Fort Ward’s Lost Graves: Who speaks for the dead?
Dr. Pamela Cressey
“Here are important points that need to be conveyed at the [public] meeting on the 18th.
- the entire park is on the national register and has potential for cultural resources.
- there is a lot of historical information collected already for us in the past and neighbors currently.
- We have four oral histories related to fort ward--and another one done just last saturday. more can be done.
- the maintenance yard is definitely a cemetery--don’t know if resources are still there.
- archaeology will take a long time because of money and staff--will need to prioritize (I would think graves first) and expand out from known areas to find graves--this is time consumng. Is possible for community volunteers to help........
9. Best to capitalize on public interest and professionalism and form a workng group--call it an advisory group--to go through these steps: neighbors, descendant families and interested black history people, recreation people, natural history people as well as staff from both depts. This group must work not like a regular task force with one mission job, but work over time to develop trust, communication and become good stewards of the park’s resources and stories”.
Memorandum from Pamela Cressey, City Archaeologist, to Lance Mallamo, Director of the Office of HIstoric Alexandria. March 13, 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment