Historic house tours created the concept of Natchez tourism, and for 80 years they have continued as the backbone of the Natchez tourism industry. But 80 years have also brought a vast array of changes to the world, to the choices available to the visiting public and to Natchez itself.

“Sharpening the Focus of Natchez Tour Houses for the 21st Century Market: Taking the Past into the Future” is an economic development project underwritten by a grant from the National Park Service’s Lower Mississippi Delta Region Initiative.

Mary Ruffin Hanbury, an experienced consultant in historic preservation and cultural heritage tourism, will lead the project to freshen up the Natchez house tour experience. She will gather information about local tourism offerings, conduct face-to-face and telephone interviews, spend time in Natchez during Spring Pilgrimage 2012, solicit additional input via an Internet-based survey and create a report for the Natchez tour house community of best practices and recommendations.

A historic house offers a very specialized type of tour while also presenting a special set of challenges. Not the least of these is the expense of the upkeep on a historic structure, its gardens and its furnishings. Then there is the challenge of interpretation, staffing and visitor amenities such as parking, handicap access, even restrooms.

The Natchez garden club ladies who first opened their homes to visitors in 1932 grounded their tours in hospitality as much as education. They truly were building the airplane while they were flying it. While still appreciating the hospitality for which Mississippi is known, the tourists of today — and tomorrow — expect a more sophisticated content level from their experience.

Tourists of today and tomorrow want experiences that are more multidimensional or interactive. They want to hear the difficult parts of our story as well as the sunnier side. They want to hear the personal stories that haven’t been told before, or have not been told from multiple perspectives. They want to hear about how these stories connect to things they know about — like the Civil War, Civil Rights or the Blues.

How can we augment our house tours with children’s activities? How can we draw visitors who come to Natchez for gaming, a convention or an athletic event into an innovative house tour experience?

How can we integrate these tours with other activities like biking or walking trails? How can we engage our schoolchildren’s interest in their own history and in future stewardship of the cultural treasures of Natchez?

A public kick-off meeting for this project is scheduled in the theater of the Natchez Visitor Center at 5:30 p.m. today.

Everyone is encouraged to attend this meeting who owns a house that is open to the public, works as a paid or volunteer employee at a tour house or has experience or interest in the subject. There is no cost for participation.

For more information, contact me at 601-442-7049, ext. 13, or e-mail kathleen_jenkins@nps.gov.

 

Kathleen Jenkins is the Natchez National Historical Park superintendent.