OTTAWA — A plan for managing a national heritage area that covers Franklin County will be done in the next few weeks, said Deb Barker, Franklin County Historical Society executive director. Being part of the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area will boost the number of history tourists who visit the area, she said. The period of Bleeding Kansas and the Civil War will be one of the key parts of the heritage area but Barker said there are other parts such as the Santa Fe and Oregon trails and the Great Depression. Unlike most heritage areas, Freedom’s Frontier represents a concept rather than a particular area or time period, she said. The area includes 29 counties in eastern Kansas and 12 counties in western Missouri.
