HUM 221: Cherokee heritage tourism

Since I'm assigning a paper Monday that asks about heritage tourism in Cherokee, N.C., I'm linking a couple of websites that talk about it. Heritage tourism, of course, is what we have at the Lincoln sites in Springfield.

The Cherokee Heritage Trails project is a joint effort of the Eastern Band tribal goverment and the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, N.C. It has information on tourist attractions and Cherokee artists, both performing artists and craftspeople. Says the promotional website:

When you visit the town of Cherokee, you will find tribal members working as bankers, business owners, managers, police officers, EMT's, schoolteachers, nurses, homemakers, and clerks, as well as basket makers and storytellers. Day by day they continue to balance modern life with Cherokee traditions. Many individuals dedicate their lives to carrying on Cherokee traditions and passing them to the next generation. The whole community remains close-knit despite the presence of millions of visitors every year from fifty U.S. states and dozens of foreign countries. In fact, the Cherokee community continues to welcome visitors - not just a legacy from century of tourism, but a heritage from the oldest Cherokee values: respecting differences and including outsiders...

(Elipses in the original.)Sites and events on the Cherokee Heritage Trails have been selected by a task force from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the Tennessee Overhills Heritage Association. Most have a blurb pointing out how it preserves Cherokee heritage.

Another good tourist website is put up by Eastern Band at http://www.cherokee-nc.com/ ... we've visited it before, briefly, but I thought I'd point it out again since I'm assigning a paper that asks about tourism, among other things. Pull down the menu on "The People" at the left of the page, and read the pages on Cherokee history, language and legends for starters, if you haven't already done so. Then click around and see how they promote the sights in the town of Cherokee. The website, created by an ad agency in nearby Asheville, even has a page for German tourists, who can click on the flag of Germany on the lower left of the page.