National park status requested for Fort Monroe

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The Army has occupied Fort Monroe since the early 1800s but is scheduled to depart in September 2011. It is the largest moated stone fort in the United States. (Virginian-Pilot file photo)

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steeped in history

Some citizens and officials want the National Park Service to take the site, a National Historic Landmark District. The Army is set to leave this year.

time frame

Should Congress pass a law, a National Park Service presence would start immediately, but it would take at least two years for an operational park, Terry Moore of the park service said.

By Patrick Wilson
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 7, 2011

HAMPTON

Virginia's U.S. senators are asking the National Park Service to write legislation that would make Fort Monroe a national park.

Mark Warner and Jim Webb have sent a letter to park service Director Jonathan Jarvis expressing "strong interest in the Fort Monroe site." The Army will vacate the waterfront post in Hampton in September, shifting control of the fort and 170 buildings to the state as part of a 2005 base closing decision.

A number of citizens and government officials want the park service to take the site, already a National Historic Landmark District.

Terry Moore, chief of planning and special studies for the park service in the Northeast, told Fort Monroe Authority members on Thursday that his agency will respond with a draft bill. Whether Fort Monroe or part of it becomes a national park is up to Congress, he said.

The Fort Monroe Authority is headed by 11 trustees helping oversee the transition of the base out of Army hands.

Terrie Suit, the chairwoman, asked Moore how long it would take for a national park to be established should Congress pass a law. A National Park Service presence would start immediately, but it would take at least two years for an operational park, Moore said.

Supporters of a park say it would protect the fort and bring the valuable interpretation of history provided by the park service.

Even if a plan moves forward in Congress, the boundary of a park would be in question. Should it include the entire property, including the beach, or just the fort and the most historic buildings?

"We have lots of parks that we don't own everything in," Moore said. "The resources have to be of national significance."

The senators asked the park service to write a bill based on comments in a Sept. 20 letter to Webb from Dennis R. R eidenbach, Northeast regional director for the park service.

The letter said a park service study concluded that Fort Monroe's resources are of national interest significant enough to become a park; the park service identified a specific area that includes the fort and several buildings.

The fort was built between 1819 and 1834 and was used by the Union army during the Civil War.

Patrick Wilson, (757) 222-3893, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com

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You are so wrong carle....

Submitted by capt-carl-OV on Thu, 01/06/2011 at 10:14 pm.

It is not yet a National Park. I seriously doubt you've ever ventured onto the grounds. You have no regard for local history or the preservation of it. This preservation effort will generate jobs and tourist income. Not a bourbon st carnival, how crass, I and many others will campaign to preserve it as is, the whole area. Exisiting Living Quarters are being converted to rental properties for the general public use. Tenants are moving in June 2011. Get the facts carle before you step again on your left foot.

Already A National Park

Submitted by carle on Thu, 01/06/2011 at 8:31 pm.

It's already a national park, historic site, people tour there all the time. We have enough historic parks already. In view of the up coming defense cuts would be better served if it was made a New Orleans type bourbon street attraction. Hampton need a more diverse economy, many businesses are leaving/avoiding the Hampton area.

YES YES AND YES!

Submitted by capt-carl-OV on Thu, 01/06/2011 at 6:29 pm.

Keep up the good fight - National Park desigantion is so deserving of this historic site. Too important to our Nation to lose it to local interest. I encourage everyone to go visit the site, it's free and open to the public, and read it's history and discover the architecture, the fort had an engineer help build it, his name is Robert E. Lee, it wasn't long after, he was recruited to defend his southern roots as Confederate General R.E. Lee. The history is awesome, the location is sublime. Go see for your self, the museum has several films, and loads of memorabilia. Oh, attend the History lecture next wednesday at the Chrysler Museum www.chrysler.org - Emancipation. $5. for non members.

yes, yes and NO

Submitted by laura eichbaum on Thu, 01/06/2011 at 6:48 pm.

The whole place certainly doesn't need to be a national park. There is plenty to make a park and there is also plenty to develop into something of a mixed use community. It would be even more of a shame to prevent Hampton for being able to generate some tax revenue out of it.

Lighten up a little. The

Submitted by lee1956 on Thu, 01/06/2011 at 11:00 pm.

Lighten up a little. The original poster said nothing that could possibly be interpreted as suggesting that the entire Fort be turned into a national park.