Va. officials seek parks status for Fort Monroe
Published: November 20, 2009
HAMPTON — The group that will manage Fort Monroe after the Army leaves wants sections of the post to be designated as a unit of the National Park Service.
The board of the Fort Monroe development authority, a state-appointed group, asked Virginia officials to work with Congress to pass legislation granting national park status to the fort, moat, outer works and other parts of the site, according to a news release. The authority would manage and redevelop other areas according to a reuse plan.
The Army is scheduled to leave Fort Monroe in 2011 as part of a plan to close military bases nationwide.
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Reader Reactions
This indeed is terrific news. Hopefully we get a national park unit that consists of both natural and historic areas. And, even though state or a separate trust will be responsible for revenue producing homes and businesses on Fort Monroe, we need to give visitors the sense, through signage and overall quality of property, that entire site functions as and appears as a grand public place for the nation.
Yes, a great idea—but don’t forget the details. They’re only asking, at a minimum, for a small national park, which they could still ruin with financially unnecessary encroachment, as with casinos at Gettysburg or a big box store at the Wilderness battlefield. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation advocates a national park at Fort Monroe that embraces both history and nature—all the more fitting at that location, since that precious bayfront land itself is intrinsically historic, going back to the time of Jamestown. If you want to be kept up to date, sign up for e-mail updates at CFMNP.org, the Web site of our grass-roots civic group, Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park. We advocate a self-sustaining, pays-its-own way national park at Fort Monroe. Thanks. Steven T. Corneliussen
A wise recommendation indeed! So much history, great vistas, and idyllic surroundings…anything else would be unjust and disrespectful of the fort’s legend.
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