Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
I NTRODUCTION TO THE G EORGIA CIVIL W AR C OMMISSION
The Georgia Civil War Commission was established in 1993, by the State of Georgia under the direction of Governor Zell Miller. As outlined in Georgia Laws 1993, p. 1952, “The purpose of the Commission is to coordinate planning, preservation, restoration, and promotion of structures, buildings, sites, and battlefields associated with the Civil War in Georgia.” The Powers and Duties delegated to the Commission made it clear that the legacy of the Civil War in the State of Georgia should be preserved and conserved in a manner that would “recognize and interpret the effect of the War on the State’s ethnically and culturally diverse civilian population during the war and the post war reconstruction period.” The Commission was directed to utilize and further develop the State’s Historic Resource Inventory as maintained by the Department of Natural Resources, and to acquire and expend funds received from state appropriations and other sources to acquire and protect historic properties associated with the Civil War. The Commission was further mandated to “encourage heritage education programs”. The Georgia Civil War Commission was awarded funds by the Georgia Legislature in Spring 1999, to begin planning and developing the Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System. The effort was to be implemented in cooperation with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Historical Society, and provide new and expanded opportunities for the public to become acquainted with Georgia’s Civil War heritage. W. K. Dickson & Co., Inc. was selected in May 2000, as the prime consultant for this effort based on their background in planning and design. TRC Garrow Associates, Inc., was selected to provide research and historical expertise.
“The Civil War is, for the American imagination, the great single event in our history. Without too much wrenching, it may, in fact, be said to be American history. Before the Civil War we had no history in the deepest and most inward sense.” Robert Penn Warren,
Former Poet Laureate of the United States
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Georgia
W. K.
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.
Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
G OALS
OF THE
P ROGRAM
Four major goals have been established for the Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System.
Economic Tourism
Blending economic and preservation goals provides clear economic gains for communities and the state as a whole. Visitors to heritage sites bring dollars directly into the economy through purchases, generated tax revenue, and job creation.
Community Enhancement
To insure that a historical site becomes an asset requires that the people in a community work together towards a common goal. This effort creates a sense of pride that helps communities to grow. By preserving and enhancing areas of our natural heritage, communities provide their citizens and the public with recreational amenities, tourism attractions, and sense of the past.
“Heritage Tourism creates new economic development opportunities for communities using their existing historic resources. It is critical that we include tourism in our business development and comprehensive planning efforts. Once our historic landscapes and sites are lost, they cannot be reclaimed to enhance the quality of life and the individuality of an area.” David L Morgan State Historic Preservation Officer and Director, Kentucky Heritage Council
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Historic Preservation
The broad scope of developing the Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System includes identifying, preserving, and enhancing our state’s heritage sites, and linking them in ways that provide a framework of resources for the people of Georgia. This effort requires that accurate historical data be identified and analyzed, and that standards and guidelines be established to tie sites into an identifiable “trail system.”
Historic Education
There can be no real future without understanding and studying our past. Every heritage site that is preserved and enhanced provides a venue for our children and every adult, to understand issues that are truly important to our lives. The Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System will create a framework for studying one of the most critical periods in the history of our nation. By having the chance to learn about our heritage while seeing the place where history actually happened, we help to insure that this history finds a strong place in our memories, and in our hearts.
Members of the Georgia Civil War Commission visiting Resaca
Georgia
W. K.
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.
Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
GEORGIA CIVIL WAR H ERITAGE T RAIL S YSTEM
DEFINING THE TRAIL SYSTEM
The Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System is being developed to provide a means to visit Georgia’s historic Civil War sites. The system will create a network of geographic and theme based trails that will be identified with way-finding signage that will guide the user along a given route, and interpretive signage that relates the events at a site to the previous and following sites along the trail system. The guidelines and framework for the system are being developed by the Georgia Civil War Commission. While the Commission will develop many parts of the system, many communities, historical groups, government entities, and interested individuals will become an integral part of this effort. To date, approximately 400 Civil War sites have been identified utilizing a series of criteria ranking historic relevance, contextual quality, and accessibility. These sites have been divided into eight separate “trails”, which cross the state from corner to corner and coincide with the components of the historic events surrounding the Civil War in Georgia. These trail sections will generally follow the routes of eight separate “campaigns.”
O The Chickamauga and Chattanooga
Campaign
O O O O O O O
The Atlanta Campaign and Cavalry Actions Andrew’s Raid Sherman’s March to the Sea The Maritime Trail Wilson’s Raid Jefferson Davis’ Escape Route Homefront Sites
Confederate graves at Oakland Cemetery
The Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System will be promoted using marketing campaigns, and by providing user information and brochures at State Parks, Visitor Centers, and Chambers of Commerce. The system will integrated into trails established by the such originations as the National Park Service, Georgia DNR, PATH Foundation, bicycle associations, and local historical societies. The goal is to increase tourism throughout the state. A combination of trail types will be incorporated into the system, including vehicle routes, bicycle lanes, horse paths, multi-use trails and waterways.
Georgia
W. K.
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.
Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
THE LOGO OF THE H ERITAGE T RAIL S YSTEM
The Georgia Civil War Commission felt that one of the most critical aspects of developing the Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System was to create a logo for the program that could be used to identify the trail system on road signs, TO HONOR OUR HERITAGE brochures and letterhead. The logo needed to depict the “what”, “where” and Civil War heritage sites in “why” of our Civil War heritage in a format that would be easy to read.
Georgia include battlefields, encampments, prisons, and homes that became shelters, troop headquarters, and hospitals. The corridors traveled by both Union and Confederate troops were also important aspects in this history, as are the people who fought or provided their support to the war effort. Since the Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System will include information These men and women, about both Confederate and Union activities, the colors of the logo were selected whether white, Africanto be distinctive and attractive without making a statement about the politics of American, Hispanic, or part of the Civil War. The logo colors include the typical Civil War blue and gray, plus another ethnic group, should be the neutral colors, red and beige. Using only four simple colors makes the logo remembered and honored.
To accomplish this, the logo icon that has been created is a simple image of a military horseman on a trail standing inside the State of Georgia and placed in a circular frame. The format has been fashioned after the many emblems and seals that were prevalent during the time of the Civil War for denoting military or government organizations. The circular format with dentils around the edge, the text wrapped within it, and the image in the center, creates an official “look” that has come to be recognized as an historic marker. The logo was intentionally made clean and uncluttered so that it will be easily recognized by travelers in fast moving cars and can be translated into an embossed sign that is readable, for example, on a bronze plaque, without the addition of the logo colors. distinctive enough to be represented clearly as a sign, or usable in a small printed format on letterhead or in a brochure. Because the colors contrast with one another, the logo can also be reproduced in black and white.
Color Logo
Black & white logo
Bronze Logo
W. K.
Georgia
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.
Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
BENEFITS OF DEVELOPING H ERITAGE T RAIL S YSTEM
THE
CIVIL WAR
PRESERVING OUR HERITAGE IS A POWERFUL TOOL
The preservation and enhancement of Civil War heritage sites requires imagination, cooperation, planning, and the dedicated efforts of public and private community leaders, agencies and officials, and the participation of the public. Economic benefits accrue to all of those involved, as well as the communities they represent, the State of Georgia, and the entire nation.
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Historic Preservation creates jobs Historic Preservation enhances property values Historic sites attract tourists Heritage tourism travelers spend more money and stay longer at destinations than the average U.S. traveler Historic Preservation revitalizes communities Historic Preservation provides a tool to protect our natural resources Historic sites serve as an educational tool for our children Heritage Preservation provides a connection to our past
As a people, we have a responsibility to use our resources wisely and to preserve and protect our culture. The Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System will provide a mechanism to increase the number of preserved sites in the state. Through trail development, which will include the introduction of a statewide signage system and the physical linking of one site to another, the state’s heritage sites will be more visible and accessible. As the number of people visiting the sites increases, the breadth of the positive impact will grow.
“Here is your country. Do not let anyone take it or its glory away from you. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches, or its romance. The world and the future and your children shall judge you according to the way you deal with this sacred trust.”
President Theodore Roosevelt ,
A great man of the American Outdoors
Resaca Confederate Cemetery
Georgia
W. K.
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.
Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
E CONOMIC T OURISM O PPORTUNITIES
The market for tourism in the United States reveals some powerful facts: è Tourism accounts for $325 billion in annual spending and is the second largest retailing industry in the United States. è Every $1.00 spent for tourism generates about $3.25 in additional business. è Approximately 5.4 million people, or more than 5% of the national employment base, work in travel-related jobs. This makes tourism the second largest employer group in the country. è Travel-related jobs generate about $50 billion in wages and salaries and $25 billion in taxes. The preservation of historical sites in the State of Georgia, and their development as enhanced structures, recreational areas, greenways, and open space, has already proved to be an important cultural, environmental and economical investment. Specific data from Cobb County illustrates the economic impact of tourism.
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Museum
Visitor expenditures in Cobb County, 1991...........................$871 million Number of visitors to Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield, 1992.........787,400 Number of travel-related jobs, 1991........................................22,700 Travel-related employment payroll, 1991............................$380 million Local tax receipts, 1991...................................................$34 million
Source: Dollar$ and Sense of Battlefield Preservation, 1994
As impressive as these figures are, the Number of visitors to Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield, 1996......1,144,361 number of annual visitors to the Number of visitors to Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield, 1999.....1,442,898 Kennesaw National Battlefield Park had Source: Profiting From the Past, The Economic Impact of Historic Preservation in Georgia grown to 1,442,898 by 1999. This represents an increase of 83% in the number of people visiting this heritage site during an eight year period. Based on this growth, it is easy to surmise that the economic impact of this facility has grown at a similar pace.
Virginia is currently the state with the most highly developed Heritage Tourist System, Virginia Civil War Trails. This program that was started in 1995, and completed in 1998, has dramatically increased tourism in the state. New statistics are not available yet, but the data does show that the interest of the public in heritage sites has been growing for many years. Already in 1989, tourism generated more than $8 billion in the state, representing 18% of retail sales. State taxes revenues from tourism during this year were $204 million; local tax revenues from the same source were $124 million. For every dollar Virginia invested in tourism advertising, there was a return of $3.53 in state taxes. Most impressively, the largest portion of tourists in Virginia visit heritage sites. Together they are more popular than at any other single attraction, with 20% of all visitors traveling to the Shenandoah Valley, nearly 9% going to Fredericksburg, and more than 10% going to Petersburg.
With the breadth of Civil War heritage sites in Georgia, the potential for enhancing the economic base of our State and our communities is tremendous.
Georgia
W. K.
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.
Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
A FRICAN -A MERICANS WERE I MPORTANT CONTRIBUTORS TO THE CIVIL W AR IN GEORGIA
African-American slaves in the South contributed directly to the war effort on both the Union and Confederate sides. While many remained on their home plantations, the armies conscripted thousands of slaves to construct earthworks, drive wagons, and work as personal servants and messengers. Runaway slaves often assisted the Union army as guides during their journeys through Georgia. Some payed the ultimate price for their actions. One slave, who served as a guide for General Stoneman on his raid toward Macon during the Atlanta Campaign, was immediately hanged when the Union horsemen were surrounded and captured at Sunshine Church. Slaves also built the majority of the Confederate defensive works along the Chattahoochee River and around Atlanta during the Atlanta Campaign. Patrick Cleburne, the Irish Confederate general famed for his efforts on the battlefield at Ringgold Gap and Pickett’s Mill, proposed organizing combat units composed of slaves. Although this did not come to pass in the Confederate army, at least 3,500 African-Americans from Georgia served in the Union army. The 136th, 137th, 138th U.S.C.T. Infantry Regiments were formed in Atlanta at the end of the war in 1865, and served as occupation units in the post-Civil War era. The best known war effort involving African-American troops was carried out by the 54th Massachusetts Regiment of U.S. “Colored Troops” who were involved in a June 1863 raid at Darien on Georgia’s coast, and whose story was told in the movie Glory.
1st. SC Volunteer Infantry
Sergeant-Major Lewis Douglass 54th Massachusetts Infantry - 1863 Son of Frederick Douglass
1st. SC Volunteer Infantry listening to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
Georgia
W. K.
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.
Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
Trail map goes here
Georgia
W. K.
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.
Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
TRAIL SYSTEM KIOSK
These images represent a prototype of the Trail System Kiosk, which will be utilized to display maps, pictures, and other information about individual sites and to provide contextual data about the site’s place in the overall system of trails. The structure of the sign is reminiscent of those designed for National Parks Service sites and is constructed of Georgia granite and steel, with a slate roof. The image board is created using new technology that provides a vandal proof surface that is guaranteed for ten years, and should look good for many years beyond this time frame. The cost of building each kiosk is estimated to be $2,500.00 for the year 2001. This visualization shows the kiosk at New Hope Church, a site included in the Demonstration Project.
Georgia
W. K.
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.
Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
S I T E L O C AT I O N M A R K E R
This image represents a prototype of a site identification sign that can be placed at existing or newly developed facilities to designate that it is a Civil War Heritage Site and part of the Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System . These signs will incorporate the same granite, steel and slate materials used on the trail system kiosks, and include a bronze plaque of the logo set into the base.
Construction Drawings of Prototype Signage
Georgia
W. K.
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.
Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail System
Georgia Civil War Commission
R OADWAY S IGNAGE P ROTOTYPES
All signage is designed in accordance with Georgia Department of Transportation Standards and Specifications. Georgia
W. K.
Civil War Commission
D i c k s o n & C o., I n c.