 The Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition was formed in 1998 as a
tourism project. The group was a state-funded initiative that led to
a very successful campaign for wayside signage at historical points
of interest in 52 communities.
In 2002 a feasibility study was conducted for the coalition by
the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The document was updated
in 2007, and a request to the United States Congress for a national
designation resulted in approval in 2008.
The Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area is made up of 42
central Illinois counties. The western border of the region is made
up of Henderson, Hancock, Adams, Pike, Jersey and Madison counties.
The eastern boundary is made up of Vermillion, Edgar and Clark
counties. The area includes these counties and all those in between,
with Sangamon and Logan counties being close to the heart of the
region.
The Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition has now contracted a
consultant firm by the name of Heritage Strategies, which will guide
the coalition in developing a management plan that will tie the
42-county area together and ultimately present it to the would-be
tourist as a region with multiple attractions based on a common
theme: the life of Abraham Lincoln.
At the Wednesday meeting, Peter Benton and Elizabeth Watson of
Heritage Strategies spoke to the group about becoming unified
partners with all the counties in the region.
One of the most important parts of becoming a successful region
is that all the counties be actively involved in developing the
management plan by offering their own insights into their
communities and telling Heritage Strategies what they want the final
outcomes to be.
Benton said the legislation that made the national area possible
outlined six specific purposes that Heritage Strategies will be
addressing in their management plan.
The plan must define the natural and cultural legacy of the
Illinois region and how it relates to our national heritage.
The second purpose is to identify heritage, cultural and
recreational tourism as well as educational and cultural programs in
the area.
The third purpose will identify other historical subjects
significant to the region, including Native American, European and
African-American history in the region.
The fourth point will be to identify the role the region played
in shaping the life of Abraham Lincoln specifically.
The fifth point calls for the coalition to create close
relationships with the private sector, local governments, nonprofit
organizations and local communities to work with all resources
available for the educational and inspirational benefit of future
generations.
And finally, the group is to work closely with the National Park
Service. Benton commented on this, saying that Sue Pridemore of the
Midwest Regional Office of the National Park Service has been very
involved and helpful thus far.
Benson said his firm has divided the management plan into three
segments, the first of which has just wrapped up, and the second
part begins with the meeting held in Lincoln.
Part one began with visiting various communities, conducting
public meetings and gaining information about existing conditions
such as historic preservation, educational issues, research,
community development and enhancement, and the basic economy of the
region. The purpose was to determine how the heritage area can work
with the region to the benefit of local residents and communities.
In part two, the firm will be working with the coalition and its
steering committee to establish three to four directions that the
management plan can take in the heritage area. Benson said these
could be programmatic directions, how to physically organize or how
the heritage area is managed. The group will also try to forecast
what the outcome would be by taking any one of those directions.
Once that work is done, there will be another series of meetings
in March to report on the plan thus far.
The final portion of the plan will be the actual writing of it.
Benson said that by April, his firm will know what the plan should
be, based on input from the communities. They will then write the
plan, with a goal of having it completed by November.
When Benton finished outlining the management plan process, he
turned the floor over to Watson, who talked about what the heritage
area is.
She noted that in the region there are many great things
happening to attract tourism and draw attention to the Abraham
Lincoln history.
Thus far, though, the individual communities have basically kept
to themselves in their efforts to attract tourism. As a region,
there is now a unity among the counties, and this is something that
needs to be exploited.
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She commented on the city of Lincoln and the Logan County area
specifically, saying that this community has done a great deal to
preserve their Abraham Lincoln heritage because they love their
namesake, but also because they want the community to benefit from
it.
Watson outlined some of the activities that have taken place in
the New England area, Pennsylvania and Virginia as a result of a
written management plan. She noted that the heritage areas helped
stimulate the communities economically when activities that revolved
around their individual histories proved to be profitable.
She said that in those areas, the development of a productive
plan had not been without its roadblocks. She cited an example where
one tour bus stop was interfering with a small community church and
said the heritage area had to rework their stops a little bit so
that the activities of church were not disrupted.
When Watson finished speaking, Robert Crosby, the project
director for the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, took the
floor. He began by asking how many of those in the room were from
Lincoln, Mount Pulaski and other areas.
Of the 20 or so in the room, the majority were from Lincoln and
Logan County, but other communities were represented as well, such
as Macon County, Pike County, the city of Springfield and Sangamon
County.
Cosby said: "There are a lot of communities that have stories to
tell that aren't in Springfield. One thing I know you'll notice is
that people, when they hear you are from Illinois, will say, 'Oh,
you're from Chicago.' 'No.' Then they'll say, 'Then you're from
Springfield,' and when you say 'no,' then they look at you like they
aren't sure there are other towns in Illinois.
"That is the case in a lot of places.
"Where else can you go and stand in the Mount Pulaski Courthouse,
where Lincoln stood and practiced law? Where else can you go where
that you can visit some of the places where conspirators planned to
steal Lincoln's body than downtown Lincoln? Can you go to another
place that was named for Lincoln before he was president?" he asked.
These are the types of things that show that this region does
have a viable story to tell. The coalition has worked on this, but
there is more to do.
Cosby, Benton and Watson all expressed that the individual
communities in the region need to join together and decide what they
want the management plan to be and what they want it to do for the
entire region.
Cosby concluded by saying that the Looking for Lincoln Heritage
Coalition is designated by Congress as the coordinating entity.
"We're not the boss," he said. "We're not going to tell anyone
what to do."
___
This concludes Part 1 of a two-part series. In Part 2, the floor
is turned over to the audience, and community members offer their
input on what the area needs in order to promote tourism and draw
attention to our rich Abraham Lincoln history and heritage.
Those who spoke included Jan Schumacher of the Logan County
Board; Geoff Ladd of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau; Wanda Lee
Rohlfs of Main Street Lincoln; Tom Martin, who is on the board of
the Looking for Lincoln Coalition and the chairman of the Mount
Pulaski 175th anniversary committee; as well as Sue Pridemore of the
National Park Service and others.
[By NILA SMITH]
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