He wants tourists to enjoy the 'historic quadrangle'

247-4633

March 19, 2007

NEWPORT NEWS -- For almost two years now, Steve Corneliussen has worked two jobs.

The one at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, where he is a science writer, keeps him and his family in a house in Poquoson. The other is trying to persuade anybody who will listen that Fort Monroe should become a national park when it ceases operation as an Army post in September 2011. Job Two doesn't pay particularly well, and it demands an increasing amount of time. But it has its rewards, including a remarkable history education over the past couple of years.

Shortly after Fort Monroe went on the base closings list, he helped organize Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park, which lobbied successfully in the General Assembly for a new authority to oversee the fort's future.

Another bit of history rests strong in his mind: He and wife, Sarah, were married on the post 29 years ago.

Q: On Tuesday, Fort Monroe was listed as "at risk" by the Civil War Preservation Trust. Is Fort Monroe really at risk?

A: I think it's absolutely at risk.

It's true in the compromise legislation now on the governor's desk, there is a provision calling for the quicker study (for national park status), the reconnaissance study, and that's a good thing. ... But this new law calls for 18 people, half of whom represent Hampton (two are Del. Tom Gear and Sen. Marty Williams), and no private citizens from anywhere else in Virginia.

Q: For more than a year now, you have been an outspoken advocate of Fort Monroe's becoming a national park when the Army leaves in 2011. Why should it become one?

A: I'm the person in '05 who was sort of horrified that Monroe was going to be treated as an economic plum for Hampton, rather than the national treasure that it is for all of us and the strategic opportunity for the region.

But it was not until a half-year later ... that Dr. H.O. Malone said, 'Instead of just saying we need a better process to take care of Fort Monroe, why don't we propose a national park?' I didn't buy it at first ... but it turns out - and there's a deep irony here - that it actually makes more money for the region than the more narrowly envisioned, parochial vision that some of our leaders have.

Q: What are the advantages, other than some national stature, for having a park?

A: For starters, it would turn the historic triangle (Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown) into the historic quadrangle. ... One of the big parts of the history motivation for tourists is Civil War history. So, a big advantage is that if we have the phrase "national park," not state park, that's a billboard to advertise internationally that people should come here.

And this is a strategic opportunity for Hampton Roads (to have) ... a Central Park for our region.

Q: As the Base Realignment and Closure report came out in '05, Hampton stepped up with the Federal Area Development Authority. It has since been criticized for the move. Fairly?

A: I didn't come here to bash the Hampton city leaders. I came here to bash their ideas about what to do with Fort Monroe. I believe those people believe they are doing the best they can do for Fort Monroe. And I'll even say ... all of us admire the energy and initiative and forehandedness that they took. But we disagree with them. ... Maybe we're wrong, but it's a shame to think that we might not study it deeply enough to see.

Q: Should there be no commercial development at all at Fort Monroe?

A: We don't say there should be no development. Often what happens is the national park idea is portrayed as something akin to a museum: Put a rope across the front of it and gaze at it and admire it. We don't mean that at all.

Q: What do you mean, then?

A: We want to see Fort Monroe become something like the Presidio (in San Francisco). There are already many fine residences in good shape and fine campus buildings that can be leased out to eliminate any taxpayer burden. Or if it can't eliminate it, it can reduce it.

Q: Some members of the Hampton Federal Area Development Authority have suggested that the area inside the moat at Fort Monroe be designated a park and the buildings outside it used to generate proceeds to support the park. Your thoughts?

A: Since I'm the one who says let's look at all serious options ... I wouldn't want to say let's not look at that option. But what we think is that you can't get the revenue stream unless you have an authority, a jurisdictional body that controls the entire nearly 600 acres and makes the decision for the whole thing in an integrated way.

Q: You have talked about telling the contraband story, about slaves escaping to the fort and being given their freedom as Confederate "contraband." How should a national park tell the contraband story?

A: You begin with telling the story the right way. The story is not about slaves being freed by Gen. (Benjamin) Butler. The story is about Virginians, Americans who escaped the grotesque bondage in which they were held by standing up on their own and taking the risk, and invoking what amounts to the laws of nature and nature's God. ... All Gen. Butler did is use the perverted, grotesque, pre-Civil War American law in order to find a way to call these people contraband by acknowledging that they were property.

Q: What if the federal government says no national park?

A: The next option is to figure out how Virginians can make it into as grand and fabulous a public place as we can in a way that either eliminates or reduces the demand on taxpayers.

Q: You have a Duke background. This is Wednesday, have you done your NCAA bracket yet and who do you have as winning?

A: Well, if I did it, I wouldn't have Duke winning this year. (He was right, Duke lost to Virginia Commonwealth University, 79-77.)

Steve Corneliussen’s image reflects in the glass covering the Regimental Battle flag of the 3rd U.S. Artillery
inside the Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe. Photo by Adrin Snider, Daily Press

He wants tourists to enjoy the 'historic quadrangle'

Steve Corneliussen believes the Hampton Army post's becoming a national park makes economic sense.