June 26, 2008
IN BRIEF: TOURISM, FILM AND THE ARTS NEWS

State leverages tourism projects with federal grants

The Maryland Tourism Office recently secured $121,500 in federal grants to enhance tourism products related to the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail and the Underground Railroad.

A $100,000 Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network (CBGN) grant will help fund stewardship, accessibility and interpretation of the water trails portion of the Star-Spangled Banner Trail, according to a joint announcement by (l to r) Rep. Chris Van Hollen (second from left); Sen. Ben Cardin; John Maounis, director, CBGN; Hannah Lee Byron, assistant secretary, Tourism, Film and the Arts; Bill Pencek, director of Culture and Heritage Tourism; and National Park Service officials at Bladensburg Waterfront Park, June 16.

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“As we prepare for the bicentennial celebration of the War of 1812, the Star-Spangled Banner Trail will ensure that Americans have a much better appreciation of America’s past and of Maryland’s important contributions to it,” said Sen. Cardin, who had first introduced legislation to create the trail in 2003. The bill was signed into law May 8.

The trail traces the land and water routes of the 1814 British invasion through Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia during the War of 1812. In Calvert County the trail shows where the battles of St. Leonard Creek occurred.

It also marks the British landing at Benedict in Charles County, the Battle of Bladensburg in Prince George’s County and the Battle of North Point in Baltimore County. The trail ends at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, site of the British defeat and where Francis Scott Key wrote the National Anthem.

Awards from the National Park Service and the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, amounting to $21,500, will partially offset printing costs for the second edition of the Tourism Office’s map-guide, The Underground Railroad, Maryland’s Network to Freedom.

The map-guide provides information about programs, sites and facilities across Maryland that have significance for the Underground Railroad. It was recently accepted as an official component of the Park Service’s Network to Freedom collection, which is an indication of the publication’s value as an interpretation tool for learning about the role of the Underground Railroad.

The Tourism Office released its first edition of the map-guide in 2006; it included 30 Network to Freedom sites. The new edition, scheduled for release in September, features 41 places where visitors can explore Maryland’s Underground Railroad story.