Some of those grants are coming to Frederick County.
Crownsville, Md. (KM) – Local governments, non-profits and heritage areas will be receiving some grants from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority. Secretary Robert McCord of the Maryland Department of Planning says grants totaling $5.1 million will be used by these recipients to support activities that attract visitors to historic sites.
He says there were 139 requests coming before the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, but 107 were approved. He says each request is reviewed before decisions are made. “The reviewers are sensitive to making sure that under told stories are also represented in the kind of grants that are being awarded to make sure that people are hearing about something they may not have heard about before,” he says.
McCord is chairs the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority. There are 13 heritage areas around the state.
Some of this grant money is going to sites in Frederick County which is part of the Heart of The Civil War Heritage Area along with Washington and Carroll Counties. The Catoctin Furnace Historical Society is receiving $100,000 to restore the Miller House, a home for Furnace Fellows built around the 1820’s. $18,587.22 is going to the Historic Rocky Springs Chapel, Inc. to repair the stonework arid brickwork on the Rocky Springs School House. The Monocacy National Battlefield is receiving $50,000 to upgrade its museum exhibits. The African American Resources-Cultural and Heritage Society, Inc. is also receiving $50,000 for Amazing Exhibits Center at the African-American Heritage Center.
McCord says heritage tourism has an annual impact of $2.4 billion on Maryland’s economy. “The concept of people coming to the heritage areas because they’re visiting an area and they saying ‘What else is there to see here?’ ‘What is there to learn here? ‘Sharing that by local people who are proud of what has happened here and what they have been doing here for a long time is critically important,” he says.
In addition to the $2.4 billion in annual economic impact, McCord says heritage tourism also generates $319 million dollars in state and local taxes, and supports over 33,000 full and part time jobs annually.
By Kevin McManus