Civil War sites reborn as marketing tools
ASSOCIATED PRESS, Washington Times,
10/17/04)
RICHMOND
— From Spotsylvania to Shiloh, Civil War enthusiasts for years have taken it
upon themselves and their own passion for history to stage reenactments of the
most famous battles of the conflict.
Now,
local and state officials are starting to get in on the playacting by
underwriting the events, recognizing their investment can pay big dividends. "In
one word, it's tourism," said Jim Campi, policy director for the Civil War
Preservation Trust. "It's taken a while, but local and state officials
have come to realize that Civil War battlefields and battlefield preservation
can mean big bucks for their community."
A study by the Washington group found that tourists at the seven battlefields it studied (including Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, Shiloh in Tennessee and Virginia's New Market and Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania sites) generated nearly $157 million in total visitor expenditures last year, and $22.4 million in local and state tax revenue.
Civil War sites are the destinations of 11.5 percent of visits to history-rich
Virginia, according to a 2003 state tourism study.
In May, Spotsylvania County spent $250,000 for the restaging of the Battle of
Spotsylvania Court House. The two weeks of fighting between the troops of
Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee in May 1864 left about 18,000 Union soldiers
and close to 12,000 Confederates killed, wounded or missing.
The three-day restaging drew 4,000 re-enactors and 10,000 paying spectators,
said Henry "Hap" Connors Jr., vice chairman of the county's board of
supervisors.
Doug Barnes, deputy county administrator, said the re-enactment cost $40,000
more than it took in, but sales and meals taxes and merchandise sales have yet
to be fully measured.
Also, he said, the re-enactment was "more of a future marketing
tool," which has translated into visitors' increased interest in the area.
"We are trying to show people that preservation and heritage tourism make
for good economic development," Mr. Connors said. "We don't need to
pave over battlefields to put big-box stores on them — we need to instead look
at these historic and cultural treasures as opportunities to create new
economic development opportunities."
The first-time county sponsorship was a prelude to other events, including
plans to commemorate the battle's sesquicentennial in 2014, Mr. Connors said.
The Spotsylvania official sees historical preservation as a way to stem sprawl,
but added that he and other slow-growth advocates aren't necessarily at odds
with developers.
"I'm not opposed to anybody making money, but we are starting to let them
know what we want," Mr. Connors said. "We're starting to negotiate
from a position of strength. We have tools available to manage this growth and
we're starting to use them."
In Kentucky, state officials budgeted $10,000 to host the Battle of Perryville
re-enactment Oct. 9-10, said Kurt Holman, manager of the Perryville Battlefield
historical site.
"Port-A-Johns are the biggest single bite," Mr. Holman said.
Musicians, hay for tents and horses and overtime and lodging for park rangers
also were among the expenses.
About 5,900 spectators attended and 800 re-enactors went to Perryville, up from
about 4,700 last year, state park officials said. Each overnight guest spends
nearly $91 in the area; a day visitor about $39, said Kay Berggren, executive
director of the local Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Perryville re-enactors also pay a registration fee, but Mr. Holman said that
money goes directly to the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association.
Government officials are starting to realize that "when you preserve a
significant portion of the battlefield, people will come and see it," said
Mr. Campi, of the Civil War Preservation Trust. "There's been a real
upsurge in visits to historic sites like battlefields."
Such "heritage tourists" tend to have more money and are willing to
spend it, he said. Many are retirement age, and have the time to stay in the
community for more than a day.
But the key to preserving history for future generations is making the Civil
War relevant or "cool" to young people, said Rob Hodge, a re-enactor
and co-founder of Wide Awake Films, which coordinated Spotsylvania's event in
May and produces Civil War footage.
"You have to get to the children when you're talking about such a
significant event. Even if it's 140 years old, you have to look at why it
resonates in the 21st century," Mr. Hodge said.
The question, he said, is "How do you make it viable — how do you make it
a competitor to the addiction to sports or the addiction to survival shows?
Cutting-edge technology might be the savior of the past."
One proposal is to offer wireless Internet access on battlefields, where
visitors can download and view imagery and information onto their laptop
computers while they stand where troops once clashed.
"We're competing against action movies," Mr. Hodge said. "But
the great American screenplay is the Civil War. The great American horror is
the Civil War."
The nation suffers from "a great cultural amnesia," he said.
"It's our job, our mission, to try to breathe life into some of these
things that collect dust."
