Missouri’s U.S. Grant Trail Set to Expand Funding Secured for Trail Development from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau, MO
St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) December 18, 2013 -- Missouri’s Civil War Trails is a comprehensive initiative, for which Missouri Civil War Heritage Foundation is the lead partner, that combines high quality regional maps with internet marketing and fulfillment services through a partnership with the national website, Civil War Traveler. In addition, educational panels that highlight important Civil War sites are available through affiliation with the Trail, to enhance the experience of automobile travelers. Missouri’s Civil War Trails currently consists of the U.S. Grant Trail and the Gray Ghosts Trail.
This new development of the U.S. Grant Trail from St. Louis to Cape Girardeau is an important step in creating a Civil War tourism experience that would take travelers through all of Grant’s 1861 Missouri campaigns.
In addition, the expansion of the trail is beneficial for the state. “Missouri has an immense number of interesting and significant stories, including stories about U.S. Grant’s activities here in our state before, during and after the Civil War. These stories are of importance nationally, as well as at the local and regional levels,” explains Geoff Giglierano, executive director of the Missouri Humanities Council, which has been a supporter of past endeavors of Missouri’s Civil War Trails. “The U.S. Grant Trail and its expansion to the south of St. Louis can assist even more communities in sharing some of these intriguing stories with a larger audience. This will attract new visitors, and help foster community pride and a better understanding of what makes these places unique.”
Discussion and planning is currently ongoing to determine possible trail route mapping as well as sites to be featured along the trail’s expansion route. Sites under consideration will have a direct relationship to Grant (prewar and postwar included), and to other traditional Civil War themes.
Missouri witnessed the greatest number of battles and engagements - more than 1,000 - of any place except Virginia and Tennessee. Given this rich Civil War history, Missouri’s Civil War Trails aims to highlight these important sites that exist in abundance across the state. Along with the Gray Ghosts Trail, which covers Central and Western Missouri, the U.S. Grant Trail provides travelers the opportunity to experience the struggle between the Union and the Confederacy in the Northernmost state where battles were fought.
Current U.S. Grant and Gray Ghosts driving trail maps can be requested at http://www.civilwartraveler.com.
About Missouri’s Civil War Heritage Foundation:
Missouri’s Civil War Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)(3) educational organization and was founded in 2001 to assist Missouri communities in interpreting and preserving their important Civil War heritage sites, and in marketing Missouri’s vast Civil War resources to visitors.
Kelly Sullentrop, Civil War Heritage Foundation, http://mocivilwar.org/home.html, +1 314-361-4925, [email protected]
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