Tour de Fort: Creating and Evaluating Guided Archaeology Tours

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2022

School

Library and Information Science

Abstract

Since 2011, the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) Coordinating Center office in Pensacola, Florida has partnered with the National Park Service staff at Gulf Islands National Seashore (GUIS) to develop and implement a public program called Tour de Fort. This guided bicycling tour was created by FPAN with the goal to promote the public appreciation for the many terrestrial and underwater archaeological resources located within the GUIS Fort Pickens Area. Tour de Fort has remained a popular and well attended program over the years. Based on public demand, other guided tours were developed using Tour de Fort as a model. However, until recently the actual quality and impact of this public archaeology program on audiences was not well understood. This article examines how Tour de Fort and other guided archaeology tours provided by FPAN are organized; highlights specific interpretative techniques implemented; and provides the methods, results, and recommendations from a formal assessment conducted to measure its impact on participants.

Publication Title

Journal of Archaeology and Education

Volume

6

Issue

4

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