Tourism Trail Development:
Southesast Indiana Trails to Freedom
This ground-breaking collaborative project combined historical research and travel marketing to create a new heritage tourism product. The project was funded by a Quality of Place Initiative Grant from the Indiana Office of Tourism to 15 Southeast Indiana counties. MediaLink was contracted to consult with the stakeholders (visitor bureaus, historical societies, preservation organizations and historic sites) and create a series of driving tours based on documented Underground Railroad research. In addition to copywriting, organization of information, photo selection and route planning, MediaLink provided creative direction for the production of a rack card and a 58-page driving tour booklet and developed overnight packages for each tour.
Due to the sensitive and poignant nature of the history of the Underground Railroad movement, MediaLink recommended the driving tour booklet contain three separate sections of information.
The first and largest section shared the stories of the region’s freedom seekers along three themed driving tours – “The Crossing”, “Friends and Foes” and “Grand Central Station” - and accompanying trail maps throughout the region.
The second section focused on travel experiences to enjoy and explore Southeast Indiana as the Gateway to Indiana’s Freedom Trails – Visit a Museum or Historic Site, Attend a Re-enactment, Find your Hoosier Ancestors, Hike the Wilderness or Bike the Backroads. To provide a homeschool or classroom activity within the booklet, MediaLink created an original crossword puzzle, “Discover Indiana’s Underground Railroad Heroes.”
The final section included listings of getaway packages for each of the three tours.
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