Press Release

Contact: Sheryl Hayes
434-924-6562
Sheryl@virginia.edu
www.virginiafoundation.org

November 12, 2007

Landmark Guide to Virginia Indian Heritage Sites Wins Tourism Enhancement Award

Charlottesville, VA    A landmark publication created by members of the Virginia tribes and published by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) has received the first Tourism Enhancement Award from Scenic Virginia, a statewide private nonprofit whose mission is to preserve, protect and enhance the scenic beauty and community character of the Commonwealth.

Leighton Powell, Executive Director of Scenic Virginia, says: “Because Scenic Virginia recognizes the importance of utilizing our natural, historic, cultural, and scenic resources in unique ways that revitalize tourism prospects for Virginia localities, the organization added a Scenic Tourism Award in 2007. The inaugural winner – the Virginia Indian Heritage Trail -- is a publication created by members of Virginia’s tribes that represents best practices in cultural heritage tourism by encouraging visitation to scenic sites that have culturally-sensitive information on Virginia Indians, while providing an interpretive framework in which to understand the sites.”

Accepting the award were Karenne Wood (Monacan), editor of the Guide and Director of the Virginia Indian Heritage Program at VFH; Deanna Beacham, Program Specialist of the Virginia Council on Indians; David Bearinger, Director of Grants and Public Programs, VFH; and Sheryl Hayes, Director of Development, VFH.  On hand for the occasion were project partners Kathleen Kilpatrick, Director, Virginia Department of Historic Resources; Alisa Bailey, President, Virginia Tourism Corporation; and the Honorable Brian Moran and the Honorable Chris Peace, Members of the House of Delegates.

Published in June, 2007, the purpose of The Virginia Indian Heritage Trail is to encourage visitation to sites which have accurate, culturally sensitive interpretative content on Virginia Indians, and to provide an interpretive framework or context in which to understand the sites.

Response to the publication has been overwhelmingly positive; the initial print run of 40,000 is almost exhausted and plans are underway to print a second edition. Copies are still available through at the VFH website (www.virginiafoundation.org) via the UVA Online Store, for a shipping cost of $7.

Karenne Wood, Director of the Virginia Indian Heritage program at the VFH, says, "The
Virginia Indian communities are gratified by the huge public response to this book.  To us it demonstrates that Virginians and tourists are eager for accurate historical information about our tribes and our history."

Wood was recently named director of the newly-created Virginia Indian Heritage Program at the VFH--a program which includes research and a resulting database that will be housed on-line at a VFH website; summer institutes for K-12 teachers; higher education summits to promote educational opportunities for American Indians in Virginia; and a grant program to provide funds for tribes, intertribal groups, museums, and other organizations to implement or improve their interpretation of Virginia Indian history.  The Virginia Indian Heritage Program is funded in part by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, based in Charlottesville, is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the humanities, and to using the humanities to address issues of broad public concern.

In all of its programs, the Foundation works to make scholarship accessible; to promote understanding and discussion of enduring and contemporary issues; and to broaden the range of educational opportunities available to all Virginians.   

Further information about the Virginia Indian Heritage Trail or the Virginia Indian Heritage Program at the VFH is available at www.virginiafoundation.org or by calling the VFH at 434-924-3296.