This dissertation focuses on the fine lines separating and connecting archaeology, heritage tourism, and economic redevelopment. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, many small American historic cities have found themselves in a de-industrialized state with the local economy in flux. Looking to replace the old industrial economy with a ‘new economy’, some of these cities have turned to heritage tourism, both to stimulate their economy, and to establish a new “historical identity” for presentation to residents and visitors.

This project looks at how these new heritage tourism destinations are formed, and what they create in the process. The analysis focuses on the role of one of the heritage professionals, namely the archaeologist, and how memory, ritual and the representation of past people, events, and moments can influence the making of the an historic site and its impact on community identity within a preservation project.

The analysis focuses on one specific case study, the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith Historic Site and Interpretive Center located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. At this location, a project to construct a new hotel and convention center became the catalyst for salvage archaeology and for the creation of a new heritage tourist initiative. Initially the hotel and convention center was intended purely to encourage economic development within the city, but the site became a forum for debate over preservation politics, community contention, and the search for community identity.

With this research, I examine how the desire for heritage reflects people's desire to learn about their own identities. The search for identity in the present can sometimes become a means of escaping to the past for a more nostalgic view of history, through the making and use of myths and rituals. My research also examines the extent to which heritage professionals can mediate the social action that the historic site produces while under investigation, in order to foster a truly community-based project.