Webb, Warner ask for bill to make Fort Monroe a national park

By Patrick Wilson
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 6, 2011
HAMPTON

Virginia's U.S. senators are asking the National Park Service to draft legislation that would make Fort Monroe a national park. Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb sent a letter to Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis on Wednesday expressing "strong interest in the Fort Monroe site."

The Army will vacate the waterfront post in Hampton in September, shifting control of the historic fort and 170 buildings to the state, as part of a 2005 base closing decision.

A growing 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’s northeast region, told members of the Fort Monroe Authority on Thursday that the Park Service will respond with a draft bill. But whether Fort Monroe or part of it becomes a national park is up to Congress, he said.

Patrick Wilson, (757) 222-3893, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com For more details, return to PilotOnline.com later and read tomorrow's Virginian-Pilot.