The Washington Family Coat of Arms
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Posted on 12/21/2005 4:39:42 AM PST by Pharmboy
Maintenance complaints and obstacles to a new museum prompted his letter to the Interior Department.
In 1976, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania sold Valley Forge State Park to the federal government for $1. Now the state may want it back.
Angry over inadequate maintenance and the federal government's failure to approve plans for a new museum at Valley Forge National Historical Park, Gov. Rendell wrote to Interior Secretary Gale Norton last week offering a do-over.
If the United States "is unwilling or unable to protect and preserve Valley Forge... the commonwealth is prepared to accept that responsibility," Rendell wrote. "One option is to return Valley Forge in its entirety to the care of the commonwealth. I would be amenable to that approach."
Norton has not yet received the letter, Interior Department spokesman John Wright said. Rendell had no further comment.
The letter is the latest escalation of a conflict between the federal government and the American Revolution Center, the nonprofit organization charged by Congress in 1999 with building the first national museum dedicated solely to the Revolutionary War. The Inquirer received a copy of the letter yesterday from Thomas M. Daly, president and chief executive of the American Revolution Center. He said a state takeover might end the stalemate over how large to make the museum.
"We want to work with a willing partner, and the Park Service has demonstrated that it is not a willing partner," Daly said. "The governor has said he wants to ensure this museum is built at Valley Forge, and the commonwealth is eager to work with us to make that happen."
If the federal government does not want to surrender the entire site, Rendell asked for 100 acres so that the museum project "could be completed as originally envisioned."
This year, Park Service officials appeared ready to sign off on the $100 million plan, which called for building a 96,000-square-foot structure following a design by noted architect Robert A.M. Stern. But in August, the Park Service abruptly reduced the museum to no more than 50,000 square feet even though the agency's own feasibility studies showed that a facility that size would not generate enough revenue or provide enough space to successfully encompass the history of a war that started in 1776 and did not end until 1783.
With its decision, the agency "unilaterally proceeded to effectively veto the ARC project," Rendell wrote. He noted that even the Park Service acknowledged that the park's deterioration since 1976 had been "measurable" and that the park "has not met its mission to ensure that the nationally significant resources of Valley Forge are here for future generations to enjoy."
In the nearly 30 years of federal ownership, the park has gone from bad to worse, according to a draft of a new general management plan that is under review. The maintenance backlog has swollen to $80 million, and there is little money for it. More than 90 percent of the park's $6 million budget pays for salaries and benefits.
The American Revolution Center museum would pump millions back into the park and surrounding region, according to several analyses.
A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said the Pennsylvania Republican met Monday with Lynn Scarlett, deputy interior secretary, in an attempt to move the project forward. He said a meeting of all parties involved was being planned for next month. But the clock is ticking. On Oct. 31, the American Revolution Center announced it would terminate its partnership agreement with the Park Service in 90 days. If the state and federal governments fail to come to terms, Daly said, he is ready to take his priceless collections of Revolutionary War artifacts and documents and go elsewhere.
The center is steward of the collection amassed by the Valley Forge Historical Society and of a collection owned by Joan and Herman Benninghoff.
Oh...and a slight error in the text. They say the war started in 1776, but Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill were, of course, fought in 1775.
The Washington Family Coat of Arms
Please Freepmail me to GET ON or GET OFF this RevWar/Colonial History/Gen. Washington ping list.
It looked pretty good when we were there a couple of years ago. In any case, I wouldn't trust Fast Eddie with a national treasure.
I used to go for long winter runs in the park. For those who have not been to Valley Forge in the winter, you simply have to be there to appreciate how cold and windy it can get. What our troops survived is pretty amazing.
Fast Eddie probably wants to put another race track at VF.
Fast Eddie also has a radio commercial pushing Pennsylvania 'holiday trees'.......
Step 1. Cut the grass. They stopped cutting much of it a few years ago.
Step 2. Thin the deer herd. Sometimes driving through the park is like driving through a mine field, waiting for a deer to nail you.
As for the museum - it sounds interesting, but hopefully won't turn into some P.C. boondoggle. We are probably better off having the state do it. But that means more traffic through the park - oy!
Give it back. IMHO, sell it to a private group willing to accept restrictions on sale & development and let them set up a user pays system.
I think an entertainment park is a great idea.
Row boats across the river. Coin toss across the river. Camping in Valley Forge cabins. RevWar MREs for food purchase. Horse riding. Prayer chapel in the forest. Etc, etc....
There are tentative concept plans for two new Revolutionary War Museums in New Jersey (Washington's Crossing & Somerset County). In addition there is an ongoing expansion and renovation of the museum facilities at Morristown (NJ) National Historical Park (site of the encampment of Washington's "Main Army" in 1779-1780 during the coldest winter of the war "The Hard Winter"). The State of New Jersey has a "Crossroads of the American Revolution" State Heritage Area that encompasses parts of 14 counties and efforts are under way to designate a Federal Revolutionary War Heritage Area in the same region.
One of the largest collections of Colonial/Revolutionary War artifacts/documents is located in New Jersey in addition to several smaller but significant collections, all or parts of which have been promised to stock these new museums. New Jersey has several preserved Revolutionary War battlefields, encampments sites and homes used by George Washington as headquarters during the war.
Hopefully these museum proposals will come to fruition in addition to the Valley Forge facility. There are millions of potential visitors within the 50 miles area around these proposed sites.
I recently found out I had an ancestor that fought there. And I had never heard of it before!
Ditto that.
I always try to point out that war and fighting for freedom is not played out on play station DVDs.
One of our ancestors, fighting in the revolution, was a shoemaker and captured by the Brits- his life was spared for shoes- and he did later escape and return to fight.
I guess I am driven to teach the lesson on shoes and keeping your feet warm by genetics. :]
Thanks for the ping Pharmboy.
I am suspicious of Rendell's motives.
Perhaps, but he won't be governor for forever.
No thanks.
How was Dunmore's War a "War for independence?" More like a land dispute between Virginia and PA backed up by force on the part of an English patrician minor despot (Lord/Governor Dunmore).
Now, the resistance to Dunmore's hired guns...including the Indians that Dunmore used as proxies (paying the Indians for scalps of western PA settlers)....that may have set up a resistance mentality and enhanced the
Anglophobia among those settlers. Some were among the first to sign declarations of independence in their settlements in 1775, and among the first (and among the most experienced frontier fighters) to sign up for duty in 1776.
Have ya been to Valley Forge??
It's just a big huge field .. sounds to me that Fast Eddie wants to make it more commercial to generate more taxes for the State
Yep .. it is extremely cold in the park
But it's also very peaceful
I don't want Fast Eddie getting his greedy little hands on that park
I don't think so. I saw a show on the History Channel. I think it was an episode of "Save Our History." A number of the homes that were headquarters for various leaders are in pretty rough shape --- dry rot, leaking roofs, rooms with completely failed floors, etc.
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