Their Desired Perception

The leaders of this area want you to leave remembering these three things:

1. It’s not just a road!

2. It’s “The Road That Built the Nation”

3. This area will bring you back in time.

The National Road Heritage Area

Their Web site

Implications of their view of the past

1. It implies that this region built America into what it is today.

2. Speaks of the road as a metaphor for the United States.  The road started as a small buffalo road and has developed into a tool of commerce for people of the past as well as today.  Just as America did, start as a small group of colonies and developed into a thriving country.

3. It played on key historical figures.  It talked about how these figures traveled this road and stopped in this area and you should too.  The key figures included George Washington, Daniel Boone, and Davy Crocket.

Overlooked Aspects of the Past

1. The Web site overlooked the Native Americans.  It does not tell anything of how the Indians were driven off their land for the creation of this road.

2. Another overlooked aspect of this Web site is that it did not talk about a set industry in this heritage area.  Instead it talked about how this area was traveled through to get to another area of set industry.

3. The last major overlooked aspect of this Web site was the lack of leaders from this area.  The site talked about the leaders that traveled through the Web site but does not specifically mention any leaders from this heritage area.