of 12, his father informed him it was time to go out and make his own way in the world, it was not much of a surprise.
With a limited education as well as limited opportunities, he took up life as a vaquero on ranches in the Pine Valley. It was pretty dull, and was a seven-day a week vocation. From the back of the horse, the work was important, but not much of a challenge. And the possibilities for improvement, well… they didn’t exist. Maybe in ten or twenty years, he might work his way up to being the top hand on a ranch. He wore the same clothes all the time. Same hat, same shirt, same jeans, same union suit, same boots and same jacket. If it got cold and wet, he may have worn an extra shirt, if he had one.
For entertainment, the ranch hands would find a wild mustang for someone to ride. They would get together a pot of maybe six bits to pay the sucker, er, volunteer. They had to saddle the horse first, which may have been a tougher job than riding it.
All in all, a fairly dull life in 1899.
But not without occasional diversions. One such was a Mardi Gras dance in the county seat where he hoped to see a young woman he was interested in. From the ranch where he worked, he took the train to town.
Not sure about what happened in the romance department (he didn’t marry her…), but I do know that he rode back to the ranch in the cab of the locomotive. That was all it took to convince him that there was another career awaiting him.
So he went to the headquarters of the local division of the Southern Pacific, and asked for a job. They told him he was too young, and to come back next year. He did, and started as a locomotive fireman in December of 1900. His career lasted for almost fifty years, and when he retired, he was number one in seniority on the Salt Lake Division, as was a regular engineer on the Streamliner “City of San Francisco”.
So when I have had the chance to run or fire a steam locomotive, that direct connection always comes to mind, and makes the experience that much more interesting and personal.
And that’s what heritage tourism is all about.
It is, with out any doubt, the great challenge for any heritage tourism destination. Imagine a trip to Ellis Island or the Statue of Liberty if you have family connections to them. What would the experience be without that connection? It means more and makes the experience better for you if there is.
Could this view be a part of “heritage tourism”? Is there a connection being made between the locomotive and the guests? It’s Disney’s California Adventure, and it’s recreation of the famed “California Zephyr” passenger trains. Western Pacific locomotive #804-A pulled the last “CZ” into Oakland in 1970, and was also the star of 1955’s “Cinerama Holiday”. Photo by Roger Colton, November 2002
In it’s own way, a visit to Disneyland could have a heritage tourism connection.
Annoying, isn’t it?
Maybe you have family who worked for the company once upon a time, or one of the concessionaires? Did Mom and Dad honeymoon at a Disney property, and you or a sibling may have been a souvenir of that visit? Remember the Disney World TV ads with the child in the elevator who called his sibling just that?
Here’s one of the better links on the web for more info about heritage tourism:
National Trust Historic Preservation
Roger does his bit for heritage tourism from time to time; from providing service aboard chartered railroad cars in the traditions of the past, to acting as a docent on occasions at the Orange Empire Railway Museum.
He would love to see the railroad crowd meet the Old West crowd for a kind of event like the Ren Faire. Just imagine the end of track somewhere on the transcontinental railroad, complete with the “Hell On Wheels” gambling tents complete with loaded dice, card sharks and faro tables; opium dens; and soiled doves, and all of the other ways railroaders were encouraged to part with their hard earned pay… Ah, the good old days!
In 2001, he engaged in a bit of heritage tourism as a visitor to Germany to see the sites his parents had during a stint with the Army in 1958-59. Ironically, the hospital where he was born was torn down to make way for a sports complex. He did visit the old home as well as a variety of other places, and drank far too much great German beer, including Oktoberfest in Munich. Prosit!