PRESS RELEASE: March 2, 2010
Contacts: Great Lakes Seaway Trail: Teresa Mitchell, 315-646-1000
Lakes to Locks Passage Janet Kennedy, 518-597-9660
NY Byways Collaboration a Model for Nation’s Byway Leaders; Great Lakes Seaway Trail, Lakes to Locks Passage Directors to Share Tips in March 5 Webinar
Contacts: Great Lakes Seaway Trail: Teresa Mitchell, 315-646-1000
Lakes to Locks Passage Janet Kennedy, 518-597-9660
NY Byways Collaboration a Model for Nation’s Byway Leaders; Great Lakes Seaway Trail, Lakes to Locks Passage Directors to Share Tips in March 5 Webinar
Sackets Harbor, NY – On March 5, 2010, Great Lakes Seaway Trail President & CEO Teresa Mitchell and Lakes to Locks Passage Executive Director Janet Kennedy will present insights on a first-ever collaboration by four New York byways in a webinar for the nation’s byway’ leaders.
Byways Specialist Curtis Pianalto of the America’s Byways Resource Center in Duluth, MN, will moderate the web discussion. Pianalto says, “Sharing this case study via the webinar will be important for the greater byway community. This byway partnership has created a shared platform for showcasing byways as the unique vehicle for discovering the story of the French and Indian War along the historic waterways of New York and Pennsylvania.”
In celebration of New York State’s French and Indian War history and the 250th anniversary of the war, four of New York State’s byways — the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, the Lakes to Locks Passage, the Revolutionary War Trail and Mohawk Towpath collaborated in 2006-2009 (and continue), in partnership with I Love NY and the New York State 250th French and Indian War Commemoration Commission, to:
- publish a brochure for NY’s byway-based French and Indian War historic sites
- publish a full-color guidebook – Waterways of War: The Struggle for Empire 1754-1763: A Traveler’s Guide to the French and Indian War Forts and Battlefields Along America’s Byways in New York and Pennsylvania by Steve Benson and Ron Toelke is receiving kudos from history and mainstream media. New York State Assembly Tourism Committee Chair Steven Englebright said, “Travel and history are great natural tourism partners. This new guidebook to the French & Indian War is a result of the first collaboration of New York’s designated byways and provides travelers with a wonderful vehicle for exploring our history and our waterfronts.”
- develop and install a series of “outdoor storyteller” interpretive panels at destination points significant to the war that was the prelude to America becoming an independent nation
- develop a French and Indian War theme-based website to showcase 19 historic sites in New York (17) and Pennsylvania (2)
- jointly promote French and Indian War Commemorative Events to bus tour groups with the American Bus Association
- partner with Mountain Lakes PBS to present a French & Indian War documentary titled “Forgotten War” – which has been uplinked to the national PBS network with downloadable resources for grade 7-12 educators and a GoogleMap-based travel itinerary that draws on the Waterways of War guidebook
- promote living history demonstrations, including NY’s 2010 French and Indian War Commemorative Signature Event expected to draw 20,000 visitors to Ogdensburg, NY, at the site of historic Fort de la Presentation. The July 2009 Commemoration Signature Event at Old Fort Niagara set a record attendance of 15,000 visitors there.
Mitchell, who Chairs the National Scenic Byways Foundation, says, “This New York-Pennsylvania project showcases byways as a unique way to discover the historic, cultural, natural, and recreational resources along America’s Byways. The French and Indian War theme allowed us to emphasize the experience of traveling along byways to historic sites and living history experiences.”
Kennedy says, “The outreach created by the synergy of the four byways has attracted a diverse mix of audiences – from heritage tourists and traveling educators to the US Army Times and PBS. This type of collaboration is the future of the byway programs and sets a standard for creating public awareness of how byways offer an authentic American experience of the landscapes of history, well-kept military architecture, battlefields and waterfront staging areas.”
The American Bus Association named the four-byway tour to French and Indian War sites among its Top 100 Events in North America for tour packagers in 2007. The tour links byways, forts and battlefields, and draws attention to historic waterways: the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie coastlines of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail in NY and PA, the Erie Canal of NY’s Mohawk Towpath, and the Lake Champlain, Lake George and Champlain Canal of the Lakes to Locks Passage.
The NY-based partnership attracted an additional $15,000 in grant funds from Visit Erie, which manages the Seaway Trail Pennsylvania extension of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail.
Mitchell points out that the value of the project extends into 2012, saying, “This project has created a base for developing, interpreting and promoting the 200th War of 1812 anniversary commemoration in New York and Pennsylvania.”
The project collaboration will also be featured in a 2010 edition of the Vistas newsletter, published by the America’s Byways Resource Center in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration. # # #
This map shows the 19 historic sites celebrated by the Waterways of War traveler’s guide to French and Indian War forts and battlefields along America’s Byways in New York and Pennsylvania. Photo: Great Lakes Seaway Trail