How to Create an Historic Walking Tour

When I was living in L.A., I knew many burned-out actors. That’s why I can really appreciate a guy like George Webber. Webber is an actor who loves Sonoma County, California – and who wouldn’t? It’s California wine country paradise with a long rich history. To survive as an actor, he created his own one-man-theater, his stage the historic sites of Sonoma. For his two-hour Sonoma Plaza historic walking tour, Webber is in costume and conducts his tour in the character of either author Mark Twain who had once lived in Sonoma, or General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo the Spanish land-grant founder of Pueblo Sonoma. For a taste of what George Webber does on his Sonoma Historic Walking Tour, listen online to his show on KSVY Public Radio. If you’re a frustrated actor with a passion for your hometown history, you may want to take a path similar to George Webber.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer
• Internet Connection
• Acting Talent
• Local Historic Knowledge
• Character Costume(s)(optional)
• Well Written Script
• Tour Guide or Street Performer License (depending on local laws)
• Guts

How to Create an Historic Walking Tour

1. If you have high muckety-muck friends in the historic locale of your proposed walking tour and these friends believe in your talent and historic knowledge, this is the best possible circumstance that you can have. Most aspiring historic tour guides, however, aren’t so lucky and wind up having to sell themselves.
2. Before putting your historic walking tour together, find out if your historic locale requires preconditions such as a tour guide or street performer license or certification. If so, find out the specific requirements and costs of a license.
   
   Licensing, in fact, may be your toughest hurdle. Some cities and towns even require auditions, or have unique preconditions.
   
   In San Francisco, for example, it’s required that Fisherman’s Wharf street performers enter the “Pilot Street Performer Program.” This is unique because a performer’s license or fee isn’t required. Also in San Francisco, street artists can enter a permit program with the SF Arts Commission.
3. If you live in a locale that includes large concentration of important historic areas (i.e. Washington D.C.)you'll face stiff competition from other guides with up-and-running historic walking tours. In fact, in D.C., there’s even a recognized tour guide organization called “The Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington D.C.” According to their web site, they have “430 members, approximately 325 of whom are professional tourist guides licensed by the District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.”
   
   If your locale has such an organization, join it to network and learn.
4. If any such professional guide organization sponsors continuing education programs or even a “certified master guide” program (like the Washington D.C. organization), you may want to take this option to polish your skills and network. Some of these groups even have job lines.
5. In the very historic city of Charleston, South Carolina, historic tour guides must take a certificate test exam. The city even provides a study guide for prospective tour guides.