UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Visitors to the country's national parks and historic sites may be just a sign — and a few steps — away from improving their health and fitness while enjoying their park trips, according to a team of researchers.
In a study, researchers found that including a sign that encouraged visitors to walk the steps of Civil War soldiers significantly increased the total number of the visitor's steps.
"We wanted to look at the relationship between the park's mission to provide for recreation and preserving the natural resource and health," said Derrick Taff, assistant professor of recreation, park and tourism management, Penn State. "In doing so, we also looked at communication strategies that might influence or persuade visitors to behave in a way that's healthy for them and healthy for the environment."
Taff said the researchers placed two signs at various locations in the Gettysburg National Battlefield encouraging guests to take part in physical activity — for instance, walking sections of battlefield, or climbing steps. The Civil War battlefield is a popular destination for tourists, history aficionados and park enthusiasts, he added.
At the site of Pickett's Charge, a spot near the Virginia Memorial where Confederate troops led an unsuccessful attack on Union positions, the researchers placed a sign encouraging visitors to walk in the steps of the soldiers. When the signs were placed at the site, three times as many people walked the two-mile round-trip path of the charge than on days when there were no signs present, according to the researchers, who reported their findings in a recent issue in the Journal of Recreation, Parks and Tourism in Public Health.