Historic Sites and Farm Tourism

Abstract

The twin concerns of this chapter, the analysis of historic sites and the understanding of farm tourism, are both part of the larger phenomenon of cultural tourism. This expression has acquired the meaning of both a concern with the social and physical structures of the past and present. Collins (1983) summarises cultural tourism and the cultural heritage on which it depends as

“an accumulation of daily details and large traditions, social, and religious built upon from beyond time and memory. It may involve, usually involves one-time, one-of-a-kind, never to be repeated, impossible to duplicate buildings, sites and artifacts. But more than structures, more than things, this experience is an array, sometimes a disarray, of feelings, moods, colours, smells and street sounds. In part it is an accumulation of ethics, foods, medicines, and manners; the ways people greet each other, love, hate, marry, and bury each other.” (1983:59)