Riley House promoting tourism

Riley House promoting tourism

Everyone talks about attracting tourists to Tallahassee. The Riley House is doing something about it.

The Riley House Museum of black history will host 30 museum directors, travel writers and tourism specialists from around the nation in a three-day conference this week. The conference is designed to showcase Tallahassee’s heritage tourism attractions and promote discussions about collaborative efforts.

The conference serves as a warm-up for August 2011, when the Riley House will host the national Association of African American Museums, which is expected to draw 300 to 400 people.

“I’m hoping (this week’s conference) will have a residual effect and people will be so excited by what they see, they’ll go back to their locations and do a better job of preserving their history,” said Althemese Barnes, director of the Riley House. “I hope it also invites them back (to Tallahassee) for future travel, meetings and conferences.”

The museum, the former home of black educator John G. Riley, was created in 1995. Under Barnes, it became the founding force behind the Florida African-American Historic Preservation Network of 19 museums.

This week’s conference, from Tuesday through Thursday, will include seminars on heritage tourism, which is tourism focused on an area’s cultural history. Visitors will tour an array of local sites, such as Mission San Luis, Goodwood Mansion and Gardens and Tall Timbers Research Station. On Thursday, they will attend the annual Emancipation Day celebration at the Knott House, which commemorates May 20, 1865, when Florida slaves were officially told they had been freed.

Among those attending the conference will John Franklin, deputy director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is scheduled to open in Washington, D.C., in 2015.

“(The national museum) sees what we’re doing as a model,” Barnes said of the Florida network of black history museums.

This week’s conference is funded by a grant the Riley House won last year from Tallahassee-Leon County Council on Culture and Arts.

“(Barnes) has been working on this quite some time, and it’s a big achievement,” said COCA Director Peggy Brady. “I think it will introduce some people to what they didn’t know was significant history.”