The Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trails (KAHT), based at Eastern Kentucky University, is working behind the scenes on a geo-tourism project with the National Geographic Society to promote the “undiscovered treasures” of Appalachia, including Bybee Pottery at Waco, the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea and Valley View Ferry in northern Madison County.

A fold-out map in the April issue of National Geographic Traveler will feature 30 tourist sites in the Appalachian Region of Eastern Kentucky and the Cave Country of South Central Kentucky. The sites also will be featured as part of an interactive map at www.nationalgeographic.com.

KAHT (www.KAHT.com) is a cultural heritage tourism and business development program offered through the Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Technology at EKU and supported by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

“We are very excited that EKU could assist in this collaboration,” said EKU President Joanne Glasser. “We have such a wealth of resources and talent in our region and to be recognized by the National Geographic Society is truly a privilege.”

CEDET’s work involves using university-based resources to help economic development throughout Eastern Kentucky.

“We’ve enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the ARC,” said CEDET Executive Director Cheryl Stone, “and we both believe this project will help grow our region’s economy by attracting new tourists through this marketing program.”

KAHT’s role in the project has consisted of creating a gateway portal to access photographs and information about each selected site via the Internet. Each site was mapped using Geographic Positioning Satellite (GPS) equipment and Geographic Information Software (GIS). Tourist information was gathered and placed on the KAHT web site with links from National Geographic’s web site to access relevant facts and images of each site.

“We are extremely honored to work with National Geographic and the ARC on such a unique project,” said KAHT Program Manager Chris Cathers. “It is a great opportunity for us to showcase the talent and beauty of our Appalachian heritage to such a highly respected publication. This is a true validation of our efforts to improve upon the cultural resources that attract tourists to Eastern Kentucky.”

The Kentucky sites range from tourists attractions such as Mammoth Cave National Park and the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea to festivals, scenic byways, restaurants, craft shops and historic sites. The Kentucky Department of Tourism along with the help of local tourism commissions, area development districts, Southern Kentucky Tourism Development Association, Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association and EKU identified and recommended potential Kentucky sites. National Geographic made the final selections and, in all, 356 sites are listed across the 13-state Appalachian region.

The National Geographic Traveler magazine has more than 900,000 subscribers nationwide and is read by more than 4 million. An additional 300,000 maps will be distributed by the state tourism offices of the ARC’s 13 states to targeted traveler mailing lists, regional welcome centers and tourism trade shows. The ARC also will distribute the maps to schools, libraries and civic organizations throughout Appalachia.

Additionally, an online version of the map is available at www.nationalgeographic.com, and the Kentucky sites may also be accessed through Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trails (www.KAHT.com).