The Group Travel Leader March 2019

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TRAI L 2019 TRAVEL GUIDE

Your passengers can take a tour and a sip at the legendary Anheuser-Busch Brewery and find out why St. Louis was named “The Best Beer Scene” by USA Today. Or they can cheer on the 11-time World Champion Cardinals at Busch Stadium or Ballpark Village. And no trip is complete until they’ve experienced the city’s thriving live music scene or learned about its history at the National Blues Museum. It‘s the Midwest at its finest.

Discover more reasons to tour here at explorestlouis.com.

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table ofCONTENTS VOL 29 | ISSUE 3

U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIL

6 EDITOR’S MARKS

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CIVIL RIGHTS ROAD TRIPS

NEWS

NEW ON THE TRAIL

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C I V I L R I G H T S AT M U S E U M S

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HISTORIC CHURCHES

12 C O N F E R E N C E S C E N E

Farm Dinners

O N THE COVE R

Homemade beignets are a signature treat throughout Louisiana.

FEATURES

AMERICA’S

Crossroads

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Discover restaurants, architecture and hidden gems of Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

COMBINE AGRITOURISM AND CULINARY EXPLORATION WITH THESE FARM DINING EXPERIENCES..

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A KENTUCKY SAMPLER

LOUISIANA FAVORITES

STAFF SOUND-OFF

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MAC T. LACY CHARLES A. PRESLEY BRIAN JEWELL HERBERT SPARROW DONIA SIMMONS

Founder and Publisher Partner Executive Editor Senior Writer Creative Director

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CHRISTINE CLOUGH KELLY TYNER KYLE ANDERSON DANIEL JEAN-LEWIS ASHLEY RICKS

Copy Editor Director of Sales & Marketing Account Manager Account Manager Graphic Design & Circulation

888.253.0455

KELLY@GROUPTR AVELLEADER.COM

The GROUP TRAVEL LEADER is published ten times a year by THE GROUP TRAVEL LEADER, Inc., 301 East High St., Lexington, Kentucky 40507, and is distributed free of charge to qualified group leaders who plan travel for groups of all ages and sizes. THE GROUP TRAVEL LEADER serves as the official magazine of GROUP TRAVEL FAMILY, the organization for traveling groups. All other travel suppliers, including tour operators, destinations, attractions, transportation companies, hotels, restaurants and other travelrelated companies may subscribe to THE GROUP TRAVEL LEADER by sending a check for $59 for one year to: THE GROUP TRAVEL LEADER, Circulation Department, 301 East High St., Lexington, KY 40507. Phone (859) 253-0455 or (859) 253-0503. Copyright THE GROUP TRAVEL LEADER, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reproduction of editorial or graphic content in any manner without the written consent of the publisher is prohibited.

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our attention is a limited resource. It pays to use it wisely.

In much the same way that you’re careful about how you spend your money and what you do with your time, you should be smart about where your attention is going every day. There are thousands of voices in your world clamoring to be heard — family members, co-workers, friends, news organizations, advertisers, celebrities, politicians — and you don’t have enough attention to listen to all of them.

Of course, paying attention and listening to people is a vital part of the work you do. But not everyone who wants to talk to you is worth listening to.

Whether you’re a tour operator, a group leader or a travel industry representative, there are a few universal categories of people you should just ignore.

1) HATERS AND TROLLS — Some people just love to spew negativity, and it seems their sole purpose in life is to criticize everything and everybody they come across.

The problem is especially bad online, where trolls often hide behind the anonymity of screen names. If you’ve been in business awhile, you might recognize these people from a mile away. They have nothing positive to add to your life, so shut them down before they even have a chance to start talking.

2) PROPHETS OF DOOM — Just like haters and trolls, some people seem to relish telling everyone they meet

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that disaster is coming. In our industry, these are the people who go around saying that group travel is dying and that Airbnb is going to put hotels out of business. But they’ve been saying those same things for decades, and disaster has yet to come. You should always be responsive to change and prepared for emergencies, but don’t let your mind be consumed by prophets of doom.

3) GOSSIPS AND BUSYBODIES — The appeal of a juicy piece of gossip can seem irresistible. But the same person who is excited to dish to you one minute will just as happily dish on you the next. In an industry as tightknit as tourism, that gossip can be distracting and destructive. So when you see gossips and busybodies coming, stay in your lane and walk on by.

You don’t need what they’re selling.

4) COMPETITORS — It’s smart to stay aware of marketplace trends to ensure that you stay relevant and competitive. But don’t waste your attention on your competitors. The more energy you spend obsessing over them, the less you will have to invest in growing and improving what you do. And if they’re spreading lies about you, it’s best to laugh them off and prove them wrong with your professionalism and excellence.

5) NONCUSTOMERS — You don’t have to look far to find people who have opinions about your company, your product or your destination. And though it’s occasionally useful to get outside perspectives on your brand, your products will appeal only to a small percentage of the population. So instead of paying attention to the opinions of people who will never “get” what you’re doing, listen to your customers. They understand what you’re trying to do and why it matters. And their input can be key to helping you improve your offerings and reach more people like them.

MARCH 2019

CUSTOM CONTENT

FROM BOOKING TO

BON VOYAGE

MSC IS THERE FOR GROUP TOURS

BY VICKIE MITCHELL

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hat’s not to like about taking group travelers on a voyage with MSC Cruises, the world’s largest privately owned cruise line?

The planning is certainly easy; with one call, everything from meals to guest rooms to activities, is arranged. There’s also value-when all costs are tallied, a cruise is clearly a better deal than comparable land-based tours. And, for travel planners, there’s the bonus of seeing their travelers, smiling and happy as they discover the charms of Cuba, or Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Still, if you’ve never taken a group shipboard you might be hesitant to give it a try because you feel you don’t understand how things differ from a land-based program.

Wayne Peyreau, regional vice president, sales (U.S.A.) for MSC Cruises, understands the concerns. Here, he covers questions planners often pose and explains how MSC works with groups.

LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME OPTIONS

Maybe you’d like a special shipboard greeting for your group or, one evening, a reception on deck. If bonding is the goal, MSC planning experts can come up with fun games or teambuilding contests.

A GUARANTEED GROUP RATE MOTIVATES

Still, planners can be a little hesitant to commit to a cruise, often because they are nervous about getting the number of bookings required for group rates. That is one reason MSC has instituted a group rate guarantee. “It gives our clients a comfort level,”

said Peyreau. “To get our group rate, the minimum is eight state rooms, 16 guests, but if a planner markets the trip and gets only one stateroom, we are not going to adjust that rate up. Doing that helps convince a lot of planners. They can promote with confidence. There’s no going back to travelers to say, ‘I’m sorry this rate was for eight state rooms so I have to adjust your rate.’”

WANT YOUR GROUP TO STAND OUT? ASK MSC.

Wearing matching T-shirts or hats could help your travelers better connect on board.

MSC can help brand a gathering with logoed T-shirts, hats, napkins and banners.

NEED HELP MARKETING YOUR TRIP? MSC WILL HELP.

Marketing is key to a good group booking. MSC has marketing materials that can be customized. It will also share videos, brochures and other materials to inform and excite your travelers.

Cozumel, Mexico, before arriving in Havana, Cuba, early on a Saturday afternoon, staying overnight, and leaving at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

MEETING EXPERT AT YOUR ELBOW

An MSC planning expert will introduce themselves to planners on board and check in to make sure things are running smoothly.

If unexpected issues arise, planners can use a ship’s phone to reach their on-board contact. “You have someone on board your ship making sure you have everything you need,” said Peyreau.

VARIED SHIPS, ITINERARIES FIT DIFFERENT NEEDS

Since it began offering departures from PortMiami, MSC has steadily added ships and voyages year round in the Caribbean.

Again, this year, the elegant MSC Divina rejoins MSC Seaside, offering several threeday cruises to the Bahamas, which could be a good introductory tour for groups that have not cruised in the past. MSC is developing its own island in the Bahamas, and late this year, a stop there will become a part of many of its cruises. For groups that would rather spend time exploring ports than at sea, the MSC Armonia will sail seven-night Caribbean cruises with stops in Montego Bay, Jamaica; Georgetown, Cayman Islands; and

FOR MORE INFORMATION Wayne Peyreau 954-958-3283 www.msccruisesusa.com wayne.peyreau@msccruisesusa.com

FAMILY MATTERS H ARRISON COUNT Y IS A SAV V Y GROUP DESTINATION SALEM, Ohio — Groups winding their way west along the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky, will soon find themselves among the rolling hills of Indiana’s hometown, Corydon.

This Harrison County destination should be on every group travel planner’s short list.

Corydon is where Indiana begins. With lush beauty, the first state capitol and Indiana’s only Civil War battlefield, Harrison County, Indiana is a multifaceted tourism destination.

While history created the tourism opportunity, the Harrison County Convention and Visitors Bureau is the reason groups are aware of the area.

Harrison County is a familiar tour destination because of the group outreach that the local convention and visitors bureau has undertaken in the past few years.

“Harrison County Convention and Visitors Bureau really puts themselves in front of group travel planners and has created an awareness of their destination,” said Jennifer Ferguson of The Group Travel Family.

The area’s marketing strategy has extended to travel planner gatherings that include the Select Traveler Conference, the Small Market Meetings Conference and Boomers in Groups, as well as the American Bus Association Marketplace. Those group travel events have placed Harrison County in the minds of thousands of travel groups and have resulted in an increase in groups in the region.

“A great example of creating destination awareness to groups is the floor graphics the Harrison County CVB sponsored at Select Traveler Conference,” Ferguson said. Those floor graphics garnered visibility to the 400 delegates over the three-day conference and promoted Harrison County as a destination.

The Harrison County CVB’s dedication to group travel is especially evident on its website.

Travel planners who visit www.thisisindiana. org will find a group travel page designed to make their jobs simple. The page lists all the area attractions and provides mileage charts and

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GROUPS VISITING CORYDON AND HARRISON COUNTY CAN ENJOY ATTRACTIONS SUCH AS SQUIRE BOONE CAVERNS (TOP), CORYDON CAPITOL STATE HISTORIC SITE (BOTTOM LEFT) AND TURTLERUN WINERY (BOTTOM RIGHT).

Photos courtesy Harrison Co. CVB

maps. The CVB also offers itinerary planning, step-on guides, FAM tours, site visits, welcome receptions, goody bags and even room block assistance for area hotels.

The Harrison County CVB group department is headed by Stacy Pirtle, director of sales and visitor services.

“Stacy knows what the travel planner needs to make the group happy, and she always delivers,” said Ferguson.

Sample itineraries developed by Harrison County include History and Heritage; Winery and Microbrewery; and Wine, Vines, Wheels and Deals. The CVB also designs special itineraries to meet the groups’ needs.

“Whether your group is looking for relaxation or rejuvenation, there’s no better place on earth than Harrison County,” Pirtle said.

You can learn more by contacting Pirtle at 888-738-2137 or stacyp@thisisindiana.org.

MARCH 2019

CLINE EARNS NA J INNOVATIVE TOUR OPERATOR AWARD

BOB CLINE

SALEM, Ohio — Bob Cline, founder of U.S. Tours and an established presence in the group travel industry, was honored with the NAJ Innovative Tour Operator Award at the American Bus Association Marketplace in Louisville, Kentucky. The award celebrated his creativity and innovative concepts in the tour industry and was presented by Jake Steinman of the NAJ Group.

Since his founding of U.S. Tours in 1996, Cline has developed a national company that serves the group tour market. A sample of U.S. Tours’ unique product line includes securing Graceland every December for an Elvis Blue Christmas event and renting the West Virginia Penitentiary for a Johnny Cash Prison Concert.

“Bob is a fixture at every Group Travel Family event, including Select Traveler Conference, AfricanAmerican Travel Conference, Going On Faith Conference and Boomers in Groups,” said Charlie Presley of the Group Travel Family. “Group travel planners always look forward to new U.S. Tours products, and Bob always makes our conferences fun.”

Learn more about U.S. Tours by calling 304-485-8687.

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Hands-On Fun

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Photos courtesy Watt Design Photography

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couple of new car museums opening this spring in Kansas will give car enthusiasts ample reasons to visit the state.

The 55,000-square-foot Midwest Dream Car Collection in Manhattan will feature an eclectic mix of 40 to 50 early roadsters, muscle cars and exotics in the main showroom, while the Reserve, or back room, will hold an additional 20 to 30 cars.

An event center and conference room with full caterer’s kitchen is also available for reservation.

The Decades of Wheels complex in downtown Baxter Springs, located on Route 66 in the far southeast corner of the state, will include the Cafe on the Route restaurant, a Route 66-themed arcade, a dessert bar, a bed-and-breakfast inn, and the Decades of Wheels museum of collectible cars and motorcycles from the early 1900s to the latest.

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MARCH 2019

INTERNATIONAL SPY MUSEUM SET TO OPEN NEW FACILIT Y IN WASHINGTON WASHINGTON — The International Spy Museum is scheduled to open its striking new facility with reimagined state-of-the art exhibits on L’Enfant Plaza on May 11.

The new 140,000-square-foot steel and glass building is a short walk between the National Mall and the Wharf and is twice the size of the museum’s former home at F Street NW. The museum explores the many roles individuals have played in spying and intelligence work, from ancient Greece and China to the Cold War, Cuba and Vietnam, to today’s cyberspace and social media.

The new exhibits include a re-creation of the Situation Room during the capture of Osama bin Laden; an immersive exhibit about Communist Berlin that includes the re-creation of an East German Stasi office with all original artifacts, a border checkpoint and original segments of the Berlin Wall; and interactive stations that enable visitors to take on spy personas and test their mettle and skills.

The rooftop, which provides nearly 360-degree views of Washington from the Capitol to the Washington Monument to the Wharf, and indoor event space with floor-to-ceiling windows opened in September.

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WRESTLING HALL OF FAME GE T TING S TATE-OF-THE-AR T RENOVATION WATERLOO, Iowa —A $1.4 million renovation of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum is scheduled to be completed in late March.

The project is transforming the facility into a state-of-the-art museum with interactive displays, including four kiosks with information about the 130 members of the Wrestling Hall of Fame.

It is also expanding the wrestling room, teaching center and theater, providing more opportunities for youth wrestlers to practice and receive instruction.

Located in a refurbished section of downtown Waterloo, the museum is named for Waterloo native Dan Gable, a two-time NCAA champion and Olympic gold medalist wrestler who coached the University of Iowa to 15 NCAA team championships.

“These improvements will make the museum more modern and appealing,” said Gable.

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LOUISVILLE HOSTS ABA 2019

BY B R I A N J E W E L L

ABA DELEGATES ENJOY AN EVENING EVENT AT LOUISVILLE’S KENTUCKY DERBY MUSEUM.

Photos by KRR Photography

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LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — Nearly 3,500 tour operators, bus company representatives and other tourism industry professionals gathered in Louisville for the American Bus Association (ABA) Marketplace January 25-29.

ABA’s Marketplace is the largest annual convention in the group tourism industry, and the association’s president and CEO, Peter Pantuso, said this year’s event ranked among the most successful in the organization’s history.

“It was probably one of the best shows we’ve had in terms of the business environment,” he said. “Everyone I talked to was pleased with how it went on both sides. Buyers and sellers were incredibly well received with responses from the other side and how those relationships went.”

This year’s conference marked a return to Louisville, where ABA’s 2016 Marketplace was held. In the interim, Louisville’s Kentucky International Convention Center was closed for two years while it was undergoing an extensive

renovation. That project spurred other major tourism and hospitality investments in the downtown area as well, including the construction of a 612-room Omni hotel and updates to several other hotel properties. The convention center reopened late last summer, and ABA’s delegates enjoyed the opportunity to experience the city’s growth and change.

“Everybody loves Louisville,” Pantuso said.

“It’s such a warm and welcoming city, and there’s so much to do, even more than when we were there a few years ago. The new convention center is bright and airy, and it gave it a totally different feel.

“We went to Louisville three years ago, and it was fantastic. People didn’t know what it was going to be like, but when they showed up, they loved it. That was with an old convention center and some hotels that needed some updating.

Since them, the Omni came in, a lot of hotels updated their product, and the convention center is new. The whole town understands tourism in ways that not many other cities do.”

In addition to business appointments and educational sessions that took place at the convention center, the ABA delegates experienced visitor highlights on sightseeing tours around town and at Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum, which hosted an all-attendee evening event.

During the conference’s opening lunch, Pantuso announced the addition of the Bus World Academy, a separately ticketed educational event that will be held in conjunction with Marketplace beginning next year in Omaha, Nebraska.

“That’s going to be really tailored toward bus owners and their staff,” Pantuso said. “Bus World is an organization in Belgium that runs a big bus show every other year, and they run smaller shows in six or seven countries around the world.

We’re bringing the educational component of their show here. It’s going to be a high-level view of how passenger and bus transportation is going. The program will bring speakers, educators, university faculty and government officials from all over the world.”

ABA’s 2020 Marketplace will be held January 10-14 in Omaha.

MARCH 2019

EXPERT

insigh t

SHIRLEY DAVIS CONNER ELV IS PRE SL E Y EN T ERPRISE S

BY B R I A N J E W E L L

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hen you live in Memphis, Elvis Presley is never far away.

Shirley Davis Connor has spent her entire life in Memphis.

Growing up there, she heard people refer to the King of Rock ’n’ Roll as if he were just another resident.

“I knew of Elvis growing up,” Connor said. “Sometimes I would drive past his house with my parents, and they would say, ‘That’s where Elvis used to live.’”

Once she grew up and started working in hotels, though, Connor began to understand how important Elvis was to visitors from all over the globe.

“I was in the hospitality industry for three years,” she said. “I kept having tour operators ask me about Graceland and whether they should include that in their tours. So, finally, I went to check it out, and I thought it was a really cool place.”

When she saw an ad in the local newspaper for a job at Graceland, she applied. Soon, she was hired as the director of sales at Elvis Presley Enterprises, the organizations that runs Graceland and related Elvis properties.

She’s had the job since 1992. Her duties include overseeing the ticketing area and the reservations staff for mansion tours, museum visits and the onsite hotel, the Guest House at Graceland. She also works with tour operators to help them set up their trips to Graceland.

“It’s an honor, honestly,” she said. “It’s not a hard sell. I don’t have to do a lot of explaining about who Elvis is, even when I travel overseas.”

In her time with the organization, Conner has seen the properties grow substantially, and she loves helping visitors discover all the things there are to do in addition to touring the mansion.

“A lot of people think we’re just Elvis’ home,” she said. “They don’t realize how much more there is to see and do here. In 2017, we opened a new entertainment complex called Elvis Presley’s Memphis. That allowed us to build something five times the size of the visitor complex we had before. So we tell the story of the offstage Elvis in the mansion; then, across the street in the entertainment complex, you learn about the public Elvis.”

Around the same time, the organization opened the Guest House at Graceland. The 450-room hotel earned a AAA Four Diamond rating and

GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM

SALES TIP FROM SHIRLEY “ D on’t op e r ate a s a n i s l a nd . L e a r n

ab out w h at ’s a rou nd you . T he more you k now about, t he more you ca n tel l ot hers, a nd t he more l i kely t hey a re to embr ace you r ent husia sm.”

is noted for its food and beautiful design.

“There are touches of Elvis everywhere,” Conner said. “You don’t see Elvis pictures throughout the lobby, but some of the furniture in the lobby is reminiscent of his jumpsuits, and the ceiling is patterned after one of his jumpsuits as well.”

Representing Elvis Presley Enterprises has taken Conner to cities across the United States and around the world. She regularly attends events such as the NTA Travel Exchange, the American Bus Association Marketplace and the U.S. Travel Association’s IPW. She also goes on sales missions in Europe with other tourism representatives from Memphis.

“The reason I’ve been here so long is that no two days are ever alike, and that’s what I love about it,” she said. “And I’ve seen a lot more of the world spreading the word about Elvis than I would have doing anything else.”

When she’s not on the road or helping guests at Graceland, Conner stays busy exploring the changing face of her native Memphis.

“Memphis is really booming, and I like to stay on top of what’s going on,” she said.” The more I know about the city and the region, the better I can convince tour operators that Memphis is a great place to bring their groups.”

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A CULINARY CROSSROADS

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ARKANSAS | KANSAS | MISSOURI | OKLAHOMA 14

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MARCH 2019

By Arshia Kahn, courtesy South on Main

DON’T MISS THESE DISTINCTIVE

DINING EXPERIENCES B y P au l a Av en Gl a dyc h

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eople love to eat. And whether it’s classic Kansas City barbecue, locally sourced bratwurst, Southern comfort food or homemade baked-in-the-oven bread, America’s Crossroads has flavors for everyone.

Whatever your pleasure, these five kitschy, historic or distinctive restaurants are great stops for groups traveling through the region.

THEE ABBEY KITCHEN AT A R C A D I A A C A D E M Y Arcadia, Missouri

Katherine Rouse, owner of Thee Abbey Kitchen at Arcadia Academy, carries on her mother’s tradition of grinding wheat kernels into flour daily to bake her signature cinnamon rolls and bread. Thee Abbey Kitchen started with bread and expanded its menu to include soups, sandwiches, burgers, steak and pasta.

The restaurant, in a former convent in Arcadia, Missouri, is a destination. Visitors can not only partake of the homemade food but also tour the site’s historic buildings, which date back to 1846 when the property was built as a Methodist High School. They can also grab a craft soda from the old-time soda and root beer fountain, eat some homemade frozen custard and take a horse-and-carriage ride around the property.

Thee Abbey Kitchen can serve up to 300 visitors in its large banquet facility and up to 75 people in the main restaurant. The Rouses host South on Main in Little Rock features elevated Southern food in a comfortable environment.

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value . location . variety

So Many Reasons To choose PULASKI COUNTY, MO

Thee Abbey Tavern’s historic building

Cinnamon rolls at Thee Abbey Tavern

EXPLORE:

trail of tears MILITARY MUSEUMS Route 66 & devils elbow

Photos courtesy Thee Abbey Tavern

EXPERIENCE: fun stops ozarks beauty photo opps customized rich history itineraries GUIDED TOURS

T YOU? HOW MAY weaAnSnSinISg to day!

LET’S start pl -FREE Welcome Receptions -Lodging/Dining Assistance -Museum Tour Coordination -Step-On Guide Referrals

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PULASKI COUNTY

Branson

PulaskiCountyUSA.COM 573-336-6355

karenh@pulaskicountyusa.com

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many events there, including murder-mystery dinners, theater performances, concerts and festivals. There is also an antiques mall.

Packed full of history, the complex was initially owned by Katherine Rouse’s family. She and her husband, Darwin, purchased it in 2011 and have been running it ever since. The 16-acre property has numerous historic buildings on it that visitors can tour, including a chapel, and the Rouses opened two bed-and-breakfasts on-site. www.arcadiavalleyacademy.com/restaurant

JOE’S KANSAS CITY BAR-B -QUE/ 180 ROOM Olathe, Kansas

Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que was founded in an old gas station in Kansas City. The restaurant’s owners, Jeff and Joy Stehney, got their start in the business by competing in local barbecue contests in the early 1990s, “which are very popular here in Kansas City and elsewhere around the country,” said Doug Worgul, director of marketing for the restaurant.

They won some famous competitions and developed a world-class recipe for barbecue seasoning. “On the strength of their barbecue

contest victories, they started catering weddings and graduation receptions for friends,” Worgul said. Their first foray into owning a barbecue restaurant came when a chicken restaurant in a nearby gas station closed down. The couple asked to take over the space, and Joe’s Kansas City BarB-Que was born. In 2006, the Stehneys opened their second location in Olathe, Kansas, where the 180 Room is located. The 180 Room can seat large groups of visitors, and the restaurant itself can seat 250 people.

Both Joe’s and the 180 Room serve the restaurant’s classic Kansas City barbecue.

“It starts with good seasoning,” said Worgul.

“Our seasoning is savory, sweet, salty and peppery.

That’s what a good barbecue rub typically is.”

The tomato-based sauce is also traditional to Kansas City and flavored with molasses, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion and celery seed. “It’s got some spice in there, too, but it is not too hot,” Worgul said. “It is a well-rounded condiment.”

Large groups are encouraged to rent out the elegant 180 Room. At that time, they choose which menu items they would prefer. The same Kansas City barbecue is served in all three of the restaurant’s Kansas locations. www.joeskc.com

MAR CH 2019

SUPERIOR BAT H H O U S E B R E W E RY Hot Springs, Arkansas

The Dinner Detective

Courtesy The Dinner Detective

Rose Schweikhart was a home bathtub brewer before she decided in 2011 to open the country’s only brewery within the confines of a national park. In a former historic bathhouse in Hot Springs National Park, the Superior Bathhouse Brewery uses the thermal spring water that is piped into the building to make its beer.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Hot Springs was a vacationer’s paradise. But by the 1980s, most of the bathhouses were closed to the public. Local representatives to Congress requested money to rehabilitate the historic buildings in 2001 and were awarded $15 million. Two of the original seven historic structures in the area still serve as bathhouses, but the rest have been refurbished for use as retail shops and restaurants.

Originally from New Jersey, Schweikhart said it was a challenge to open a craft brewery in Arkansas and “have to face a craft beer culture we did not have.”

The brewery opened in 2013 as a restaurant and craft beer tasting room. She didn’t offer her own beer until January 2015. Now the establishment has 18 craft brews on tap and serves a wide selection of salads, sandwiches, bratwurst and hot dogs made from locally sourced meats and produce. A local farmer provides the meat for the restaurant, and the brewery provides him with its spent brewing grains to feed his free-range heritage hogs.

Tour groups are easily accommodated at the venue, which can seat 100 people.

The brewery also offers a package for groups that includes lunch, a flight of beer and a talk about the brewing process. www.superiorbathhouse.com

THE PERFECT STAGE FOR GROUPS TO

PLAY TOGETHER MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

See for yourself why Branson, MO should be your next group travel destination.

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Little Rock’s South on Main

THE DINNER DETECTIVE Oklahoma City

The Dinner Detective, a dinner theater housed in Oklahoma City’s historic Skirvin Hilton Hotel, is not your typical murder-mystery show.

Gone are the hokey costumes and Colonel Mustard-type bad guys.

Instead, The Dinner Detective offers a four-course meal with a side of “‘Saturday Night Live’ meets ‘Law and Order,’” said Tavis McClennon, co-executive producer of the dinner theater. Based on real cold cases, the mysteries presented are quite difficult to solve.

The three-hour show is “super fun,” said McClennon. After 10 years with the Dinner Detective, he says he still laughs at every single show.

Actors are placed among the guests, and each has their own back story.

The only ones wearing costumes are the detectives who follow a loose script as they drop clues and help visitors solve the murder. The Dinner Detective’s locaA South on Main dessert tion inside one of Oklahoma’s most haunted hotels adds to the overall ambiance of the night. Dinner includes an appetizer; salad; a choice of chicken, fish or vegetarian entree; and cheesecake for dessert.

The venue can seat about 80 people during a public showing and up to 750 people for special events. www.thedinnerdetective.com/oklahoma-city

By Arshia Kahn, courtesy South on Main

By Elizabeth Strandberg, courtesy South on Main

SOUTH ON MAIN Little Rock, Arkansas

Matthew and Amy Bell opened South on Main in 2013. The restaurant puts its own spin on some classic Southern dishes like catfish and chicken fried steak.

The Bells wanted their restaurant to “showcase Southern food in a way that is elevated, but in a way that is comfortable and accessible,” said Amy Bell. That means preparing traditional dishes like catfish, coleslaw and hushpuppies alongside more exotic dishes like trout with Arkansas basmati and mashed carrots, and duck confit with sweet-potato hash and a sunny-side-up egg.

Matthew Bell has been a chef for 14 years, working for some of the country’s top restaurants.

He was looking for jobs outside Arkansas when he was approached by Oxford American magazine to open a restaurant and bar in its building that could also host events sponsored by the magazine.

The Bells jumped at the chance, and one of Little Rock’s most beloved restaurants was born.

The Bells work with local farmers to incorporate as many seasonal foods as they can.

“We’re trying to find that story a Southerner identifies with,” said Matthew. “We’re not trying to re-create grandma’s dish but give them a taste profile that is nostalgic.”

South on Main hosts concerts, book readings, film screenings and lecture series, all while serving its full Southern menu. southonmain.com

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ŠThe land of pioneers still teems with trailblazers. Visit Oklahoma for innovative attractions — like the revitalized Church Studio, hangout of rock legend Leon Russell. Or the new Oklahoma Contemporary, a world-class

EXPLORE

art gallery and creative space. The renovated Museum of the Red River showcases stunning fossils and global artifacts. And the mesmerizing

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American Indian Cultural Center is set to amaze in 2021.

LEGENDS IN THE MAKING. ARE STILL

Fascinated by Oklahoma's history? Come see history we're making.

Find adventures and itineraries at TravelOK.com/Group.

X MARKS THE SPOT

ARKANSAS | KANSAS | MISSOURI | OKLAHOMA 20

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Courtesy Fantastic M A R C H Caverns 2019

FO LLOW TH IS MAP TO H I D D E N TR EASU R ES

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isitors can dig for diamonds at a decommissioned mine in Arkansas. But diamonds aren’t the only hidden gems that await groups visiting America’s Crossroads.

Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri are full of attractions that tell stories of famous residents and incredible events. From Wild West history to massive caverns and a wildlife preserve, here are some intriguing sites you won’t want to miss on your next group tour of the region.

C R AT E R O F D I A M O N D S S TAT E P A R K Murfreesboro, Arkansas

Anybody can pan for gold, but a unique destination in Arkansas allows its guests to dig for things that are a bit more precious: diamonds, amethyst, garnet, banded agate, jasper and hematite. Not only can visitors dig to their heart’s content, searching for that one big find that will bring them riches beyond their wildest dreams, but they can haul away five gallons of material daily.

Crater of Diamonds State Park sits on the largest volcanic diamond pipe in Arkansas. The area was mined for 40 years, but none of the companies were ever very successful or profitable, said park interpreter Waymon Cox. That doesn’t mean the area is devoid of diamonds. About 33,000 Missouri’s Fantastic Caverns is the only drive-through cave complex in the United States.

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diamonds have been dug out of the ground by park visitors since the area was sold to the state of Arkansas in 1972. An 8.52-carat find in 2015 was cut into a 4.6-carat jewel valued at $1 million. And even though not everyone is lucky enough to walk away with a flawless gem worth a lot of money, 120,000 visitors a year stop by to take a chance.

Group travelers receive a discount on admission and can take part in diamond mining demonstrations and guided walking tours of the site. www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/crater-diamonds-state-park

FA N TA S T I C C AV E R N S Springfield, Missouri

A historic hote building at Old Town Abilene

Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park gems

Courtesy Old Town AbileneCVB

Fantastic Caverns is the only drive-through cave complex in the United States. Visitors hop onto trams pulled by old jeeps that take them into an amazing underground world that was formed by an underground river millennia ago.

There are multiple levels to the caverns, but visitors are allowed to tour only the “upstairs,” said Hubert Heck, director of marketing and group sales for Fantastic Caverns. The complex was first discovered in 1862 when a dog chased an animal into the cave opening, which was covered by vegetation. The dog’s owner located the trapped dog by his barking

Courtesy Crater of Diamonds State Park

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THE HEARTLAND’S and stumbled upon the caves. He was afraid to tell people about the caverns until after the Civil War because he didn’t want the Confederate or Union armies to take them over for munitions storage. Since then, the caves have been a tourist destination, a speakeasy featuring live music and the location of a country music radio show called “Farmarama.” It wasn’t until the 1950s that electric lights and cave trails were added to allow visitors better access to the caverns.

Groups of 20 or more get a discount when they visit the caverns, which are open 362 days a year. The high-humidity caverns stay at a constant 60 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, and tours take about 55 minutes. fantasticcaverns.com

HEART OF ADVENTURE

LAURA INGALLS WILDER HISTORIC HOME AND MUSEUM Mansfield, Missouri

One of the most beloved authors of all time, Laura Ingalls Wilder, spent a good deal of her adult life at Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri. She raised her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, there and wrote her “Little House on the Prairie” books there, detailing her family’s hardscrabble existence in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota and the Dakota Territory in the late 1800s.

“She’s a pretty neat lady,” said Nicholas Inman, director of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum. “It is interesting how many generations she’s really touched.”

Laura and her husband, Almanzo Wilder, moved to the area in 1894. They bought land outside of Mansfield to grow apples and raise goats, chickens and Morgan horses.

Many people know Laura’s story from the television series that ran from 1974 through 1983. Visitors to the property can tour the Wilders’ original farmhouse, which was completed in 1913, and the Rock House, a gift to the Wilders from their daughter. The Rock House was where Laura wrote the first four Little House books.

The museum showcases her family’s personal belongings and keepsakes and even Charles “Pa” Ingalls’ famous fiddle. It also has a section dedicated to Rose Wilder Lane, a well-known author in her own right.

About 40,000 visitors come from around the world each year to see where Laura wrote her books. Groups tours are easily accommodated. lauraingallswilderhome.com

WOOLAROC MUSEUM AND WILDLIFE PRESERVE Bartlesville, Oklahoma

The Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve got its start as the guesthouse of Phillips Petroleum Company founder Frank Phillips and his wife, Jane. Frank wanted a retreat to which he could invite customers and other business associates to come and

RIVERSPORT OKC | BRICKTOWN NATIONAL COWBOY & WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM For all you adventure lovers out there, Oklahoma City is the place to try something new.

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READY TO SEE MORE? FREE ONLINE GROUP TOUR PLANNER AT VISITOKC.COM/GROUPS

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100 95

DoDge City Kansas

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Where the West Was Won

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• Relive the adventures of explorers and photographers Martin and Osa Johnson at the Safari Museum® • Make your own bar of soap at Summit Hill Gardens • Have a soda made the old-fashioned way at Cardinal Drug Store Soda Fountain • Enjoy the art on display at the Chanute Art Gallery • Learn about the history of the railroad at the Chanute Historical Museum • Admire the vintage cars on display at Howard’s Toys for Big Boys

Let us help you plan your next travel adventure.

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information@chanutechamber.com www.chanutechamber.com A M E R I C1-620-431-3350 A ’ S C R O S S R O A D S

Buffalo Soldier Monument

Suggested Group itineraries at

www.VisitLeavenworthKS.com call 913-758-2948 | cvb@firstcity.org

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MAR CH 2019

do business in a more relaxed setting. The Lodge home on-site was completed in 1926, and guests can tour it today, but Phillips and his wife were also great art and artifact collectors.

The museum, built on property, started with a small plane that made the first direct flight from San Francisco to Hawaii, beating out eight other planes participating in the Dole Pineapple Race. Phillips built a hangar on property to display the victorious Woolaroc plane, and eventually, his collections began to outgrow the building.

Now, according to Frank Phillips Foundation CEO Bob Fraser, the state-of-the-art, 50,000-square-foot museum has 10 galleries that display one of the best collections of Southwestern art and artifacts in the country.

Part of Woolaroc’s charm is its 3,700-acre wildlife preserve that boasts free-roaming bison herds, elk, deer, longhorn cattle and Scottish highland cattle. Visitors that enter the main gate and make the two-mile drive to the main campus are greeted by herds of wandering wildlife.

The preserve also has a collection of more exotic species like ostriches, zebras and water buffaloes.

Visitors can hike the trails, drive through the property to see the animals, tour the lodge and visit the museum. Groups can get close to some of the baby animals born on the preserve at the site’s petting barn.

From March through September, visitors can take part in Woolaroc’s Mountain Man Camp, a re-enactment of an 1840s traders camp. The

camp’s two mountain men teach visitors how to shoot a black-powder rifle and the proper way to throw a tomahawk. Visitors also get a taste of how people lived back in the 1840s. www.woolaroc.org

OLD TOWN ABILENE Abilene, Kansas

Old Town Abilene, a re-creation of 1860s Abilene, Kansas, sits on the south end of town next door to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. Visitors can wander through restored buildings, including an old saloon, a jail, a schoolhouse and a general store. The nonprofit group that runs the site is slowly raising funds to restore more of the old buildings, among them two log cabins that were some of the first settled cabins in Abilene.

“A lot of old buildings in Abilene ended up in other Western towns in Kansas,” said Sarah Wilson, treasurer and secretary for the Board of Old Town Abilene. “It is basically how things got scattered about.”

Gunfighters perform in Old Town Abilene on the weekends during the busy season, and every Labor Day, the site commemorates its cattle drive past by hosting Chisholm Trail Days. Longhorn cattle are driven through the area and loaded onto train cars as they would have been back when the Chisholm Trail was operating between Texas and Kansas. oldabilenecowtown.com

WELCOME TO OLATHE

your adventure begins at visitkansasCitykS.com 800.264.1563

SHOPPING • DINING • ARTS • HISTORY Download a free Visitors Guide at VisitHays.com!

785-628-8202

www.olathe.org A M E R I

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C R O S S R 913-764-1051 O A D S

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Courtesy Gateway M A Arch R C HMuseum 2019

THESE ARCHITECTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS ARE LANDMARKS

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rchitecture can define a place. Sometimes it can even make a place. Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas have all been influenced by some of the greatest architects of all time, including Frank Lloyd Wright, E. Faye Jones and Eero Saarinen.

Here are a few can’t-miss buildings in America’s Crossroads, including Wright’s only office tower in Oklahoma.

PRICE TOWER ARTS CENTER Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Frank Lloyd Wright is best known for designing modern homes with lots of angles that fit into a natural landscape. But he also designed the 19-story Price Tower Arts Center in the heart of Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

He originally designed the tower in the 1920s for a borough of New York City. The tower was one of three that would have made a vertical street where people could work, live and shop. The idea didn’t take off in New York, but in 1952, H.C. Price, owner of an oil and gas pipeline company called the Price Company, agreed to construct it.

“It was so unique, it took somebody who was a visionary and loved his architecture to build it,” said Louann Buhlinger, director of development at Price Tower. Wright oversaw the construction of the building himself at age 85. It was completed in 1956.

Soaring 630 feet above St. Louis, the Gateway Arch is an architectural icon on the banks of the Mississippi River.

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“Frank Lloyd Wright called it the tree that escaped the crowded forest,” said Buhlinger. “Frank Lloyd Wright always had a design aesthetic that would be centered on certain angles or circles or triangles. This building, everything, is built on something triangular.”

Visitors can tour the building, including Price’s apartment and business office, the second-floor gallery space full of Wright furniture and the outside of the building. A two-hour tour delves even more into the architectural wonders of the building, including the low ceilings, the two-story glass atrium and the copper curtains. The tower houses an inn and a restaurant. www.pricetower.org

Price Tower, Frank Lloyd Wright’s only skyscraper

G AT E WAY A R C H St. Louis

St. Louis’ most famous landmark was the result of a design competition in 1947. Finnish American architect Saarinen came up with a design for a stainless-steel arch and an idea for a tram system to take visitors to the top. The arch is made up of 17,000 tons of stainless steel that were put together in 142 sections.

In the past five years, the $380 million City Arts River Project has brought extensive improvements to the arch. These include a new glass entrance to the arch facing west with beautiful views of the Old Courthouse, the addition of 46,000 square feet to the visitor center and

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Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House at Crystal Bridges Museum A historic image of McPherson Opera House

By Nancy Nolan, courtesy Crystal Bridges

Courtesy McPherson Opera House

a new 100,000-square-foot state-of-the-art museum with major galleries that span 200 years of St. Louis history. The museum features a documentary movie that tells the story of how the Gateway Arch was built.

“The documentary gives you a deeper appreciation of what an engineering marvel it is, and then you get in the tram after that,” said Sarah Clarke, director of operations at the Gateway Arch Museum. “Go to the top and come back down. It is a great way to do the experience.”

The tram system is a marvel. The architect wanted an elevator that could also move horizontally. The result was a hybrid elevator/Ferris wheel mechanism that operates from both legs of the arch. Trams on both sides of the arch bring 40 visitors at a time up to the top. An observation deck at the top of the arch has 16 windows on each side that look out over St. Louis and the Mississippi River. www.gatewayarch.com

M C P H E RBy Nancy S O Nolan, N Ocourtesy P ECrystal R ABridges HOUSE McPherson, Kansas

The Bachman-Wilson House at its new home in Arkansas

By Nancy Nolan, courtesy Crystal Bridges

The McPherson Opera House celebrated its 130th anniversary in January. When it was built in 1888, McPherson was vying to be the capital of Kansas. In the end, it lost out to Topeka, but the building became a cultural center of the town. It hosted live events, traveling shows, community events and political activities up through the 1920s

Beautiful

Acres of sunflowers, bathing in golden light. A violet-peach sunset over the lush, rolling Flint Hills. A million stars gazing down upon a stone fence that stretches for miles. There’s no place like Kansas for placing yourself into nature’s canvas.

800.2.KANSAS · TravelKS.com

Near Lawrence

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and served as a movie theater from the 1930s until 1965.

“It is sort of eclectic,” said Richard Monson, a docent at the opera house. “I think people that were in America at the time, especially in the Midwest and places like Kansas and the central part of the country, tried to have something both beautiful and graceful and [that] reflected the culture of Europe.”

The Victorian-style building was lovingly restored over 25 years, beginning in 1986. It was brought back to how it looked in 1913. The intricate stenciling on the walls and an original painting on the proscenium were refreshed, and new seats were made by the company that made the original seats for the opera house.

When it first opened, the opera house balcony had bleacher seats so more people could attend shows. As part of the renovation, the balcony was outfitted with the same seats as the rest of the theater. Originally, the theater could hold 900 people. Now it seats about 500. The building reopened for retail and office tenants in 2007, and the opera house reopened in 2010.

Groups can take guided tours of the building. www.mcphersonoperahouse.org Anthony Chapel at Garvan Woodland Gardens Courtesy Garvan Woodland Gardens

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F R AN K LLOYD WR IGHT’S BACHMAN-WILSON HOUSE Bentonville, Arkansas

The Bachman-Wilson House was originally built along the Millstone River in New Jersey. Because it was constantly threatened by flooding, the owners of the home decided to relocate the house and searched for years to find the right location. Then, in 2013, they sold the house to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The organization moved the home piece by piece to its 120-acre property.

“We had the space, and it fit with the setting and aligned with our mission,” said Beth Bobbitt, public relations director for Crystal Bridges.

“It fits very well in the setting, perfectly overlooking the stream, similar to how it was situated near the Millstone River.”

The home was built to fit seamlessly into the natural landscape.

Wright’s goal was to make these homes seem like they had always been there. It is modest in size. Only 10 visitors can tour the inside at a time.

The only thing that wasn’t moved from New Jersey was the concrete foundation. Because the house was built in the 1950s, the museum had to find someone who knew how to mix the concrete formula from that era “so it is a little bit more true to how it would look and how it was built at the time,” Bobbitt said. “Concrete was much more porous back Group Travel_StCharles _Mar_19.pdf

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then.” All of the built-in furniture is original to the house.

Guided and self-guided tours of the house are offered daily. Some 600,000 visitors visit the museum each year. crystalbridges.org

ANTHONY CHAPEL AT G A R VA N W O O D L A N D G A R D E N S Hot Springs, Arkansas

The Anthony Chapel is a glass and yellow pine wood masterpiece that rises 57 feet from its native stone base to the wooden, latticed canopy above. It was built in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on the grounds of the Garvan Woodland Gardens, botanical gardens owned by the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.

The chapel, designed by architects Maurice Jennings and David McKee, was built in 2006. It is one of three glass chapels in the woods that were either designed by renowned architect E. Fay Jones or inspired by him. Jones was an apprentice of Wright. Both architects blended their buildings into their natural surroundings. The Anthony Chapel is the largest of the three chapels.

The Anthony Chapel is rented out for weddings, concerts and other events throughout the year. It doesn’t hold church services, but it is open to the public. www.garvangardens.org

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EXPERIENCE

COLUMBUS’

CAPITAL CITY CUISINE

PHOTO BY WALT KEYS COURTESY OF LAND GRANT BREWING COMPANY

W

hat makes Columbus a culinary capital?

Rich food traditions, preserved by immigrants who helped settle the city. Quality meat, dairy and produce from Ohio’s farmers. And, now, community-spirited entrepreneurs, who have launched ice cream shops, canneries, meaderies and other culinary concepts.

Combined, these ingredients make the food scene in Columbus about far more than dining out — although there are plenty of flavorful opportunities for that, too. Columbus wants visitors to taste, to tour, to even take matters — and making into their own hands.

Experience Columbus’ Capital City Cuisine itinerary outlines three days’ worth of culinary options. Here is a quick look at some of its suggested stops. To see the itinerary, visit:

www.experiencecolumbus.com/ tour-planners/itineraries/

BY VICKIE MITCHELL

FUN IS IN THE MAKING WHIP UP DINNER TOGETHER

from recycled or upcycled materials, another form of preservation. In addition to classes and shopping, groups can arrange farm-tofork buffet lunches on the patio or in a barn at the 120-acre farm.

OH YES, YOU CAN CAN

Want to make herbal beauty products or household cleaners? Or blend herbs for teas on a cold day? Those are among the classes taught year round at the Ohio Herb Education Center in Gahanna, Ohio’s Herb Capital.

Just 15 minutes from downtown Columbus, the center demonstrates how herbs’ have value in the kitchen and beyond. Essential oils, books, candles, soup and spice/herb mixes are some of the items sold in its gift shop.

Fun adds spice to what The Kitchen calls “participatory” events, where everyone pitches in to make a multi-course meal. The end result is a generous dinner shared at a long, communal table in The Kitchen’s handsome restored brick storefront. An Italianthemed dinner, with salad, pasta and dessert, is a favorite.

Through its group classes, the Glass Rooster Cannery and Art Barns preserves culinary arts like canning and fermenting.

Its Art Barns sell local products, many made

CUP OF HERBAL TEA, ANYONE?

A CUSTOM CONTENT SERIES FROM EXPERIENCE COLUMBUS

THE NEW YORK TIMES NORTHERN LIGHTS, ICELAND

PHOTO BY LAURA WATILO BLAKE

has named Columbus one of its “52 places to visit in 2019.”

COURTESY OF JENI’S SPLENDID ICE CREAMS

SWEET TREATS AND A TOUR TAKE HOME A BASKET OF BUCKEYES

ALE TRAIL PASSPORT

Anthony Zanetos, an energetic Greek immigrant, ran a dairy and a soda fountain before he realized his future was in candy making. The company he founded in the mid-1900s, Anthony-Thomas Candy Company, churns out 30,000 pounds of chocolates a day at its modern factory in Columbus. During hour-long tours, arranged by appointment, visitors walk along a glassenclosed catwalk and watch the action on nine productions lines below. Tours end in a retail shop; souvenir recommendations include peanut butter and chocolate Buckeyes, sold in gift baskets shaped like the state of Ohio and in Ohio State ceramic bowls.

AH NUTS! KREMA CRUSHES IT

PHOTO BY WENDY PRAMIK COURTESY OF KREMA NUT COMPANY

Krema Nut Co. is a must-stop for peanut butter purists. Since 1878, it has made nut

butters with no added sugars or oils. The rise of peanut allergies caused it to discontinue tours, but visitors can still see the plant in operation through glass windows from a gift shop stocked with nut mixes and nut butters. Come hungry. A small ice cream shop has $5 gourmet peanut butter sandwiches including the Classic Old Timer, with crunchy peanut butter, strawberry jam and a layer of fresh strawberries; The Kicker, a combo of Krema’s Hot and Spicy Peanut Butter with spicy raspberry preserves; and the Buckeye, fresh ground peanut butter and Nutella.

NOT YOUR TYPICAL DOUBLE DIP

Jeni Britton Bauer was ahead of the game when she started making ice cream professionally 20 years ago. Her Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams began in Columbus, but now has locations in nine additional cities, including Los Angeles, Nashville and Atlanta. Jeni’s ice creams are all about local and organic; her company celebrates diversity through its hir-

ing practices. Visitors can get a taste of what has made Jeni’s so celebrated in Columbus and beyond at one of her dozen area shops, including locations in German Village, North Market and the Short North Arts District. Try Lemon Buttermilk Frozen Yogurt, customers’ all-time favorite, or look for seasonals like Ohio Sweet Corn. Ask for a buttercrisp waffle cone, a new product introduced in 2017.

HISTORIC STOPS TO SAVOR RED BRICK STREETS AND JUMBO CREAM PUFFS

DRINK IT ALL IN YOU NEED TO TRY THE MEAD

Craft beer and distilling is booming in Columbus, with Watershed, Elevator, LandGrant Brewing and Middle West Spirits among the lineup of breweries and distilleries. Columbus also is home to one of the country’s first meaderies, Brothers Drake Meadery.

Mead is the latest adult beverage trend, with a new meadery opening every few days.

Back when Brothers Drake Meadery opened in 2007, it was one of about 40 in the U.S.

During hourlong tours (scheduled in advance), tastes of finished meads, meads in progress and the Ohio honey that is the foundation of this fermented beverage are offered. The meadery makes 10,000 gallons each year and its bar serves interesting flavors like Freestone (peach, apricot, honey and hops) and Blueberry Chai (blueberry, honey and chai spices) on tap and in bottles to take home. A trip to Brothers Drake Meadery also brings visitors to the popular Short North Arts District, known for its art galleries and interesting local restaurants including The Pearl and Lemongrass Fusion Bistro.

In the mid-1800s, German immigrants began building red brick homes and businesses along red brick streets in what became known as German Village. Thanks to efforts that began in the 1950s, it is one of Columbus’ best-preserved and oldest neighborhoods. Old certainly doesn’t mean fusty though; German Village recently ranked as the city’s most popular neighborhood, due, SAHARA in part to CAMELS an influx of new restaurants. Visitors still count on reliables like Schmidt’s Restaurant und Sausage Haus, an authentic, fifth-generation German restaurant known for sausages and jumbo cream puffs. A stop there can be the reward after a guided walk or driving tour with a step-on guide past handsome homes and interesting shops.

NIBBLE AND NOSH AT NORTH MARKET

North Market is one of Columbus oldest food traditions, the last public market standing in a city that once boasted four. It’s easy to spend an hour or more there, visiting with butchers, bakers, fishmongers, cheese makers, spice sellers and others who operate the market’s 35 indoor stalls, followed by lunch or early dinner in the mezzanine with dishes from Hot Chicken Takeover, Flavors of India, Nida’s Sushi and Thai and other restaurant operators. North Market staff can lead a tour, or a group can have Columbus Food Adventures tailor a tour that takes in the North Market and other stops.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

NORTH MARKET

FOOD & WINE named Columbus one of its “32 Places To Go (And Eat) in 2019.”

COURTESY OF BROTHERS DRAKE

ROGER DUDLEY EXPERIENCE COLUMBUS www.experiencecolumbus.com RDudley@ExperienceColumbus.com

866-397-2657

GERMAN VILLAGE

U N IT E D STAT E S

CIVIL RIGHTS

TRAIL 2 0 1 9 T R AV E L G U I D E

FOLLOW THE JOURNEY.

DISCOVER THE TRAIL.

Alabama offers a transformative journey, connecting our past and present through the settings that shaped our nation’s civil rights story. From the Edmund Pettus Bridge, to bombing sites in Birmingham, to the State Capitol, discover the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement. Learn from the leaders of our past and build on their hopes for a better future.

Start planning a powerful travel experience in heritage-rich Alabama. Give your group the opportunity to grow in empathy and understanding as you explore museums, monuments and historic sites. Visit Alabama and walk in the footsteps of those who changed the world.

To plan your group tour, contact Rosemary Judkins. rosemary.judkins@tourism.alabama.gov 334-242-4493

Wanda Howard Battle, Tour Director Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, Montgomery, AL

CONTENTS 6

A Civil Rights Timeline

U N ITE D STATE S

CIVI L RI G HTS

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New On the Trail

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Civil Rights Road Trips T H E C I V I L R I G H T S M OV E M E N T T O O K S H A P E I N THESE NEIGHBORHOOD CHURCHES.

PUBLISH E D F O R

F O L L OW T H E S E I T I N E R A R I E S T O D I S C OV E R HISTORIC SITES THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH.

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ON THE COVER:

3500 PIEDMONT RD. NE, STE. 210 ATLANTA, GA 30305 404-231-1790 WWW.TRAVELSOUTHUSA.COM

“Martin Luther King Jr.” by Alabama artist Carole Foret. See more at caroleforet.com.

PUBLISHED BY

NICHE TRAVEL PUBLISHERS 301 EAST HIGH STREET LEXINGTON, KY 40507 888-253-0455 WWW.GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM

A C i v i l Wa r b at t l e g r o u n d.

N o w a p e a c e f u l r e t r e at.

Stroll Harpers Ferry and hear the echoes of a town with a fascinating living history. This quaint retreat in eastern West Virginia is an official destination along the Civil Rights Trail. Feel free to explore every part of its small-town charm.

WVtourism.com

Harpers Ferry

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Retrace the Steps that Started a Movement Find inspiration at civil rights museums and monuments across Georgia, getting an up-close look at the lasting impact of a movement. Experience the unfiltered story at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, a global beacon of hope and progress. The draw isn’t just the lessons of looking back—but what your group will take away moving forward.

ExploreGeorgia.org/groups Photo credit: @brittjane_c

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U.S. Civil Rights Trail gains national acclaim

By Human Pictures, courtesy EJI

BY BR I A N JEW ELL

AN EXHIBIT AT THE NEW NATIONAL MEMORIAL FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE FEATURES SOIL GATHERED FROM 300 SEPARATE LYNCHING SITES.

or more than 50 years, Americans have learned about the civil rights movement in textbooks and history classes. But thanks to the United States Civil Rights Trail, travelers are rediscovering the historic sites and heroic figures in new and personal ways.

Launched in January 2018, the Civil Rights Trail is a collection of churches, courthouses, schools, museums and other landmarks where activists challenged racial segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. The trail encompasses more than 100 sites stretching from Kansas to Louisiana, Virginia and Georgia.

Developing the trail was a years-long project spearheaded by tourism leaders in Southern states who saw an opportunity to link and publicize these sites to travelers in the United States and abroad.

Now, a little over a year after the official launch, organizers are realizing how much of an impact their work has made.

“All of us involved in this endeavor have been extremely pleased and excited with the media coverage that has been generated,” said

Lee Sentell, director of the Alabama Tourism Department and one of the visionaries of the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. “The extensive awareness that the media attention has generated has made this almost a household name in such a short period of time.

“The New York Times did three full pages in color several months ago that featured lesserknown civil rights sites. On the very same day, the Washington Post ran a full-page story on the museum in Farmville, Virginia, where Barbara Jones, a 16-year-old girl, convinced her schoolmates to strike in 1951. It was probably the earliest organized effort to end segregation in schools.

“The media coverage has exceeded our expectations. Our analysis of the circulation of the announcement last year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day was well over $3 million in public relations value. We spent zero dollars on the launch.”

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1964 Civil Rights March on Frankfort, KY 1964 Civil Rights March on Frankfort, KY

Muhammad Muhammad Ali Ali wasn’t wasn’t the the only only fighter fighter from from Kentucky.

Kentucky.

Kentucky’s African American history is filled with example after example of unbridled Kentucky’s African American history is filled with example after example of unbridled courage – from the 10,000 African American Civil War soldiers who learned how to courage – from the 10,000 African American Civil War soldiers who learned how to fight for their freedom at Camp Nelson to the countless protestors who held hunger fight for their freedom at Camp Nelson to the countless protestors who held hunger strikes and marches across the state in the 1960s to demand equal rights. strikes and marches across the state in the 1960s to demand equal rights.

Now, you can take a remarkable journey that lets you explore those moments Now, you can take a remarkable journey that lets you explore those moments and trace the steps of the men and women who made our commonwealth and trace the steps of the men and women who made our commonwealth great. On the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, explore the birthplace of visionary Whitney great. On the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, explore the birthplace of visionary Whitney M. Young Jr. in Simpsonville. Imagine what it was like to be a freedom fighter on M. Young Jr. in Simpsonville. Imagine what it was like to be a freedom fighter on Louisville’s Downtown Civil Rights Trail. And experience Berea College’s hallowed Louisville’s Downtown Civil Rights Trail. And experience Berea College’s hallowed Lincoln Hall where students stood up for their rights with a 20-hour sit-in.

Lincoln Hall where students stood up for their rights with a 20-hour sit-in.

Get inspired at KYCivilrights.com.

Get inspired at KYCivilrights.com.

A Growing Membership

The Civil Rights Trail is the most comprehensive collection of significant civil rights sites ever compiled. Visitors following the trail through the South will encounter places where some of the most monumental moments in the civil rights movement took place.

In Alabama, they will see Birmingham’s Kelly Ingram Park, the site of numerous marches and demonstrations. Also included is the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where violence erupted in a march that came to be known as Bloody Sunday.

In Arkansas, the trail includes Little Rock’s Central High School, the site of a tense integration standoff in 1957. And several sites related to Martin Luther King Jr. are on the trail as well, including his first church in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was assassinated.

The trail also features lesser-known sites and museums that tell stories from the civil rights movement. These include the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Alabama; the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta; the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson; and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Since the trail debuted in 2018, numerous other sites and museums have joined in the effort.

“We just announced five new sites in Florida where civil rights events occurred during the ’50s and ’60s,” Sentell said.

“And we also added the Equal Justice Initiatives Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. So that’s six new sites overall.”

Outreach and Impact

After the trail launched, Sentell and others began promoting it at major events such as the World Travel Mart in London and the New York Times Travel Show. There they were able to talk face to face with travelers and see the impact the project was making on a personal level.

“One of the most memorable things for me was attending the New York Times Travel show in Manhattan the week after launch last year,” Sentell said. “An elderly African-American woman came up to our booth and said, ‘I grew up in South Carolina and left there as a young adult, and I haven’t been back.

Travelers planning a trip on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail can find all the latest news about civil rights sites and events at:

WWW.CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL.COM

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A CIVIL RIGHTS DEMONSTRATION IN ST. AUGUSTINE’S LINCOLNVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT Courtesy Lincolnville Museum

I never thought I would live to see something like this.’ That made it personal. It’s one thing to bring more groups to museums. But for a person on the street to have an emotional reaction like that was memorable.”

In addition to reaching individual travelers, organizers see the Civil Rights Trail making headway in the group travel market, where influential tour companies and travel organizations are able to bring people to significant civil rights sites by the busload.

“In the past, tour operators were aware of a museum here and a church there, but not many companies were aware that there are over 130 sites, primarily in the Deep South, worth linking together,” Sentell said.

“A good example of this is a nonprofit organization called the Educational Travel Consortium,” he said. “Each year, they go to some exotic international destinations they see as the next great place for well-traveled people to visit. This year, 300 of their members are coming to Montgomery, Alabama, and spending four days visiting civil rights sites, also [some] in Birmingham and Selma. They’re a very prestigious group travel organization, so we think other similar groups are going to follow their lead.”

Looking Ahead

Now that the trail has successfully launched and generated significant awareness and interest among the traveling public, organizers are beginning to shift their focus from growing the membership to establishing a long-term promotional strategy.

“Travel South USA, which is the offices of the Southeastern state tourism departments, has created a marketing alliance, and that group is generating funds to maintain the website and do marketing aimed at international tour operators,” Sentell said.

Another element of the promotional plan is an effort Sentell and others have undertaken to have key places on the Civil Rights Trail designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. This designation would bring invaluable attention to these civil rights landmarks and the trail in general.

“We are hopeful that our nomination will be considered by the World Heritage Conference in 2021,” Sentell said.

EVERY SECOND SATURDAY EACH MONTH, the Albany Civil Rights Institute Freedom Singers narrate Albany Movement stories with dynamic testimony and emotionally-charged performances.

V IS I T T H E C I TY W H E R E VOIC E S

ELEVATED A MOVEMENT. During the Albany Movement, thousands of citizens attracted nationwide attention in the first mass movement in the modern civil rights era with the goal of desegregation of an entire community. When you visit the Albany Civil Rights Movement Museum, you’ll hear the stories, feel the songs and see the people who helped change the course of history. And gave momentum to a movement.

Learn more about why Albany, GA is an important stop on the Civil Rights Trail by visiting AlbanyGACivilRights.com.

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THE SITE OF THE INFAMOUS “BLOODY SUNDAY” MARCH, THE EDMUND PETTUS BRIDGE IS NOW A CIVIL RIGHTS LANDMARK IN SELMA.

Discover the trail using these itineraries

T

BY R ACHEL C A RTER

he fight for civil rights was a nationwide movement, but the South was the hotbed where activists protested and marched; held sit-ins and swim-ins; and organized boycotts, strikes and voter-registration drives.

The United States Civil Rights Trail demonstrates the depth and breadth of the movement with over 100 sites in 15 states, plus the District of Columbia. To discover some of these amazing places, plan a regional road trip that includes stops at numerous sites on the Civil Rights Trail and provides a regional take on the important people and places of the civil rights movement.

Here are five road trip itineraries to follow as you explore the Civil Rights Trail.

CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL.COM

Courtesy USCRT

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MISSISSIPPI RIVER AREA: MEMPHIS TO NEW ORLEANS Beginning in Memphis, Tennessee, this itinerary roughly follows the Mississippi River south, with a detour to Little Rock, Arkansas, and continues all the way to New Orleans. Along the way, travelers will find important sites associated with Martin Luther King Jr. and several notable museums and historic places.

NATIONAL CIV I L R I G HTS

MUSEUM

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE Memphis is hallowed ground on the Civil Rights Trail. The city is where King delivered his final and some say prophetic speech at the Mason Temple Church of God in Christ the night before he was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel. The recently renovated National Civil Rights Museum at Courtesy Memphis CVB the Lorraine Motel features state-of-the-art, interactive exhibits that showcase iconic artifacts, such as a sit-in counter and a Freedom Rider bus. The “I Am a Man” exhibit tells how King came to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. The two rooms where governor to keep them out. By the end of the month, those nine students King would usually stay have been preserved as were again met by National Guard troops, this time ordered by President they were on April 4, 1968, and guests can see Eisenhower to escort them in. into the rooms and through to the balcony where The Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site is an active King was assassinated. school, so access to the building is limited; but site tours include the visitor center, a commemorative garden and a historically preserved Mobil gas station, and if possible, the school’s foyer, auditorium and cafeteria. Groups LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS can also visit the Little Rock Nine Memorial at the state Capitol.

When the Little Rock Nine tried to enter the previously all-white Little Rock Central High School on September 4, 1957, they were met by a mob of angry segregationists, crowds of press and National Guard troops ordered by the Arkansas

MISSISSIPPI CIVIL RIGHTS

MUSEUM

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum opened in December 2017 and has quickly become a must-visit site on the Civil Rights Trail. Eight galleries focus on the years 1945 to 1976 when Mississippi was on the front lines of the civil rights movement. Galleries lead visitors from the Mississippi slaves’ struggle for freedom through Reconstruction and from World War II through the Jim Crow era and the fight for equal rights. The final gallery asks guests to think about changes and contributions they can make in their own communities.

In the central rotunda, the soaring sculpture “This Little Light of Mine” changes color above visitors’ heads as freedom songs play, and throughout the museum, guests will find small theaters playing films that tie into each exhibit.

NEW ORLEANS

Courtesy Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

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Ruby Bridges was only 6 years old in 1960 when she became the first African-American student to attend the previously all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. Four federal marshals escorted Ruby and her mother to the school every day that year past angry crowds lobbing

vicious slurs. Groups can visit the school, where a statue of Ruby stands in the courtyard, and arrange to tour the building, which includes the restored classroom 2306.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is still an active courtroom, but groups can also arrange tours of the National Historic Landmark where the judges are known as the Fifth Circuit Four for handing down decisions that were crucial in integrating schools and advancing civil rights for African-Americans.

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

ALABAMA AND GEORGIA: SELMA TO ALBANY

Courtesy RosaMemphis Parks Museum Courtesy CVB

Many of the most significant events of the civil rights movement took place in the Deep South states of Alabama and Georgia. This itinerary begins in Selma, Alabama, and circles to Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta; and Albany, Georgia, to showcase some monumental civil rights sites.

SELMA, ALABAMA

“There is no noise as powerful as the sound of the marching feet of a determined people.”

— M A RTIN LU THER K ING JR .

Selma, Alabama, was ground zero during the fight for African-Americans’ voting rights. On March 7, 1965, activists began a 54-mile march from Selma to the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery. But as hundreds of nonviolent demonstrators attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state troopers and sheriffs’ deputies knocked them down, gassed them and beat them.

The violent attack, known as Bloody Sunday, bolstered support for the campaign, and the subsequent marches helped pass the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Today, people flock to Selma to walk across the bridge. Visitors can learn more about the fight for voting rights at the free Selma Interpretive Center at the foot of the bridge and at the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute across the bridge.

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Courtesy USCRT

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Courtesy International Civil Rights Center

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BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA A trifecta of civil rights sites sits at one intersection in Birmingham: the 16th Street Baptist Church, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Kelly Ingram Park, which served as a staging ground for the community’s large-scale demonstrations, marches and rallies.

On September 15, 1963, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the church building killing four young girls: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley. Their faces are memorialized in the bronze statue “Four Spirits” across from the church at the edge of the park. Groups can tour the 1911 church and explore exhibits at the institute. A mobile phone audio tour of the park takes visitors through Birmingham’s role in the civil rights movement and provides the historical significance of each of the park’s sculptures.

“I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would also be free.”

— ROSA PA R KS

BIRMINGHAM CIVIL RIGHTS

INSTITUTE

Courtesy Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Walk Together

Explore the halls of the elementary school that symbolizes the tipping point to abolish segregation. There’s no place like Kansas to celebrate change.

800.2.KANSAS · TravelKS.com/CivilRights

18 of CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL.COM Brown v. Board Education National Historic Site

#NoPlaceLikeKS

BRUCE BOYNTON: BOYNTON V. VIRGINIA

B

ruce Boynton vividly remembers what he ordered in 1958 in the whites-only restaurant of the Trailways bus station in Richmond, Virginia: It was a cheeseburger and tea with cream.

“I knew that it was against the law,” said Boynton, a retired attorney originally from Selma, Alabama, who on that pivotal day was traveling home by bus on holiday break from law classes at Howard University in Washington. “The waitress took my order and left. I assumed I was going to be served, since I was in the upper part of the South.”

Instead, the manager came out, called him a racial slur and told him to leave.

“That galvanized me into refusing,” said Boynton, who was arrested for trespassing.

At the time, the idea of using civil disobedience to fight racial segregation was still relatively novel, and the lower Virginia courts ruled against Boynton’s right to remain on the premises.

But future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall took up the case and argued on Boynton’s behalf in the federal courts, which led to a 1960 Supreme Court decision that overturned Boynton’s conviction on the grounds that segregation in public transportation and its services, including food service, violated the Interstate Commerce Act. The decision had profound ramifications for the civil rights movement. “It produced the Freedom Riders,” Boynton said.

“It inspired the lunch counter sit-ins, and . . . changed the way that black people fought for their civil rights.”

FOR MORE CIVIL RIGHTS STORIES, VISIT VIMEO.COM/CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL

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ATLANTA King was born in Atlanta, and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park includes his childhood home, where he lived until he was 12, as well as the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he was ordained at 19 and served as co-pastor with his father until his death in 1968. Groups can explore King’s boyhood home, the visitor center and the rose garden.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change recently added audio of King’s voice throughout the campus and video monitors in Freedom Hall; the reflecting pool where King and his wife are entombed in a white crypt was renovated as well.

The Center for Civil and Human Rights immerses visitors in the civil rights era through interactive, sensory exhibits.

ALBANY, GEORGIA

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SOCIAL CHANGE

THE CAROLINAS: ST. HELENA ISLAND TO RALEIGH While major events in the fight for civil rights were taking place in Alabama and Georgia, residents of North and South Carolina were demonstrating and marching for their rights as well. This itinerary starts in St. Helena Island, South Carolina, and proceeds north to the state capitol in Columbia; it then crosses into North Carolina with stops in Greensboro and Raleigh.

ST. HELENA ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA

Courtesy Experience Columbia SC

STATE HOUSE

CENTER FOR NONVIOLENT

By James Duckworth, courtesy ACVB

The Albany Movement began at Shiloh Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Student activists and a coalition of black-improvement associations launched the desegregation campaign in November 1961 to challenge all forms of racial segregation and discrimination in the city. The movement led to a series of protests and demonstrations, and local leaders eventually turned to King to bring national attention to their efforts.

Across the street from Shiloh Baptist, the Old Mount Zion Church is another site where mass meetings were held. The restored 1906 church is now part of the Albany Civil Rights Institute, where museum exhibits include oral histories, documents and photographs from the era. Groups can also learn about the music of the civil rights movement and can even hear the Freedom Singers perform every second Saturday of the month.

SOUTH CAROLINA

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

The Penn Center on South Carolina’s St. Helena Island is the site of the Penn School, the first school in the South for freed slaves, which was founded in 1862, three years before the Civil War ended. Teachers from Pennsylvania came to the island as part of the Port Royal Experiment to educate black people.

The 50-acre campus is home to 19 buildings. Visitors can step inside the Brick Baptist Church, the largest building on campus, where slaves-turnedstudents learned reading, writing and arithmetic. Other historic buildings include dormitories, the dining hall and the community house. Groups can explore the York W. Bailey Museum and will also find a farmers market housed in an old barn and a new aquaponic greenhouse where the center is raising fish and growing herbs.

IT WAS A NATIONAL MOVEMENT. NOW IT’S A NATIONAL MONUMENT. The Civil Rights Movement that helped galvanize the nation is now being recognized on a national level. But the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail does more than just acknowledge where we’ve been. It offers visitors a chance to celebrate where we’re going. Book your next tour in a place rich with history. Book your next tour in Birmingham.

inbirmingham.com/GTL� | 800 - 458 - 8085

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA Downtown Columbia was the site of many important moments in the civil rights movement. On March 2, 1961, NAACP leaders and more than 200 students from local black colleges and segregated high schools marched from the Zion Baptist Church to the South Carolina State House. On the statehouse grounds, protestors sang “The Star Spangled Banner” and “We Shall Not Be Moved,” and 187 of them were arrested. Free guided and self-guided tours of the statehouse are available Monday through Friday.

Groups can also schedule a visit to the small, white cottage that was home to Modjeska Monteith, an important leader of the civil rights movement in South Carolina. Her cottage was used to house civil rights leaders and host meetings.

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA The International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina, opened in 2010 in the F.W. Woolworth building, where four students had begun sit-in protests at the lunch counter 50 years earlier. The former department store was slated for demolition in the early 1990s, but local leaders saved the property and turned it into a museum that included the original lunch counter where the sit-ins took place from February 1 to July 25, 1960. The museum’s 16 galleries focus on the Greensboro demonstrations then expand to explore the civil rights movement more broadly.

On the North Carolina A&T State University campus, groups can also visit the February One Monument, which honors the four A&T students who planned and carried out the first sit-in at Woolworth’s.

SOUTH CAROLINA

STATE HOUSE

Courtesy Experience Columbia SC

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA At historically black colleges like Shaw University and St. Augustine’s University, Raleigh’s black students and activists played an important role in the civil rights movement through protests and sit-ins at local stores.

Shaw alumna Ella Baker founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at her alma mater in 1960. When Estey Hall was built on the Shaw campus in 1874, it was the first building constructed in the U.S. for the higher education of black women; today, it is Shaw University’s oldest surviving building.

Also in Raleigh, the features a life-size sculpture of King and a granite water monument to the city’s civil rights leaders.

MID-ATLANTIC: RICHMOND TO WILMINGTON Cities in the upper South and Mid-Atlantic had important roles to play in the civil rights movement. This itinerary begins in Richmond, Virginia, and travels north to Washington, D.C.; west to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; and then, finally, east to the Atlantic coast in Wilmington, Delaware.

Courtesy Visit Raleigh

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

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On April 23, 1951, Barbara Rose Johns led a student body walkout to protest overcrowding and inferior conditions at Robert Russa Moton High School, Prince Edward County’s all-black high school. When the school opened in 1939 in Farmville, Virginia, it was built to house 180 students.

By the late 1940s, enrollment had grown to more than 450 students, many of whom were being taught in leaking tar-paper shacks with no insulation.

Shine Light on the Power of Courage.

Explore the movement that changed the nation — and the people behind it.

Stand with Mississippians like Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer and many others through interactive experiences that bring their stories to life.

222 North Street, Jackson mscivilrightsmuseum.com

The NAACP lawsuit against the county, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, later became one of five cases folded into the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that made segregation unlawful. Johns and her fellow students are honored in the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond.

A HISTORIC PRESENTATION AT HARPER’S FERRY NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

WASHINGTON The nation’s capital is home to several iconic sites that symbolize the struggle of the civil rights movement. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom culminated at the Lincoln Memorial, where King gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Nearby, also on the National Mall, visitors will see the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

Groups can also visit the U.S. Supreme Court, where docents lead lectures and visitors can explore exhibits and videos about the court and its important cases, including the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in September 2016, and inside, the Smithsonian Institution museum features nearly 37,000 artifacts, documents and photos that explore AfricaAmerican life, history and culture.

HARPERS FERRY

NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

Photos courtesy NPS

HARPERS FERRY, WEST VIRGINIA

Harpers Ferry is a historic town turned national park in West Virginia.

In Lower Town, historic buildings line Shenandoah, High and Potomac streets and house museums and exhibits along with the information center and a bookshop.

Storer College was founded in Harpers Ferry in 1865, and the historically black college trained black schoolteachers to meet the influx of freedmen seeking education. Ironically, the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that ended school segregation in 1954 led to Storer College’s closing in 1955. State officials decided to end the college’s yearly stipend because the board preferred to support state-sponsored schools that had more students. Many of the former campus buildings are still within the national park today, including Anthony Hall, where the Niagara Movement met in 1906.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

M EMORIAL

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE

Courtesy USCRT

Howard High School in Wilmington, Delaware, is one of the schools associated with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education that ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Parents of black students living in Claymont, Delaware, sued to enroll their children in the local all-white high school. Before the Brown ruling, black students were bused to Howard High School, which was nine miles away in an “undesirable” part of Wilmington. The school became a designated National Historic Landmark in 2005 and was renovated in 2014 to become Howard High School of Technology but is not open for public tours.

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THE LITTLE ROCK NINE MONUMENT AT THE ARKANSAS STATE CAPITOL COMMEMORATES THE STUDENTS WHO PAVED THE WAY FOR INTEGRATION. MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER IN LITTLE ROCK SERVES TO EDUCATE VISITORS ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURE. VISIT THE LITTLE ROCK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE AND LEARN MORE AT CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL.COM.

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AN EXHIBIT AT THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE PAYS TRIBUTE TO THOUSANDS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LYNCHING VICTIMS.

New sites shine for 2019

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BY R ACHEL C A RTER

he United States Civil Rights Trail launched in 2018 with over 100 sites: places where activists sought equal access to public education, public transportation and voting rights.

But the trail has grown, adding six new sites where civil rights history was made or where it is memorialized.

These museums, memorials and historic destinations are recent additions to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

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By Human Pictures, courtesy EJI

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Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration National Memorial for Peace and Justice MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

NATIONAL MEMORIAL

FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

In April 2018, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) opened the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration in Montgomery, Alabama.

The 11,000-square-foot museum sits on a site where enslaved people were once warehoused and uses technology to illustrate the enslavement of African-Americans, the terror of racial lynchings and the legacy of racial segregation in America.

One exhibits features over 300 jars of soil collected from various lynching sites. In another area, guests can step into prison visitor booths,

By Human Pictures, courtesy EJI pick up the phone and listen to the stories of people who are incarcerated.

“We’re making this argument that slavery is connected to the racial injustice issues, especially in the current criminal justice system,” said Kiara Boone, EJI’s deputy director of community education.

A water exhibit is dedicated to the undocumented victims of racial The memorial provides “that opportunity terrorism, and a glass case in the center contains soil from over a dozen to be confronted with this history in a truthful lynching sites. and explicit way,” she said.

EJI suggests that people visit the museum first and then the memoA forest of 800 six-foot-tall steel monoliths rial.

Both are designed to be self-guided experiences. Groups can also are engraved with the names of 4,400 docuattend presentations about EJI and its legal work at the Peace and Justice mented lynching victims. As guests continue Memorial Center, across the street, where EJI hopes to soon have a through the memorial, the plates begin to rise space for groups to rent. until “they’re completely above your head,” MUSEUMANDMEMORIAL.EJI.ORG Boone said.

Visitors then see the “reasons” people were lynched: passing a note to a white woman, saying no to a police officer, trying to vote, Bay County Courthouse owning land.

PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA

BAY COUNTY COURTHOUSE

Courtesy Destination Panama City

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When Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with burglarizing the Bay Harbor Pool Room in 1961, he couldn’t afford an attorney. And when he appeared in the Bay County Courthouse in Panama City, Florida, the judge refused to appoint one for Gideon, forcing him to mount his own defense at trial. When the jury convicted Gideon, the court sentenced him to five years in the state prison.

From his prison cell, Gideon appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, using the prison library for reference and writing on prison stationary.

The Supreme Court overturned his conviction in the now-famous Gideon v. Wainwright case, unanimously ruling that states are required under the Sixth Amendment to provide an attorney to defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford to hire their own.

Two years after his initial trial, Gideon was retried at the same courthouse and acquitted.

A historic marker about the Gideon case sits outside the 1915 yellowbrick courthouse in downtown.

The building is still a functioning county court, so it’s open to the public; but visitors have to go through a security checkpoint. It’s also

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or Leslie Burl McLemore, the fight for equal rights is embedded in the foundation of American democracy itself.

“Because of the Declaration of Independence, we have a framework in America that says ‘All men are created equal,’ that we all ought to be first-class citizens,” said McLemore, who, in the early 1960s, served as president of the NAACP chapter at Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He also served as regional coordinator for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s efforts to register voters throughout Mississippi as part of the 1963 Freedom Vote campaign.

Before these efforts, “no one had been going door to door trying to get black folks to register,” said McLemore, a professor emeritus of political science at Jackson State University.

For McLemore, voting rights represented just one step toward true democratic representation. In 1964, in response to the segregationist stance of the mainline Mississippi Democratic Party, McLemore and others with the Council of Federated Organizations founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), a new racially integrated party.

Despite their efforts, the MFDP was not allowed to be seated at the 1964 National Democratic Convention. Instead, the party was offered two nonvoting seats alongside the mainline Mississippi delegates.

“I thought that . . . we had the legal and moral argument. I felt strongly that we should have been seated,” McLemore said. “But we were doing something important. We were changing Mississippi. We were changing the world.”

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NEWTOWN COMMUNITY I S T H E L AT E S T L A N D M A R K O N THE U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIL.

LESLIE BURL MCLEMORE: FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY

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The Newtown African American Heritage Trail is now the southernmost site on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

It highlights the history of Sarasota’s African-American community, Newtown.

Tours by Newtown Alive! will focus on the 1950s and 1960s efforts of Newtown residents to desegregate Sarasota’s beaches. These efforts included car caravans from the Newtown community to Lido Beach to hold ‘wade-ins’ in attempt to force beach integration.

For more information and to book a tour, visit www.newtownalive.org/book-trolley-tour/.

VisitSarasota.com 844-4-MY-SARASOTA

LONGBOAT KEY | ST. ARMANDS | LIDO KEY SIESTA KEY | CASEY KEY | VENICE MANASOTA KEY | ENGLEWOOD | NORTH PORT

one of 14 sites on the historic downtown walking tour, and Destination Panama City can also assist with requests for step-on guides, said Jennifer Vigil, the organization’s president and CEO. WWW.DESTINATIONPANAMACITY.COM

Historic Dodgertown VERO BEACH, FLORIDA

HISTORIC DODGERTOWN

In his book, “Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy,” author Jules Tygiel described Historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, as a “haven of tolerance” from the Jim Crow society waiting outside its gates.

Courtesy Historic Dodgertown Historic Dodgertown was founded in 1948 and was the first fully integrated major league baseball (MLB) spring training site in the South. For 60 years, the Dodgers, located first in Brooklyn and later in Los Angeles, held their spring training at the facility.

Today, Historic Dodgertown is an 80-acre, year-round sports and Dodgers management were key in breaking conference center, said Ruth Ruiz, director of marketing. Although it no professional baseball’s race barrier. From 1945 longer hosts Dodgers spring training, the facility still often has games, to 1946, the Brooklyn Dodgers signed seven many free.

Groups can call in advance to determine availability for of the first nine African-American players to games and can take self-guided walking tours or schedule guided tours. professional contracts, and Jackie Robinson WWW.HISTORICDODGERTOWN.COM was the first African-American to play in the MLB when the Dodgers started him on first base April 15, 1947.

Newtown Alive During the time of Jim Crow segregation in the Deep South, Historic Dodgertown had SARASOTA, FLORIDA shared living quarters, a shared dining room and shared recreation for all players.

In 1962, several years before local schools The Newtown Alive project in Sarasota, Florida, kicked off in 2015, were integrated, the Dodgertown director did and after two years of extensive research and oral history collection, away with segregated seating, water fountains it culminated in 2017 with 15 historic markers and a trolley tour that and bathrooms in Holman Stadium. highlights Newtown’s important sites and people.

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Courtesy Newtown Alive

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African-Americans built a strong community within Sarasota, beginning in 1884 in the segregated neighborhood of Overtown; that was followed by Newtown, which was established in 1914.

However, Sarasota was a “sundown town,” meaning black people weren’t allowed outside their community after sundown, said Vickie Oldham, director of Newtown Alive. Eventually, members of the black community started asserting their rights for equal access, “including at our beautiful beaches,” she said.

Neil Humphrey Sr., owner of Humphrey’s Pharmacy and the first president of the Sarasota County NAACP, began organizing carpools for public beach “wade-ins.” Humphrey led the first caravan to Lido Beach in September 1955; a headline in the Tampa Morning Tribune read, “Sarasotans Calm as Negroes Swim at City’s Lido Beach.”

The caravans continued in some form for years, but Humphrey didn’t declare Sarasota’s beaches officially integrated until a couple of years after the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed.

Trolley tours highlight historic Overtown and Newtown sites and take groups over the same bridge protestors took to Lido Beach. “So when we ride across the bridge, it feels like the atmosphere changes for me,” Oldham said.

JACKIE ROBINSON PRACTICING AT DODGERTOWN

Courtesy Historic Dodgertown

“There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.”

— JACK IE ROBINSON

Courtesy Historic Dodgertown

MOORE MEMORIAL PARK AND MUSEUM Courtesy Moore Memorial Park

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FROM THE G R EAT ES T FOR ALL TH E P E OPLE

During the tour, a Freedom Song leader leads the group in song, and one of the tour’s signatures is having “a pioneer step on board at one of those markers and share their personal story.” For example, a former student may step on at Booker High School, or the daughter of the cook and driver who worked at an area estate may step on there.

WWW.NEWTOWNALIVE.ORG

Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park and Museum MIMS, FLORIDA Harry T. Moore and his wife, Harriette V. Moore, were the forerunners of the modern civil rights era in Florida. The two schoolteachers were leading a comfortable life, but when Harry received a flyer about the NAACP, “he said that was what he was waiting for,” said Sonya Mallard, cultural center coordinator for the Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park and Museum in Mims, Florida.

Harry fought for three things, Mallard said: equal pay for black teachers, the right to vote and an end to lynchings.

In 1934, he organized the first Brevard County branch of the NAACP and became its president. In 1945, he formed the Florida Progressive Voters League. Through his efforts, he helped 116,000 blacks register to vote, which attracted the attention of the Ku Klux Klan.

The 12-acre campus includes a 5,000-square-foot museum and cultural center, a walking trail with informational kiosks and a replica of the Moores’ house that the Klan bombed on Christmas night 1951, killing them both.

In the museum, visitors can see the Moores’ signatures in a 1929 voter registration handbook and a 1951 article about the explosion along with a splinter of the original house.

Visitors can also tour the replica house, which sits on the original site.

WWW.HARRYHARRIETTEMOORE.ORG

National Historic Preservation District ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA

Visit the Muhammad Ali Center: 2-1/2 levels of award-winning exhibits designed to inspire and motivate every person to Greatness.

144 North 6th Street, Louisville, KY 40202 32

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Some of the most iconic images of the civil rights movement came out of St. Augustine, Florida; for example, the 1964 photo of James Brock pouring bleach into the swimming pool at Monson Motor Lodge as black activists swam to protest the hotel’s whites-only policy.

Protestors took to St. Augustine’s streets for marches and held sits-ins, and eventually, Martin Luther King Jr. joined their efforts.

The Lincolnville Historic District is an area of the city that was established by freedmen after the Civil War. Though Lincolnville was a thriving community, “people were fed up with” segregation, said Regina Gayle Phillips, executive director of the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center.

At the museum, housed in the city’s first black high school, visitors can learn more about civil rights efforts in St. Augustine and even see the fingerprint card from King’s arrest there in 1964.

Many of the marches started in Lincolnville, Phillips said, and King spoke at St. Paul AME Church, just down the block from the museum.

Foot soldiers made numerous night marches to the downtown Plaza de la Constitución, where today, groups can see the Foot Soldiers Monument remembering those who fought for racial equality.

The Accord Freedom Trail includes 31 sites that celebrate the city’s role in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including the Accord Civil Rights museum, which opened in 2014.

WWW.FLORIDASHISTORICCOAST.COM

YOU’VE HEARD OF DRED SCOTT.

See where his case—and the Civil Rights Movement—began.

Step into history at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis where Dred Scott famously fought for his freedom from slavery. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Scott was not considered a citizen and had no right to sue – but his bold move marked the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in America. Learn more about this landmark event in the historic courthouse where it all began at the newly renovated Gateway Arch National Park.

Plan your trip at VisitMO.com.

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THE FREEDOM HOUSE CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM PRESERVES THE SITE OF THE ONLY REMAINING FREEDOM HOUSE IN MISSISSIPPI.

These museums share civil rights moments

S

BY R ACHEL C A RTER

cholar and historian Asa G. Hilliard III once said, “Whatever you do, never let them begin our history with slavery.�

In destinations along the Civil Rights Trail, local museums feature special exhibits that tell the stories of African-American experiences and how the civil rights movement impacted the communities. These museums take visitors back to the ancient kingdoms of Africa before European colonization, show guests the thriving black communities that survived during the Jim Crow era and lead groups through the American civil rights movement, including the Freedom Rides and the voter registration campaigns.

CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL.COM Courtesy USCRT

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Visitors to these museums will learn about President Harry Truman’s executive order to desegregate the military and how his insistence — and the start of the Korean War — helped speed up the process. Groups will also learn about Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood and Little Rock’s bustling West Ninth Street business district.

APEX MUSEUM

APEX Museum ATLANTA The APEX (African-American Panoramic Experience) Museum in Atlanta is housed in a 1910 building on Auburn Avenue. When visitors first arrive, they step into the Trolley Car Theater — and onto a trolley — to watch two videos: “The Journey” and “Sweet Auburn: Street of Pride.”

Courtesy APEX Museum Another exhibit, “Africa: The Untold Story,” begins in Africa 8,500 years ago and delves into the technological, agricultural and architectural advancements of ancient Egypt and other African societies before European colonization.

From there, guests delve into the transFreedom House Canton Civil Rights Museum Atlantic slave trade. They will step through a replica of the Door of No Return — the CANTON, MISSISSIPPI original is located at Elmina, a trading post the Portuguese built in 1482 in modern-day Ghana — and into the hold of the White Lion Glen Cotton’s grandparents owned a small duplex in Canton, replica slave-trading vessel.

Mississippi. At one time, it housed an apartment on one side and an ice “When they walked out that door for cream parlor on the other. the last time, they saw their shores for the When the city sent Cotton a letter in 2012 telling him to fix it up last time,” said Deborah Strahorn, the or tear it down, “I started researching, and I ended up deciding I was museum’s special projects coordinator and going to turn the house into a museum,” he said. storyteller-in-residence.

That’s because the duplex is the only remaining Freedom House Visitors will see authentic shackles, an in Mississippi. Beginning in 1963, it served as the Congress of Racial authentic slave patrol badge and several slave Equality’s (CORE’s) office and Madison County base and even weltags. comed Martin Luther King Jr. and James Meredith when they visited, The museum’s re-creation of the Yates and although they spent most of their time across the street at Cotton’s Milton Drugstore in Atlanta, which was owned grandparents’ house. by the first black certified pharmacist, features At the house, CORE organized protests, marches and voter registramany items that were in the original store. tion drives. The humble structure even survived an attempted bombGroups can also arrange for Strahorn to pering in 1964: The bomb ricocheted off the house and exploded on the form a historical character portrait of Adrienne sidewalk, Cotton said.

Herndon, the wife of one of America’s first Cotton renovated the building and amassed a collection of artifacts black millionaires, who “has her own story to and memorabilia, including pictures of people from the movement in tell,” Strahorn said. the house. Residents in the community donated items and help, and the WWW.APEXMUSEUM.ORG Canton Freedom House Civil Rights Museum opened its door in 2013.

“We still have a few people who live in Canton; they still feel like the house is sort of like their church,” Cotton said.

During a tour, Cotton tells about how George Raymond came to connect with his grandparents to use the house as a CORE office, how doing so led to a boycott of his grandparents’ grocery store that sat across the street and how his grandparents also allowed CORE to use their neighboring house for a Freedom School and living quarters for activists and volunteers.

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n Memphis, Tennessee’s Main Street, near the site of the former Shainberg’s department store, a historical marker commemorates the Lee Sisters, who, as the marker notes, made Memphis better because they “stood up by sitting down in forbidden seats.”

Elaine Lee Turner and her four sisters were arrested not just once, but 17 times for their sit-ins at department store lunch counters, restaurants and other segregated businesses throughout Memphis during the early 1960s.

“They called the Lee Sisters the most arrested civil rights family,” said Turner, who was arrested for the first time at Shainberg’s in 1960 at age 16, a day that saw all five sisters arrested at various lunch counters along Main Street simultaneously.

“Our parents supported us in what we were doing,” she said. “We knew we had to persist, and if that meant getting arrested, then that was what it was going to take.”

Encouraged by the black community’s embrace of students who sat in at Memphis’ two public libraries in March 1960, Turner and her sisters became inspired to sit in anyplace that was segregated.

“The wheels of justice were not turning fast enough for the youth,” said Turner, who, with her sisters and four brothers, also participated in the national movement, including the Selma-to-Montgomery March in 1965 and the 1966 Meredith March Against Fear. “We wanted to make a change as soon as possible. We knew that we had to continue the fight, the sit-ins, the marches and whatever we were doing as a form of protest.”

ELAINE LEE TURNER: FIGHTING SEGREGATION

FOR MORE CIVIL RIGHTS STORIES, VISIT VIMEO.COM/CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL

travel a trail that changed the path of our entire country.

North Carolina is filled with many paths but only one U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

Immerse your next group in the historical significance NC played in the fight for American civil rights.

Visit F.W. Woolworth’s lunch counter, the catalyst for the sit-in movement, and other historical locations in our state.

CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL.COM Photo Credits: Keenan Hairston and Visit Raleigh

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Mosaic Templars Cultural Center LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

MOSAIC

TEMPLARS

CULTURAL CENTER

A CHILDREN’S WORKSHOP AT MOSAIC TEMPLARS CULTURAL CENTER Photos courtesy Mosaic Templars Cultural Center

The Mosaic Templars of America was a black fraternal organization founded in 1883 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center was going to be housed in the Templar’s original 1913 building, which was being renovated for the museum when a fire destroyed the structure in 2005.

The loss of the original structure, however, opened a door to build a larger, state-of-the-art museum on the same site, and the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center opened in 2008.

When people think of Little Rock and civil rights, they often know about the integration of Little Rock Central High School, but “they don’t know much about the dynamic of black culture and life, especially in Arkansas,” center director Christina Shutt said.

The museum’s “City Within a City” and “Entrepreneurial Spirit” exhibits focus on the thriving West Ninth Street business district and the area’s black culture, black community and black-owned businesses when Jim Crow laws kept residents from shopping and using services elsewhere in the city.

The museum has “a great collection” from Velvatex College of Beauty Culture, the oldest operating beauty school in the state of Arkansas; the school has been owned by black women for its entire 90 years.

At the center, visitors are often surprised to learn about Hoxie Schools, a school district that integrated “relatively peacefully” before Central High, Shutt said.

In addition to guided tours, groups can arrange for custom presentations in the center’s 400-seat auditorium. For example, the center arranged for the filmmaker of the “Dream Land: Little Rock’s West Ninth Street” documentary to speak to a group of college students.

WWW.MOSAICTEMPLARSCENTER.COM

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum

TRACE THE PATHS THEY WALKED From the Emmett Till story that began at Bryant’s Grocery to the “Black Power” speech made by Stokely Carmichael at Broad Street park, Greenwood witnessed firsthand a slow, but certain shift in the winds of justice. A gathering spirit of hope, promise, and determination that awakened the nation and mobilized the American Civil Rights Movement. We welcome group tours and invite you to learn more about our ties to this monumental movement.

Photo by Bob Fitch, courtesy Stanford University Libraries.

225 Howard Street | Greenwood, MS 38930 | 662.453.9197 www.visitgreenwood.com

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INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman signed an executive order declaring “there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.” The order also created a committee to integrate all branches of the military.

The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum places Truman’s civil rights decisions in the broader context of Truman’s bid for election in 1948.

“People think of civil rights and the election as two separate things, but they’re

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really going on at the same time,” said education director Mark Adams.

In February 1948, Truman delivered a special message to Congress on civil rights.

In July, the Democratic Party split at the Democratic National Convention, with three dozen Southern Democrats walking out in protest of Truman’s nomination. Less than two weeks later, Truman signed the executive order to desegregate the military.

In the museum’s Decision Theater, groups learn about Truman’s civil rights efforts and his decision to recognize Israel, and then vote on his motivation: Was it to gain votes in an election year? Was he following his conscience? Or was there some other motivation?

At a replica train car like the one Truman spoke from during his whistle-stop campaign, visitors can pick up handsets and choose from 75 different Truman speeches, many of which discuss civil rights issues.

Visitors will also see political cartoons, campaign buttons and an original copy of the infamous newspaper splashed with the incorrect headline “Dewey Defeats Truman,” complete with Truman’s handwriting on the top.

Groups of 15 or more can arrange guided tours at least four weeks in advance.

WWW.TRUMANLIBRARY.ORG

ROBERT TYRONE PATTERSON SR. LUNCH COUNTER SIT-INS

I

The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum is shining a light on the state’s rich and complex story. Since opening its doors in December of 2017, the museum compels visitors to reflect on the state’s complicated history with incredibly in-depth, moving exhibits. Don’t miss out on the true stories responsible for shaping a state and influencing the world.

V IS IT M IS S IS S IP PI.ORG /TOU RS

MISSISSIPPI CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL.COM 40 JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

n one of the pivotal moments of the civil rights movement, the Greensboro Four — Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond and Joseph McNeil, all students at North Carolina A&T University — sat down at the Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro on February 1, 1960, ordered coffees and refused to leave when denied service.

Twenty-five students, including Robert Tyrone Patterson Sr., then an A&T freshman, returned to continue the sit-in the next day. By the fourth day, it had grown to include 300 students, with thousands participating in the end before Woolworths finally desegregated its counter in July 1960.

The event captured national media attention, launched dozens of simultaneous sit-ins throughout the South and is credited as the impetus for the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in May 1960.

A section of the Greensboro Woolworths counter now sits in the Smithsonian Museum; another portion is preserved at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro.

Patterson, who sat in at the counter daily throughout the protest, knew that what he was doing wasn’t without danger. But he didn’t let that stop him. “I concluded I know it’s the right thing to do. And I will just worry about that if it happens,” said Patterson, who, following college, enjoyed a long career in bank management in Greensboro.

To pass time during his sit-in, Patterson reflected on the injustices he’d endured growing up — sitting only at the top of movie houses, getting food from a window in the back of businesses — and an epiphany came.

“I started thinking about all of that, and I [realized] this should have happened a long time ago. And I’m going to do all I can to make sure that my kids don’t have to go through this,” he said.

FOR MORE CIVIL RIGHTS STORIES, VISIT VIMEO.COM/CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL

V i si tNO P C . com

One cannot step foot into New Orleans Plantation Country without experiencing the impact of African-American culture. Our art, language, folklore and, of course, food are woven deep into the fabric of this region. First brought to Louisiana through capture and oppression, enslaved Africans are the historical foundation of agricultural and economic success of the area and its plantations.

Out here, you will learn about how the intelligence and skill of Africans dictated the architecture of the plantation estates and structures. Tours, memorials and knowledgeable guides present the perspectives of the enslaved through first-person narratives and educational exhibits. Hear about the lives of African-Americans after slavery, living during segregation under Jim Crow laws.

Explore the African-American owned businesses and family owned restaurants to experience how African heritage is rooted in all aspects of history, and shapes the current landscape of area. Taste your way through Creole kitchens for an authentic understanding of the famous flavors that originated out here and are enjoyed around the world.

The immersive experiences available in New Orleans Plantation Country educate visitors and honor the history of African-Americans that resounds throughout the River Parishes of Louisiana.

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Freedom Rides Museum MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

Experience the past. inspire the Future.

Twenty Freedom Riders stepped off a bus on May 20, 1961, at the Greyhound bus station in Montgomery, Alabama. Though none of them were older than 22, they had prepared wills and farewell letters — and they had prepared to remain peaceful in the face of violence as they protested racial segregation in public transportation. Despite officials’ promises to protect the Freedom Riders, police were nowhere to be found as a mob of about 300 angry segregationists attacked the peaceful protestors that morning.

Today, that very bus station is a historic landmark and home to the Freedom Rides Museum, which opened in 2011. The current exhibit, “Traveling Down Freedom’s Main Line,” features photographs, original works of art and videotaped oral histories of Freedom Riders, “some of whom were among the students who were attacked here that day,” said site director Dorothy Walker.

The bus station also features the original colored entrance, something that is relatively rare today. The museum included the now blocked up entrance as part of its interpretive experience because most segregated entrances have been entirely erased.

Groups learn about how, when black passengers stepped through that entrance, they still found themselves outside, waiting on the bus platform, “so it was extra layers of humiliation,” Walker said.

Guests have to ask themselves, “Was this the cheapest, fastest thing to do, or did they think they would need it again?” she added.

In addition to discounts and guided tours for groups, the museum may be able to arrange for a presentation from an original Freedom Rider.

“There’s nothing like hearing the story of what happened to a young Freedom Rider and listening to them recount their experiences in that space,” Walker said.

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Tours: Every hour from 10-3 5099 HWY 18 | Wallace, LA 70049 | 225-265-3300

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INTERVIEWING AN INTERPRETER AT THE FREEDOM RIDES MUSEUM

Courtesy Freedom Rides Museum

EXPERIENCE THE LEGENDS OF LOUISVILLE

Muhammad Ali™; Rights of Publicity and Persona Rights: ABG Muhammad Ali Enterprises LLC. ali.com. Photo by Ken Regan © 2015 Muhammad Ali Enterprises LLC

Civil Rights history is woven throughout the fabric of Louisville. World-class museums, cultural centers and significant historical landmarks allow visitors to celebrate this history while experiencing Louisville’s modern attractions and award-winning restaurants.

Start your adventure now at GoToLouisville.com/travel-professionals.

@GoToLouisville

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“THE SIEGE OF FIRST BAPTIST” TOOK PLACE AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN MONTGOMERY IN 1961.

Collective resolve coalesced in these churches

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Courtesy USCRT

uring the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s, black churches across the South served not only as places of worship and spiritual refuge, but also as much-needed meeting centers where activists and citizens alike could convene to share ideals, support the fight for equal rights and plan proactive resistance to the stifling status quo of Jim Crow-era segregation.

Thanks to their essential role in the fight for equality, black churches throughout the region — in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and beyond — have been enshrined as places of significance along the Civil Rights Trail.

Here, we share the stories of five African-American CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL.COM churches whose legacies will be forever linked with a

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movement that advanced both human rights and democracy for black Southerners — changing America for the better in the process.

Springfield Baptist Church GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA

BETHEL

BAPTIST

CHURCH

Founded in 1867 by former slaves — just four years after emancipation —Springfield Baptist Church is the oldest black Baptist congregation in Greenville, South Carolina.

“There were roughly 65 original members, many of them household servants of white members of Greenville’s First Baptist Church,” said the Rev. John H. Corbitt, who has served as pastor at Springfield Baptist for nearly 40 years. “They decided they wanted to have their own congregation and were able to organize originally in the basement Courtesy USCRT of First Baptist.”

In 1872, Springfield Baptist Church acquired land to build its own worship space on McBee Avenue, where it stood until a fire destroyed the building in 1972. The congregapastor J.S. Hall (1957-1963) during much of the movement. Famed civil tion remains active but in a new facility roughly rights activist Jessie Jackson, a native of Greenville, was also a member two blocks from the original building, which of the congregation as a young man, Corbitt said. played a pivotal role in the civil right moveSpringfield found itself in the spotlight in January 1960 when it spearment of Greenville. headed a peaceful march from the church to the Greenville Downtown “The local branch of the NAACP was Airport to protest that baseball great Jackie Robinson, who had come to organized at Springfield Baptist Church. The town to address a state NAACP convention, was denied access to the Greenville Urban League was organized here,” airport’s waiting room.

Corbitt said, noting that the church was led by “Almost all of the civil rights activities in town would start at Springfield Baptist Church,” Corbitt said. “Marches to demonstrate at the lunch counter would start here. Marches to integrate the library would start here. This was the unofficial headquarters of the [Greenville] movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s.”

WWW.SPRINGFIELDBAPTIST.COM

SPRINGFIELD BAPTIST CHURCH

Bethel Baptist Church BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

Courtesy Springfield Baptist Church

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CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL.COM

Birmingham’s Bethel Baptist Church was home to one the most prominent leaders of the civil rights movement: the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who served as pastor there from 1953 through 1961.

In 1956, Shuttlesworth formed the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights to fill the void when an injunction by the Alabama circuit courts outlawed NAACP activities in the state.

Shuttlesworth was also one of the key figures — along with King, Bayard Rustin, C.K Steele and Ralph Abernathy — behind the 1957 formation of SCLC. In 1961, Bethel Baptist Church served as a designated point of contact in Alabama for the Freedom Riders.

A HISTORIC PHOTO FROM A BOMBING AT BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH

Courtesy Bethel Baptist Church

“Almost all of the civil rights activities in town would start at Springfield Baptist Church. This was the unofficial headquarters of the [Greenville] movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s.”

— R EV. JOHN H. COR BI T T

CLARK MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST

CHURCH

Courtesy USCRT

Because of Shuttlesworth’s activism, Bethel Baptist was the target of repeated bombings. A 1956 Christmas night blast rocked the church’s parsonage, with Shuttlesworth and his family inside. Miraculously, no one was hurt. The church was bombed again in 1958 and 1962.

“He told the congregation after the first bombing that if they wanted him to resign, he would, but that he would continue the fight,” said the Rev. Thomas L. Wilder Jr., current pastor of Bethel Baptist Church.

“We view Rev. Shuttlesworth as the architect of the modern civil rights movement,” said Martha Bouyer, executive director of the Historic Bethel Baptist Church. “He moved it from a one-item protest; mostly, to that point, it had been about the bus. He started to protest these unfair laws as related to schools, restaurants, trying on clothes at department stores, voting rights, access to government and police jobs. He addressed segregation at its very core, in all areas at the same time.”

Shuttlesworth traveled to sit-ins and boycotts throughout the South, bringing effective ideas for nonviolent protests back to Birmingham with him, Bouyer said. He also challenged many aspects of segregation in the court system.

“Rev. Shuttlesworth was slightly ahead of his time in understanding the full impact and power of civil disobedience,” said Alabama historian Richard Bailey.

“He was the one that invited Dr. King to Birmingham in 1963,” Bouyer said. The police brutality on display during the Birmingham Campaign, which was publicized nationwide, is credited with contributing to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Shuttlesworth’s more confrontational style was a contrast to King’s, but there was a mutual respect between them. In his memoir of the Birmingham Campaign, King praised Shuttlesworth’s “fiery words and determined zeal.”

“Dr. King said about Rev. Shuttlesworth that he brought a type of militancy to this whole issue of civil rights that hadn’t been there before,” Bouyer said.

The congregation now worships in a new sanctuary built in 1995.

The original church building has been preserved as a monument to the civil rights movement, and in 2007, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

WWW.BETHELCOLLEGEVILLE.ORG

Clark Memorial United Methodist Church NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Clark Memorial United Methodist Church provided a central meeting place for leaders of the civil rights movement in Nashville, Tennessee.

The church served as headquarters for the Nashville office of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and its location near several Nashville universities brought a steady stream of young activists through its doors.

Noted activist James Lawson, a student at Vanderbilt University at the time of the civil rights movement, led workshops on nonviolent civil

CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL.COM

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disobedience at the church. John Lewis, a college student who later became a national civil rights leader and longtime congressman from Georgia, was one of the attendees.

“The students involved in those meetings came from Vanderbilt University, Tennessee State University, Fisk University and American Baptist College,” said church historian Marilyn Talbert. “Rev. A.M. Anderson was the pastor at that time [1959-1965], and the students were having so many gatherings, he finally gave them a key [to the building].”

Founded originally in 1865 as a school and worship center for newly freed slaves, the current church building, built in 1981, sits on the same site where the congregation has worshiped since 1943.

“It’s important for people to understand the sacrifice and struggles that people went through in that particular era, just as it’s important to know something about the earlier [19th century] efforts of AfricanAmericans to secure freedom and rights,” Talbert said. “As generations change, we need to know and preserve that history.”

WWW.CLARKUMCNASHVILLE.ORG

ALABAMA CIVIL RIGHTS

INSTITUTE AND ZION BAPTIST CHURCH

By Todd Stone, courtesy ACRI

SYBIL JORDAN HAMPTON: INTEGRATING HIGH SCHOOL

FOR MORE CIVIL RIGHTS STORIES, VISIT VIMEO.COM/CIVILRIGHTSTRAIL

Photos courtesy Albany CVB

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S

ybil Jordan Hampton grew up in the segregated South, where even as a young child, she understood there were certain spaces and privileges not accessible to her.

“My parents trained my brother and myself very carefully [so that] when we were alone, we knew that if you got on the bus, you went to the back,” said Hampton, a native of Little Rock, Arkansas.

“If you were in a department store, you looked for things that said ‘Colored,’ whether the bathroom or the water fountain. You did not expect to go into Walgreens and sit at the lunch counter. All of those things are very stark memories for me — the rules that you had to learn.”

Eventually, laws stripped away the legality of “separate but equal.” But perceptions and prejudices took much longer to change.

In 1959, Hampton was part of the second group of students to desegregate Little Rock Central High School, following the tumultuous 1957 enrollment of the Little Rock Nine.

Once there, she was faced with a raw truth: “I was always going to be ‘other,’” Hampton said. “The experience of three years [there] was that we were shunned. Absolutely no one in my homeroom spoke to me. As time went on, I realized there was absolutely nothing I could do or say in my classes that would ever change the perception of me as being unworthy, not wanted, not welcomed.”

But Hampton persisted, graduating in 1962 to go on to college, graduate school and a distinguished career as a higher education administrator and philanthropist. “I was committed to the struggle of my people,” she said.

“That kept me being able to keep my head up, doing what I had to do.”

ALBANY, GEORGIA In 1961, Shiloh Baptist Church helped foster a broad, citywide civil rights initiative that became known as the Albany Movement.

“The role of Shiloh was very key,” said W. Frank Wilson, executive director of the Albany Civil Rights Institute. “When the movement started, there was a need for a place to have meetings, and the late Rev. H.G. Boyd opened the doors of Shiloh.”

Boyd had also made the church available to Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee workers who had come to Albany to work on voter registration, Wilson said.

In December 1961, Martin Luther King Jr. came to Albany to speak at the invitation of his friend, W.G. Anderson, who was president of the Albany Movement. The crowd to hear King overflowed both Shiloh Baptist and Mount Zion Church across the street, another “major player in the movement,” Wilson said, so much so that by the end of the evening, King had to make not just one, but three separate addresses, alternating between the churches, to accommodate the roughly 1,500 people who came.

“As a result, Dr. King ended up spending the night and leading a march, and was even arrested in Albany,” Wilson said.

Shiloh’s involvement in the movement did not come without danger: “Rev. Boyd would tell a story that one Sunday as he got up to give his sermon, an usher brought a note that said there was a bomb under the church. But he chose not to read it [to the congregation] because he felt that the note was intended to incite hysteria and panic,” Wilson said. “And his belief was, if he had to go, then there was no better place to go than in church.”

WWW.SHILOHBAPT325ALBANYGA.ORG

FREEDOM

1964

Shiloh Baptist Church

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SHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH

Courtesy ACRI

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First Baptist Church MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

“In recognizing the humanity of

On May 21, 1961, King spoke in a darkened sanctuary of Montgomery’s our fellow beings, we pay ourselves First Baptist Church. Gathered there was a group of roughly 1,500 Freedom Riders, church members and other civil rights activists who had the highest tribute.” taken refuge in the building following violence at the city’s Greyhound bus station. Outside, the Klan surrounded them. The nearly 15-hour Photos courtesy Missouri Historical Society standoff became known as “the siege of First Baptist.”

— TH URGOOD M A RSH A LL , On that tense night, King and Abernathy, First Baptist Church’s pastor U. S. SUPR EME COURT J USTICE (1952-1961) and himself one of the civil rights movement’s leading national figures, found themselves on the phone with U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy asking for federal protection from the violent mob outside, which had begun to break windows and throw tear gas. Ultimately, National Guard troops In 1957, the church hosted the first Institute on Nonviolence and were dispatched to safely lead the activists Social Change, sponsored by SCLC. It was during a meeting at First out of the church.

Baptist Church in 1958 that civil rights leader Lewis, the youngest of the Earlier in the movement, the church so-called Big Six leaders of the movement, initially met and befriended had housed mass meetings to help Abernathy and King. organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

“Ralph Abernathy and Dr. King partnered together in doing both Both the church and the parsonage were the bus boycott as well as the Freedom Riders,” said the Rev. E. Baxter bombed in 1957, but Abernathy and his Morris, who has served as pastor of First Baptist Church since 1972. congregation persisted.

“Their pathways were always linked.”

Despite First Baptist’s active role in the 20th-century civil rights movement, Alabama historian Bailey said the church’s social activism dates back to its founding in 1866. Nathan Ashby, pastor of the church from 1866 to 1870, served as the first president of the Colored Baptist Convention of Alabama, and in 1890, the church hosted the first baccalaureate service of the State Normal School, now Alabama State University.

“The first civil rights bill to be introduced to the Alabama Legislature was submitted by a member of First Baptist Church in February 1873,” Bailey said.

WWW.FIRSTBAPTISTCHURCH MONTGOMERY.COM

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This courthouse

CHANGED

A NATION. Make history meaningful with a visit to the Bay County Courthouse, site of a 1963 landmark case that changed our nation’s court system.

In Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court ruled that states are required under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to provide an attorney to defendants in criminal cases who are unable to afford their own lawyers.

After stopping at the courthouse, explore the history of the St. Andrews neighborhood and downtown Panama City with self-guided walking tours. Find out more at destinationpanamacity.com/walkingtour

PA N A M A C I T Y FLORIDA

Where Life Sets Sail

ALABAMA | ARKANSAS | FLORIDA | GEORGIA | KANSAS | KENTUCKY | LOUISIANA | MISSISSIPPI | MISSOURI NORTH CAROLINA | SOUTH CAROLINA | TENNESSEE | VIRGINIA | WASHINGTON D.C. | WEST VIRGINIA

COURTESY LITTLE ROCK CVB

BY TED TUCKER, COURTESY BIRMINGHAM CVB

FOLLOW THE

JOURNEY DISCOVER THE

TRAIL

BY GARY LAYDA, COURTESY NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY

U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIL MARKETING ALLIANCE, LLC.

BOUNTY OF THE Bluegrass KENTUCKY SPECIAL SECTION 2019

Courtesy Freight House

Kentucky’s

TOP CHEF TOUR

By Eliza Myers

F OL L O W T HE HI T T V SHO W T HROUGH T HE

B

ourbon, burgoo, hot browns and other iconic Kentucky dishes take center stage alongside the contestants in this year’s season of “Top Chef.” The American reality television series is being filmed at various locations in the state, including Louisville, Lexington and Lake Cumberland. “‘Top Chef ’ has helped put us on the map as a culinary destination,” said Kristen Branscum, commissioner of Kentucky’s Department of Travel and Tourism. “They featured not only some of our destinations and attractions but also our incredible food.”

Groups can use the 16th season of the show as a guide to create their own foodie tour of the Bluegrass State. Here are some “Top Chef ” sites to include on your next trip to Kentucky.

LOUISVILLE

Churchill Downs

On the first episode of “Top Chef: Kentucky,” a bugle call that typically starts the Kentucky Derby signaled the start of the contestants’ visit to Churchill Downs. After learning about the horse track, the contestants were charged with creating dishes for a mock Derby party.

“There is no better way to start up the season of ‘Top Chef’ in Kentucky than a call to post,” said Branscum.

“Churchill Downs is a bucket list item for many people.

The challenge of throwing your own Derby party showcases the international appeal of Kentucky.”

Groups can visit Churchill Downs during its racing 88

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Bluegrass State

season or throughout the year with a visit to the adjacent Kentucky Derby Museum. Dedicated to American Thoroughbred racing, the museum lets guests relive the Derby experience with a 360-degree theater experience and other interactive exhibits.

SIGNATURE GROUP EXPERIENCE: The “It’s My Derby” group package offers the ultimate Derby experience with a tour of the museum, a guided walking tour of Churchill Downs and an afternoon of live racing. Participants create their own Derby hats and listen to professional betting tips.

SIGNATURE CULINARY EXPERIENCE: Walnuts, chocolate chips and whipped cream combine to create a quintessential Kentucky dessert: the Derby Pie. The Derby Cafe Express serves this treat for museum visitors.

Muhammad Ali Center

The Muhammad Ali Center honors former boxing champion and Louisville native Muhammad Ali and was also the site of a “Top Chef ” challenge judged by the boxer’s daughter, Laila Ali. “When you say ‘Muhammad Ali,’ there is immediate recognition,” said Branscum. “People not only knew him for his boxing career but also for his humanitarian efforts. The museum talks about Ali and what he did throughout the world.”

An orientation theater relates highlights of the boxer’s fascinating life before visitors explore interactive exhibits on Ali and his connection to Louisville.

SIGNATURE GROUP EXPERIENCE: To see the museum without the crowds, groups can opt for the After-Hours Tours. Guides provide background information during the two-hour tours.

SIGNATURE CULINARY EXPERIENCE: Whether groups would rather book a catered museum experience from Bristol Catering or dine in at the nearby Bristol Bar and Grill, groups can try a Louisville favorite in combination with a visit to the Muhammad Ali Center. Locals especially love the Bristol green chili wontons, served with a freshly made guacamole sauce.

MARCH 2019

Kentucky

SARA BRADLEY, CHEF AND OWNER OF FREIGHT HOUSE IN PADUCAH, IS A CONTESTANT ON THE 2018-19 SEASON OF TOP CHEF. Courtesy Freight House

By Michael Hickey, courtesy Bravo

Courtesy Louisville CVB

I S S U E M A R C H 2 01 9

Courtesy Louisville CVB TOP TO BOTTOM: SHRIMP AND GRITS FROM FREIGHT HOUSE; TOP CHEF CONTESTANTS PREPARING FOR A CHALLENGE; SIPPING BOURBON; DERBY PIE AT CHURCHILL DOWNS’ DERBY CAFE

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Courtesy Freight House

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SHITTAKE FETTUCINE AT FREIGHT HOUSE IN PADUCAH

HORSES. HISTORY.

Hallelujah Explore Jessamine County for a unique Kentucky experience!

Meet Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, then get a glimpse into Kentucky history at Camp Nelson National Monument and Cemetery.

Courtesy Freight House

BOURBON BARRELS AT MAKER’S MARK

THE HOT BROWN, LOUISVILLE’S SIGNATURE CULINARY CREATION

Courtesy KY Dept. of Tourism & Travel

Courtesy Louisville CVB

Seelbach Hilton and Brown Hotel

One of the show’s elimination challenges took place in the historic Seelbach Hilton for a Gatsby-inspired-attire shindig. The 321-room hotel’s glamorous 1920s parties served as inspiration for parts of “The Great Gatsby.”

“When the show went to the Seelbach, people learned about the Prohibition era and the hotel’s connection to that time,” said Branscum. “People are surprised and intrigued to hear an interesting story about Kentucky that they didn’t even know about. People are now wanting to go to the Seelbach and have that experience.”

The Brown Hotel is also mentioned during the show as a recognized culinary establishment.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the hotel contains 293 rooms, a Georgian Revival interior and two restaurants.

SIGNATURE GROUP EXPERIENCE: Guests can sip on an Old-Fashioned at the Old Seelbach Bar for a trip back to the 1920s. “Top Chef: Kentucky” featured the whiskey, sugar and orange cocktail, which fits well with the Old Seelbach Bar’s early 1900s aesthetic.

SIGNATURE CULINARY EXPERIENCE: “Top Chef” contestants competed in a Quickfire challenge to reimagine Louisville’s favorite sandwich: the Hot Brown. Groups love to sample the open-faced turkey sandwich at the Brown Hotel, as the hotel’s chef invented the popular dish in 1926. The hotel typically serves 800 Hot Browns a week.

LORETTO

Maker’s Mark

859.305.6040 VISITJESSAMINE.COM 90

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The familiar red-wax-dipped bourbon bottles of Maker’s Mark appeared in the second episode of “Top Chef: Kentucky.” Contestants took a distillery tour before incorporating bourbon into a dish.

“The episode shows that bourbon is more than just the drink,” said Branscum. “A visit to the distillery is about bourbon tasting but also about the craftsmanship behind the drink.”

General tours illustrate the complicated bourbon-making process, reveal the history of Maker’s MARCH 2019

Mark and allow participants to dip their own bottle in a red wax seal.

SIGNATURE GROUP EXPERIENCE: Maker’s Mark offers several specialty group tours, including the Behind the Bar tour, which teaches participants how to create well-known bourbon cocktails.

SIGNATURE CULINARY EXPERIENCE: Besides the traditional bourbon tasting, groups can dine on Kentucky classics, such as a Benedictine sandwich, at Star Hill Provisions Standards. The farm-to-table restaurant features an award-winning chef, a seasonal menu and specialty bourbon cocktails.

PADUCAH

Freight House

Sara Bradley, owner and chef for Paducah’s Freight House, was the only “Top Chef ” contestant from Kentucky. Freight House offers a Southerninspired restaurant and bourbon bar that use many local ingredients.

“Sara Bradley serves as Kentucky’s representative and ambassador to Kentucky flavors on the show,” said Branscum. “Paducah is a UNESCO Creative City. While they are known for their fiber arts, as you can see from Sara’s restaurant and some of the other local restaurants and microdistilleries, it is truly a creative city in the culinary arts as well.”

Paducah’s art scene thrives with numerous art galleries and shops.

SIGNATURE GROUP EXPERIENCE: Groups can learn the trade of quilt-making at Paducah’s National Quilt Museum. The Museum Experience provides a detailed guided tour of the quilt displays before challenging participants to create their own fiber art.

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SIGNATURE CULINARY EXPERIENCE: Many diners choose the Kentucky silver carp dish when visiting Bradley’s Freight House. The distinctive dish features mild white fish with stewed sweet tomatoes, lima beans, cornbread and croutons.

JAMESTOWN

Lake Cumberland State Resort Park

Kentucky has more miles of shoreline than any other state, except Alaska.

“Top Chef” contestants spend a day on a houseboat on one of the state’s most popular lakes: Lake Cumberland.

“When ‘Top Chef ’ visited Lake Cumberland, they showed how you can have a true Kentucky experience and center that around food,” said Branscum.

“The episode shows off Kentucky’s natural outdoor beauty.”

Visitors flock to Lake Cumberland State Resort Park for a convenient way to enjoy lake activities, such as water tubing, fishing, canoeing and boating. The park also offers shuffleboard, miniature golf and nine miles of hiking trails.

SIGNATURE GROUP EXPERIENCE: Groups seeking to re-create the lake party featured on “Top Chef ” can book houseboats at Houseboating.org. The site offers multiple boats, including two that sleep 18 people.

SIGNATURE CULINARY EXPERIENCE: The park’s Rowena Landing Restaurant delights visitors with its panoramic views of Lake Cumberland and traditional Kentucky cuisine. For local flavors, diners can select the catfish, which chefs roll in seasoned cornmeal breading and serve with hush puppies.

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M E E T I N G S PA C E T H A N A N Y H O T E L I N K E N T U C K Y

Better order more name badges.

With 53 meeting rooms, two ballrooms, an exhibit hall and 1,300 guest rooms, the Galt House can easily accommodate GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM large groups and conferences. Start planning your next event at galthouse.com/meetings.

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LEXINGTON Keeneland

A CLASSIC KENTUCKY HOT BROWN DINNER Courtesy KY Dept. of Tourism & Travel A LAKE CUMBERLAND HOUSEBOAT

TOP CHEF HOST PADMA LAKSHMI AT KEENELAND IN LEXINGTON Courtesy Lake Cumberland State Resort Park

By Michael Hickey, courtesy Bravo

The stone fences, blooming trees and manicured grounds of Keeneland paint an elegant portrait of horse culture in Kentucky. The boutique track, built in 1936, invites guests to enjoy horse racing each April and October in a more intimate setting.

“One of the last places the show visits is Keeneland,” said Branscum. “I think that is a really good bookend for the show. The show starts and finishes in horse country. When you mention Kentucky, horses are one of the first things that comes to mind for most people.”

SIGNATURE GROUP EXPERIENCE: Alongside a day of wagering, groups can tour the scenic racetrack. Guides lead guests through the landscaped track grounds as well as invite them into the Keeneland Library, one of the world’s largest repositories of information related to the thoroughbred.

SIGNATURE CULINARY EXPERIENCE: The mint julep is a drink commonly served at the Derby and throughout Kentucky. Guests can soothe themselves after betting losses with the bourbon, shaved ice and mint cocktail served at the racetrack.

Rupp Arena

Home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team, Rupp Arena featured prominently during a “Top Chef ” episode. The 23,000-seat downtown complex hosts sporting events, concerts and other events. Wildcats coach John Calipari served as a guest judge during the “Top Chef ” Rupp Arena episode.

“I think it was emblematic of the role that basketball plays in Kentucky’s heritage and life,” said Branscum.

“We see more and more sports tourism picking up in Kentucky, so if you are a basketball lover, Rupp Arena is an important place on your bucket list.”

SIGNATURE GROUP EXPERIENCE: Groups can attend one of the venue’s many entertainment events, with upcoming shows including the Harlem Globetrotters, Disney on Ice and MercyMe. SIGNATURE CULINARY EXPERIENCE: For an example of Lexington’s noted culinary prowess, groups can try a piece of Honeywood’s bourbon butter cake.

Honeywood is one of the largest and newest restaurants owned by Ouita Michel, a famed Bluegrass chef and guest judge on “Top Chef: Kentucky.”

WWW.BETTERINTHEBLUEGRASS.COM/TC

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HERE, THERE ARE STORIES of champions and LEGENDS yet to be told.

BetterInTheBluegrass.com

Kentucky

NATURALS

By Eliza Myers

ADD THESE STATE AND NATIONAL PARKS TO YOUR NEXT Kentucky Itinerary

V

isiting a Kentucky park is so much more than just hiking through the woods.

Travelers at state and national parks throughout Kentucky can contemplate life while surrounded by nature or do something completely different, such as listen to show tunes, learn about Revolutionary War history or browse through a local art museum.

At the Jenny Wiley State Resort Park, guests can hike during the day, then attend an outdoor musical theater in the evening. Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park and John James Audubon Park incorporate informative museums into their park experiences.

Other parks at Lake Barkley, Mammoth Cave and Cumberland Falls contain natural wonders to complement their trails.

These Kentucky parks can offer groups memorable wildlife encounters and cultural experiences to enhance their time in the great outdoors.

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON STATE PARK Henderson

Visitors standing very still inside the John James Audubon State Park in Henderson can sometimes hear the same bird calls that the famous ornithologist and artist once heard during his regular wanderings. The park protects 724 acres of rolling hills and wooded landscapes where Audubon found inspiration for his masterwork, “The Birds of America.”

Less than a mile south of the Ohio River, the park houses a museum and nature center in a 1930s-era 94

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Works Progress Administration building with incorporated French architectural elements. The museum contains one of the world’s largest collections of Audubon art as well as personal artifacts that explore the many difficulties Audubon overcame to create his extensive collection of wildlife artworks.

Audubon was born in 1785 in Haiti, the illegitimate son of a French sea captain. He moved to France, then departed again for America at the age of 18 to avoid service in Napoleon’s military campaigns. Audubon opened a dry goods business in Henderson in 1810. After undergoing bankruptcy and other hardships, he found literary success with “The Birds of America” in 1827, which originated from Audubon’s dream of painting every bird in North America.

Groups can watch a film about Audubon’s fascinating life and the subsequent creation of the park at the museum’s Audubon Theater. After examining the museum’s collection, they can tour the nature center to discover the wildlife prominent in the area. Park staff conduct environmental and art education programs in the center. Downstairs, groups can browse through a gallery of local artists.

Several hikes start from the center. Groups can also golf, rent pedal boats and attend interpretive programs.

WWW.PARKS.KY.GOV/PARKS/RECREATIONPARKS/JOHN-JAMES

MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK Mammoth Cave

With jagged stalactites and stalagmites covering the limestone ceilings and floors, sections of Mammoth Cave can seem like something out of a science fiction movie. Created to protect the world’s largest cave system, Mammoth Cave National Park takes groups into the underground wonderland on tours that range from casual strolls to strenuous exploration.

For some of the cave’s most dramatic features, groups can opt for the twohour Domes and Dripstones Tour or the more condensed Frozen Niagara MARCH 2019

Kentucky Courtesy John James Audubon SP A COUPLE STOPS TO ADMIRE ONE OF THE CASCADES AT CUMBERLAND FALLS STATE RESORT PARK.

Courtesy John James Audubon SP

Courtesy NPS

GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM

Courtesy Cumberland Falls SRP

Courtesy NPS TOP TO BOTTOM: THE MUSEUM AT JOHN JAMES AUDUBON STATE PARK; A CABIN AT JOHN JAMES AUDUBON STATE PARK; AN EXOTIC CAVE CREATURE AT MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK; AN ENTRANCE TO MAMMOTH CAVE

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MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK

Courtesy NPS EAGLE FALLS TRAIL AT CUMBERLAND FALLS STATE RESORT PARK

Tour. Both routes pass impressive formations, such as the ornate Drapery Room and the Frozen Niagara, a waterfall-like feature preserved in limestone.

Mammoth Cave stretches over 400 miles, with more passageways discovered each year. Groups seeking to capture this sense of exploration can book the Wild Cave Tour for a physically challenging experience that involves crawling at some points.

Those looking to connect with the cave’s fascinating history can choose the Violet City Lantern Tour or the Star Chamber Tour. Guides on these tours lead groups underground with the flickering flames of lanterns while discussing the cave’s earliest human occupants.

Aboveground, groups can experience a more typical version of nature. Hiking trails, canoe rentals, horse rentals and bike trails offer various ways to explore some of the park’s 52,000 acres.

The park works with groups large and small, including those who don’t want to descend into the underground labyrinth. Groups can extend their stay by using the park’s accommodations, restaurant and gift shop.

WWW.NPS.GOV/MACA

WILDFLOWERS AT MAMMOTH CAVE Courtesy NPS

K EN T U C KY

S

avor ...

Courtesy Cumberland Falls SRP

THE SIGHTS & SOUNDS OF GEORGETOWN.

PURE SMALL TOWN CHARM.

SCOTT COUNTY

– Equine Activities –

• Minutes from the Kentucky Horse Park • Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farm • Group Horseback Riding • Nearby Keeneland Race Course

– Picturesque Downtown – • Specialty Shops • Antiques

• Scott County Arts and Cultural Center • Cafes and One-of-a-kind Restaurants • Georgetown and Scott County Museum

– Other Charming Attractions –

• Toyota Motor Manufacturing, KY, Inc. Tour • Golf • Country Boy Brewing • Bourbon 30 Spirits • Ward Hall • Yuko-En Japanese Friendship Garden • Nearby Wineries and Bourbon Distilleries • Close proximity to the Ark Encounter

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MARCH 2019

CUMBERLAND FALLS STATE RESORT PARK Corbin

GROUP FRIENDLY

Visitors can hear the rumble of the waterfall before they see it at the Cumberland Falls State Resort Park in Corbin. Within a few steps of the parking lot, guests can witness 3,600 cubic feet of water thundering down a 68-foot drop.

The resulting misty spray is one reason the waterfall was dubbed the Niagara of the South. Groups can admire the falls from above, below, further downstream or along Trail No. 9, which also leads to Eagle Falls.

Whitewater rafting trips also come close to the base of the powerful falls, with routes that vary in difficulty.

Cumberland Falls is the only place in North America where a moonbow occurs. The park posts the full-moon dates, when a moonbow is possible, in case guests hope to time their visits with this unusual phenomenon.

Groups can stay at the DuPont Lodge for more vistas of the Cumberland River and the surrounding forests. The lodge’s Riverview Restaurant seats up to 200 guests and serves locally inspired dishes such as bourbon-glazed salmon and barbecued pork-chop sandwiches.

Other than gazing at the falls, groups can schedule guided tours, horseback rides, canoe trips and gem mining.

WWW.PARKS.KY.GOV/PARKS/RESORTPARKS/CUMBERLAND-FALLS

crafted

the well experience your travelers are looking for

CUMBERLAND FALLS STATE RESORT PARK

For a hand crafted experience call the ShelbyKY Tourism Office and let us build you a custom itinerary full of local favorites. Located between Louisville and Lexington.

Courtesy Cumberland Falls SRP GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM

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BLUE LICKS BATTLEFIELD STATE RESORT PARK Carlisle

THE PIONEER MUSEUM AT BLUE LICKS BATTLEFIELD Blue Licks Battlefield SRP WILD ELK AT JENNY WILEY STATE RESORT PARK

AN EXHIBIT AT BLUE LICKS BATTLEFIELD Blue Licks Battlefield SRP

Courtesy Jenny Wiley State Resort Park

Mastodon bones, Native American artifacts and Revolutionary War memorabilia reveal Kentucky’s past at Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park. The park marks the spot where one of the last battles of the Revolutionary War took place in 1782.

During the battle, British and Native American troops routed Kentucky militiamen, killing 60 of the settlement’s 176 men, including Daniel Boone’s son, Israel. The park monument and Soldier Burial Site honor the soldiers who fought in the battle.

The park’s Pioneer Museum recounts the battle with artifacts and a diorama of the battle. Groups can also follow the history of the Blue Licks area from the Paleozoic Era into the 19th century with ancient fossils and pioneer artifacts.

The two-mile Blue Licks Heritage Trail winds past the endangered Short’s goldenrod and other native plants before reaching the Tanners Station Fort. The fort re-creates an 18th-century trade station that once sat at Blue Licks Springs in 1784. The reconstructed building illustrates life along the Licking River during pioneer times.

The park creates customized group packages that can include the museum, mini-golf, the 32-room lodge, Hidden Waters Restaurant and guided tours.

Additionally, the park offers five hiking trails, a pool, a nature preserve and a gift shop with Kentucky-crafted items.

WWW.PARKS.KY.GOV/PARKS/RESORTPARKS/ BLUE_LICKS

LAKE BARKLEY STATE RESORT PARK

Corbin Loves Company!

Surrounded by the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains, Corbin is the perfect destination for your next group tour. Conveniently located off of I-75 at exit 25, Corbin is home to the Cumberland Falls, the Original KFC, and the Corbin Arena, a 7,000 seat venue that hosts a variety of shows.

Corbin is home to a host of locally owned restaurants who can accommodate large groups and satisfy any pallet. Whether you enjoy history, shopping, or culinary treats, Corbin, KY can offer a variety of itineraries for your group! We cannot wait to see you…Corbin Loves Company!

www.corbinkytourism.com 606-528-8860

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Cadiz

Large gates reminiscent of Jurassic Park swing open for vehicles exploring the 700-acre Elk and Bison Prairie at the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. Guests can then scan the scenery for signs of giant bison or elk, which sometimes walk right up to vehicles on the 3.5-mile paved loop.

Guests at Lake Barkley State Resort Park in Cadiz can easily access the elk and bison of the nearby 170,000-acre Land Between the Lakes, which sits between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake.

One favorite activity for groups visiting the area works for novice riders and horse lovers alike. The guided horseback adventures with Rocking U Riding

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Stables traverse a wooded area of Land Between the Lakes past creeks, lake shores and historic buildings.

If groups want to soak up the lake landscapes, they can rent a boat from the marina, which sits less than a mile from Lake Barkley Lodge. Those in search of a wildlife encounter can hike one of the numerous trails or head to the Woodlands Nature Station. The station runs educational programs and showcases the endangered red wolf, coyotes, fallow deer, owls and a bobcat.

The 120-room Lake Barkley Lodge features a wooden design and more than three acres of glass windows for views in every direction. Groups can enjoy Kentucky-sourced fare at the Windows on the Water restaurant, which overlooks Lake Barkley.

WWW.PARKS.KY.GOV/PARKS/RESORTPARKS/ LAKE-BARKLEY

JENNY WILEY STATE RESORT PARK Prestonsburg

Though the park’s name originated from a harrowing tale of an 18th-century frontierswoman who escaped Native American capture on foot, the Jenny Wiley State Resort Park now represents relaxation and entertainment. During the summer months, guests can enjoy evenings under the stars at the Jenny Wiley Amphitheatre.

Since 1964, the theater company has offered musical productions and other performances in the park. In 2014, the company opened an indoor theater in Pikeville so that the productions could continue year-round.

Groups can stay at the 49-room May Lodge, which features views of Dewey Lake, a selection of Kentucky handcrafts and the 224-seat Music Highway Grill. Ten miles of hiking trails take adventurers down towering pine-covered mountains.

Dewey Lake’s calm waters often draw leisure-loving visitors. Guests can rent pontoons, canoes or kayaks from the marina for hours of relaxation on the water.

After a 150-year absence, elk once again live in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Reintroduced in 1997, Kentucky elk now number an estimated 10,000.

Guided elk tours at Jenny Wiley State Resort Park allow groups to see these creatures.

The tours travel to various spots frequented by large elk herds to create opportunities to see the sizable animals up close. Scheduled tours run September through March, but groups can arrange for custom tours at other times.

Explore.

More.

Located in the Pennyroyal Region of Southwestern Kentucky, Hopkinsville and Christian County have a rich history, agricultural heritage, thriving arts scene and diverse culture.

Take a stroll through our charming downtown, lined with shops and restaurants, catch a live show at the historic Alhambra Theatre, and sample the sweet spirits at one of our distilleries. The people are friendly, the land is breathtaking and the barbecue is served with a side of burgoo!

WWW.PARKS.KY.GOV/PARKS/RESORTPARKS/ JENNY-WILEY

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Kentucky HERITAGE

By Eliza Myers

Kentucky’s historic sites ARE NOT TO BE MISSED

F

rom Downton Abbey-worthy glamour to criminal feuds lasting for decades, Kentucky’s historic attractions have one thing in common: fascinating stories.

Abraham Lincoln and other famous faces inspire visitors at some sites, and other unusual destinations spark curiosity, such as Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill.

Groups can discover the state’s historic highlights with interactive guided tours. Singing guides enchant guests at My Old Kentucky Home State Park. Visitors scratch their heads at the problem-solving Escape Games at Historic RailPark and Train Museum.

Each of these historic sites embrace the state’s fascinating past with engaging exhibits and group-friendly experiences.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN BIRTHPLACE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK Hodgenville

Abraham Lincoln is not just a statewide hero, but also the president credited with holding the country together during the Civil War. Lincoln did not become an iconic figure in world history overnight. He began life in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky’s frontier.

Today, groups can visit the place where Lincoln took his first steps: the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park in Hodgenville. A memorial marks the birth site. Inside the granite and marble memorial sits a simple log cabin similar to the one in

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which Lincoln was born.

The memorial is historic itself, since President Theodore Roosevelt laid its cornerstone in 1909. Architect John Russell Pope used symbolism throughout his design, with 56 stairs representing Lincoln’s 56 years of life and 16 windows recalling his place as the 16th president.

Groups can first tour the Visitor Center to view Lincoln’s parents’ Bible, among other artifacts. A 15-minute orientation film describes Lincoln’s early Kentucky years.

Lincoln’s earliest memories originated from his time at the site now known as the Boyhood Home at Knob Creek. Groups can travel to this nearby site to learn about Lincoln’s life from ages 2 to 8. Rangers can lead guided tours on a short hiking trail starting at Lincoln’s re-created childhood home and passing by a stream where Lincoln almost drowned as a child.

WWW.NPS.GOV/ABLI

SHAKER VILLAGE OF PLEASANT HILL Harrodsburg

In 1805, three Shaker missionaries set out to find new converts. After traveling more than a thousand miles, most of the way on foot, they eventually attracted enough members to start the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill.

The community stayed active until 1910, with 500 members at its height.

Groups can see 34 surviving buildings on 3,000 acres of preserved farmland at the largest National Historic Landmark in the state. With a guided tour at the Historic Center, groups can discover the fascinating culture of the unconventional religious community.

Shakers believed in the equality of the sexes and races before many other religions did. The group also prevented men and women from marrying, insisting the community should live together as brothers and sisters.

After a tour, groups can wander through the preserved buildings and

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Kentucky Courtesy NPS

Courtesy NPS

Courtesy NPS

GROUPS CAN RELAX IN THE HISTORIC ACCOMMODATIONS AT SHAKER VILLAGE OF PLEASANT HILL

GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM

Courtesy Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill

Courtesy Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill TOP TO BOTTOM: ABRAHAM LINCOLN BIRTHPLACE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK; A RE-CREATION OF LINCOLN’S BIRTH CABIN; INSIDE LINCOLN’S BIRTH CABIN; A GARDEN AT SHAKER VILLAGE

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farm to see various Shaker craft demonstrations and preserved agricultural practices. After over a year of renovations, the 21,000-square-foot Center Family Dwelling reopened to the public in 2019.

Solo music performances of Shaker songs at the 1820 Meeting House demonstrate the community’s strong music tradition. Other group experiences include a bonfire and hayride, bourbon tastings and horseback riding.

To immerse more fully in the experience, groups can book rooms at the 72-room inn, which offers Shaker reproduction furniture inside 13 restored Shaker buildings. Visitors can sample seasonal Kentucky dishes straight from the site’s garden at the Trustees’ Table restaurant.

CENTER FAMILY DWELLING AT SHAKER VILLAGE

WWW.SHAKERVILLAGEKY.ORG

Photos courtesy Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill

MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME STATE PARK

SHAKER VILLAGE’S DIXIE BELLE RIVER BOAT

Bardstown

A SHAKER DANCE DEMONSTRATION

Sipping on mint juleps and listening to tales of duels and horse racing, groups can imagine themselves as 1800s guests at My Old Kentucky Home State Park.

Best known as the inspiration behind Stephen Foster’s song “My Old Kentucky Home,” the park offers several group experiences, including the Mint Julep Tour.

Tours end with a mint-julep-mixing demonstration and tastings. Groups can also opt for the Biscuit Tour, the Hot Apple Cider Tour and the Lemonade Tour to add a culinary element to their visit. The Biscuit Tour includes a cooking demonstration, so groups can bake their own Southern-style biscuit when they return home.

All tours begin at the Visitors Center; from there, guides in period dress lead groups through the historic mansions. The park’s guides are not only historically knowledgeable; they are also musically gifted — they treat each guest to an a cappella performance of “My Old Kentucky Home.”

TOURS END WITH A MINT-JULEPMIXING DEMONSTRATION AND TASTINGS. GROUPS CAN ALSO OPT FOR THE BISCUIT TOUR, THE HOT APPLE CIDER TOUR AND THE LEMONADE TOUR TO ADD A CULINARY ELEMENT TO THEIR VISIT. Get to know where the world’s finest bourbons are born at visitbardstown.com.

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MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME STATE PARK

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Guides reveal the estate’s architectural significance, its historic antiques, its connection to Foster and the compelling character of its first owner, Judge John Rowan. Rowan stands out for dabbling in horse racing, experimenting with agriculture and serving in Congress. His famous duel with James Chambers resulted in Chambers’ death over what was believed to be a challenge over who could speak Latin and Greek most proficiently.

INSIDE A TRAIN CAR AT HISTORIC RAILPARK AND TRAIN MUSEUM

PARKS.KY.GOV/PARKS/RECREATIONPARKS/OLD-KY-HOME/

HISTORIC RAILPARK AND TRAIN MUSEUM Bowling Green

Participants locked in an Army railcar must break out before the train stops in one hour. Can they free themselves?

The answer lies in the group’s problem-solving abilities during the immersive and entertaining Escape Game at the Historic RailPark and Train Museum in Bowling Green. The escape experience can be combined with tours of the museum.

The railcars used for the games, including a rare World War II-era hospital car, also serve as pieces of history. The RailPark houses several other railcars that guests can tour, including a post office car, a dining car, a sleeping car and a private car of Milton Smith, a Louisville and Nashville Railroad president. Guides walk groups through each car to reveal different facets of train travel.

Courtesy Historic RailPark and Train Museum

Harrodsburg brings together group experiences that are both unique and memorable. It’s no wonder its been honored with accolades including:

· Named one of Smithsonian Magazine’s “20 Best Small Towns to Visit”

· Named one of BBC NEWS Magazine’s “Five Hidden US Travel Destinations”

Group-friendly activities & adventures with over 300 affordable rooms just minutes SW of Lexington

HarrodsburgKy.com • 800-355-9192 GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM

• Award-winning Downtown • Unique Shopping/ Dining • Year-round arts, cultural & music events

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The site’s museum lies in an art deco-style train station built in the 1920s. After laying abandoned for many years, the museum restored the elegance of American railroading’s golden age in the early 20th century.

Inside, groups can learn details of railroad travel, such as what passengers ate and how staff lived. A private theater chronicles the daily lives of the Pullman porters who worked on passenger cars.

Over 10 years in the making, the RailPark’s model train sits inside the museum’s gift shop. The model recreates Bowling Green between the 1920s and 1950s in one of the region’s largest model railroad displays.

WWW.HISTORICRAILPARK.COM

A FAMILY AT HISTORIC RAILPARKE Photos courtesy Historic RailPark and Train Museum

THE 1920s DEPOT AT HISTORIC RAILPARK

A SCHOOL OUTING AT HISTORIC RAILPARK

When’s the last time you thought, “This would make a great place to get stuck in traffic”?

BIG SANDY HERITAGE CENTER MUSEUM Pikeville

A tale of two families taking the law into their own hands is one of the most engrossing stories told inside the Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum in Pikeville.

The Hatfield and McCoy family feud lasted decades and is often retold in American folklore.

Guides enthusiastically recount stories from the Hatfield and McCoy families to accompany the experience. Life-size wax dummies of the two clan leaders, the rope bed that belonged to a McCoy family member and other artifacts help tell the infamous story.

The Everlasting Friendship certificate signed and sealed by the Kentucky and West Virginia governors in 1924 supposedly gave an official ending to the feud with the opening of a highway between the two states.

A TALE OF TWO FAMILIES TAKING THE LAW INTO THEIR OWN HANDS IS ONE OF THE MOST ENGROSSING STORIES TOLD INSIDE THE BIG SANDY HERITAGE CENTER MUSEUM IN PIKEVILLE. THE HATFIELD AND MCCOY FAMILY FEUD LASTED DECADES AND IS OFTEN RETOLD

Your first time won’t be your last time.

It’s the endless freedom of a backcountry road that gives our town a certain something that other places can’t quite capture. To leave your cares in the dust, go on a countryside cruise toward Maker’s Mark and Limestone Branch distilleries. Start planning at visitlebanonky.com.

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IN AMERICAN FOLKLORE.

BIG SANDY HERITAGE CENTER MUSEUM

MARCH 2019

The museum also explains the lawlessness of the time that helped contribute to the feud. The Civil War led to government authority breakdown in the remote mountain communities of eastern Kentucky, causing many families to protect themselves without the assistance of law enforcement.

Other exhibits show how the region divided loyalties during the war, with soldier artifacts such as a drinking cup and a deck of cards. The museum also reaches back into history with exhibits on local Native Americans, African-American history and the Pikeville Cut Through.

The museum sits on the fourth floor of the Judicial Annex in downtown Pikeville.

WWW.BIGSANDYHERITAGE.COM

ADSMORE MUSEUM Princeton

The glitzy lives of Kentucky’s wealthy residents in the early 1900s are on full display at the Adsmore Museum in Princeton. The 1857 home once bought by the Smith-Garrett family in 1900 quickly became a mansion ahead of its time with immediate and ongoing expansions. The Adsmore’s name is believed to have originated from its reputation of always “adding some more” home renovations.

BIG SANDY HERITAGE CENTER MUSEUM Courtesy Big Sandy Heritage Center Museum

welcome to K E N T U C K Y

www.richmondkytourism.com | 531 w. Main Street | 800-866-3705

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ADSMORE MUSEUM

Depending on when groups visit, they will see snapshots of the home from various moments in the family’s history. The museum rotates seven exhibits that range from Katherine’s Birthday to Selina’s Wedding, all of which are based on events and traditions from the time.

Guides lead guests through the home’s library, parlor, formal dining room, bedrooms and beyond. Outside, a garden, a carriage house and a log cabin that contains Ratliff ’s Gun Shop also stay open to visitors. The functioning gunsmith shop dates to the 1840s.

The living-history museum was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Most of the Greek Revival-style home’s furnishings belonged to the Smith-Garrett family. Katherine Garrett, the granddaughter of the original owners, grew up in the Victorian home and lived there until she died in 1984. She donated the home to the library with the stipulation that it open to the public.

The museum is a cultural time capsule. After tours, groups can browse singular items in the Carriage House Gift Shop; they include crystal, hand fans, parasols and books by local authors.

WWW.ADSMORE.ORG

Courtesy Adsmore Museum

GIVE BETTER Join forces with 160+ member companies and 13,000+ travel professionals to amplify your giving and marketing, and inspire your employees.

Find out more at TourismCares.org

Ad space generously donated.

a f a m i ly o f br a n d s

In just one day, more than 300 volunteers from 80 companies donated nearly $50,000 in volunteer labor hours to national and state parks in New York and New Jersey.

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A

SYMPHONY

Flavors

OF

Courtesy Lafayette Travel

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LOUI S I ANA’S VISITOR EXPERIENCES ARE AS RICH AND VARIED AS ITS FAMOUS CUISINE

BY R E B E C CA T R E O N

T

I S S U E M A R C H 2 01 9

GROUPS VISITING LAFAYETTE, THE HEART OF LOUISIANA’S CAJUN COUNTRY, WILL ENJOY AN ABUNDANCE OF AUTHENTIC CAJUN AND CREOLE COOKING.

GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM

here’s no place like Louisiana.

Among the Southern states, Louisiana is unique, drawing on a one-of-a-kind history. Colonized

by France, which ruled it for a century, Louisisana became the base for vast trading operations at its ports and a producer of sugar cane and cotton. People of African descent mixed with other immigrants to create the state’s renowned Creole culture, while exiled French Canadians contributed Louisiana’s Cajun vibe. Other influences include Spanish, Native American and Haitian cultures.

Louisiana’s attractions are as varied as its roots, allowing groups to explore both its past and present. When following the Interstate 10 corridor across the state, visitors will find several key cities are worth a visit.

Lake Charles, in the heart of Creole country, offers museums, music and food that reflect its influence. Groups will enjoy both city attractions and its natural landscape, which will provide a welcome break for outdoor exploration.

Lafayette is in the heart of Cajun country, and its heritage is celebrated at local museums.

Groups can opt for outdoor adventures or get a taste of the vibrant downtown scene, full of music and dining options.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital, is populated with historic plantation homes that give groups a slice of antebellum life, contrasting with more modern elements of the city like its arts scene.

The party never stops in New Orleans, and groups can explore everything from Bourbon Street to the Garden District while sampling the city’s legendary cuisine.

Louisiana is a haven for group travelers. If your group hasn’t had the pleasure to be enveloped in the state’s unique vibe, take them to these destinations in temperate spring or fall.

LAKE CHARLES Creole culture thrives in Lake Charles, where Africans have had a presence for centuries, mixing with Native American, French and Spanish populations and creating a distinct heritage.

The area is also home to the Creole Nature Trail, a 180-mile route through Louisiana’s outback. It includes 26 miles of shoreline along the Gulf Coast that are popular for shell collecting and photos. Groups can enjoy an array of outdoor experiences along the trail, including spotting alligators, airboat tours, bird-watching, ecotours, fishing and crabbing. Start at Adventure Point, a free museum that features hands-on displays and exhibits that provide background of the area’s landscape and wildlife, which includes some 400 species of birds.

Groups will want to delve into the downtown area. It’s home to several casinos, which beyond gaming also offer pools, spas, dining, shopping and entertainment. The Mardi Gras Museum explores the history of Louisiana’s iconic festival through its extravagant costumes. The Black Heritage Gallery explores the African roots of the area, and the Imperial Calcasieu Museum is home to the centuries-old Sallier Oak. Lake Charles is home to a thriving food-truck scene and numerous Creole restaurants, where classic dishes can be sampled. It’s a popular place to sample the Cajun boudin, sold at several stops all along Interstate 10 — so many that Lake Charles has coined the route the “Southwest Louisiana Boudin Trail.” Another area can’tmiss attraction is live Cajun and zydeco music, performed at venues around town.

WWW.VISITLAKECHARLES.ORG

LAFAYETTE Deep in Louisiana’s Cajun Country, the Lafayette area is home to a large population

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LAKE CHARLES’ CREOLE NATURE TRAIL

By Lindsey Janies, courtesy Lake Charles/SWLA CVB A LAKE CHARLES PO’ BOY

CAJUN MUSIC IN LAFAYETTE Courtesy Lafayette Travel

Courtesy Lake Charles/SWLA CVB

of French Acadians whose ancestors journeyed from Europe to Canada before being exiled to the South in the 18th century. Their legacy is evident in the unique music, cuisine and dialect that have become ingrained in the state’s cultural patchwork.

Groups visiting Lafayette can explore Cajun music heritage with a tour of Martin Accordions. The factory tour is followed by an hour of Cajun music. At the Jean Lafitte Acadian Cultural Center, groups can learn about the origins, migration and settlement of the Acadians. Vermilionville Living History and Folk Life Park re-creates life in the area from 1765 to 1890. On 23 acres near Bayou Vermilion, the park’s self-guided tours include costumed, bilingual artisans and re-enactors, live music, a cooking school, a restaurant, boat tours and a gift shop.

As dusk settles in, head to a classic southern Louisiana dinner at the Sainte Marie, followed by an evening of bowling and dancing next door at Rock ‘n’ Bowl, where as they say in Cajun country, you can laissez les bons temps rouler, or let the good times roll. And visitors will want to allow plenty of time to sample the area’s signature crawfish, gumbo and other dishes; groups can

Savor the South!

Enjoy southern hospitality just a beat from New Orleans; experience Jefferson Parish. Enjoy festivals year-round, historic districts, shopping and value priced accommodations. Catch the adventure on our swamp and bayou tours, then savor classic Cajun cuisine.

Jefferson Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc. 3 Call 504.731.7083 3 Toll Free 1.877.572.7474 3 VisitJeffersonParish.com

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take a guided food tour to get a taste of it all.

Another foodie destination is nearby Avery Island, home of Tabasco sauce. Groups can take a tour of the factory that produces the spicy staple.

W W W. L A FA Y E T T E T R AV EL .COM

BATON ROUGE In Baton Rouge, groups can start their visits with a custom group tour from Red Stick Adventures, which takes them to museums, monuments, attractions and historic neighborhoods.

A popular destination is the new state capitol. The 34-story art deco structure gives visitors a birds-eye view of the city from the 27th floor observation deck.

A stroll across the gardens leads to the Capitol Park Museum, which details the state’s culture and history. Exhibits include an interactive Mardi Gras float, a shrimping boat and multimedia presentations. Nearby Main Street Market is a good group stop for a meal and a break; it features everything from Asian

and Middle Eastern to Southern cooking, plus souvenir vendors.

Downtown options for groups include the Louisiana Art and Science Museum, the Louisiana State University Museum of Art and the USS Kidd. Military enthusiasts will love exploring this restored World War II destroyer and its historic exhibits. The Louisiana Art and Science Museum offers fine-art exhibitions, a hands-on science gallery and a planetarium, among other exhibits. Art lovers will gravitate toward the LSU Museum of Art inside the Shaw Center for the Arts, which features a diverse art collection. Nearby, Third Street features several good live music and dining options, plus shops, galleries, historic churches and cemeteries.

St. Francisville has many options to explore the outdoors, from the Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge to an 18-hole golf course. It’s also a great place for groups to start their exploration of plantation homes: The Myrtle Plantation, the Rosedown Plantation Historic Site and the Catalpa Plantation House are all there.

Other stops for plantation lovers include the Magnolia Mound Plantation; a stop at the West Baton Rouge Museum to demonstrate the history of sugar cane production in the area; and Nottoway, the largest remaining antebellum mansion in the South, which also features an elegant restaurant that serves Southern classics. The Nottoway Mansion Restaurant hosts murder-mystery dinners and a dinner dance called the Cajun Swamp Stomp.

W W W.V ISI T B AT ON ROUGE .COM

O F F TH E E AT I N P R E D AT H N A W

The journey to an unforgettable dining experience begins when you venture a ways off the main road and follow the bayou as it flows through wetlands and authentic Cajun communities. Your groups can discover generations of unique traditions, culture and flavors in the eating establishments, culinary festivals and events on the Cajun Bayou Food Trail, just 45 minutes south of New Orleans.

Plan your trip at lacajunbayou.com/foodtrail.

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Courtesy Visit Baton Rouge

A BRASS BAND IN THE FRENCH QUARTER

By Joyce Bracey, courtesy New Orleans & Co.

JAMBALAYA IN NEW ORLEANS

By Chris Grainger, courtesy New Orleans & Co.

LOUISIANA STATE CAPITOL IN BATON ROUGE

NEW ORLEANS New Orleans has so much to offer travelers that it takes more than one visit to explore it all.

The city’s history spans three centuries, so there’s something for every interest. The city’s cuisine is renowned around the world, blending a variety of distinctive Louisiana cultures. Signature menu items include jambalaya, beignets, po’boys, Sazerac cocktails and gulf oysters. There’s no shortage of famous restaurants, but groups will want to take a guided food tour from Doctor Gumbo or drink their way through town with a cocktail tour with Gray Line. Alternatively, groups can learn to prepare their favorite dishes in a cooking class at the New Orleans School of Cooking.

The city’s unusual architecture is an attraction itself. Groups can take walking or Segway tours through the French Quarter and Bourbon Street before crossing Canal Street to pick up the historic trolley for a ride to the picturesque Garden District. Self-guided walking tours will help groups explore the neighborhood and its history. Guided cemetery tours are also a popular way to explore New Orleans history.

Groups won’t want to miss a classic New Orleans evening: enjoying dinner on the Natchez steamboat while cruising the Mississippi River with the city’s lights as a backdrop. Preservation Hall is the place to catch a performance of live jazz, and at Mardi Gras World, groups can discover the backstory of how fanciful parade floats are made.

W W W. N EWOR L E A NS .COM

PLAY AND GET AWAY ON THE

NORTHSHORE

Visit St. Tammany Parish and bring your appetite for great Louisiana cooking, and for living.

Come paddle the bayou, pedal the Tammany Trace, tour Honey Island Swamp, do the Dew Drop, toast the town at Abita Brewery or Pontchartrain Vineyards, and indulge your sweet tooth at The Candy Bank.

Less than an hour from New Orleans, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and Baton Rouge.

8 0 0 - 6 3 4 - 9 4 4 3 • w w w. L o u i s i a n a N o r t h s h o r e . c o m /g r o u p s 112

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C N E I R E P X E DINING

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DESSERT AT BLUE DOG CAFE Courtesy Lafayette Travel

ouisiana’s culinary culture is legendary, and it goes without saying that the food alone is a reason to visit. We asked locals in each city to share what they consider to be the signature dish of their hometown.

• LAKE CHARLES: Locals claim that hundreds of napkins are involved in consuming the Darrell’s Special from Darrell’s, a restaurant that specializes in po’boys. This

sandwich comes layered with ham, turkey and roast beef smothered in roast beef gravy.

• LAFAYETTE: Louisiana painter George Rodrigue named his Blue Dog Café after his iconic blue dog paintings. The restaurant is known for its takes on modern Cajun cuisine, and locals love the BBQ Shrimp and Grits, made with New Orleans barbecue sauce, bacon, onions, peppers and tomatoes.

• BATON ROUGE: Roberto’s River Road Restaurant is a hidden gem that offers a true bayou experience. Among the Southern specialties on the menu, local Gulf shrimp is what they’re known for — served at least five different ways.

• NEW ORLEANS: The Big Easy has dozens of historic restaurants; some have private dining rooms perfect for groups, among them Arnaud’s, Commander’s Palace, Brennan’s and Antoine’s. A New Orleans classic, Antoine’s has a distinctive space lined with historic ephemera and is the birthplace of oysters Rockefeller.

#o u t h e r e , r o o t s g o d e e p e r .

Groups are invited to experience New Orleans Plantation Country anytime of the year!

Spring offers sensational outdoor adventures in our swamps, bayous, & lakes.

Summer is perfect for sightseeing tours at our unique historic & cultural attractions.

Fall is a fabulous time to explore our beautiful landscapes.

Winter is a wonderland of exciting festivals celebrating our food and history.

Contact Willma Harvey to plan tours for your group today at willma@visitnopc.com and 985-359-2783.

VisitNOPC.com

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FRESH IS

best

Courtesy Harley Farms

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Courtesy Living History Farms

Courtesy Barrier Island Eco Tours

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ou’ll never find food fresher than this.

At farms across the United States, visitors come to connect with agricultural heritage and sample the bounties of the land. And it’s not all hayrides and U-pick orchards: Today’s farmers have begun offering immersive, interactive dining experiences that combine the ambiance of a rustic farm setting with the culinary quality and innovation that travelers demand.

If your group loves good food, plan to take them to one of these eight charming farm dinners.

FARM MEAL EXPERIENCES, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: BARRIER ISLAND ECO TOURS; TWIN FARMS; LIVING HISTORY FARMS; HARLEY FARMS

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BY B R I A N J E W E L L

MARCH 2019 Courtesy Twin Farms

T H E S E FA R M D I N N E R S M A K E M E M O R A B L E G RO U P O U T I N G S FAIR OAKS FARMS Fair Oaks, Indiana In northwest Indiana, Fair Oaks Farms has become one of the largest agritourism destinations in the Midwest. The farm opened in 2004 as a co-op of local dairy farmers. Today, it offers a full day’s worth of activities for visitors. Groups can take the Dairy Adventure, during which they explore the state-of-the-art workings of the dairy farm, or the Crop Adventure, which illustrates how plants and produce are grown at farms in the area.

When it’s time to eat, groups gather at the Farmhouse Restaurant. This casual eatery features dishes like bacon cheeseburgers, chicken wings and the Pig Adventure.

House specialties include a cheese board, cheese curds, macaroni and cheese, and other dishes made with cheese from the Fair Oaks dairy. Ice cream from the dairy makes a great way to finish your farm-fresh meal.

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LIVING HISTORY FARMS Urbandale, Iowa Iowa’s Living History Farms has a special mission: to educate visitors on the role of agriculture in Midwestern life during the 1900s. To do so, this working farm employs a team of living-history interpreters who re-create aspects of daily life on a farm and a small rural town. For hungry visitors, the most engaging form of education is the 1900 Farm Dinner program.

This dining program is hosted by specially trained historical interpreters, who prepare the food on-site using period equipment and historically authentic methods. Guests can watch them prepare food over a wood-burning stove in the kitchen of a historic home, then gather around the dining room table to sample the historic flavors themselves. The dinner menu varies throughout the year depending on what’s in season, but favorites include roasted turkey, pumpkin butter, cider and roasted root vegetables.

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A PRAIRIE FRUITS FARM CHEF PREPARING DINNER

A SEAFOOD HARVEST DINNER WITH BARRIER ISLAND ECO TOURS Courtesy Prairie Fruits Farm

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Courtesy Barrier Island Eco Tours

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Courtesy Barrier Island Eco Tours

A BEACHSIDE COOKOUT WITH BARRIER ISLAND ECO TOURS

HARLEY FARMS Pescadero, California California is known for its dairy industry, but Harley Farms puts an unusual spin on this concept by creating dairy products with milk from goats raised on-site. Groups can tour this farm in Pescadero to visit the goats, see how they are milked and then learn how the dairy turns the goat’s milk into delicious cheeses and other products.

For a more involved and intimate experience, groups can book a Dinner at the Dairy. The experience starts with hors d’oeuvres in the garden at dusk.

Then the group moves to a rustic table in the hayloft of the main barn. The loft seats 20 guests, but the farm can accommodate larger groups as well. Visitors dine by candlelight, enjoying foods produced at the dairy and provided by other farmers and purveyors from the Pescadero area.

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TWIN FARMS Barnard, Vermont When Nobel Prize-winning author Sinclair Lewis asked Dorothy Thompson to marry him, she agreed on

the condition that he buy her a farm in Vermont.

So he found a 1795 farmhouse with 300 acres, and the couple made it their home in 1928. Since then, the farm has been repurposed as a luxury resort, and visiting groups can arrange to have dinners there that reflect the farm’s historic ambiance and commitment to freshness.

The farm’s culinary team doesn’t use set menus. Instead, chefs create new dishes daily based on the produce, meats and seafood available from local purveyors. Groups can have breakfast, lunch or dinner in the historic farm house. For smaller gatherings and more special occasions, the farm also offers a chef ’s table dining experience that takes place in the kitchen as well as opportunities to dine in the wine cellar.

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ELDERSLIE FARM Ketchi, Kansas Elderslie Farm was founded in 2010 when a brother and sister began planting blackberries on a plot of land near their childhood home. Today, the farm, just north of Wichita, Kansas, continues to grow blackberries and other vegetables.

The farm also raises goats and uses their milk to make feta, chevre, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses in an on-site dairy.

Farm dining has become a staple at Elderslie.

Depending on their size and the weather on the day of the event, groups can enjoy meals in various indoor and outdoor locations on the property.

Options include brunch, lunch, appetizers and a multicourse farm-to-table dinner prepared with ingredients grown on the farm or sourced from around Wichita. The farm also offers traditional fine-dining experiences on the weekends.

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318 Howard St reet • Greenwood, Mississippi 662.453.2114 • thealluvian.com

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BARRIER ISLAND ECO TOURS Isle of Palms, South Carolina Not all harvests happen on farms. In South Carolina, groups can explore the world of commercial fishing and see how hardworking people harvest shrimp, oysters and other seafood. Barrier Island Eco Tours takes groups on three- to fourhour cruises up the intracoastal waterway and through commercial fishing waters to Capers Island Preserve, a barrier island accessible only by boat.

During the cruise, hosts explain the history and ecology of the fishing industry in the area.

Once guests arrive at the island, they’re treated to a delicious beachside cookout with dishes such as MARCH 2019

a lowcountry boil that features smoked sausage, corn, potatoes, onions and shrimp freshly caught in nearby waters. The staff also often harvests some oysters on the way to the barrier island and will grill them over an open flame during the cookout.

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J.Q. DICKENSON SALT-WORKS Malden, West Virginia West Virginia has farms of all kinds, but one of the most interesting to visit is J.Q. Dickenson SaltWorks, where locals have been mining for brine since 1817. The farm produces small-batch finishing salts harvested from the ancient Iapetus Ocean, a saltwater deposit trapped under the mountains of Appalachia.

Today, groups can tour the farm and learn how locals have been mining salt there for two centuries. There’s also an on-site shop where visitors can buy the finishing salts and other products.

Groups can sample the saltworks’ signature product during a series of farm-to-table events in a beautiful, rustic outdoor setting. Meals feature locally sourced ingredients and are finished with Dickenson salts. Groups can also hold private events at the farm

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outside of the regularly scheduled farm dinners.

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PRAIRIE FRUITS FARM AND CREAMERY Champaign, Illinois In 2003, Wes Jarrell and Leslie Cooperbrand left their academic lives in Madison, Wisconsin, to pursue their agricultural dreams. They opened Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery in Champaign, Illinois, and planted more than 350 fruit trees and 600 berry plants on land that was previously used for buckwheat. Now the farm also includes a herd of more than 70 goats that supply milk for the on-site creamery. Groups can take tours of the farm to see the pastures, meet the goats, walk through the orchard and taste some of the creamery products.

For a more in-depth experience, Prairie Fruits offers farm-to-table dinners. These multicourse, slow-food meals showcase Midwestern agricultural tradition. Many of the vegetables, herbs and fruits served at the meals come from the farm, as do the milk, eggs and cheese. Each meal features a theme and a discussion with a guest farmer.

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FRESH PASTRIES AT TWIN FARMS Courtesy Twin Farms

PRAIRIE FRUITS FARM AND CREAMERY

Courtesy Prairie Fruits

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sound-off

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H AVE YOU ENCOUNTERED ANY NE W FOODS IN YOUR TR AVELS TH AT YOU NOW E AT AT H OME? Chifles, or fried plantains; avocados; and tomatillos: all foods I ate while doing mission work for two months in Ecuador.

Although avocados are all the rage right now, back in 1993, slicing up a whole avocado and eating it plain with rice and chicken wasn’t very common. I loved its simple, fresh taste and have eaten them that way ever since. I first tried tomatillos in Quito years ago but have only recently incorporated them into our menu every summer. Sometimes I incorporate them in homemade salsa verde, which is a traditional way to serve tomatillos. But let me tell you a little secret: They make the best fried green tomatoes.

— Donia Simmons, CREATIVE DIRECTOR

I first tried mussels on a trip to Prince Edward Island in Canada, where they had been freshly harvested by local fishermen. I was instantly hooked.

My hosts taught me to eat them like a local, using an empty shell like a pair of tweezers to extract the meat from another shell. Today, I order mussels almost every time I seen them on a restaurant menu.

My husband Graham and I love searching out local favorites, so we come home with new recipes from just about every trip. Some of the recipes we make at home now are Takikomi Gohan, a Japanese rice dish; Apple Barn’s apple butter; and Hattie B’s hot chicken.

I was never a big seafood fan until I started trying it on cruises to see how it was. Now I love seafood, especially crab cakes.

We like to eat jambalaya made with shrimp, andouille sausage and chicken at home.

I’m sure we’re not cooking it down as much as the jambalaya we’ve enjoyed in parts of Louisiana, but it’s pretty good. That’s a dish we’ve ordered numerous times in Southern seafood places down around the Gulf Coast. I’m a bit of a stickler for getting all three meats into ours, so it’s not a dish we eat regularly, but we do have it several times a year. I should probably be having an Abita beer with it, but more often than not, I’m probably bringing home some Red Stripe instead. That’s my go-to beer for Southern dishes like jambalaya.

— Kyle Anderson, ACCOUNT MANAGER

— Mac Lacy, PUBLISHER

I’ve traveled a lot throughout Southeast Asia and love Thai and Indian food. I’m not brave enough to try and make any of my favorite dishes at home, so these are my go-to restaurants when I go out to eat.

I remember when I went to Chicago for the first time and had a Chicago Italian Beef Sandwich. I now try to mimic them at home and crave them every time I’m in the city.

— Ashley Ricks, CIRCULATION MANAGER

— Kelly Tyner, DIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING

— Daniel Jean-Louis, ACCOUNT MANAGER

— Brian Jewell, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

EDITOR’S NOTE Welcome to Staff Sound-Off, the monthly column where our staff members answer questions about their travel practices and preferences.

We hope you enjoy these tips. If you have a question you’d like to see us answer, send it to me and it may appear in a future issue.

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OUR BOARDWALK A world of entertaining and exciting experiences awaits in Atlantic City. Up and down our world-famous Boardwalk, and throughout your entire Atlantic City stay, you’ll experience the ultimate in tax-free shopping, award-winning dining for every taste, fun

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amusements and great local attractions.

Atlantic City offers the perfect setting to experience an exciting getaway and create memories that will last a lifetime.

Atlantic City Expert Heather Colache is available at 609-449-7151 or hcolache@meetac.com to make sure you enjoy Atlantic City as it was meant to be experienced. Call today to book your Atlantic City Experience.

Meet AC received funding through a grant from the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Travel and Tourism.

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