
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 10, 1991                   TAG: 9103100232
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SHOW BOOSTS TOURISM AT CIVIL WAR BATTLE SITES

A television documentary about the Civil War has boosted attendance at Virginia's historic parks and battlefields even as other tourism drops.

Steve Myers, a historian at the Manassas National Battlefield Park, estimated the PBS documentary "The Civil War" increased attendance 20 percent since the series first aired in September.

Attendance at Civil War parks nationwide has climbed 20 percent since the film aired, officials said.

More than 2,000 tourists came to the Manassas battlefield the day after Thanksgiving - almost twice the number the park sees during a good summer day, Myers said.

Park employees joked "everything else in town must be closed," he said.

As many as 80 percent of the park's visitors claim to have watched the documentary, Myers said.

Ron Wilson, historian at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, said October through January visits were up 14.3 percent from the same period the previous year.

Wilson said people are buying more Civil War books, which he attributed to "that type of program creating an interest."

Bill Martin, director of the Petersburg Department of Tourism, said visitors to the Petersburg National Battlefield Park increased 16.6 percent for October through December.

Chris Calkins, park historian, said interest ran so high that the park ran out of Civil War books, forcing him to drive to the Appomattox park for more supplies.

"Our book shelves were pretty barren," he said.

Such figures have the state Division of Tourism looking to climb on board the Blue and Gray bandwagon.

The division started a toll-free number to provide information on Civil War sites in Virginia, said David Zunker, tourism division spokesman. The state also will serve as a sponsor for rebroadcasts of the 12-hour series when it plays in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York this spring, he said.

Visits to all of Virginia's parks, attractions and visitor centers rose 0.1 percent last year, said Mark Brown, state tourism research manager.

But instead of a modest gain, visitation would have dropped but for a strong November and December season, Brown said.

The winter tourism surge was helped in part by an unusually mild fall and winter as well as the PBS series, he said.

by CNB