Preservation urged for Fort Monroe

Public forum looks at what to do after the post closes in 2011

Friday, Jun 13, 2008 - 12:08 AM Updated: 09:41 AM

By PETER BACQUE - TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Historic preservation, not development, was on the minds of people at last night's public meeting on the future of historic Fort Monroe in Hampton. Fort Monroe will be closed as an active military post in 2011, and most of the 570-acre National Historic Landmark will revert to the state.

Virginia is trying to protect Fort Monroe's history while making the landmark economically self-supporting by adapting it for reuse, said William A. Armbruster, executive director of the state's Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority.

The Army held the public forum at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in Richmond to hear what the public had to say about preserving the fort's historic properties.

"We'd like to see the area open to the public," said Sarah Pace, president of the Henrico County Historical Society, "and private ownership would really restrict public access."

Harry Bradley of Richmond suggested putting together an African-American Civil War roundtable to make sure that the experience of black Americans at Fort Monroe gets told.

Annette Wetzel of Midlothian was concerned that subdivisions would hem in the nearly 200-year-old post.

"We're concerned about the entire history, not just the Confederate history," said Wetzel, with United Daughters of the Confederacy.

"Develop it and destroy the National Historic Landmark in the process," said H.O. Malone of Hampton, with Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park in Hampton Roads.

Built to protect the entrance to Hampton Roads, Fort Monroe is one of the Army's oldest posts. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. Historically, the Civil War is the fort's most significant period, though no structures built during that war remain.

In 1861, the fort earned the name "Freedom's Fortress," when escaped slaves found refuge there. Eventually thousands were granted freedom under the fort's protection.

The fort remained in Union hands. Never attacked by the Confederates, it served as the staging area for assaults against Richmond and along the Confederate-dominated seaboard.

The post is home to the Army's Training and Doctrine Command and other tenant units, with a population of about 4,000 soldiers and civilians. Training and Doctrine Command will move to Fort Eustis under the service's base-closure plan. The Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority is a state agency charged with making recommendations on the post's use after it closes.

The state wants to retain "the special qualities of this incredible place," according to the authority.

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or pbacque@timesdispatch.com.