Myth 10: Hampton cares deeply about FM history.
Reality: Hampton has done a poor job of making known its own remarkable history, and it has physically neglected Fort Wool, Fort Monroe's companion island fort.
As the Daily Press pointed out in a 22 November 06 editorial, "The city also lacks experience operating historic properties …." Hampton's inexperience with historic properties seems rooted in its insufficient appreciation and celebration of its
own remarkable story as the oldest continuous English-speaking settlement in North America and the chosen home of the "Contrabands," thousands of African Americans who freed themselves from slavery in what historian Robert F. Engs has called the "first mass freedom incident" of the Civil War. Fort Wool, which shares Fort Monroe's
rich history, is a good example of this neglectful attitude. Under Hampton's stewardship, it has essentially been left to decay, and the fact that Hampton's new lobbyist will be asking the state for $3.5 million to restore the island fort points not just to the city's
tardiness in honoring its history but to its lack of funds for preservation, even before Fort Monroe has closed and deprived it of the revenue that it plans to make up through development of the post property."(Home)