Center for Historic Preservation Services

National Register | Historic Sites | Heritage Tourism | Building Conservation

       The primary goal of the Center's Preservation Services is to enhance economic development across Tennessee through the identification, research, and documentation of historic resources. Principal beneficiaries are local governments, business groups, and individuals across Tennessee. In providing services for rural communities and smaller towns, the Center had gained an enviable reputation statewide, regionally, and nationally as a model of how public universities can partner with agencies, organizations, and private citizens in the areas of history, historic preservation, heritage tourism, education, and local economic development.

       In 1988, the CHP initiated the Mid-South Heritage Partnership which was funded by a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the U.S. Department of the Interior. The result was The Best of Both Worlds: The Challenge of Growth Enhancement in the Mid-South which received national and regional attention for its sensitive and comprehensive look at the future of historic resources in six states of the Mid-South.

       In response to needs and recommendations of The Best of Both Worlds, the Center began a concerted effort to assist communities in identifying and developing districts into viable heritage tourism projects which increase property values and bring economic incentives to the towns.

City-wide projects to date include:

• Covington
  
• Cumberland Gap
  
• Dyersburg
  
• Lawrenceburg
  
• Sparta
  
• Tullahoma
  
• Union City
  

      

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