Preservation-based strategies for rural revitalization: an overview of National Trust initiatives

Abstract

Describes five current projects between the National Trust and outside partners that are part of an initiative to develop nationwide preservation-based models for the revitalization of rural communities. The three-year Rural Heritage Development Initiative (RHDI) studies the connection between rural preservation and economic development. The initiative currently sponsors two projects: the first collaborates with the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas to encourage heritage tourism, local entrepreneurship, and preservation education in the Arkansas Delta; and the second involves Preservation Kentucky, Inc., the Kentucky Heritage Council, and the Dry Stone Conservancy. These partners are working in central Kentucky's heartland to develop cultural tourism and related businesses that focus on barn and farm preservation as well as continued agricultural land use. Another National Trust project works with the Harvest Foundation of Martisville, Virginia, to save historic mill buildings for both residential and commercial adaptive reuse. The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership promotes preservation awareness that is compatible with economic growth along the suburban sprawl-threatened historic corridor running from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia along Route 15 to Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. Finally, the National Trust's Southern Field Office has built a tobacco barns preservation coalition among local farmers, civic leaders, and preservationists in the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland.