Tourism Corridors Link Attractions

Built by a pioneer settler in the 1840s and situated deep in a grove of oak and cedar trees, Rowan Oak, in Oxford, Miss., was purchased by Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner in 1930, shown in this undated file photo. It was his home until his death in 1962. The University of Mississippi purchased the house and its 31-acre grounds in 1972 from Faulkner's daughter. Every year over 11,000 people visit the antebellum home, which is both a National Historic Landmark and a National Literary Landmark. (AP Photo/Joe Ellis/FILE) (Joe Ellis - AP)

"We hope we see an increase in tourism and consequently an increase in support for local business ventures," Brown said.

Collective marketing appears to have worked for Montana, which went to the regional approach in 1986 with Custer Country, a corridor that includes the Little Bighorn battlefield, a portion of the Lewis & Clark trail, dinosaur digs and a wild-horse range.

The number of tourists who go to Montana has increased from 2.5 million in 1986 to 10 million last year, with Custer Country drawing one of every four. Annual spending by tourists has increased from about $150 million to $2 billion.

"We had so many small towns in eastern Montana that didn't have the ability to market themselves," said Jim Schaefer, executive director of the Custer Country Tourism Region. "They just had to go digging and scratching to find funds."

Northeast Mississippi hopes for similar success with a corridor devoted to native son Faulkner _ author of "The Sound and the Fury" and "As I Lay Dying" _ although the initiative is still in the planning stages.

There are 10 major Faulkner sites within an hour's drive, including Faulkner's birthplace of New Albany, his farmhouse, and Oxford, the setting for many of his novels and short stories.

"We're a very rural area," said Kent Bain, coordinator for the Mississippi Hills Heritage Area Alliance. "We feel like the trail and tours are the step we need to take if we're going to do any long-term tourism development."

New Hampshire began packaging tourist sites together in March, binding them on a Web site with suggested itineraries.

A seaside tour features stops at coastal beaches and at a state park with marshes for bird-watching. Then it's on to Portsmouth for a harbor cruise to see fleets of lobster boats and for a walking tour that includes a stop at the house of naval leader John Paul Jones.

The Robert Frost tour takes travelers to the poet's modest clapboard farmhouse and along a trail in the woods with markers pointing out familiar spots from Frost's poems. The trail follows stone walls that were the inspiration for the poem "Mending Wall" and snuggles up to "Hyla Brook," another Frost poem.

The tour includes a trip to the Dartmouth College library to see Frost's papers. Covered bridges and artisans' studios are also on the route, which includes the White Mountains National Forest.

Piatt believes the marketing technique will work for her and that tourists won't be disappointed.

"There's enough to do _ if you're not from here _ in a couple of days that would make you walk away and say, 'That's charming. That was enchanting. That was interesting,'" she said.

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If You Go...

EXCURSION 68, OHIO: A 50-mile stretch of U.S. 68 linking four attractions. Take 68 north from I-70 to the Holland Theater, 127 E. Columbus Ave., Bellefontaine. Then, take 68 south to West Liberty and Ohio 245 east to the Piatt Castles, http://www.piattcastles.org/ or (937) 465-2821. Next, take 68 south to Springfield, then Ohio 4 east through downtown, taking a right on S. Greenmount Avenue to Frank Lloyd Wright's Westcott House, http://www.westcotthouse.org/ or (937) 327-9291. Take Ohio 4 back to 68 south to Yellow Springs.

ROBERT FROST CORRIDOR, N.H.: http://www.summerinnh.com/ . Begins at the Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College, Hanover. (The library's Frost collection has books and papers but no artifacts.) Take I-93 past Manchester's 19th-century textile mills, now home to artisans' studios, high-tech companies and the Amoskeag Fishways, an environmental education center, http://www.amoskeagfishways.org/about.html or (603) 626-3474. Take Route 102 east to State Route 28 to the Frost Farm in Derry, which offers tours and a marked wooded trail pointing out familiar spots from his poems; http://www.nhstateparks.com/frost.html or (603) 432-3091.

CUSTER COUNTRY, MONT.: http://custer.visitmt.com/ or (800) 346-1876. Attractions include the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, site of Custer's battle against Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull; Pompeys Pillar, where William Clark carved his name in 1806 during his expedition with Meriwether Lewis; Makoshika State Park, famed for dinosaur digs; and the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range near Bighorn Canyon.

MISSISSIPPI: Markers are in the works for a 100-mile Mississippi Blues Heritage Trail. For a map of music and tourist sites, visit http://www.visitmississippi.org//music/music_heritage.asp or call (866) 733-6477. The Mississippi Hills Heritage Area Alliance _ http://www.mshills.org/ or (662) 816-0404 _ is creating a trail related to author William Faulkner, including his home in Oxford, http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/egjbp/faulkner/rowanoak.html or (662) 234-3284.