Tuesday, October 23, 2007Port Folio Weekly
Sounding the Trumpets
By Sara Piccini
It seems like an impossible task-encapsulating Fort Monroe's
rich past and uncertain future in just 30 minutes. But the superb new
documentary Kingdom by the Sea: Fortress Monroe does just that.
Produced by WHRO's Center for Regional Citizenship, the
documentary will have its broadcast premiere on Oct. 24 at 8:30 p.m. on
WHRO-TV (see box below for the complete broadcast schedule).
WHRO sponsored a special sneak preview for the public last
Monday, Oct. 15, at the American Theatre in Phoebus, followed by a panel
discussion and audience Q & A.
Kingdom by the Sea pulls no punches, highlighting the
controversy surrounding the future of Fort Monroe since BRAC announced the
Army would vacate the post in 2011. Yet it also highlights the common ground
that unites most of the voices in the debate: a deeply felt respect, even
love, for the fort's historic structures and the landscape at Old Point
Comfort.
"WHRO's goal with this project is to facilitate collaborative
discussion," notes Kelly Jackson, executive producer of the film. "We want
to further engage the community in considering the best possible future for
Fort Monroe."
I am fortunate to be among the many voices heard in the
documentary, because of my coverage of the issue for Port Folio Weekly.
Among the others is Robert Nieweg of the National Trust for Historic
Preservation.
"We are at the exact same kind of juncture that the ladies of
Mount Vernon were facing in the 1850s," says Nieweg, noting the successful
effort by private citizens to preserve Mount Vernon for posterity.
Kingdom by the Sea could serve as the needed catalyst in the
fight to preserve Fort Monroe. At the Oct. 15 event, Steve Corneliussen of
Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park called the film "a
sound-the-trumpets, ring-the-bells, launch-the-skyrockets masterpiece."
One reason it is so effective is that filmmaker Amy Broad of
Rock Eagle Productions, gives the words and the pictures equal weight. (When
was the last time you heard the word "fecund"? It's used to great effect in
the film.) As in her previous two films for WHRO, about child obesity and
early-childhood education, Broad lets people speak for themselves: there's
no voiceover narration.
Hampton citizen Dorothy Rouse-Bottom acts as "presiding spirit,"
in the words of English professor Scott Butler, opening the film with an
evocative reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee." The poem is said to
have been inspired by Poe's brief stay at Fort Monroe during his Army
service:
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee.
I found the words echoing in my heads days afterwards, much like
theme music, putting sound to feelings.
In addition to capturing the unique, subtle beauty of Old Point
Comfort, the film provides an important overview of the site's 400-year
history. Evoking a traditional call-and-response, University of Pennsylvania
history professor Robert Engs and Contraband Historical Society founder
Gerri Hollins tell the story of Fort Monroe's role in the emancipation of
American slaves in a wonderfully effective way.
"The story of the transformation of the Civil War from a war for
union to a war for emancipation essentially begins in Hampton, Virginia, at
Fort Monroe," Engs says. "[It] is in fact a positive one, of the promise of
America finally reaching another major segment of its population-the
African-American population."
The final segment of the documentary looks to the future. It
features the voices of the many stakeholders debating Fort Monroe's fate,
everyone from Gov. Tim Kaine to Jay Sweat of the Pentagon's Office of
Economic Adjustment to ordinary citizens. As in many highly charged
political debates, some people adopt the unfortunate-and ultimately
unproductive-strategy of personal attack. Broad captured State Sen. Marty
Williams criticizing the CFMNP in such a way.
"After watching hours and hours of interviews, I realized that
for the past two years everyone was reacting in an atmosphere of fear,"
Broad says. "That can be counterproductive for thoughtful long-term
decision-making.
"If we can come together to recognize Fort Monroe's important
history, we should be able to come together to recognize its important
future."
WHRV radio personality Cathy Lewis, who moderated the Oct. 15
discussion, commented on the air the following day that the public meeting
brought some very clear messages to the fore: that the future of Fort Monroe
must include provisions for public access, that it must be economically
sustainable, and that it has to preserve history.
"The devil, they say, is in details," she said.
The Oct. 15 gathering also made clear, however, that at least
two crucial issues have yet to be decided: first, how much will the
mandatory environmental cleanup cost and how soon it will happen? Pentagon
representative Jay Sweat was unable to provide a timetable, only saying that
cleanup can begin before 2011.
The second and most vital issue is: what entity will be
responsible for Fort Monroe after 2011? The Commonwealth is now in charge of
the planning process, under the auspices of the Fort Monroe Federal Area
Development Authority (FMFADA), but the question of stewardship remains
unanswered.
The public will have another opportunity for input at a series
of Army hearings required under Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act of 1966, beginning on Oct. 30 in Hampton. Other hearings
will be held in Norfolk, Richmond and Washington, D.C.: see the CFMNP
website at www.cfmnp.org for details.
WHRO-TV will air the 30-minute documentary Kingdom by the Sea:
Fortress Monroe Oct. 24 at 8:30 p.m., Oct. 25 at 9:30 p.m. and Oct. 28, 2
p.m. In addition, WHRV-FM 89.5 will air the audio portion of the Oct. 15
panel discussion during the noon broadcast of HearSay on Nov. 8.
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