Heritage News

Economy, Education, and Equity

The National Trust for Historic Preservation defines heritage tourism as “traveling to experience the places, artifacts, and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present. It includes visitation to cultural, historic, and natural resources.”

Heritage tourism will always be important in Texas for many different reasons. The state’s long and rich history provides a dense landscape for historic experiences of all different kinds: galleries, historic homes, and historic trails. Here are the three E’s of heritage tourism and why they matter.

Economy

Heritage tourism is incredibly important to Texas’ economic landscape. In 2017, the Texas Historic Commission (THC) reported that “this travel comprises about 10 percent of all tourism in the Lone Star State—more than $7 billion last year, supporting over 54,000 jobs.”

An economic impact report from the THC on their Heritage Trails program reports “In 2019, direct travel spending in the Independence Trail Region accounted for roughly $29 billion of the overall $82.9 billion spent by visitors to the state.” In the Forrest Trail region, direct travel spending accounted for $3.5 billion of the total $82.9 billion spent by visitors. Southeast Texas sits between these two regions of Heritage Trails, benefiting from the income of both regions.

This tourism spending leads to the creation of more jobs and an increase in state and local taxes generated. These taxes, such as the hotel occupancy tax, are often used as grants to help fund more preservation. This all supports a thriving economy in Texas.

Check out the Texas Historical Commission’s report on heritage tourism from 2017 here.

Education

While even regular travel is beneficial for education, heritage tourism takes it a step further. It allows children to get out from behind their desks to experience history firsthand, making learning experiences more memorable.

In 1993, The National Park Service reported, “historic house museums and historic sites have shown a concerted effort to strengthen interpretive programs to give visitors a more complete and accurate story. House museums are finding creative ways to tell their story to learners of every age.” This is still true today for sites of heritage tourism. Many of these sites are appropriate for a wide age range of learners, from children to adults. These sites also focus on providing tangible context for history, allowing visitors to gain a broader understanding of historic events.

Heritage tourism sites also emphasize the role of community in their interpretations, allowing learners to gain a broader understanding of how the community is connected to their sites and helping learners connect the past to the present.

Equity

Learning about how other people lived helps make our world a more equitable place. Historic travel can not only transport you to a different time, but allows you to walk in the footsteps of people from vastly different backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities.

Heritage tourism can help facilitate new understandings and perspectives, using the past to inform the present.

To learn more about heritage tourism with Beaumont Heritage Society, visit the John J. French Museum and Chambers House Museum pages.

We have been hard at work hosting our two annual Halloween events!

Beaumont Heritage Society held the Pumpkin Walk and Haunted Halloween Tour at the John Jay French Museum on Saturday, October 24th from 6-9p.m. with over 350 in attendance. Children and adults were thrilled to vote on the 60 pumpkins decorating the grounds!

Guests also enjoyed a special “spooky” tour of the 1845 John Jay French house where actors Mike Rodgers, Jeri Sullivan, McKenna Bradford, and Ed Seymour portrayed members of the French family, delivering monologues about the family’s travel and time spent in Texas. Caroline Badon portrayed Nancy French on a haunted hayride of the historic grounds, where guests viewed a replica tannery, blacksmith shop, and the French family cemetery. Hay riders also encountered grounds “ghosts” portrayed by Brad Franks, Brandon Franks, and Sarah Vickery!

Beaumont Heritage Society’s Haunted Halloween Heritage Happy Hour took place October 24th, 2019 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Chambers House Museum. Guests enjoyed craft beer from Giglio Distributing who showcased a selection from Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co. on the beautiful Chambers House lawn.

Inside the Chambers House, actors Emily Buesing, Jessica Paskell, Patrick Anderson, and Lynette Bloyd portrayed our dearly departed Florence, Ruth, Homer, and Edith respectively. Under special lighting, the actors delivered short monologues about their character’s lives in the home to 75 guests.

Beaumont Heritage Society is passionate about creating events centered around fun and education. Beaumont Heritage Society would like to extend a thank you to all of the volunteers who made these events possible. Please watch for these annual events in 2020 – you won’t want to miss them!

The John Jay French Museum has a “rowdy” addition in the form of its new mascot, Rowdee Raccoon! Rowdee can be found on our new grounds tour signage, made possible by the financial support of Susan Conn McCurry and The Crawford Foundation. The signage, placed at all of the outbuildings and the family cemetery, allows guests to enjoy the historic grounds while reading about the French family and the historic use of the facilities on property explained with the help of historian and French decendant, Judith Linsley. Rowdee Raccoon was brought to life by artist Aggie Bollman and illustrator Chase Dryden. Beaumont Heritage Society is grateful to all those involved in making Rowdee Raccoon and our educational signage possible! Make plans to come take a look!