Watermark Receives Heritage Award for Second Year

Released: November 14, 2006

Media Contact: Wendy Thomas, Watermark Director of Marketing
Phone: 410-268-7601 x 111, Email: wendy@watermarkjourney.com
Web Site: www.watermarkjourney.com

Watermark, the premier tour, charter and cruise company of Annapolis, Maryland, received the "Best New Heritage Initiative" from the Four Rivers Heritage Association for their new African-American Heritage Tour.

The tour, created in partnership with the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating programs and opportunities that support and encourage greater interest in African-American culture, art and history, provides an informative and authentic look at the history and culture of African Americans in Annapolis and their impact nationally and internationally. The 2-hour walking tour covers a 200-year journey. It begins at Annapolis City Dock recounting the arrival of Kunta Kinte in 1767 aboard the slave ship Lord Ligonier. The tour then travels the streets of Annapolis and ascends to State Circle where the tour concludes at Lawyers Mall and the Thurgood Marshall Memorial.

In 2006, the African-American Heritage tour was a featured special event during Black History Month in February and then began a regular, public tour schedule in April. Tours will be offered on Saturdays in February and from May 5 through September 29 in 2007 departing at 10:30 am from HistoryQuest at 99 Main Street in downtown Annapolis. Private groups and schools can also schedule this informative tour to fit their travel schedules.

Not only has the tour grown in popularity during its first year, it has received tremendous press coverage over the course of the year. Lauren Wiseman, reporter for the Washington Post, initially covered the tour in February; the article was then picked up by The Associated Press and has appeared in almost twenty publications around the country including the Star-Telegram in Dallas, TX, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in WI, and the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. Watermark continues to welcome guests from Washington DC, Philadelphia and surrounding areas who have come to experience this journey after reading about it in the newspaper or hearing about it from guests who have already experienced this authentic tour.

This is the second year in a row that Watermark has received the "Best New Heritage Initiative" from Four Rivers. The company received the award in 2005 for their Bay Lighthouses Cruise - a 2½ hour boat cruise that explores the wonders of the Bay Bridge and three of the Chesapeake Bay's Lighthouses: Sandy Point Shoal, Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse and Thomas Point Lighthouse. The cruise offers a live narration to entertain and inform guests as they journey across the Chesapeake Bay.