Description
These guidelines are based on HandMade in America's experience in promoting folkcraft in rural North Carolina through a craft heritage corridor and guidebook.

Related Tool: HandMade in America

How to Use This Tool

• Use National Trust for Historic Preservation guidelines to establish criteria for eligibility to be on the trail system.
• Ask citizens of each county or town to define their assets or sites to be placed on the trail.
• Ask citizens of each county or town to identify "sacred sites" where visitors are not welcome but which are important to local citizens.
• Hire a "quality control" person to ride the trails and visit each site through the eyes of a visitor--i.e., authenticity of retail items to the trail (made in Taiwan or locally).
• Select volunteers to ride the trails to determine correctness and ease of directions.
• Select volunteer focus groups (similar to the characteristics of a heritage visitor) to review the guidebook- i.e., size of book clarity of language, visual appeal, size of print, and cost of guidebook.
  Remember to get an ISBN number and register with the Library of Congress before the book goes to press. Go to www.bowker.com on the Internet for more information.
• Have volunteers call every phone number listed in the guide from the "blue line" to ascertain correctness of phone numbers.
• Conduct a training session for volunteers and staff of all sites on how to "hand-off" visitors from one site to the next and prepare all site participants for questions from visitors.
• Have fun! This is your community, your history and your heritage. It is a wonderful way to overcome stereotypes and provide a visitor with insight and knowledge about your community.
  

Contacts
HandMade in America
P.O. Box 2089
Asheville, NC 28802
Phone 828-252-0121
Fax 828-252-0388
Email: info@handmadeinamerica.org
Website: http://www.handmadeinamerica.org

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