We have decided to switch things up a bit and offer a new feature once a month in our newsletters. We have the best tour sponsors and would like to tell you more about their successful projects.

Read below to learn about New Jersey's D&R Greenway Land Trust in our first tour sponsor spotlight.

D&R Greenway Land Trust has worked with TravelStorysGPS since 2017 to create six mobile audio tours in three travel modes — paddling, driving, and walking — with one also translated into Spanish. Three favorites are of special interest to audiences beyond the region:

• Women in Conservation at Cedar Ridge
• Healing Trails at Greenway Meadows
• Children and Nature at St. Michaels Farm Preserve

These tours provide inspiration and interesting facts that can benefit anyone, anywhere.

Q: Why did you want to tell the stories on your tours?

A: The mission of D&R Greenway is to preserve and care for land, and to inspire a conservation ethic by connecting people to the land. We see TravelStorys as a way to tell stories about the land that create a personal and relevant connection to users. Our ultimate goal is to inspire users to become good stewards of places in their community and to support conservation of the Earth.

Q: Is there anything that surprises visitors about your tours?

A: Our Women in Conservation tour relates the features of the land to woman leaders whose dedication and work have resulted in conservation of certain habitats or types of landscape. Users are surprised to learn about women from all over the world, past and present, who have made a mark in science-based conservation and land preservation.

TravelStorysGPS founder and CEO Story Clark tells us that our Healing Trails tour has inspired people in the healthcare field during the pandemic, as it provides uplifting personal stories from individuals who have healed from physical and mental challenges by going outdoors into nature. There is a surprise song that was created for the tour by Lyn Ransom, a friend who found peace in nature while dealing with cancer.

People are fascinated to learn about the large Victorian-era orphanage that once stood on what is now a nature preserve on our (St. Michaels Farm Preserve) Children and Nature tour. This tour shares facts about the land and the many ways that children grow their creativity in nature, and it relates stories about how living on a large farm made a difference in the lives of children who had been abandoned during the Depression era.

Q: Please briefly describe your target audience for these tours.

A: The target audiences differ depending on the tour. We launched our Women in Conservation tour in celebration of the 100^th anniversary of women’s right to vote. It was used in Zoom presentations and classrooms.

Our Children and Nature tour at St. Michaels Farm Preserve is used on-site by a wide community of people interested in the history of the area.

Our Healing Trails tour has been used by members of the Breast Cancer Resource Center to inspire hope and healing, and people who live nearby have told us they use the tour to encourage walking as they recover from knee and other surgeries.

Q: Where do the majority of your visitors come from?

A: What has surprised us at D&R Greenway is to see that we have visitors from around the country who are accessing these tours. In addition to on-site visitors from our region, we have promoted remote use during the winter months and for people who are homebound or have limited walking ability. Our remote “armchair tours” are the most popular and widely used.

Q: What is the most interesting comment you’ve received about the tour?

A: Our Healing Trails tour has provided the most feedback. The Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton recently told us they are making our tour available to cancer patients from their infusion chairs, where they have installed screens. This led to the hospital asking us for more content; they will now add our new driving tour of the area and some of our videos to their content library for patients.

Q: What part of the tour-building process do you enjoy most or find most interesting — and why?

A: Most interesting is the beginning of a project, where we brainstorm about the stories we’ll share. It’s fun to think about stories that provide unknown facts; for instance, our recent driving tour tells why a well-traveled bridge is named for a man named Scudder.

The most rewarding aspect of creating tours is working with the people who share their stories with us. Our Healing Trails tour includes a poem written by a woman who lost her husband and found solace walking our trails. After hearing her story on the app for the first time in our office, she went out the next day and purchased her first smartphone so she could enjoy the full tour and share it with her family and friends. 

Q: How does telling your stories through the TravelStorys audio tour platform compare to other ways you've communicated with your audience in the past?

A: This method of sharing stories allows us to speak to people through the voices of others who share their own stories. It is more personal. It can also be revised easily: We have a new memorial location for a young man on our St. Michaels Farm Preserve and we added his story with his family’s support.

Story Clark’s keen understanding of how land trusts connect with people has enabled her to create a meaningful way to touch people’s minds and hearts.

If you have a suggestion or would like to be featured in an upcoming TravelStorys tour sponsor spotlight, please email our marketing manager, Jennifer Herkommer, at jennifer@travelstorysgps.com.

Explore all our tours (238 and counting!) at travelstorys.com.