Cultural Tourism and Historic Hudson Valley (HHV) 183

Ann Webster Smith US. ICOMOS. Washington. D.C. In the draft of bis "Tourism at Cultural Great Depression who must leave behind World Heritage Sites," Robertson alI his belongings, the evidences of his Collins, chairman of the ICOMOS own and his family's past, as his family International scil=ntific Commit tee on moves to California in search of a better Cultural Tourism, tries to define life. He asks, "Without our past, how will "cultural tourism" and comments: we know its us?" Cultural tourism is good tourism The answer to his question is that he involving music and arts and dance and ethnic evidences, as compared to probably won't. Those in our own time bad tourism which is only interested in who traveI have lcarncd the importance of artefacts and the nccd for context in sun and sand and discos. There emerges the claim that Cultural understanding culture. And they have Iearned that with a bctter knowlcdge of Tourism is sincere, real, honest, the past of our own and other cultures, intellectual, thoughtful and is we wiII bctter know who we are and who somehow a leaming and caring aIl those others are, toc. experience. I think that I might go beyond Mr. I would likc to tcll you about Historic Collins' rather jokey distinctions and say Hudson Vallcy, onc complcx of historic that when we travel away from home, propertics and its cfforts to achicvc geographically or intellectually, "good ..good tourism" by hclping its visitors to tourism" makes us aware of cultural broaden thcir pcrccptions in ordcr to differences and similarities. One would undcrstand what thc visitor sharcs with hope that travelers are pleasantly the culturcs that thcsc propcrtics surprised to discover the humanity and -rcprcsent and how and wbcrc today's the aspirations that they share with visitors arc diffcrcnt from thosc who others. One would hope equally that havc gone bcforc thcm at thosc travelers will become increasingly aware propcrtics. of and even sympathetic toward the differences between their own culture Historic Hudson Valley (HHV) bas and others. When travelling closer to recently celebrated its 4Oth anniversary home one hopes that travellers become as a private charitable and educational more aware of their own history and organization that opcratcs a scrics of culture. Under the best of circumstances bouse muscums made up of historic "good tourism" increases one's propcrtics of local, national and understanding of the similarities and international significancc. Historic differences within the traveler's own Hudson Valley' propcrtics are locatcd in culture that mighlt exist over time. New York State's Hudson River Valley; four are locatcd just north of Manhattan "Oood tourism" or cultural tourism, if and New York City and a firth propcrty you prefer, broadens one's perception of is an hour to the north. bis or ber own past as weIl as the past of otbers. The sccnery of the region bas bccn compared to the Rhine; the variety of The American author, John visitor offerings arc as different as folk Steinbeck. tells us of a child of the music and music festivals, art and Oklahoma Dust Bowl durins the 1930'5 sculpture collections, aIl kinds of outdoor 178 Cu/tura/ Tourism 'sports and wineries. Most important, with the conservation of natural and pcrhaps, in attracting visitors-cultural manmade landscapcs). Bath tourists-to the region is history and the Montgomery Place and Kykuit are attraction offered by historic houses and National Historic Landmarb, as weIl. sites, public and private, grand and modest, dating from the time of early Historic Hudson Valley, like Colonial Europcan travelers who went up the Williamsburg, Inc., was founded at the Hudson River in their search for initiative and through the generosity of passageways to the East. John D. Rockefeller Jr although there is no institutional connection bctwccn the Estabisheld in 1951 as Sleepy Hollow two organizations. Restorations, the Historic Hudson Valley complex originally consisted of Historic Hudson Valley operates a three Westchester County (NY) comprebensive bistoric bouse museum properties ranging in period from program witb public visitation and Pbilipsburg Manor-Upper mills (the educational activities based on researcb, mercantile centre of an 18th century arcbaeology, and curatorial activities. It trading empire that once. spanned the conducts a variety of public, relations globe), Van Cortlandt Manor (for 250 and promotional activities, operates a years the home of a single system of museum sbops, conducts an family-originally Dutch-whose extensive marketing program and is members included a Mayor of New York engaged in public and private City and a Lieutenant Governor of New fundraising designed to support its York during the British colonial period programs and its operations. just prior to the American Revolution), Historic Hudson Valley sccks to serve Sunnyside (a rare surviving example of the communitics in which the historic American Romanticism and the home of propcrtics are located and to at tract a Washington Irving, an important wide audience of local visitors as weIl as American writer of the early 19th domcstic and international tourists, century and autbor of ..Tales of Sleepy cspccially thosc who are visiting ncarby Hollow"). Ali of these properties are New York City. National Historic Landmarks. Historic HudsoD Vallcy's missioD, as ln 1984 the organization broadened sct forth by its trustccs, is to rcstorc, its focus beyond Sleepy Ho11ow and prcscrvc, intcrprct aDd promotc for Westchester County to inc1ude the public bcDCfit aDd CDjOymCDtsitcs iD thc history and culture of the entire Hudson Va1lcy that posscsshistoric significaDcc, River vl1ey, more than 100 miles along architcctura1 distinction, CXCCl1CDCCin the river. ln 1985 Sleepy Hollow began dccorativc or rmc arts col1cctions or tours to the nearby Union Church of cxtraoràdIurry ~uty iD tcrms of Pocantico Bills which features 2Oth laDdscape and Datural scttin8. HHV's century stained glass windows by Mare objcctivcs includc thc crcation of Chagall and Henri Matisse, gifts of the programs dcsigncd to maximizc thc Rockefeller family. ln 1986 the CdUcatiODal, cultural aDd rccrcational organization a.cquired Montogomery opportunitics of thc propertics it owns Place (distinguished for its architecture, and, uDdcr ccrtain circumstanccs, of its setting and its residents) and changed propertics oWDcdby othcrs but maDagcd its name to today's Bistoric Hudson or operatcd by HHV (as in thc casc of Valley in recognition of its wider Kykuit which is oWDcd by thc US geographic focus. National Trust for Historic Beginning in 1994, HHV will operate PrcscrvatioD). HHV CODtinuCSto bc a Kykuit (the home of the Rockefeller privatc non-profit organizatioD and it Family, leaders in American business contiDucs to raisc fUDds through thc and philanthroLPY and long concerned gCDCroUSsupport of privatc fOUDdations with the significance of hostoric and iDdividuals and through admissions properties as educational resources and and its OWDmarkctiDg operations. Cullural Tourism and Hisloric Hudson Valley (HHY 179 As with any complex of historic horticulture. It also offers a number of buildings used as museums -facilities popular special events (some of which for cultural tourism, if you will- Historic are detailed under MARKETING, Hudson Valley is involved in the usual below). professional concems including architectural conservation, In-depth school workshops archaeological investigation and emphasizing interactive learning are curatorial activities, but for purposes of offered. Among these are: this discussion, my focus will be on education and marketing and will touch " African-Americans in search of on fundraising, ,alI from an American Freedom," which explores the African perspective. American experience in the Hudson Valley during the l8th century; Education "tabor and teisure," explores the Educational programming is considered relationships between estate families central to Historic Hudson Valley's and their servants during the 19th mission of fostering knowledge and century through the use of artefacts appreciation of the region's history and and role playing; culture. Educational offerings include both school and public programs ..The Train is a Comin" is a guided reflecting the interpretive themes of tour-workshop which looks at each site, all based on exhaustive historic agricultural technology of the colonial research as weil as architectural and period at the 18th century Philips archaeological investigation. Manor and compares it with the next century's industrial advances as ln addition to i'ts interest in expanding observed at Sunnyside, a 19th on the teaching of regional, state and centurey property. American history , in recent years, the State of New York bas caIled for the development of a new school curriculum Markedog that includes information about the Historic Hudson Valley has explored state's significant multi-<:ultural history . and will explore a variety of marketing approaches designed to at tract visitors to Like Sri Lanka, New York State bas a the sites. Current marketing goals singificant Dutch and English history . include: But unlike Sri Lanka, New York bas also bad 150 years of Jewish immigration (I) Targeting ..the volume buyer primarily from Germany and Eastern category," including school tour Europe, ~ weIl as significant groups, group tour operators, immigration from Latin America. And corporate memberships and from within the US, New York bas also individual and family seen a major influx of

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