Harlan County, Kentucky nonprofit “Backroads of Appalachia” focuses on mapping and promoting pleasure ride trails on existing windy mountain roads.
Their goal is to attract people to rural areas for exciting drives unique to the area. While they are there, they also hope drivers will spend money on food and lodging in small towns and visit cultural sites to learn about the history of the region.
For instance, one of their first trails, “Dragon Slayer” spans from Lynch, Kentucky to Big Stone Gap, Virginia and encourages visitors to learn about the history of coal mining and the immigrants who lived and worked there.
“Once someone gets to Appalachia and they see the kindness and the hospitality that the Appalachian people have got – that’s the number one selling tool,” Backroads of Appalachia Executive Director Erik Hubbard said. “People will come back.”
The nonprofit estimates their work brought more than 95,000 people to Appalachia last year who then pumped nearly $100 million into the economy.
Now they’re getting support from the federal government’s Appalachian Regional Commission with a $7.4 million “ARISE” grant designed to boost rural economies.
Hubbard said they’ll use the grant for a project they call the “Appalachian Overland Triangle.” It aims to map new off-road dirt and gravel trails, open a giant welcome center in West Virginia with camping, and eventually develop workshops to welcome women into motorsports.
“We’re really pushing hard for it to become a women’s program for overlanding and off-roading…to be able to go out and not be judged by men in the world of off-roading and let them learn from each other,” Hubbard said.
Earlier this year, Backroads of Appalachia also received nearly $1 million in state dollars under a program recently created by the Kentucky General Assembly.
