Communities begin packaging the roads less traveled

Those who take Route 127 already know about the handsome mansions and rolling lawns in Prides Crossing and Beverly Farms, into Manchester-by-the-Sea, and people following Routes 133 and 1A know about the colorful vistas of the Great Marsh.

Now, there’s an effort to let the rest of the world know.

“One of the biggest assets we have in this region is the coast,’’ said Annie Harris, executive director for Essex National Heritage Area. “It’s really beautiful but is not necessarily all that well known. One of the things we want to do is to brand the North Shore as a region that has fabulous assets, and the coast is one of those assets.’’

The organization is leading an effort to attach a National Scenic Byway designation to the coastal and some main rural roads of the North Shore, from Lynn through Marblehead and Cape Ann, winding through Ipswich, Rowley, and other towns until it ends in Newburyport.

“We’re really focusing on using it as a spine to organize lots of really important historic, cultural, natural resources,’’ said Harris. “We’re looking at it as a way to identify, promote, and maybe even market some of the resources along there.

“We’ll certainly try to look into some future regional marketing around it,’’ Harris added. “It could be an iPhone app, a website, brochures, or other things to say: ‘Hey, come to these communities. There are some great things here to see, and scenery, and shopping and places to stay.’ ’’

Sarah Garcia, director of development for the city of Gloucester, says that marketing for the scenic byway could lead some people to discover the attractions of that city, including the new Harborwalk developed to link many of those attractions together, which the city hopes to complete by July.

“We would love to have people drive up the scenic byway, park at Stage Fort Park, come along the boulevard/Man at the Wheel and into our Harborwalk, and have some fun in the city,’’ Garcia said. “We’re trying to make the downtown waterfront much more accessible, and so being on the scenic byway is a way for people to get there.’’

The Essex National Heritage Area is currently developing a management plan for the byway, which will identify strategies for enhancing, preserving, and promoting its qualities. The plan makes the byway eligible for a variety of grants, to make improvements, marketing, and signs, and to create a framework to help attract investment.

There has already been a significant amount of local input, Harris said, and with the plan nearly completed, the Essex National Heritage Area is going back to the 13 communities involved to present a series of public meetings to explain it as the finishing touches are added.

Part of the road’s charm, and part of the challenge to those who would promote it, is that the character changes from community to community, and sometimes from neighborhood to neighborhood.

“That’s part of the appeal of the entire scenic byway,’’ said executive director Kate Fox of Destination Salem. “It includes urban environments, beautiful scenic vistas, and rural environments. It goes from downtown Lynn to the shore to downtown Salem, which has a real urban-suburban mix, to Route 127 and the Gold Coast of Manchester and Beverly Farms, with the incredible private homes and more beautiful ocean vistas.

“Then you get into Gloucester, where you have that suburban-urban mix and the fishing heritage, to Rockport. There’s an incredible diversity of destinations along this one scenic byway, and then it keeps going.’’

In many ways, the effort is similar in perspective to the Great Marsh, which has been promoted in the past decade as a regional resource with economic, recreational, conservational, and quality-of-life benefits.

Scenic byway advocates want to preserve and the resources, Harris said, “but we also care that they’re useful to people in the present, so that they’re going to want to take care of them and value them.’’

Noting specifically the improvements being made to Bridge Street in Salem, Fox said: “The byway and the economic development that’s happening in Salem may be the catalyst for more improvement, and continuous improvements.’’

Some communities are already seeing a benefit, notably Rowley, which in recent years has started or completed restorations and renovations of downtown buildings including the First Congregational Church in Rowley, and the Town Hall and Town Hall annex.

A local developer, meanwhile, has taken on the rehabilitation of three long-vacant downtown structures, two of which are historic.

The result will be a more attractive downtown, said Selectman Dick Cummings, and knowing that visitors will be passing through the town on the scenic byway helped provide some of the initiative for those projects.

“This is going to be a big boost for Rowley as a scenic way,’’ Cummings said. “This is something all of the communities should be proud of.’’