Fort Monroe group requests national park status

The Virginian-Pilot
© November 20, 2009

HAMPTON

The group that will manage Fort Monroe after the Army leaves voted Thursday to try to have certain sections of the post designated a unit of the National Park Service.

The board of the Fort Monroe development authority, a state-appointed entity, asked the state to work with Congress to pass legislation giving national park status to the historic fort, moat and outer works; Old Quarters No. 1; the radar station on the parapets; and Batteries Parrot and Irwin, according to a news release. The authority would manage and redevelop other areas according to a reuse plan.

It's not clear whether Congress and the park service will approve the plan.

Authority Chairman L. Preston Bryant Jr. said the move endorses "an expanded role for the National Park Service at Fort Monroe that also preserves the state's ownership of the property and adheres to Governor Kaine's goals that we respect Fort Monroe's history, keep it open to the public, maintain open space, and make it as economically sustainable as possible."

The Army is scheduled to leave the fort in 2011 as part of the most recent round of military base closings.

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Does Anyone Really Want Fort Monroe?

Submitted by MikeBHR on Fri, 11/20/2009 at 10:54 am.

The National Park Service has said in the past that they have more land than they can handle. They don't want Fort Monroe added to their backlogs. But now, the state DNR Secretary is trying to pawn Fort Monroe onto them anyway.

So the feds don't want Ft. Monroe, and Bryant's statement can be fairly interpreted as saying that the state doesn't want Ft. Monroe either. It seems a lot of people are advocating for others to take the fort, but no one is actually stepping up to take it themselves. I guess some developer eventually will.

Monument, not Park

Submitted by justmefromnorfolk on Thu, 11/19/2009 at 4:51 pm.

Fort Monroe should be named a National Monument, not a National Park. Several other historic Forts already have that distinction. Congress doesn't need to get involved in making the Fort a National Monument. That can be done by Executive Order without congress's approval.