About three dozen travel writers from across the country arrived in Vicksburg today for a three-day journey through the city’s rolling hills, expansive history and neighboring communities in an effort to write about tourism offerings.

The City of Vicksburg is hosting 32 professional writers of travel and leisure in a three-day media conference through Wednesday.

The conference was made possible through a $100,000 Preserve America grant award through the National Park Service.

The city matched $100,000 and has partnered with the cities of Port Gibson and Raymond for the project, the prelude to Vicksburg’s commemoration in 2013 of the Civil War’s sesquicentennial.

“It’s an opportunity for all three of our towns to showcase and roll out the red carpet for these travel writers who are coming in from all over the United States,” said city grant writer Marcia Weaver, who wrote the grant in 2007. “What we are trying to do is showcase our communities, hoping that these travel writers will go back and write about our towns for their publication.”

“And to encourage people to drive the route of the Siege of Vicksburg, the Port Gibson campaign trail to Raymond and back to here,” said Bill Seratt, executive director of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The seasoned writers represent major regional and national publications. Among the visitors are Keith Stelter of the Houston Chronicle, Randolph Murray of the Chicago Tribune, Terry Gardener of the LA Times and Roberta Sandler of AAA Home & Away.