| Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Rainbow Bridge National Monument, and Meteor Crater National Natural Landmark are part of a narrative landscape comprised of diverse historical memories, interests, agendas, and ideologies that change over time. The evolving meaning of these tourist sites illustrates the often-contentious nature of inscribing memories at some of America's natural and cultural heritage landscapes. Tourist sites are part of this nation's cultural landscapes onto which its memories are inscribed in the form of museums, monuments, trails, roads, wayside exhibits, and a host of other objects designed to symbolize a connection between Americans and the past. These memories are accessible via tourist brochures, museum exhibits and displays, interpreters and guides, and other forms of media used to communicate the site's meaning to its visitors. This work adds to the field of the history of tourism by providing insights into the ways in which tourist sites are culturally constructed. Their meanings are historically contingent, change over time and represent a negotiation between diverse groups of Americans with different historical and cultural perspectives. |
