John Veverka

DALTON, Ga. — A Civil War museum with no walls is central to the master plan for heritage tourism recently completed for Whitfield and Murray counties.

“The museum is already here. It’s all these artifacts and sites, and we are walking through them now,” said John Veverka, a heritage tourism and interpretation planner, as he walked along Rocky Face Ridge on a rainy Friday afternoon.

“Don’t think of the museum as a building, but think of it as the counties themselves,” said Mr. Veverka, the main architect of the interpretive tourism plan and a former professor at Ohio State and Michigan universities.

During an open house today at Dalton City Hall, the consultant will discuss the plan that some say represents an economic option for an area bleeding jobs during the current economic recession.

Whitfield County has the largest intact system of Civil War-era defense earthworks in the nation, Mr. Veverka said.

The earthworks sprinkled among the woods and hills around Dalton include soldier camps, gun placements, stoneworks and areas fortified by Confederate soldiers in the winter of 1864 as they waited for spring and a chance to hold off Gen. William Sherman’s push toward Atlanta.

Though professional soldiers have come here to study the elaborate defenses, the fortifications have been largely unnoticed by local residents. They could be part of the “landscape museum,” Mr. Veverka said.

Judy Alderman, president of the Prater’s Mill Foundation, said Whitfield and Murray counties could benefit economically if the historic assets are showcased, and the idea is getting more attention now that double digit unemployment has a grip on the area.

“It’s clear that we have the potential here,” she said. “Just like Charleston, S.C., which has wonderful heritage tourism. That didn’t happen overnight.”

Mr. Veverka said an outdoor tour of rare, but little-known sites could blend with historical structures such as Prater’s Mill and the Chief Vann House.

Dalton could be the gateway to the attractions, he said. The tourism master plan includes driving guides, cell phone accessible interpretations, and Web sites with items like information on the historic features, downloadable programs and self-guided tour routes.

“Heritage tourism here is not just the Civil War,” Mr. Veverka said. “It’s also natural heritage, Cherokee history, cultural heritage and human heritage — everything from gospel music down to the carpet and tufting industry.”