On October 25, 2022, the Barryville-based non-profit history education group, The Delaware Company received official notification from the U.S. Patent and Trademark office that Revolution to Revolution™ was now a registered trademark.

The Delaware Company has been using Revolution to Revolution™ since 2012 to promote heritage tourism in the region.

Heritage tourism is defined by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as “traveling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past,” and it is big business, contributing more than $200 billion a year to the U.S. economy. Study after study has shown that heritage tourists travel more frequently and spend more time and more money in their travels than typical non-heritage tourists.  

That is too great an impact for any region that is dependent upon tourism as an economic engine to ignore. One recent research study revealed that 78% of all U.S. leisure travelers participate in cultural and/or heritage activities while traveling, translating to 118.3 million adults each year. More than half of cultural/heritage travelers agree that they prefer their leisure travel to be educational and nearly half said they spend more money on cultural and heritage activities. They are also likely to travel farther to get the experiences they seek: about half of most recent overnight leisure trips were 500 miles or more from home. More than one- third of heritage travelers say they typically travel between 100 and 300 miles for a day trip.  

The Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette maintains that any successful tourism initiative must be based on the unique qualities of an area as well as the availability of resources to market a viable and attractive "experience" for those who visit. Sullivan County’s unique qualities can be summed up by Revolution to Revolution™, the concept that capitalizes on the region’s role in the American Revolution, as depicted at Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History and the Minisink Battleground, and its role in the cultural revolution of the 1960s as told so exquisitely by the Museum at Bethel Woods.  

And considering the fact that Sullivan County’s unique story also includes the D&H Canal, which was indispensable in the industrial revolution and the accompanying growth of New York City, and Revolution to Revolution™ makes even more sense.  

The Delaware Company has spent years promoting Fort Delaware and the Minisink Battleground, and its in-progress Kate Project will provide yet another tourist attraction, one that will tell the story of the D&H Canal. Both Fort Delaware and the Minisink Battleground draw visitors from out of the area as well as locals, and this will likely increase considerably as the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War and the American Founding approaches. A narrated history hike at the Minisink Battleground in March of 2016, for example, drew more than 120 people from five different states. Not all of those people likely spent the night in Sullivan County, but some did, and most all of them spent money in area restaurants and gas stations.  

That’s a tangible benefit of Revolution to Revolution™.  

The Delaware Company will be hosting two additional history hikes before the end of the year: one at the Minisink Battleground Park on Saturday, November 12, and one on the Milk Train Trail in Hurleyville on Saturday, December 3. Both hikes will be narrated by this columnist, your Sullivan County Historian.  

The Minisink hike takes place the day after Veterans Day and will honor those who have served in the military, including our first Veterans, those who fought in the American Revolution. The hike starts from the Tusten Pavilion at the Battleground at 1 p.m. and will follow the Woodland Trail. Among the topics to be discussed are the Cushetunk settlement, the timber rafting industry, the battle of Minisink, and the creation of the Battleground Park. The hike is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is requested, but not required. Email jconway52@hotmail.com to register.  

The Hurleyville hike is part of the hamlet’s annual Holiday in Hurleyville celebration, and will leave from the west side parking lot at 1 p.m. Topics to be discussed include the railroad and resorts, the dairy farming industry, Native American culture and language, and the story of Murder, Inc.’s activities in the county in the 1930s, particularly the murders that took place in Hurleyville and the investigations that followed. The hike is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is not required.  

Both hikes will last approximately 90 minutes, and there will be an opportunity for questions and answers.  

The hikes—and other events sponsored by The Delaware Company-- provide great opportunities to witness Revolution to Revolution™ in action. Don’t miss out!

 John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian and a founder and president of The Delaware Company. Email him at jconway52@hotmail.com.