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Montgomery County Heritage Initiative
 Goals
The Montgomery County Heritage Preservation and Tourism Initiative represents a dual purpose:
to showcase the County's significant historical and natural resources in a way which
avails itself of the close proximity to Washington D.C.'s significant tourism trade and
other existing Statewide tourism opportunities;
to recognize and build awareness of the County's heritage by developing stewardship
opportunities to preserve and protect vital historic and natural resources that might
otherwise deteriorate and be lost.
Location
Three thematic clusters define what is unique and distinctive about Montgomery County, stand out as having an existing wealth of historic resources, and provide for linkages that unite those resources and capture the essence of Montgomery County's history. They are the Underground Railroad and Quaker Cluster, the Farming History Cluster, and the Industrial Heritage Cluster.
The Underground Railroad and Quaker Cluster is in eastern Montgomery County and has a boundary that follows the Rock Creek, Northwest Branch, and Sligo Creek Stream Valley Parks as fingers ending up in the Sandy Spring and Brookeville communities to the north.
Montgomery County's commitment to preserving and promoting its agricultural heritage began in earnest in 1980 with adoption of the nationally recognized Master Plan for Preservation of Agriculture and Rural Open Space, which included creation of a transfer of development rights program and an Agricultural Reserve. This 93,000-acre Agricultural Reserve basically defines the boundary of the Farming History Cluster. Within the Agricultural Reserve, 526 farms and 350 horticultural enterprises can be found.
The Industrial Heritage Cluster includes two distinct and separate components: resources along the Potomac River and C&O Canal related to the pre-history and to the growth and change in the industries that helped Montgomery County grow and prosper from the 17th through the 19th centuries; and resources along the Metropolitan Branch of the B&O Railroad which include a number of significant late 19th century Victorian communities.
Management
The real success of the Montgomery County Heritage Tourism Initiative will depend upon its efficient implementation and management over a number of years. Potential ideas for management of the long term effort include assigning the task to an existing County department or to another governmental entity, or delegating the overall project to a newly-formed group such as a development authority or a private, non-profit. Each of these approaches has pros and cons and detailed plans for an appropriate management strategy and entity will need to be explored as part of the management planning process.
Management Plan
Preparation of a management plan approved by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority is a requirement for becoming a Maryland “Certified” Heritage Area. The approved Management Plan includes information on the boundaries of the Certified Heritage Area and “Target Investment Zones,” and presents the heritage area’s vision and goals and the strategies, projects, programs, actions, and partnerships that will be implemented to accomplish them.
Click here to view the management plan.
Contact Information
Ms. Peggy Erickson, Executive Director
Heritage Tourism Alliance of Montgomery County, Inc.
12535 Milestone Manor Lane
Germantown, MD 20876
301-515-0753
301-515-0193 (fax)
E-mail: director@montgomeryheritage.org
Website: www.montgomeryheritage.org
Last updated: January 7, 2008
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