Four things below: First, something about hotel logistics for the Fort
Algernoune conference; second, a clarification about conference sponsorship;
third, and most interesting for students of Virginia history, my report of
Dorothy Rouse-Bottom's view of her conference's purpose; fourth, an
announcement of something notable happening Wednesday evening concerning
Fort Monroe.
- - -
First, here's some information that I got from Ms. Conover Hunt of the Fort
Monroe Authority: "The hotel phone number was national, not local, but it is
moot, since the rate expired on September 20, the deadline clearly marked on
the brochure. [As indeed Eric Grundset had already quite rightly
stated. -Steve C.] Since they say they are booked, I suggest interested
parties go on line and look for area hotels, many of which are reasonable.
Information about who to call is on the brochure, on our web site
[fmfada.com], listed on the brochure posted on www. Hampton400.com. Call
Joan Baker, 757-637-7778 x 100. The conference is not being held in the
hotel's facilities, so the call should have come here anyway. We have
openings for the conference and will be accepting registrations until
October 9th."
Second, it's well worth clarifying that the conference sponsor is Dorothy
Rouse-Bottom's Port Hampton History Foundation -- with due thanks and regard
for the valuable contributions of the Fort Monroe Authority -- and that, at
least in my own view, the prestige of the speakers implies no backing or
support for the policies of the authority, which is the state commission
empowered to decide the fate of post-Army Fort Monroe. (More about that if
anybody wants to hear it. Because it's about Fort Monroe's fate, it's
intrinsically _on_ the subject of Virginia history, but it's off the subject
of this follow-up report about the conference.)
Third, I should report that Dorothy calls herself "fiercely devoted to
igniting a new field of scholarship devoted to Virginia's colonial maritime
rim" because, she continued in a note last night -- and I hope it's OK to
quote her note semi-publicly like this -- "I believe the nation's true
origin lies in the ethos of that early maritime world, which unlike
Jamestown, was egalitarian, eclectic, and multinational. It was also
anti-authoritarian and very tolerant of rule-breakers -- think Marlon
Brando's brother in On The Waterfront. Hampton and Norfolk were where the
law of the sea met the law of the land in Anglo-America, with liberating
effect. The shape of the Elizabeth River gave supremacy to Norfolk in the
18th century as a maritime hub far better protected from the ravages of
hurricanes because of the way the wind blows. Hampton, however, even as its
importance as a port slipped away (war, fire, and water taking terrible
toll--also smallpox) nurtured the mixed bag of tall, short, brown, red,
white people that lived to become the oldest continuous English-speaking
community in North America."
Fourth, at 7 P.M. on Wednesday, Sept. 23 -- today, for most readers of this
message -- Hampton City Council will hold a special hearing concerning a
citizens' petition to improve the city's ordinance outlining the city's
approach and outlook concerning post-Army Fort Monroe. The citizen
petitioners want the city to adopt a higher vision. Because Hampton has such
enormous influence on the Fort Monroe Authority, in my view anybody who
cares about Fort Monroe's future needs to be present to show support -- and
Hamptonians who are there need to speak. For details, please see the "What's
New" page at CFMNP.org. (This paragraph may seem like mere "politics," but
it's not. The Civil War Preservation Trust regularly lists Fort Monroe "at
risk" of counterproductive overdevelopment. We could lose the special
character of the place in short order, depriving the future of its best
chance to understand the past at this Gibraltar-comparable strategic
Atlantic coast location. Wednesday's hearing is vital for Virginia history.)
Thanks for the chance to report and to comment. Fort Algernoune 1609 and
Fort Monroe 2409 are in one sense separate by 800 years -- and in another
sense not separate at all.
Steven T. Corneliussen
Citizens for a [[[self-sustaining]]] Fort Monroe National Park (CFMNP.org)
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