HERITAGE TOURISM CLASSIFICATION STUDY
(Partially Developed Heritage Tourism Site)
Area Description
The activities and the organization are models for rural areas with diverse resources and acute development needs. Over the past 10 years, Historic Southern Indiana (HSI) has emerged as a strong regional organization with many partners.
HSI is administered through the Extended Services Division of the University of Southern Indiana. The service area for HSI is the southern 26 counties of the state. Organizationally, HSI gets budgetary assistance for a support staff and a half-time director, but raises the balance of its budget through grants and membership. It relies heavily on the energies and skills of a diverse board of directors.
These active partners come from the resident federal agencies (USFS, NPS), state agency representatives (state museum system, state parks) and the private sector (CVBs, private attractions). This board coordinates and often conducts the development assistance in the area, ranging from marketing workshops to community pride and appearance assessments. The most successful programs to date have been its annual interpretation workshop and awards program. Other notable accomplishments include their hospitality training program and the leadership in the development of the Ohio River Scenic Route.
How Visitors Interact with Resources
Southern Indiana has a wide range of resources in the region. Virtually every type of heritage resources exist in this region. They include:
Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home
-
George Rogers Clark National Historic Site
-
Numerous historic homes in the state museum system
-
Angel Mounds state historic sites (Indiana burial mounds)
-
New Harmony
-
Many Main Street communities including Madison, an original Main Street town
-
Architecturally distinctive structures exist throughout HSI as unique cultural resources such as St. Meinrad monastery and Cannelton Cotton Mills.
-
HSI facilitates visitor interaction with these resources through a variety of media and mechanisms.
-
HSI has been active in the establishment of the Ohio River Scenic Route interpreted route winding through the southernmost routes in the area.
-
The creation of brochures which interpret the history and natural features of the region.
-
An annual interpretation seminar and awards program provides the sites an opportunity to increase their capacity and learn improved presentation techniques.
-
HSI facilitated the establishment of SIGA, the Southern Indiana Guild of Artisans, so that local crafts could develop and visitors could acquire memorable, indigenous articles from the region.
Visitor Experiences
Many varied experiences are facilitated for visitors to HSI. The range of experiences runs the gamut from potential emotional experiences at certain sites to physical and intellectual experiences. Granted, the experiences depend on the visitor, but the possibilities are at least structured at various sites.
HSI could possibly look more closely at overall facilitated experiences and work toward structuring these, but its main activities are concerned with assisting the communities and sites in the region and improving what they do and thereby raising the quality and frequency of the experiences for visitors.
Benefits
Benefits to the HSI organization from visitation to the region are currently few. Most visitors are unaware that HSI is an organization that is trying to improve the experiences for visitors. This is difficult in a regional context to be sure, but if the organization is working to improve the experience for visitors, they should work to interpret their activities for visitors. Also, no financial structure exists so that HSI directly benefits from visitation to the region.
Benefits accrue to the resources from visitation to the region on a case-by case basis. There is no regional structure in place to capture money from the visitors and return it to the sites for their needed purposes. On a case-by-case basis, the resources may get advocates from the visitation but this is more serendipitous than structured.
Visitors have benefited from HSI?s activities and from visiting the region in general. The drives are pleasant, and the services more than adequate. Visitors who are exposed to HSI-influenced programs like the crafts guild or the Ohio River Scenic Route have the potential of having a more memorable experience as a result of HSI's activities.
Lessons to be Learned
Regional development efforts take time and the impacts are truly difficult to gauge. The program has developed strategically. It started with strong support from one agency, the University of Southern Indiana, which they facilitated the planning of the organization's activities and kept momentum going forward. While at times this appeared to be a glacial process, they moved forward while at the same time increasing the organizational capacity. Using the University as a base was vital in HSI's development, as the university was a disinterested body. It also provided the important staff support.
HSI is a wonderful example of many elements done right in a developing regional effort. They have created an organization that effectively balances planning and action. For people who want to become involved, there are ample opportunities to do so. For consumers, their experience is enhanced by the materials produced and the capacity-building activities engaged in. The areas to focus on in their future growth may well be geared toward getting more direct benefits from their activities and facilitating benefits to the resources.
Contact
Historic Southern Indiana
8600 University Blvd.
Evansville, IN 47712
812-465-7014
Website http://www.usi.edu/hsi
Top of Page
