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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