Appalachia--Sounds Like the Place to Be

National Geographic Magazine and the Appalachian Regional Commission launched an interactive map last week to key sites in the 13-state region. Certainly a guide for tourists, it is also a celebration of a culture and a people that too often have been left behind economically. I consider the map to be a guide for tourists and residents alike. Too often people have no knowledge or appreciation for what is literally right under their noses. How many of us have visited all the historic or cultural sites in our own area? My guess is very few of us.

What this map does is literally connect the dots for people. You can get a sense with just a few clicks of the sites of most interest to you and then see their proximity to other things. All around this is a very impressive partnership by these organizations and the thousands of people who recommended them. This has inspired me to see some new things in my area. Today I am off to Mount Vernon, which is the most visited historic house in America. I saw one of the second most visited sites, Monticello a few weeks ago. See something new this week and think about how it can be leveraged in new ways.