Why should Fort Monroe be a national park?
A. The foremost reason is that is how Americans designate, protect and operate places of extraordinary historical, cultural, architectural and scenic significance such as Fort Monroe. Fort McHenry, Gettysburg Battlefield, the site of the Wright Brothers first flight, the Delaware Water Gap, Booker T. Washingtons birthplace, the Cape Hatteras Seashore, Fords Theater and hundreds of other sites, many far less significant than Fort Monroe and Old Point Comfort, are in one form or another part of the national park system. Second, a national park, including a trust charged with operating the entire property for the benefit of the citizenry, is the best way to assure that Fort Monroe will be preserved in perpetuity, that full public access will be maintained and that its use and development on the property will in all cases be consistent with the forts special value to the nation. A local or state government, however well intentioned, cannot be expected to long withstand the inevitable econo
Related Questions
- You mentioned the recent National Park Service Reconnaissance Study (see Q5) had concluded Fort Monroe was both significant enough and suitable to be a national park. But didnt the National Park Service in that Study also decline to endorse a Special Resource Study (see Q7) at this time?
- Some say the National Park Service is a poor steward of its properties and we would be better off if Hampton operated Fort Monroe. How do you respond?
- Rather than a national park, why not simply grant a trusted nonprofit organization a conservation easement over Fort Monroe in order to protect it?
