SHENANDOAH TOURISM OFFICIALS PUT MONEY ON CIVIL WAR HERITAGE

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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 10, 1993                   TAG: 9304100187
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WINCHESTER                                LENGTH: Medium
SHENANDOAH TOURISM OFFICIALS PUT MONEY ON CIVIL WAR HERITAGE
Tourism representatives want to boost local budgets by capitalizing on the Civil War heritage of the Shenandoah Valley, starting with two federally funded projects to be unveiled next week.
The Kurtz Cultural Center will host the grand opening of "Shenandoah: Crossroads of the Civil War" on Wednesday.
The interpretive exhibit is designed to be a starting point for tourists visiting the 12 valley battlefields.
The exhibit contains 15 posters portraying major characters and events of the valley's Civil War battles. The main funding for the center was a $24,500 grant from the National Park Service.
Tourism officials also will distribute a full-color Civil War brochure produced by the Shenandoah Valley Travel Association in New Market.
The brochure will help tourists with self-guided tours of the valley's battlefields.
The publication was produced with money from a $20,000 grant from the Park Service's American Battlefields Protection Program. The brochure will help local officials identify potentially lucrative resources that should be preserved, and will help to generate tourism, according to Andrew Dawson, executive director of the travel association.
Central to the tourism effort is a bill introduced by Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-Fairfax County, calling for the formation of 12 battlefields into the Shenandoah Valley National Battlefields.
The battlefields would become part of the Park Service, but the bill specifically prohibits the government from obtaining land for the park through eminent domain.
Landowners could sell, swap, or donate land to the Park Service.
The legislation would create a year-round visitor center in the valley and establish federal grants for property owners to preserve and enhance significant historical land and structures.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB