Southern Maryland Heritage Area Consortium
Roz Racanello, Executive Director
PO Box 745, Hughesville, MD 20637
Phone: 301-274-4083, Fax: 301-274-1924
Email: SoMdHeritage@tccsmd.org
October 21, 2015
***PRESS RELEASE***
Small Grants for Tourism Projects Funded.
The Southern Maryland Heritage Area Consortium (SMHAC) announced today that twelve projects submitting Mini-Grant applications will receive funding.
These funds are made available to non-profits and government organizations inside the Heritage Area that seek to promote heritage tourism and economic development. Heritage tourism is defined as traveling to experience the places that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present – including historic, cultural and natural resources.
The projects receiving funding are:
Calvert County
Conservation of artifacts from the George Rice House at Biscoe Gray. Working with the MAC Lab at Jefferson Patterson Park, the County will conserve objects found near this African American site on the Farm. Once properly conserved, the artifacts, and any information they provide, can become part of an exhibit.
Arts Council of Calvert County – Barn Quilt Trail. Calvert County will join a number of communities to use the sides of barns as canvases for quilt patterns. They will begin by identifying one visible barn to paint and hold a ribbon cutting event in the Spring.
Calvert County Natural Resources – Natural Resources Brochure – printing. A brochure was created and produced and now the Department wishes to use and promote the brochure more widely since it consolidates information about individual parks in a single source.
Bayside History Museum – Native American Day at the Beach exhibit. This will be part of an exhibit on the first floor of the museum, consisting of a canoe and artifacts from Colony Beach. A mural surrounding the dugout canoe (donated to the museum) will be created using the funds.
American Chestnut Land Trust – New Interpretive Signs on Turkey Trail. This Trail is the most popular hiking trail in the ACLT lands, and they will add to the hikers experience by interpreting the natural world around them. Highlighting conservation issues as well as flora and fauna the signs will include an introduction to the protection efforts of the ACLT.
Charles County
Historical Society of Charles County – Holiday Trail 2015. This relatively new event will increase from 11 sites to 18 this year with the addition of a number of historic sites in the County. The funds would help produce brochures, postcards and banners to promote the expanded Trail.
Maryland Veterans Memorial Museum – Exhibit for Washington/Rochambeau Trail. The Museum is on this historically significant trail. The trail route is a long series of roads used by the Continental Army under Gen. Washington’s command as well as Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau during the 1781 march from Rhode Island to Virginia. The Museum will construct a series of exhibits relating to the route.
Friends of Chapman Forest – Historic Interpretive Posters – Preservation Study. The goal is to expand on the Preservation Study at Mt. Aventine completed in spring of 2015, and to duplicate key documented findings on large interpretive “posters” to display in the mansion. The posters would be on easels on both stories in the west wing.
Farm Heritage Conservancy – Serenity Farm Slave Grave Project. This new project will produce a short documentary titled: “Remembered by the Wind: The Slave Graves of Serenity Farm.” To be shot in HD video and provided to public television and other platforms, the film will tell the story of the uncovering of the burial ground.
St. Mary’s County
Unified Committee for Afro American Contributions (UCAC) – How Women Got the Right to Vote. An exhibit detailing women’s suffrage in the US based on election day 1920, as millions of women exercised their right to vote for the first time after the passage of the 19th Amendment. The exhibit will be displayed at the US Colored Troop Memorial Interpretive Center.
Point Lookout State Park – Photo Tour Book of the Park. This book will be a walking tour guide with historical and educational significance. There will be a trail of sequentially numbered stops, (17 have been identified,) and each will be depicted and described in the booklet.
Greenwell State Park – Explore Greenwell. This project will create brochures that focus on the park’s history, environment, natural resources and tourism products, including information about Rosedale Manor. The goal is to increase tours of all aspects of the park.
All those who wish to learn more about membership or future grant offerings should contact the Consortium by email, SoMdHeritage@tccsmd.org or by phone at 301-274-4083.
Additional information about the Southern Maryland Heritage Area is available on the web at: www.DestinationSouthernMaryland.com.
The mission of the Southern Maryland Heritage Area Consortium (SMHAC) is to enhance the economic activity of Southern Maryland through combining quality heritage tourism and small business development with preservation, cultural and natural resource conservation and education. The SMHAC receives support from the three county Boards of Commissioners, the MHAA, the Tri-County Council for Southern MD and private contributions.
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