T
he production and publication of this Macon County Tourism Resource Guide was made possible through the a USDA Cooperative agreement with Tuskegee University Rural Business and its Economic Development Program. Tourism can bring prosperity and change to long-isolated communities. It is impossible in this first of-a-kind guide, focusing on Macon County’s rich past and evolving present to survey the topic comprehensively, or even to include all significant historical sites. This work is necessarily selective rather than all encompassing. By using photographs to highlight a few examples, Dr. Youssouf Diabate this resource guide attempts to call attention to the composition of our rural landscapes and tourism assets. By tracing the stories of a few local, state, and national patterns of development and by looking closely at a few communities, congregations, families, and individuals as well as their hopes, purposes, and endeavors, it hints at the complexity of the stories that permeate Macon County and its affiliated towns and cities. This resource guide will be used as a tool for economic development in Macon County and others like it will be replicated for other Black Belt communities. It is a tool to be used along with other strategies to grow tourism business. As the volume of tourists increases, so will the need for restaurants, souvenir and novelty stores, other retail establishments, tour guide services, still and video photography and other businesses throughout the county all of which can derive income from visitors. This may spawn additional tourism infrastructure including new hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast operations. The resource guide will increase awareness, trigger interests and boost tourism, thereby creating business opportunities, jobs and new income. Tuskegee University’s Rural Business and Economic Development Program is grateful for the steady encouragement and expert assistance from economic and business developers from USDA Rural Development’s state office, especially Mary Ann Clayton; and Quinton Harris, who often remind us of what rural development is all about.
The mission of USDA Rural Development and Tuskegee University Rural Business and Economic Development Program is to: enhance the quality of life for all rural Americans by providing leadership in building competitive businesses and cooperatives that can prosper in the global marketplace. Rural Development accomplishes this mission by investing its financial resources and/or technical assistance in businesses, cooperatives, and communities, and by building partnerships that leverage public, private, and cooperative resources to stimulate rural economics.
Finally, I want to thank Mr. Edgar L. Lewis, Program Manager, USDA Rural Development, Cooperative Programs, USDA’s Alabama state office and it’s Director, Mr. Ronald W. Davis and Acting Administrator of Tuskegee University Cooperative Extension Program, Dr. Ntam Baharanyi for encouraging and supporting this project. We hope that this publication will help to convey the message and mission of USDA and the university to a wider audience, and thereby promote and expand the appreciation and preservation of Macon County’s historical legacy. Respectfully,
Youssouf Diabate, Ph.D Director Rural Business and Economic Development Program Tuskegee University Tuskegee, Alabama